Special Guest: Katie Gold from The Zebra

New year, same hosts—Carlos and Vira kick things off with a timely conversation on where insurance is headed, featuring Katie Gold, VP of Insurance at The Zebra (TheZebra.com). Katie breaks down how insurtech is evolving, why consumer education is the real “sales strategy,” and how AI can make advisors sharper (not obsolete). Expect real talk, personal stories, and a behind-the-scenes look at scaling a modern insurance operation.

Key Highlights

• Meet the guest: Katie Gold, 16+ years in insurance (sales, claims, agency leadership, recruiting, ops) and 5+ years at The Zebra
• From cars → claims → leadership: Why claims work builds empathy, trust, and better “moment of truth” advice
• Personal connection: Losing a family home to a fire shaped her purpose in insurance—make hard moments easier for people
• Why The Zebra: Independent model = shop multiple carriers and fit coverage to the customer (not the other way around)
• Digital + human support: 70% of traffic stays digital, but the option to talk to a person is still there
• AI: fear vs. leverage: AI won’t replace you—someone using AI will; the point is efficiency + better coaching + better routing
• Trust + education: Biggest misconception with online insurance is trust—education bridges the gap
• “Full coverage” pet peeve: Katie explains why that phrase causes confusion and why clarifying questions matter
• Leadership style: “Heart + innovation” = move fast without leaving your people behind
• Advice to new agents: It’s an exciting time to enter the industry—tools and learning are faster than ever

Quick Takeaway
If your insurance experience feels like a chore, you’re not alone—but the best companies are building options: fast digital paths when you want speed, and real humans when you want confidence.

Learn more: https://www.thezebra.com

Thank you so much for listening! Don't forget to leave a review!

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:09

Welcome back everyone. New year, new podcasts, new shows, new trends, new um, there's a lot of stuff going on. But yes, Viera's still here because everyone always wants to know like, is it gonna be by myself? She got replaced, because she's so busy all the time, right?

SPEAKER_01 0:22

And she's always I'm so busy hiking and enjoying Oregon so much.

SPEAKER_00 0:27

I'm actually excited because you know, we've if you guys have been listening to our podcast, you know one of our biggest podcasts throughout the years is always uh insurance uh insurance tech connection, right? The ITC event. And we've met a lot of different people, but the coolest thing is we don't stop meeting people. And today we have a very special guest. They were at ITC. We didn't actually get to meet her there. It was so crazy. I wish we could have, but hey, that's the best thing about ITC and you know the connections, the people you meet and everything. You always, you know, get to know them even on a later date. I want to introduce Katie Gold from The Zebra. So, Katie, thank you so much for being on the show. We really appreciate it. I know I've been reading a lot about the zebra and everything, and I'm just glad that you actually, you know, gave some time to be on a show today.

SPEAKER_02 1:13

Hey, thanks for having me. I'm excited to chat with you guys today. Um, I'm honored that you I I'm assuming heard at least my my talk at ITC and some of the interviews that followed. We've got a lot of exciting things going on.

SPEAKER_01 1:25

So we'd love to have guests introduce themselves, Katie. We keep it real cash. It's a safe space, Katie. You can say whatever you want. So tell us about yourself. Tell us a little bit about Snow Mageddon right now, too, because that's the situation.

SPEAKER_02 1:37

So yeah, I hopped on and I said, excuse my appearance. I'm in a sweatshirt and pulled back here because we are living the dream here, stuck at home with the kids that are out of school, and I'm ready for the roads to clear so I can have the house back to myself, if I'm being honest. So, speaking of safe space, if you had your kids during the winter break for a couple weeks, you know you're ready to give them back. In fact, I was texting with my son's teacher the other night, like, God bless you, I don't know how you do this with a room full of them. So now we've had a long weekend that has turned into an even longer weekend. We're facing no school again tomorrow. So uh yeah, we're like I said, living the dream. Um work from home has it has its perks, I suppose, because I could still get my job done. But there's part of me wishing I had to go into the office today. So yeah. Um I guess a little bit about me, just to share. I um I'm the VP of insurance at the Zebra, as you talked about, theZebra.com. I've been with the Zebra a little over five years, but all things insurance has been my career. For over 16 years now, I've been in the insurance industry. I've been in sales, I've been in claims, I ran an agency, I helped recruit, I've run a quality team, so all the things. Um, moving over to the zebra. Fun fact that was my first remote work job. I'd never worked from home until transitioning to the zebra. And I'm sure we'll talk about what that's been like and what drew me to the zebra. But um, yeah, I've I've enjoyed it. It's been quite the ride and experienced a lot of personal and and uh professional growth since being here.

SPEAKER_00 3:03

So that's pretty cool. Now, before like, how'd you get involved in insurance? I know you I know the zebra, you've been on there for about five years, but before that, I mean, how did you get introduced? I mean, what were you like a person growing up and said, I want to be in the insurance industry? Like this is like man, like like my friends are being doctors, but I'm gonna be the insurance agent person, right?

