How To Avoid The Highest Cost In Your Insurance Agency | Insurance Agency Playbook
Feb 26, 2024Season 3Episode 676
The Insurance Dudes: Craig Pretzinger & Jason Feltman
The Insurance Dudes are on a mission to find the best insurance agentsaround the country to find out how they are creating some of the top agencies. But they do not stop there, they also bring professionals from other industries for insights that can help agents take their agencies to the next level.
The Insurance Dudes focus on your agency’s four pillars: Hiring, Training, Marketing and Motivation! We have to keep the sword sharp if we want our agencies to thrive.
Insurance Dudes are leaders in their home, at their office and in their community. This podcast will keep you on track with like minded high performing agents while keeping entertained!
About Jason and Craig:
Both agents themselves, they both have scaled to around $10 million in premium. After searching for years for a system to create predictability in their agencies, they developed the Telefunnel after their interviews with so many agents and business leaders.
Taking several years, tons of trial and error, and hundreds of thousands of dollars on lead spend, they’ve optimized their agencies and teams to write tons of premium, consistently, and nearly on autopilot!
The Insurance Dudes are on a mission to find the best insurance agentsaround the country to find out how they are creating some of the top agencies. But they do not stop there, they also bring professionals from other industries for insights that can help agents take their agencies to the next level.
The Insurance Dudes focus on your agency’s four pillars: Hiring, Training, Marketing and Motivation! We have to keep the sword sharp if we want our agencies to thrive.
Insurance Dudes are leaders in their home, at their office and in their community. This podcast will keep you on track with like minded high performing agents while keeping entertained!
About Jason and Craig:
Both agents themselves, they both have scaled to around $10 million in premium. After searching for years for a system to create predictability in their agencies, they developed the Telefunnel after their interviews with so many agents and business leaders.
Taking several years, tons of trial and error, and hundreds of thousands of dollars on lead spend, they’ve optimized their agencies and teams to write tons of premium, consistently, and nearly on autopilot!
It's a playbook and I'm going to tell you what is the highest cost in your insurance agency?
Craig Pretzinger:
Oh, tell me. Tell me. Insurance dudes are on a mission to escape big hit by our agents.
Jason Feltman:
How? by uncovering the secrets to creating a predictable, consistent and profitable agency Sales Machine.
Craig Pretzinger:
I am Craig Pretzinger.
Jason Feltman:
I am Jason Feldman. We are agents. We are insurances. So we were just talking about on the last podcast, we're talking about your agents, right? And the cost, we can't afford to not hit these numbers. Right, right. That's what they were saying. And it just triggered in my brain. I'm like, Dude, that's what we talk to a lot of agencies about. And like, I tell the story a lot about what was the cost of me not opening up the other scratch agency. The other few years ago, when I did. Now at that point, I had three kids. And I was having another kid, or I was going to like that was the debate team, me and my wife. And I wanted to open up the scratch agency, we were able to there's incredibly high commissions at the time. And it was the worst time that I ever could have done this. Like, like, it was such a pain point between me and my wife. And we decided to do both at the same time. So it actually aligned by like, one or two months, I think, one a month apart between the opening of that agency and having my kid and I was aggressive. I want to open with 15 sales agents, I think I wanted to do like 18 was on the plan. But I think I got like, I got to 15. And so you can only start hiring. I think we started hiring maybe a lit like almost two months early, but like really got aggressive the last month, but like it was like a ramp up. It's
Craig Pretzinger:
like, I think it's so hard that that time when you're like hiring for a place that you don't even have and have no cash flow. Right,
Jason Feltman:
right. Yeah, zero cash flow. And you know,
Craig Pretzinger:
like, logically, I have to do it early, otherwise problems. But I don't want to split, you know,
Jason Feltman:
yeah. And so I didn't, so I had a, I had a bonus from that year that I got from from the prior year of investing a lot. And it was basically all the x extra money. And that that was like the beginning of it right? I was gonna invest all that in it in more if I had to. So it was a very hard time to do it. But I did it. And we got through it. And actually, I had to make a deal that I would work less if I opened the scratch agency, but just give me three months of working a little bit more. So that's what we I did and I held to it. I was actually home by 5pm Every day after the first three months. So I've worked Yeah, yeah. I think
Craig Pretzinger:
it's important to recognize for you like it's big is that not only did you you did that and you said I'm going to work less and go home at five which I can attest that you did because there were times when we needed to do stuff and you're like you're talking on the phone as you're driving home and pulling in your
Jason Feltman:
that's what we did the whole teleties Tell funnel agency and there was a lot going on at that time. That was crazy. Oh,
Craig Pretzinger:
yeah, that's what I'm sorry. I totally dropped off. But But what was what was happening is we're talking three months before, like so you're going in and now we have three months before COVID happens. Oh, yeah, yeah. River that I asked everybody on the call if they remember COVID And everybody did so. Yeah, yeah.
