Blind Squirrels Get Lucky. Professionals Get Strategic.

Tired of feeling invisible while lesser agents get the calls? We break down a simple, durable system to get found fast and chosen first by the right clients. The strategy lives on three pillars—online presence, community presence, and brand presence—and we show how to stitch them into a visibility web that compounds over time.

We start with the “new storefront”: your online footprint. You’ll learn how to audit your Google Business profile, why the local three-pack matters, and what to post so searchers see a real, local professional. We talk reviews with intent, NAP consistency, service areas, photos that build trust, and why organic search is far from dead when you treat it like a habit. Then we move into community—mall walking groups, libraries, senior centers, parades, markets—places where repeated, non-solicit touchpoints create familiarity. Presence is credibility; when neighbors already know your face and name, referrals feel natural and conversations start warmer.

Branding ties everything together. Stop leading with carriers and uplines; lead with you. Your face, name, and direct line are your most powerful assets, especially early on. We cover simple branding wins: a clean logo, domain-based email, compliant materials that still feel human, and a clear “why” that clients can repeat to friends. We also dig into direct response mail that still works when it’s personal and precise, and how mail sparks search—so your online setup must confirm what your postcard promised. Throughout, we share practical routines and examples you can use this week to move from a small flashlight to a neighborhood bonfire.

If you’re ready to replace guesswork with a repeatable path to calls, appointments, and reviews, this is your playbook. Subscribe for more strategies, share this with a fellow agent who needs a boost, and leave a quick review to tell us which pillar you’ll tackle first.

Transcript

From Hidden To Visible

SPEAKER_00 0:05

Welcome to the Invisible Agent Podcast, the show for insurance agents ready to go from unknown to unstoppable, where visibility, strategy, and real-world execution meet. Hosted by Dave Cheatham and Mike Sorensen.