SPEAKER_02 3:21

You know, it's funny when I recruited, I would talk to people in interviews and go, we don't we don't grow up thinking, oh, I want to be an insurance when I grow up. Like that's just not a thing at all. And and we would find just this mixed bag of applicants of individuals who had been in other industries who found their way to insurance. And you always go, What what attracted you to insurance? Like that's not that exciting. Well, as you think about, you know, stable life and income, it's something everybody needs, regardless of what's happening, right? So it's stable. But at the point in life when I joined the insurance industry, I actually started sales in the car business. Very young, in college, sold cars, loved it. But it was not conducive to family life. It was a very busy schedule, six, seven days a week, late nights, and getting married and having a child, that just wasn't going to work long term. So stayed home for a little bit with my son, and when it was time to re-enter the workforce, I knew I wanted to stay in sales, and I saw an opportunity with another insurance carrier. I ended up starting in claims, not sales, but I learned the back end of all the things. What do the coverages do? If somebody needs to file a claim, which ones are important, which by the way has been so helpful transitioning back into the sales role because then you learn what the benefits of those coverages are and at the moment of truth, what coverages people really need, and you can use those experiences as stories, which stories help you sell, right? So anyway, I got started um in that way and and how cool it was. Yes, it was really cool to watch people drive off in a brand new car because it's this tangible thing, but being able to sell something that helped protect people's livelihoods and their futures and give them peace of mind, that's been really valuable for me. So I've I've made a career of it, I enjoy it.

unknown 5:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:03

That's pretty cool. So you went from selling cars to going to claims. How's that transition? I mean, like being in claims, I mean, I could only imagine the things you hear, the things people are saying in like I mean, I don't know what specifics you did in the claims, but I mean, like, I mean, how long were you doing actually claims for? Did you move to a different department or did you stay in claims?

SPEAKER_02 5:24

I stay, I was in claims for a couple years and I took over the phone claims um for a little bit of time in a large call center, worked with over 200 people, learned how to take claims and learned how to investigate existing claims. And it was interesting because it well, sales is exciting because because they want to buy the thing, right? Claims, not so much. Every call was just it was their worst day because they were in the middle of going through this really difficult thing. But if you can take that that experience and say, hey, I'm gonna take care of you and here's how, and turn that into something positive, that was really satisfying and rewarding for me. Okay now it can it can be draining because at the end of the day you've heard a lot of sob stories. It's not like hey, good news when they're calling about a claim. But again, if you're able to resolve it and turn it into something positive, which I think that's part of why I enjoy insurance in general, just the problem-solving aspect, even as a people leader, I love it. So that's pretty valuable. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:18

Yeah, I I do have a question though, is that because, and again, maybe this will connect to a later question because I do have one, but I feel like in the claims you had like a human connection. I feel like as these people are going through this rough time, did people ever get a little bit more of like getting away from the claim and just telling you how they're feeling and what's happening, the worst times? Just like therapy too. You know, we're going through a hard time. My husband is not doing too much in a good at work right now. It's like I can only imagine that human connection you had to have with these people.

SPEAKER_02 6:48

Yeah, it's um you have to find something relatable. I did go through some some things when I was younger. We lost a house to a fire, and I think that that was part of what piqued my interest in insurance because it wasn't a great experience for my parents. We had built the home, they'd saved for a long time, built the home, paid off the land. It was, I mean, really saved a lot, right? So imagine building a house and then it and then it burns down. And so watching them go through that and thinking, I want to be the person that makes that experience better for other people. I think for me, made it relatable when you were talking to people that were having a bad day. And yeah, yeah, you might hear side stories about other things that are happening. You just have to kind of tell yourself this isn't about me, they're going through the thing, and just listen to them and let them say what they want to say. Make sure that you acknowledge it and support them. That's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_01 7:38

I feel like this all of this experience, this is why you've been VP of insurance sales for some. I mean, you have so uh stories do tell, and you have personal experience, so that's really beautiful. And I want to use that as a transition to like why the zebra? Yeah, and what is it doing? What impact is it having? Because you hear the name often. Yeah. So I wanna I want to know.

