Agency Growth Machine

Meet Adrienne.After working in education as a training coordinator for over a decade, she recently made the jump to run operations at an employee benefits firm.It wasn't easy and she admits that she made some rookie hiring mistakes at first.But since then, she's been promoted to CEO of Benefit Advisors.Because in just 2 years after taking over the insurance agency -- Adrienne's lead their team to over 40% growth.And hired a few solid ROCKSTAR producers along the way.But the best part?She's not done growing this money-making machine.Watch Adrienne's Journey here.-------Learn more about Bignition -- https://thewedge.net/bignition/Learn more about Bignition CRM -- https://thewedge.net/bignition-crm/Learn more about The Wedge Group -- https://thewedge.net/Books by Randy Schwantz -- https://thewedge.net/books/Free Webinar for Agency Owners -- https://thewedge.net/register/#insuranceagenttraining #insurancesales #insurancerecruitment

Meet Ryan.He's the father figure of a blended family living off the coast of New Jersey.Ryan's also the Sales Director at JGS Insurance, who joined Bignition a few years ago.Since then, he's helped their team to achieve a few BIG squad goals like ...- 3X their sales revenue- Increase to a 97% retention rateThe best part?They're still growing.----*P.S. -- Are you an independent insurance agency leader with 4-10 Producers looking for a scalable growth system? Here's a free webinar just for you: https://thewedge.net/register/

Meet Justin. He went from being a college football coach to selling insurance for a living ... Now he coaches Producers in his agency on how to do it too. Justin told us, "There's really no difference between the two jobs ... You've just got to be disciplined to a system." His secret training system? Bignition. Because with Bignition, there is no room for excuses anymore. Your Insurance Producers get access to 24/7 sales training on-demand and the technology to track activity effectiveness. ... This way you ALL have the proven system to win more business. GROW BIG OR STAY HOME™ ---------------------- *P.S. -- Want to know how Bignition can work for your agency? Watch this free webinar here -- https://thewedge.net/register/

Imagine you’re a 28 to 32 year-old commercial insurance agent going after accounts anywhere from $7500, up to $30,000 in revenue.How do you position yourself to set more appointments with these types of prospects?The answer: BETTER MARKETING!Join Randy Schwantz and insurance marketing LEGEND, Michael Jans, as they take a deep dive into becoming a better marketer to set more appointments.

One of the biggest questions agency owners face when making a new decision for their business is, "When will we see a return on investment?"This wasn't any different for agency owner, Jared Pitts, from GIA-TX. He admitted that he was extremely skeptical of the program at first.But with Bignition, there is no secret formula here. If you want to grow your agency, it's VERY simple.We'll bring the tools and coaching. You bring the commitment and effort.And together, we'll catapult you to the next level ... Just to see how far you can take it.So if you have 4-10+ Producers and you're ready to see EXPONENTIAL GROWTH in your agency ...Schedule your Strategy Call here:https://thewedge.net/grow-big/Because if you don't ... who will?

Randy Schwantz and Tim Pollard, author of The Compelling Communicator, discuss virtual and effective communication during COVID. In this video they dive into things you should know, common mistakes, and how mastering a few communication tips can hugely impact your business and success. At the end of the day good communicators win and bad communicators lose. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------AND - We've negotiated a special deal for you! If you enter the discount code RS15, you will receive a 15% discount on Oratium's E-learning.E-Learning Website: https://elearning.oratium.com/pivotThe Compelling Communicator Book: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-compelling-communicator-tim-pollard/1125315183

Don't you hate it when you spend a boatload of your time, money, and effort finding quality candidates -- only to have your newbie quit 2 weeks later?It's frustrating. But you don't need to give up on hiring just because the last new Producer you hired felt like an absolute train wreck. The truth is you have what it takes to hire Producers that'll make it. You just need the proven playbook to do it right.In the latest episode of Agency Growth Machine Podcast -- I caught up with one of our Bignition agency owner's, Jamie Noe (CEO of Insurance Group of America.)Jamie let me in on his process for finding quality candidates and shared a BIG finding after assessing hundreds of them.He looked at who made it vs. who didn't and found they all had one thing in common.NEVER hire another Insurance Producer unless they have this ONE personality trait.GRIT Personality Inventory -- https://thewedge.net/assessments/GRIT Book -- https://thewedge.net/books/---*P.S. — Check-out these FREE goodies for Agency Owners: 3 Strategies to Double Agency Growth -- https://www.thewedge.net/webinar/ Free Download of Agency Growth Machine -- https://www.thewedge.net/free-book/