Online As The New Storefront

Google Business Done Right

Building A Local Web

Community Presence Over Soliciting

Brand Yourself, Not Carriers

Phone, Face, And Name As Assets

Professional Setup And Domain Email

Family-Led Brand Philosophy

Direct Response Mail That Works

The Visibility Web In Action

From Flashlight To Bonfire

SPEAKER_01 0:26

Welcome to the Invisible Agent, going from Unknown to Unstoppable, episode two, my name's Dave, and we're going to talk about the three simple ways for your clients to find you. Even a blind squirrel finds a nut. Today we want to discuss the three areas agents should be thinking about to become seen in their market. As a kid, one of the things that we used to play was a game called Sardines in the Can. It's kind of the reverse of hide and seek. You see, I would go hide or somebody would go hide, and then the rest of the people would go find that individual. But when they find them, they stay with them. And as they do, the group grows larger and larger and larger. The idea is the first person to find the individual that hides first, they're going to go hide next, but they're completely hidden. And so I used to play this game and I would go into these weird areas, uh, you know, like um in a kitchen and in a commercial kitchen, I would go under the chef's table and you're underneath the chef's table, the chef rack. And next thing you know, somebody else comes and they have to fit in with you and get as close as you possibly can so that other people don't find you. However, when you play with 26 to 50 people, all of a sudden it's a lot easier to be seen. Well, the point of this is we don't want to play sardines in the can. We want to be the opposite. We want to be out there right away so that as your clientele can find you, your prospects can find you. So we're going to talk about three different areas specifically. We're going to talk about the online, we're going to talk about community, and we're going to talk about branding. And so when we do that, let's let's talk about online first. So I used to call this the new brick and mortar. You see, I have an office. I have a brick and mortar area. It's not a retail, but it's an office. We have many agents that also have retail locations. You walk by and they see a retail location. However, in today's environment, individuals are going online to find you. Even with other marketing that we do through our agency and that we we hire out to other marketing organizations, the individual receives something, it might have my name on it. I'm no longer marketing. That's not what we do. We help agents uh grow their insurance business. But if we are doing it, if we're if I'm if I'm marketing myself as an example, and this is what I did over 20 years ago, I've been in the business over 20 years, and I changed my mindset. My mindset when I first got into this business was I was told go after family and friends. You know, that great two, you know, 250 names. Oh, don't worry, you're not going to talk to them and sell them. And then you have to the 250 names, you get them to give you two people, which is now 500, and you go after those individuals. Well, I said I couldn't do that. That's not my mode. My methodology is totally different. I didn't go after family and friends to build a business. So I had to figure out marketing ideas. Well, over 20 years ago, the online marketing was completely different. Today it's so easy to do, it's very cost effective when done correctly. In fact, a lot of it is zero cost. So we call this the new brick and mortar. Why? Because people are online searching for you. So I'll tell you what, when you have a chance, pull up a browser or go on your phone and go on to Chrome. And in Chrome, click the incognito mode and then type in incognito mode for for me, Medicare agent in whatever town you're in, and see where you rank online. Now, you might not show up high on Google in their normal methodology, but your business should be on Google. So, first of all, do you have a Google presence, a Google business presence? If not, you're missing the boat. But number two, your Google business needs to be set up properly. So one of the individuals and one of our directors of growth and business development that you'll hear on these podcasts, right, is Mike. And Mike has taken things that I've been taught over the years and really refined and built on. And we've been now teaching agents that. And all of a sudden, an insurance agent goes from almost no presence online to all of a sudden having a number of Google business reviews and seen. And next thing you know, from there, they're being found. So it's free organic traffic. Anyone that tells you that SEO is dead, it's not dead. It has to be done properly. And we know how to do that. And you need to be online. That's just one place, Google Business. There's a number of other places you need to be online so that you can be found really easily in your area. If you're not in the Google Business three-pack, you need to be. If you don't know what that is, reach out. We're more than happy to help and discuss you and even do a review of your Google business. But that it doesn't end there. So the idea of being seen in your market doesn't just happen in one local place. You have to create this web. So that goes on to the community. So my question for you is where are you in the community? Are you giving back to the community? Are you doing local events in the community? And is that local events by the people you want to be seeing? Right. So one of the things is an example, not even a local event, but just something that I have done is uh we had a pretty large mall here. We still have the large mall, even though a lot of the malls are being closed nowadays, uh torn down and other things are being built. But uh, there's a couple of malls in the area. One was called Woodfield in Schomburg, another one, Stratford. That was in Bloomingdale, Yorktown, right? Charlestown Mall here in St. Charles, where my office is. Almost all of them had walking groups. And it was early in the morning. I would wake up and I didn't do this every day, but it's one of the things I did. And I would go there and I would walk with people. And I would do it on a regular basis, not every day, but I did on a somewhat regular basis for a while. And what I have found was you create a community within the people you see, right? And you talk to them. And if you're not there, they, oh, where were you, Dave? Or hey, where were you, Mary? Where