SPEAKER_02 8:01

Yeah, you know, it's funny. That's a that's another personal story, and really interesting wild ride. I was in New Mexico for a number of years. Um, I'm from Central Texas. I moved out to New Mexico, got married. The zebra afforded me the opportunity to come back to Texas. And so it was right at the start of COVID. I lost the position I'd had for almost 10 years. I'd been with the company for a long time. And if you've if you've ever experienced being laid off or leaving a company after so long, it's really like something that you grieve. You've been a part of it for so long. And so I was really searching for what's next for me, what's going to be meaningful. And I looked for jobs in the area. And at the time that COVID was really shutting everything down, it was really hard for me to find anything where I was at. And so my sister came to me and said, Hey, have you heard of the zebra? They're ranked like top 50 places, places to work in Austin. You should really look at it. And I did, the one and only place I applied to in Texas, had an interview, loved the call with my recruiter, got the job, loved the onboard boarding experience, and it gave me the opportunity to come back home. So my parents live close by, my sister's in Austin, not far from me, which is where the home office is located. And just the, again, just the transition and the opportunity afford me. I work from home for the first time ever, which if you haven't done it before, I was going. This is not, I thought, just very, very skeptical. I'm not gonna like being at home. I'm used to going to the office every day. I like to see people. How am I gonna be social? This is not gonna work.

SPEAKER_01 9:28

I'm gonna be definitely a transition if you've never done it.

SPEAKER_02 9:31

Oh, yeah, oh yeah. And now I'm like, you could not pay me enough to leave my house. I get to get up and go and do laundry. I can go on my treadmill between meetings and just be still so super productive because I don't have to drive back and forth. I can help, you know, watch my kids over the summer. They're old enough, they're you know, they're self-sufficient, but what a what a reward it's been for me, again, both personally and professionally, to get to experience something different, to get to move back home. So attracted to the zebra, again, it was really word of mouth, going back to your question, word of mouth from my sister, but exploring the opportunity to continue in insurance. And what I loved about it was where I worked for a captive carrier that only sold one product, we're an independent. So we sell multiple products. So we get to meet the consumer where they're at, not try to fit them to my product the other way around. What is it that you need and how can I help meet your need? And you get to shop multiple carriers and make sure that you're selling them what makes the most sense for them. And that's been just a really cool experience for me. And to add to that, something that I excuse me, something that I've also really enjoyed is that it is that smaller culture. It's not that really large, corporate, rigid structure. We're small enough that our suggestions are heard, our voice is heard, every person matters. We're not just an employee number. So we do. We work as a team to grow, and I feel like I've been a part of something rather than just again just collecting a paycheck. So it's been really neat for me.

SPEAKER_01 10:57

I love that. I I honestly I only hear good things about the zebras, which is really um it's so funny how I said that word, the zebra, which is and it sounded like I said the zebras. It's not the zebras people, it's not the zebra.

SPEAKER_02 11:11

Zebra.com, yeah. It's so funny. We're you gotta you gotta think of us as a dot com now, you know?

SPEAKER_01 11:17

Yeah, yeah, but I do hear good things. And I wondered, um uh just on that whole, I mean, every other post out there on LinkedIn, on IG, on everything, it's all you gotta go digital, virtual, AI. Yeah. How is the how is the zebra responding to that? Again, dot com, right? How are you responding to it? Um, how is it helping the consumer? Um, how does it help agencies and carriers just to uh uh you know move into that space now?

SPEAKER_02 11:48

Well, it's it's the ability to meet the customer where they're at. So if you heard my what I talked about in Vegas, uh I remembered to so again back to a personal story. I remember the first time I got groceries delivered, thinking like this is the coolest thing ever, right? Like I just had groceries delivered to my door. Now I I unless I'm picking up one or two things and I happen to already be by the grocery store, I get groceries delivered on a weekly basis. So you think about how easy everything's been for us. I Amazon is here very regularly. I'm ordering my groceries online. I'm ordering anything I need, I'm getting it the next day through Amazon. Well, that's become the mindset of everybody. I want it and I want it right now, and I'm gonna do it all online. So if that's the mindset, we've got to meet them where they're at. But the thing is, not everybody needs that every time. So we've got to find a way, again, to meet the consumer where they're at. So is it that they've got a really complicated situation, they've got a home, several cars, maybe the kids off at college, and they want to have a better conversation with somebody hands-on, a white glove experience to walk them through the whole thing end-to-end, or is it, hey, I need insurance right now and I need to be in and out in 10 and 15 minutes and I can do it all online? Well, the cool thing is we get to do both. And we found a way to do both. And it's great for the carriers as well, because they, if we build a relationship with them, they know no matter what what the um the user type is or what type of consumer we're gonna handle either either type. So it it's a great relationship for us with the carriers, but also for the consumers.

SPEAKER_00 13:19

Cool. Now, um, so again, going back from your claims to the to everything you've done to now the zebra, like what is, if you don't mind me asking, what is your role? Like, what is your daily you know process kind of looks like? You know, like now that you're working from home, you know, you love that. Like, how does your day look at you know, working at the zebra?