What happens when you hire a new-to-industry Producer who doesn’t know the first thing about selling insurance?In this episode of Agency Growth Machine, join Randy Schwantz and guest, Scott Knowles, as they explore a New Producer School focused on Workers Compensation.Find out how long it really takes to train a new Producer (Hint: it’s probably not what you’d expect.)Grow Big or Stay Home™https://www.thewedge.net/bignition/-------------------------------------------------------------*P.S. — Check out these FREE guides for Independent Insurance Agency Owners:The #1 Strategy to Double Your Agency: https://www.thewedge.net/webinar/Agency Growth Machine Book: https://www.thewedge.net/free-book/

With all the negativity in the world, it’s extremely hard to see anything positive. The problems become even more magnified if negativity is all you can see. In this episode of Agency Growth Machine Podcast, Randy Schwantz sheds some light on how your future can be bright no matter what goes on around you. Grow Big or Stay Home™ — www.thewedge.net/bignition/ ------------------------------------------------------------- *P.S. — Check-out these FREE goodies for Agency Owners: www.thewedge.net/webinar/ www.thewedge.net/free-book/

There's a couple of different ways to look at this, but ultimately you can either sell out, keep your agency and double it, or just put up with what it is. Listen in and join Randy in the discussion of the pros and cons of each. Grow Big or Stay Home™ — www.thewedge.net/bignition/

Because of The Wedge, you already have the tools to Double Your Agency's Growth. Many people have tried, but only the committed make it happen. Join Randy discuss principles from Think and Grow Rich, sharing how committing to a plan is the key to success.Interested in our sales training? Click here - November 16-17 for Virtual Wedge Training.

In this episode of Agency Growth Machine, Randy Schwantz, author of the Wedge, breaks down Winning Through Intimidation by Robert J. Ringer. He discusses a couple of theories in the book and applies them to life in the insurance world... touching on preparing for tough times, keeping a positive attitude, resilience, and how to set yourself up for success. His mission is to help people accomplish long term success personally and in their career. Give it a listen! To learn more about what we do at the Wedge visit us here.Looking for sales training? Join us November 16-17 for Virtual Wedge Training.Books Referenced by Robert J. Ringer:Learning Through Intimidation Looking Out for #1: How to Get from Where You Are Now to Where You Want to Be in Life

Let's talk about challenging the way you think and getting clear on your goals, so that you can begin to pursue them. Re-write and rebuild your personal story about who you are and what you want to achieve. If you don't work on your vision for your career or life and begin to map it out... Or commit to being who you want to be, you will stay in a state of mediocrity. Does it have to be that way? No, but it is up to YOU to be extraordinary. Interested in learning more about growing your agency or growing as a producer? Click here.

I want to give all the recognition I can to Robin Sharma for his book, The 5 AM Club. It impacted me so much I sent a copy to 3 of my kids and attended his Personal Mastery Academy. Have you ever felt like you're not reaching your potential?Imagine if you were able to resist all the temptations that distract you from your goals. All the things that you don't need or rely on, but give your time and attention to. It could be social media, your phone, Netflix... What if you were able to get excited about spending more time and focus on what you'll create and do instead of what you're afraid you'll miss out on? Potential has to be developed, its something that's there, but it needs to be trained and practiced. It takes courage to step into change. You will need courage to exploit your potential.

I'm back for another episode of Agency Growth Machine. We're going to talk about how to grow your agency and look, the big quote I'm going after right now because I'm setting up this three-part series on leadership with Bill Belichick. We just did Nick Saban coming up today and coach K coming up in the future and here's why. My core belief is that the difference between where your agency is today and where it's going to be tomorrow and deep into the future is in direct proportion to your ability, yes, Mr and Mrs. Leader, your ability to lead, coach, train and develop your sales team.Hope you tune in to hear the rest... Listen below. Or click here to read a transcript.

What we’re going to be talking about today is leadership and if you’re a leader, here’s what I want you to be thinking about, the difference between where your agency is today and where it will be tomorrow and deep into the future is in direct proportion to your ability to lead and develop your sales team. So I think the key phrase there is ‘it’s in direct proportion to your ability’ and if you don’t continue to develop your ability then your salespeople won’t develop themselves and your growth is predictable. And so as we get into you developing your ability, I really want to get into some of the things from three of my heroes: Bill Belichick, Nick Saban and coach K. I mean when you add them all together, there’s over 15 plus world championships. I mean big time stuff and so I want to just do that quote for you one more time so that we set the tone for why we need to listen to Bill and to Nick and to coach K. Hope you tune in to hear the rest… Listen below. Or click here to read a transcript.