were you, Charlie? How have you been? Long time no see. Hey, how is your snow burning down? Do you, oh, is it Arizona you go to? Whatever that is. But ultimately, what it is is you're building relationships in that community. And eventually you're going to talk about what you do, what they did, all those other things. That's one area, right? So many people are focused on the food banks or the soup kitchens. There's so many other places that have local events taking place. A local event in itself don't think of it as a place to go fishing, meaning I'm not looking necessarily for all of the people that uh to become a client, but more that I am being seen and who and what I do. We have some individuals that are in in local areas in which they do your different um parades, right? So in a parade, is there a parade in your town or the area that you market that you can be a part of that as an example, right? So there's different ways. Highly recommend going into your community and finding local events that you might be able to be at, right? To be at a table, at a booth. But not only that, but even if you don't do that, just go be present. Again, don't go soliciting. That's not your idea. If I go to an area that um I'm not to solicit in because I'm not paying to solicit, but I just want to be present. I want to be there. Now, that's an important thing. Having that as a key part of your marketing, right? Presence is key. So I'm gonna take it to another step. You know, one of the things I wanted to be talking about, building relationships, really, because that's really what this is about, is being present. Even if it all it is, is being in the same room together. One of my friends who does marriage counseling used to say some of the healthiest relationships is when a couple can be in the same room and they're comfortable with silence with each other. Because it's the relationship of presence. Being present is extremely important. And are you present? So it's not just local events, but are you present in your community in which you serve? And one of the other big keys beyond just that, which we can go on for days and days and days about how to build in community and building online, but then it's your branding. And hopefully you have your branding. And some carriers hate hearing this when I say it, but you have to stop branding a carrier. You have to stop branding an upline. You have to stop branding all those other people. You should have a business that you brand yourself. It's why we as an agency, when we when we do work with agents, we offer to create their own logo. It's a unique logo for them if they don't have one. We offer help to business card. We'll create other assets for them. That's them. It's why when we do marketing, we put it all through the compliance to make sure it's compliant, but we then put their branding on it, their logo, their name, their face, their phone number. Do not, do not think for a second that your phone number is not a marketing asset. It is. Do not think that your logo is not a marketing asset. It is. But more importantly for you, unless you have thousands upon thousands of dollars, is your face, your name. Not you're necessarily your company name. Eventually you'll you'll get built that. But in the beginning, if you're just starting, you have to have to be very clear when you deal with these branding issues. That biggest branding that you can do is you, right? Your face, your name, your phone number. I have an email from a long time ago, an email that I do not use for business anymore. However, I still have clients that use it. One of the first things I did, I tell people, hey, listen, go get a domain name and go get an email with that domain name. It's not that expensive. It's part of your branding. Especially in today's environment of trust. Be a professional. And by doing so, you have to have a business. You should have a business name. You should contract underneath your business in your business name, do it appropriately, right? I see a lot of agents that don't do it correctly. Um, and in fact, it's it's really difficult for them. We tell agents you should do that from day one. I just did a consultation. I talked on the phone for almost two hours with an individual that I don't know if they're going to come with us. I don't, I don't know. But we had a really good conversation about marketing, marketing them, not marketing us. Really think about when you're doing the marketing, you have to have your own why and your why and why you why you do this, your love, your passion, your name of your company, all those things should be really a part of who you are. So the company I own is Family Financial Solutions Group. Before any people know that, they would see me. But Family Financial Solutions Group is not my domain name. It is not my the name they see on everything. They see FFSG INC. Why? Because my logo has that. But we have the family on there and we do other things. But I did that before we ever had a family. I have a wife, which is my family, yes. And we now have a dog. And uh before my dog, we didn't have kids, we don't have kids. So one of the things I said is, and people ask us, Dave, why family? When I came up with the name, we were actually working with small business owners. And before I ever thought that I would do what I'm doing today, I really said my business was going to be based on those words: family, financial solutions group, right? There's a group of people that come together that create solutions for people's challenges. And it really is dealing with the financial aspects of people's lives. And we're all based on family. We treat our clients like family. And now, as a business, as we have employees, we are a family. We care for one another, we talk to one another, we party with one another, we we play hard and we work hard. But at all of it, it's all about caring for people and that relationship that we have for one another. It's key. Do you always get along with family? No, you don't. Sometimes you bicker, fight. But I say this because your brand is that, right? Creating that family atmosphere was really key. Now, not every agent that comes on with us is really wants to embrace that, and that's okay, right? We're all autonomous. We only we all have our own business. But as we have grown this FMO, we really have seen that that's key, right? What why do we do what we do is because we know that the insurance business could be a lonely business and we need connection in