SPEAKER_02 13:39

Yeah, I I love that question. I mean, every day is different, it's always it's always something different and exciting. Currently, a lot of the focus is on how do we scale and continue to grow? So as we look at our business, we're not just a referral business that sends clients. You don't just click on our site and go off to another site. We want to be there to help you. So, how can we build the best experience possible? So, as I think of my role in that, I'm thinking of two audiences, the customer and my agent. And how do I make the agent's life pleasant because they're gonna take back-to-back calls or run back-to-back chats? And how do I make it tolerable for the consumer who probably didn't wake up and think, I'm so excited to shop for insurance today, just like I didn't grow up thinking I'm gonna be in insurance, right?

SPEAKER_03 14:24

Same thing.

SPEAKER_02 14:25

So I think of those two audiences and what that looks like. And then I partner on a regular basis with our product team who's trying to put the best product forward to those who enter the site, right? And to and with our marketing and lifecycle team to make sure that we're sending out the best messages. So a lot of collaboration between departments, but always with the customer and the advisor in mind. A lot of time spent with our workforce management team. We've got a great workforce management team. What is everybody where they need to be to support the customers that they that they need to support? And then I've I've got, um, you know, looking at at your role, Vera, I've I've got operations, I've got sales, voice sales, and digital sales. And so a lot of conversations with are we giving the best um experience possible on the voice channel? If they call in and they want to talk to somebody, are we giving the best experience possible on the digital channel? What did yesterday's results look like? Did we handle all the traffic that came in? Did we sell them a policy? Did we meet their needs? All the things. So just every day it's the focus of the customer and the advisor and making all the pieces fit. There's a lot involved in people, leadership, that's a lot of fun because we're all still human, right? So how do how does that work?

SPEAKER_00 15:32

How does that work in the whole training and leadership? Because I can only imagine. I mean, how many agents are you working with?

SPEAKER_02 15:38

Oh, 150.

SPEAKER_00 15:39

And how's that training look like?

SPEAKER_02 15:41

I mean, yeah, I mean, yeah. Are you guys kids? She has a big smile on her face, like, yeah. It's fun. So um, man, I I hope that our our training and enablement manager gets to hear this and our our director, excuse me, our director of digital sales, but kudos to that team. We just onboarded our lot our largest class of agents ever this month. And it is uh quite a balancing act. You know, you you want to set them up for success. Try to get as many folks in a class as you can, get them going as quickly as possible, but also provide them valuable content and make sure that they're set up for success, and then continuous training from there in terms of best practices and ongoing training. So we do onboard fully online, which again I did, and I thought, how's this gonna go? It's incredible that how how well we've gotten it down to a science to being bring people in remotely and make sure they have all of their equipment and connect via Zoom and go through all of the training classes, and our training team really does an incredible job.

SPEAKER_00 16:42

Man, that's huge.

SPEAKER_01 16:44

I uh I was just having this conversation actually with my husband yesterday about how it sounds to me like the company understood that they have to set the container before they bring people up. You have to set the container, the boundaries, know what the values are, know how you're gonna do everything before you continue. Otherwise, it wouldn't run, I think, so smoothly considering all of the moving pieces you have. Yes, which is really great. I always I'm glad that Carlos always asks a qu um a similar question because it's interesting, I think, for our audience to understand how different parts of this industry function. I think when you're an agency owner or I mean, even uh agents, we're all consumers as well. It's not like we sometimes quote ourselves with our own products, right? We go out there and like, you know, see if we can get a better deal elsewhere or what have you. Um, but I think it's important to understand all of the layers and how it impacts your consumer because everything's intertwined. Um yeah. And I wonder, um, just based on everything that's going on in the industry, not just like state specific to Texas or like us who most of you know, a lot of the audiences in California or Arizona, Nevada, uh, what do you think? What do you think is going on with the industry? Are we getting better? Um, are you optimistic? Um also, and this is uh obviously so many questions within one big question. Uh, do you think that we are creating a better consumer as well?

SPEAKER_02 18:14

Consumer or consumer experience? A better consumer, a more educated. Yeah. Okay. So part one, absolutely, we are headed in a good direction. I'm I remain very optimistic. Had you asked me two years ago, I'd be gone, I don't know. I I might have to start looking for another job. And I don't know. What's my backup plan? No, um I feel very optimistic about where we're headed. And I gotta tell you, I look back. I was even talking with my operations director today, and he's like, Man, if you could look back at us two years ago versus where we are now and how far we've come, it's really, really incredible and so rewarding to have been through that. I remember um our CEO standing and telling us a couple a couple years ago, two and a half years ago, man, if you haven't quit, don't quit yet. It's it's gonna get better. And man has it. And I'm so glad that I've been here through that. I we we did go through some time where for the business's sake, we had to really tighten up our staffing. And I've been really fortunate to be able to continue on the ride with the zebra and to to come this far. And I do absolutely think we're headed in a great direction. We've seen positive trends with our carriers, offering products again, opening back up for new business. Um, we and and other products. So while maybe we're focused on just auto, where that's where the market allows, we're re-entering the home market, we're seeing a lot of positive trends there. So we're really excited again to continue to be able to meet the consumer's need. And second part of your question, absolutely, I think that we are, gosh, we're we're educating just on our end. If you've been to our site, there's so many different places where you can ask questions and educate yourself. And that's one of the other great things just about all of the, I mean, it could be a blessing and a curse because sometimes people come in so educated they just they know all the things, right? And you don't get a chance to do that.