There’s a blast from the past, something that you’ve heard a billion times. The guy that we all love, man. I just can’t wait to hear what he’s got to say. In fact, it’s coming up here in just about three, two, one. Ready Go. Pat will always have his teams prepared. Whoa. You heard that voice before. Who is it? Pat will always have his teams prepared. Can you say Magic Johnson, one of the best all time ever, ever, ever, ever. And so what he’s talking about is Pat Riley, Pat, a major league coach will always have his team prepared. So now we’re talking to you as an agency owner/leader. What are you doing? Honestly, what are you doing? Honestly, to get your producers prepared, to go beat the competition, not just play, not just show up, but WIN? He is the most attention to detail guy. Now what he’s saying that Pat Riley’s great at details. He’s a detail guy. He’s the detail of getting producers ready to go do what? To win. He’s Pat Riley, a detailed guy at getting the guys like Magic Johnson prepared to go beat their competition. Now you’re going to love the sound byte coming up. This is how Pat kind of gets into the head of master guys like Magic Johnson. Hope you tune in to hear the rest… Listen below. Or click here to read a transcript.

Hey there everybody, this is Randy Schwantz. Welcome to another episode of Agency Growth Machine. I hired a marketing consultant to help me out and one of the assignments he gave me was to watch Simon Sinek do his TED Talk on Start with Why. It made me go pull the book off my shelf again and as I’m reading through it, thinking through it, mapping it out just a little bit, here’s what’s kind of hitting me; what Simon does a good job of is comparing somebody like Apple to somebody like Dell. They’re both computer companies. They both have all the capabilities in the world. They both have huge bank accounts. They both could be making amazing things, but Apple seems to trump Dell and other computer makers, like Lenovo in big ways. And why is that? Well, what he’s saying is that Steve Jobs, who’s the genius over there, has this kind of Why thing. Hope you tune in to hear the rest… Listen below. Or click here to read a transcript.

What is Failure? Why do people make so much of it? In this brief Agency Growth Machine Podcast, I get into Failure in a unique way. I think you’re going to like it. Listen below.

Letter to My Boss… I love you, but I’ve got to go to a place that will help me grow. This new Agency Growth Machine podcast is a little off the rails…. 3 subjects: Why did I write the “letter to my boss?”New TrendsOld World Agency vs. The New World Agency Probably some stuff that will make you mad… Hope you tune in. Listen below.

Fundamentally, people know what they have to do to be successful. They have to prospect and set appointments. They have to convert those prospects into clients. They have to retain those clients for as long as possible, hopefully a lifetime. But, many have a hard time with the first step…. Prospecting. The source of the problem is NOT finding names to call. It’s NOT having a telephone that works. The problem is FEAR. And FEAR comes in different packages, sometimes disguised, but nevertheless… it’s FEAR. So, how do you solve the FEAR problem in 18 minutes or less? Listen below.

When someone comes after your business, you leverage your relationship with your customer, get the last look, and keep the account. How many naïve producers have you rolled in your career?Want to solve the ‘getting rolled’ problem? Listen now.For In-depth training on the latest sales techniques, CLICK HERE.

I’ll Teach You HOW to Wedge-OUT the Incumbent… And Get a BOR Letter Up-Front.I’ve taught thousands of producers how to ‘unseat’ the incumbent and WIN the business at the first interview.I’m a process guy…Everything can be boiled down to a process in my world and The Wedge is a process that, when mastered, will have Mr. Prospect asking you to do business.For In-depth training on the latest sales techniques, CLICK HERE to join us in April for the next The Wedge 3-in-1 Workshop. Sign up now and save, use the promo code: Save300.

Here’s the problem, a Good Cop’s job is to get the candidate excited about insurance, your agency and working for you.The Bad Cop’s job is to get the TRUTH about the candidate: Can they sell? Will they sell?They are TWO remarkably different roles, almost as different as being a spouse and a parent.For more on BAD COP, listen below.

The biggest challenge that kills growth is that you, the agency owner have so few systems to drive growth, you struggle to find the time. No systems for sales training. No systems for running sales meetings. No systems for accountability…

Don’t you hate it when someone says, “your ANYTHING sucks.” I know I do, I could quickly lose respect for that kind of marketing communication.So instead, let’s say your sales meetings are awesome, but being a progressive Agency Owner, you want them to be better, more effective, drive differentiation and as result, get 200% more BORs.Would you be more comfortable saying that? I know I would.Want better sales meetings… Listen now.

Think simply: A car is just a way to gain leverage on your time, it's gets you from point A to point B faster than walking, riding a bike or taking a bus. When you think about growing your agency, getting your producers engaged, confident and writing new business, there are numerous areas of 'leverage' you could be missing.

It's easy to assume everyone else has it together, no problems, they are rocking it. But, in many cases you'd be dead wrong. Many of the people you see as Superman are just like you. Here's my story.

Taking a 60 year old agency and transforming it from a very respectable, but somewhat sleepy local agency into a GROWTH MACHINE is an a great story. Hear about Jon's journey... it'll change your view on what you can accomplish.

There are 100's of CRM and Pipeline management tools on the marketplace. You should choose carefully which one you adopt. In this episode we break down the reasoning you should consider before you make a commitment

An introduction to the Agency Growth Machine series...Subscribe to learn more on how you can GROW your Independent Insurance Agency.