that. So we're really trying to be intentional about that family and that branding and who we are. All of that ties together because that is seen online, seen in the community and when you do other marketing. I'm a big believer in direct response mail, not just mail, but direct response mail. Underneath the current regulations and rules between the FTC, FCC, CMS, and all these other entities, legal entities, we never had to change how we marketed. Because I believed fundamentally that people, if I'm gonna spend a dime or a dollar or a thousand dollars or ten thousand dollars, they should be knowing who they're contacting. So when I would send out mail pieces, they knew they were getting who? David, right? That's who it was. Matter of fact, it wasn't David, it was Dave. Why? Because that's how the family atmosphere. People in my family call me Dave. Very few people call me David. So Dave, right? And my direct line, my phone number and my logo wasn't on everything. I didn't need my logo or I wasn't branding my logo in the beginning. I had to brand me, right? Because it's a relationship business. Now, if you're a big call center or things like that, right? They they're calling somebody and they don't know who they are. But when we're talking about local, people want to know who they're working with. They want to be able to do a handshake if they want to. If they want to drive by and see, or you go see them, right? They want to see you what we call the old days the belly-to-belly sales. But to me, the belly-to-belly sales was the belly-to-belly relationship. I used to call people and talk to people that called me, right? So I would send out these postcards and letters and people would call me. My phone would ring. I wouldn't be calling them. And I would answer the phone and I would walk through them the different solutions. And next thing you know, I have an appointment to go see them to enroll them. And people go, but Dave, you did all the work online. You could do the application online. Why'd you do that? Because I didn't have an office at the time. And I wanted to see the people because I wanted to build that relationship. So your branding is about you, but direct response mail, I'm going to tell you, if you're not doing it, is a game changer. Uh we've had some agents, we've we've created different mailing pieces, and I've spent tens of thousands of upon thousands of dollars perfecting different mail pieces. And um when they don't work, it usually is because it's there's a system and people don't follow the system. But when we do it, and the people that do it, and they do it as we teach them to do it, we have agents closing business. And it's one of the ways that the phone is ringing. But here's one of the keys, and one of the things we really found since 2019, going into 2020, and especially 2021, we have found that when they receive that mailpiece and they see my name, if that's who it is, which it isn't, but if it was, they would go, Dave Cheatham is doing a turning 65 event, or he's doing this event, or he's doing this event, whatever it is, and I'm inviting them or I'm asking them to call me, what are they doing? They're looking me up. And if they can't find me online, there's a problem. And then maybe they don't have to find me online because they know who I am from being in the community. So it's this web that's being created that you have to create the web. So if you want to go from being unstoppable, right? You want to go to unstoppable, you're completely unknown. And to become unstoppable, you really have to think about creating this presence. And people have to this web that they know you. And so I say it all the time. I tell agents, if they hear your name, what do they think? If they think Medicare and they don't think you and your community, then you're not getting the business. If your clients, if somebody mentioned something to them about Medicare or life insurance or whatever you're selling, if they do not know the you when they when they think of that. So there's a number of times in which what we would see is an individual would be out to dinner and somebody would say, Hey, you know, this happened. My client would go, you know, you should really talk to my insurance agent, Dave. He can he might be able to help you if he can't, he'll tell you. Right. Or you're in the community and they see you, and next thing you know, they come by and they go, you know, I think you've been mailing me. I I didn't know who you were. And we start talking. So this you're building this opportunity. So again, really, really think about please get out of the mindset of playing sardines in the can. You don't want to be sardines in the can. You don't want to be hidden that no one finds you. You want to be seen. So if I was playing sardines in the can today, and instead of repelling people, I want to attract them. We used to play at night. I would turn on my flashlight so they can see me. I want them to find me. So you get out of the darkness, get out of the shadows, and get into the light. And please focus on these three areas if you're really wanting. If you're if you're unknown, you have to focus on these three areas. More than happy to help you. It doesn't cost anything. We are on a mission. And the mission is to help as many insurance beneficiaries as possible. Because we've seen a lot of Medic Medicare beneficiaries, a lot of life insurance beneficiaries, a lot of health insurance beneficiaries be on the wrong plans. We need agents that are going to do right by people, but they're not going to know who you are if you're not out there, if you're not being seen. So we want to go from that one little flashlight or that little match to that big, big bonfire. And we want to help you get there if we can. So if you get value out of this, please let us know. These podcasts are really for you. If you have ideas that you want to hear about more about, please let us know. At the end of the day, we do not pay for marketing to promote this podcast. It only grows if you find value in this and share it. Keep following us and as we show insurance businesses how to go from unknown to unstoppable. We really thank you for today. Thank you for listening, and we'll see you next time.

SPEAKER_00 19:50

We do not do any paid marketing to promote this podcast. It only grows if you find value in this and share it. Keep following as we show insurance business owners how to go from unknown to unstoppable. Thank you for listening, and we will see you next week.