SPEAKER_01 20:05

They're telling you how to solve it. Oh, that's exactly how to do this, right?

SPEAKER_02 20:10

I can't say I haven't been on the end of that where I'm like, excuse me, that's not how we're gonna do this. I mean, after all, we are uh in sh in insurance, so of course we're gonna be like, well Uh-huh. Or if you've been in any sort of customer service role, have you not been on the phone with somebody else trying to do a customer service role? I'm like, no, no, no, that's not how we're gonna do that. So, but we've given a lot of great material to our consumers to check out the website, to educate themselves, to learn what the differences are between, you know, quote unquote full coverage, which comprehensive incollision versus liability only. If you're in an accident, you take care of somebody else's damages, but not your own. All the things that are available out there to you, absolutely, because it's at our fingertips now and it's so accessible so quickly, we definitely have more educated buyers.

SPEAKER_01 20:59

And just on education, um I you mentioned something that's uh it's all it could also be a curse. Do you think that potentially too much information? It can be an overload, right? But I think it's also the case for the agents. Like, how do you handle that with the agents? How do you make sure that they're comfortable um talking to this new kind of consumer? Because the way that you have the website set up, it's not not just anyone's gonna go on there.

SPEAKER_02 21:30

Yeah, I like that call out so you don't want it too overwhelming. Yeah, I like the call out about it not being too the right balance of information. It's so important, and that's something that we're constantly revisiting. And you may test and you say, okay, well, who which group responds better to this? And how do we get people to engage with this? And are we doing the right things here? Because you do, you want to provide valuable content that people want to engage with and not drop, you know, they enter a few questions and they're like, forget this, I'm out of here. You know what I mean? So, do they have an opportunity to call in if they want to call in? If they want to stay and continue to chat, are we offering them the opportunity to chat, but not too many chats, just the right amount of chats? We don't want to overdo the number of questions we got to ask, right?

SPEAKER_00 22:08

Right.

SPEAKER_02 22:08

So I yeah, it can be overwhelming. And so we have worked really hard, especially the product team. Um I I have loved the collaboration with them, especially over the last year. Just what's the right amount of questions? Are we asking the right questions to keep um so that we can accurately quote an individual and provide them the right price without overwhelming them and going, why did we ask this question? Does that even affect their rate? Throw that out. Like, come on, let's be practical, practical about the questions that we're asking and be in intentional.

SPEAKER_00 22:39

Cool. I have a question, and it might be a two-part question, but um okay, so what is your take? And I know, I mean, as far as your that ITC and everything, but what is your take as far as AI? AI innovation, and I know you work with a lot of agents, right? And you mentioned before in the beginning of your whole career of your journey was uh, you know, claims, you're dealing with people over the phone, and you know, obviously AI, I'm a huge believer that AI is here not to replace you, but it can replace you with someone who knows how to use AI, right? That's just my take on it. But you know, how do you talk to people or the mindset of like, hey, you know, um don't be scared of it? You know, it's kind of like, yeah, insurance. I mean, I think since 2020 to now, I think AI and and insurance tech has evolved so quickly. And I'm sure you can kind of remember from the 2020 till now, it's just like look at it right now. So, what's your take on AI and insurance tech and I mean and the agents, how do they process it? Because I mean, it's I hate to say it, but I mean, at least from our side, from what we talked to a lot of agents, they don't I mean, I know it's a business thing, but some of these agents take this thing personally. I mean, like you said, you've used, you know, I ordered groceries through an online app and it just showed up on my doorstep now. I don't even have to go anywhere. You know, some people, if you tell them that, for some reason they take it to heart. Like, like, oh no, that's just weird. Like, why would I do that? I'd rather just go to the store, you know?

SPEAKER_02 24:06

Oh, so fair. But on the flip side, we also provided jobs to those delivery drivers who didn't have them.

SPEAKER_00 24:12

Correct. That's it.

SPEAKER_02 24:13

So here's where I here's where I draw the connection with AI and I and I think about what that looks like. You're right that it's potential, there's there's some potential, like what does it replace somebody? But it it doesn't replace the human one for one. It's it's not just I'm gonna give this tool and get rid of this human. Now, if you're not open to the idea of using a tool and evolving and moving along, there may not be a place for you and because you got to get on board. This is where we're headed. Right. And I see that as somebody who is one of the older individuals that I work with. You talk about, okay, this is a safe space. I I've been determined not to be aged out of this industry. I'm gonna learn the things, I'm gonna want to learn, I wanna learn about the different technology, I'm gonna figure it out. I'm gonna get my hands dirty. And so Chat GPT has become my best friend, right? It's not gonna replace me, it's gonna make me better. That's the way I look at it. And so when I think about the advisor experience, it's the same thing. Um, we have tools that help them be more efficient and more effective so we can meet more customers where they're at on a daily basis, and or be available to answer some of these questions fully online and save the I wouldn't say high-value interactions, if you will, or the more complicated interactions. We can talk through that with somebody over the phone. So the low-hanging fruit, if you will, that frees up the advisors to really handle those more complicated interactions. That doesn't mean they're being replaced. It's like, hey, these things, can I pay my bill online? Can I get insurance cards online? Can I figure out if I'm eligible for such and such product? And then if I am, then I'll get connected with an advisor. Outside of that, like it's just there to make our lives easier again, be more efficient, more effective. Some of the tools that we're looking at, they're so super cool. Cut down on the interactions, cut down on the number of times you pivot from carrier to carrier. Hey, let's just pair them with the right carrier to start with so we don't have to quote five of them and it takes 30 minutes, we cut it down to 10, things like that. Um cut down on the number of transfers, help with the pre-qualification. So there's so many things that make our lives easier. And for anybody that is skeptical, I get it. You know, I mean, it's it's easy to have that healthy amount of fear and trust, but verify, you know, you want to live in that space, but man, the benefits that I've seen to the tools that we're looking at, it's just so cool. We can analyze more interactions and make sure that we're looking at how our customers are interacting with our advisors and we're coaching them appropriately. It helps us internally, it helps the consumer. I just um start to finish, it's just been great for us.

SPEAKER_01 26:47

I take everything that you've said, and I I asked the listener to that if for those of you that are scared of everything that's changing, they might, you know, I think in face value they're they're like, no, no, no, no, no. I'm all about Chat GPT, right? But how are you using it for your business? How are you using whether you use chat or CLOT or you know, whoever else comes out with a new one? Um, I think that they there is this fear that it's going to overtake, but I'm with you on how it I'm I've always said it's just supposed to be there to help you become superhuman. Utilizing all these tools, even though I think some consumers are not fully educated on tech, they have no choice anymore because everything that they do, it involves an app or some kind of sign up for points, or you know, and whenever that I find that there's resistance to um embracing some kind of tech, the question that I always go to is do you have TikTok or Facebook? Oh, yeah, I'm on there all the time. I love it. I'm like, well, then you can use this. Like, this is so much easier, right? This is good for your life. So I think it's just one of those things where you have to just make a decision. And I also think I tell a lot of agency owners, I'm sure it's the same with the zebra. If somebody comes to your website, if somebody comes to your agency and they can't work the way that you want them to work with you, then they're not for you. It's very simple. Like they should go somewhere else.

SPEAKER_02 28:12

To a certain extent. The only part I push back there is like, and that's that's why we do customer surveys, right? What about our experience wasn't for you? And is there something that we are missing? Now, if you are just one out of hundreds of thousands, okay, we may not be. But if we can't consistently feed get that feedback, is there something we should do to adapt to meet that consumer where they're at? And that's really what we've done by adding this digital path. We were 100% voice. Now 70% of our traffic stays digital. That's a huge swing.

SPEAKER_01 28:43

And that just goes to show that people are okay with it.

SPEAKER_02 28:46

That's correct. But we still offer them the opportunity. So one of the things that we've really talked about is you don't force anybody to go down a path that they don't want to go down.

SPEAKER_00 28:54

I like that.

SPEAKER_02 28:55

Because then you then you get them on their chat or their their voice, that they're already resistant because you just made them come in the way that you want them to. That's just not starting out of the relationship great, right? So we allow different avenues. Do you want to stay on the phone? Do you want to continue to chat? Do you chat until it's like, okay, I've got some more questions. I feel I feel good about where I'm at, but now I really want to just finish off the sale with somebody just to double check. We can do that.

SPEAKER_01 29:20

Yeah. No, that's great. I and I love the A B testing that goes on. I think that's how you figure out whether or not you're uh because as you said, you're meeting the customer where they're at, and they can participate in any which way they want.

SPEAKER_00 29:32

From a consumer's point of view, okay? From a consumer's point of view, what have you guys seen as like the biggest misconception a consumer has from like buying and comparing insurance online? And like I mean, and and once and and I'm sure you guys can see that. I mean, how does the zebra like bridge that gap to make sure we can clarify that?

SPEAKER_02 29:53

Building trust because you're making this switch from you know, maybe a face-to-face interaction where you feel like you're really able to go over all that. You you're having to have trust in technology.

SPEAKER_03 30:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 30:03

So that's where this educational piece comes in in terms of bridging the gap. How can we make sure that our education checks out? If they want to check out, and okay, well, go go verify that this information is legit. Our carriers are legit. We've got a lot of great carriers. We work with a lot of great carriers, you know. So we want to make sure we bridge the gap, provide the educational resources, have advisors who are educated and well trained and can walk them through the process to help build that confidence. And then they go, Okay, I trust you. You're a trusted advisor. I get it. You're licensed, you know what you're talking about. Thank you for making me feel more comfortable. But I think it's just that the mindset, this is a little different of a if you've never bought insurance online, it's a little different. Once you've done it, I can't imagine going back, right? But that's true, that's true. But the grocery delivery, why would I ever go back if I can have it delivered to my door?

SPEAKER_00 30:52

I agree. And I think one of the key factors, and I tell agents this all the time, is the fact that the education part. I think if you can educate a consumer, I don't even think that you have to sell because once they're educated, they know and they feel confident, you know. But sometimes, you know, I get it. There's selling behind it, all this good stuff and questions. But when you throw certain terms to a consumer, they might not understand it. But if you have an educational portion on your website or online or whatever, I think that's a huge win because, like I said, you know, if you can educate a client, then I mean, you don't really have to try to sell them because if you get it.

SPEAKER_02 31:33

Yeah. That's it's so interesting. The tying back to something that you said earlier when we're talking about you don't really grow up thinking, oh, I want to be an insurance agent when I grow up. One of the one of the things that I've shared in terms of talent that maybe they've come from a previous career and they transition well to an insurance agent. I've shared this for many years as I've recruited. I have found that teachers and coaches make great insurance agents. One of my agency directors used to be a coach. Fantastic. And one of our people business partners was a teacher, and she's great because they have that educational piece, because they're able to speak in such a way that they understand how to educate. It's not this like use car salesperson persona of a sale, you know what I mean, of that sort of experience. It's this let me help you along this journey and educate you and help you understand, and we're gonna walk it together. And by the end of it, they didn't sell you something, they're just your partner and helping make sure that you're set up and taken care of.

SPEAKER_01 32:25

Yeah, that's awesome. I love that. I always say you just have to give them the ABC one, two, three of it. You know, it's like I love that. That's so nice to hear. That sorry, Carlos, I interrupted you.

SPEAKER_00 32:37

No, no, no, no. No, it's it's and it's to add to that. So in the beginning of the year, I I got sick, right? I won't get into details of it, but I had a lot of time to I guess read and think and all that stuff, you know. When you actually sick, you don't really have much to do but to think and read. And one thing that I found really interesting was is that so many consumers, well, one, they used to use Google, right? But Chat GPT now is growing so much where consumers are asking questions and getting educated before buying a product, buying anything. It could go from herbal tease, it could go from buying insurance, it could go by buying a car. The comparisons they're at they're using chat GPT as someone as more like and it's sad to say, but more trusted person. Like, okay, look, they're not gonna try to sell me anything, obviously, because chat GPT is not selling me, but I feel like they'll give me an educated answer, you know.

SPEAKER_01 33:28

I did it my last car purchase. So I do with a ton of things.

SPEAKER_00 33:34

Yeah, and I think that I think education is one of the keyest points. Now, I'm not saying that because my background is in education and insurance and all that, but I'm always I always tell consumers because I mean agents, that you know, when p agents come to our classes and and we're doing training and all that, the one question they always ask us is like, okay, how would you sell it? And I was like, I'm not, I wouldn't sell it. You know how I just explained this to you and you guys got it? I do the same thing to the same thing to the client. Yeah, that's it. What I'm teaching you guys is what I teach consumers. Yeah, and and when they get it, they it's kind of like I don't have to try to sell because they're already telling me what they want. Yeah you know, and if they and and if I don't do a good job of educating them, they're still gonna be iffy and maybe say, Hey, we'll call you back, or let us time to think. And that kind of tell me.

SPEAKER_02 34:24

If they don't understand what they need or don't believe they need it, why would they buy it?

SPEAKER_00 34:27

Exactly. So I think those are the key points that education is always a key factor, you know. You just be surprised, you know?

SPEAKER_03 34:33

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:33

Like you you mentioned earlier, full coverage, right? Now you could have just left at full coverage, but you took the time to explain, you know, oh, liability, you know, comprehensive and collision. It's like, all right, cool, you know.

SPEAKER_02 34:43

It's a pet beef, I gotta tell you, it's coming out to intention. I'm like, we don't say full coverage right here. Always say many different things, and and you you gotta pause and you go, okay, wait a minute, when you say full coverage, do you mean comprehensive and collision, or do you also mean glass coverage? And do you want roadside? And what else does that mean to you?

SPEAKER_00 35:00

Yeah, but you but you pause and and and and and gave us that okay, it's this, this. I was like, all right, cool, cool. You know, like but that's and that's what I'm saying. You know, sometimes people are just saying full coverage. And I mean, like, I don't care what you guys say, but like to a consumer, that could be misleading or maybe not understanding. Like, well, what does that really mean? But if you take the time to explain to them, it's just that much better. And I think it's a better experience for the consumer or the agent. I agree.

SPEAKER_01 35:23

Yeah, and then they can tell their friends how much they know about insurance. So I keep hearing you talk about your advisors, your agents, and um, something that I I when I was reading up on you, I love that you you mentioned you like to lead with heart and innovation. And just talking to you in this brief time, I hear a lot of that. Um, but what does that mean to you? Like, can you share with our audience what does that mean? And what does that mean for your for your team, for everyone that you deal with on a daily basis? What does that mean?

SPEAKER_02 35:57

Gosh, if my my team didn't say that I that it didn't lead with some heart, we'd be in some real trouble. I they know that I'm passionate about what we do. Sometimes a little too much. It's like, okay, Katie's fired up today. But um if your heart's not in it, man, I just it's yeah, what are you doing? And and gosh, those are the hard conversations, even sometimes you have to have with employees. Like, I can are you sure this is what you want to do? Because it doesn't sound like it. You know, are you so thinking about where your heart's at? And and when I think about leading with heart and innovation, I'm I'm thinking about the people, but I'm also thinking about how can we be innovative and move forward. So tech and talent. The talent is the people, the technology is where we're headed in terms of technology. So you've got to lead with both. You've got to be willing to be innovative, to move forward, to be open-minded, to be agile, to be flexible. But you can't move do that at such a pace that you leave the people behind, like, oh, just forget it, we're just gonna go get all these things. Hold on, we're gonna bring our team along, we're gonna see if this is making sense and how it feels. We're gonna test the things, we're gonna do a little bit at a time. We fail fast, we fail forward, we test lots of things, but we always do it with the consumer and the and the advisor in mind. So when I think about part and innovation, it's just that thinking about our people and also thinking about how we move forward together.

SPEAKER_01 37:18

Yeah. And I think that really ties into this idea of you can digitize without losing a personal touch. Yep, absolutely. So if folks wanted to get to know the zebra more, um, where do you recommend that they uh go check it out? And also if they wanted to follow you, for example, on LinkedIn, yeah, where can so they can absolutely um Katie Gold.

SPEAKER_02 37:44

I I do re post a lot with the zebra. You can also follow the zebra. We've got a lot of cool things being posted, as especially we've we were on um PC Agency of the Year. That's recently been been shared. We've had a lot of cool things happening, so a lot of that is being shared on LinkedIn and social. Follow us on Instagram. Um, now in terms of the zebra specifically, you can go to thezebra.com, look at our career. We actually have as as we scale and expand, we've got some really cool openings. So depending on on the background, there's some great opportunities with us right now. Um, so if you're interested in working for the zebra, check out thezebra.com and look at our careers page. If you um you just want to learn more about insurance, come check out the page. There's a contact us page, there's a lot of different pages LinkedIn that will help linked in the site, linked on the site, not LinkedIn. The let's not get that confused, but linked on the site to help educate you about all the different products.

SPEAKER_01 38:37

Amazing. And if you wouldn't mind leaving, I'd say our audience with um, again, you did say you're optimistic, but if there is one thing that you can impart, let's say, on an agent coming into this industry for the first time ever, uh, what would you tell them?

SPEAKER_02 38:56

Oh man, what an exciting time to be in entering the industry. That's what I would say.

SPEAKER_00 39:00

I love it.

SPEAKER_02 39:01

I if I looking back to 2009, when I entered the industry to where we're at now, man, what an exciting time. The the pace at which we can learn things, the amount of information at our fingertips, how quickly we can educate ourselves and then other people, the tools at our disposal. I would say what an exciting time to be joining and welcome.

SPEAKER_01 39:26

Thank you so much for being here, Katie.

SPEAKER_02 39:28

Of course. Thanks for having me. This was fun.

SPEAKER_00 39:30

Awesome. And we hope to see you. I'm not sure if uh this year you're gonna be at ITC.

SPEAKER_02 39:35

I don't know. Stay tuned. I'm you know, I I had so much fun this last year. I got to join um some of the carrier meetings that our carrier manager uh ran. I got to see some of our reps from some of the it's just a time that there's a lot of different carrier partners in one place, so they schedule a ton of meetings. Nice around that time. I really enjoyed that part too. So I've been told I might be going back again. We'll see. We'll see. We'll see.

SPEAKER_00 39:56

And if you are, we'll definitely be there and we'll definitely have to bump and talk and get a little update. Maybe you know, we'll see where I mean a lot could change is in a couple months.

SPEAKER_02 40:04

Oh man, a couple months is is an eternity in in the the world we're living in. So that's that's for sure.

SPEAKER_00 40:10

All right, until next time, guys.