Jason Feltman:
And it was a crazy time in my life. So in I there's a lot of pressure and I look at that point. And I think I could have not have done that. Right. And I could have saved that bonus money and everything but the cost of not doing that would have been around it's in the millions. Yeah, yes. Yes. Yeah. In the millions of dollars so no joke like the cost of not doing that would have cost me over a million dollars for sure. Like we're talking way over baby.
Craig Pretzinger:
Like honestly, I think that decision I know for me, because I bid it was 1213 years of of doing okay, you know like having some some bonuses some year you know, we max at one time but never consistently month after month after month crushing, right? Yeah. It that opening that thing was life changing. Like if I didn't open up that that agency and do what we did back then if I had said you know what? I'm not sure. And then when COVID came up, I said I'm not sure like yeah, it's a total I'm, I'm not having we're not having this conversation. There's no such thing as as tele dudes are idea that I wouldn't have, you know, four sales producers doing 250 This month like it just like it's insane. And you would have cost millions of dollars.
Jason Feltman:
And now you have multiple properties that are generating income outside of agency. So there's a lot less isn't one decision. So let's let's what does that principle then it is really the cost of not, I don't know if for anybody listening, if you haven't heard of a book called 10x is greater than 2x, or 10x is easier than 2x. And it's by Benjamin Hardy. And it's like, it's really the science behind making a 2x move rather than a 10x move. And so really the principle of the cost of not the cost of not doing something, if there's a great Delta in that a lot of the reasons why we don't take a 10x jump. The reason why we don't take an investment is because there's a lot of pain in it. Right? There is pain, and it's hard. It was hard for you, it was hard for me. Like there was a lot of times where it's like, holy crap, that wheels might fall off, but it made the 10x jump in your life. It made the 10x jump in my life, even
Craig Pretzinger:
your friends and family will deter you. Right? Like, hey, I'm gonna go big. Like, I remember telling somebody, I'm probably going to be spending Well, half a million on leads this year. And they're like, What, are you freaking
Unknown:
crazy? Why would you do that? Yeah, spending more than that? Well,
Craig Pretzinger:
yeah, whatever. Yeah. I mean, I just, I'm like, okay, 50k a month, probably somewhere around there at one point, you know?
Jason Feltman:
Yeah. Yeah, at one point, I spent like 80,000 a month on it. Yeah. And prior to doing that, I never spent$80,000 a month on anything so scary when you first do that, right? It's freaking terrifying, especially when you're ramping up, and you're, and you got all these crazy bills. But dude, here's the thing. It doesn't matter. Why is that funny? Okay, so my son, his favorite phrase is, well, he only did it for a little bit of time. But he started this phrase, he's now mind you, he's like, five years old at the time. And he you'd say something to him, and he goes blank doesn't matter. So it would piss us off. You use it at the best times ever? Kind of funny. But like, dick move, right? Like, it's like, Oh, dude, you're such a punk. So he kept saying it? Well, I flipped it on him. And I started saying it to him. Now, he didn't like it so much. So he stopped saying, oh, that's me. That's mean, did you came up with it? So but regardless of that, now, me my wife say that about a lot of stuff. Because guess what, it doesn't really matter. Like, like, you'll get through it. Like there's, you know, there's little bits of pain and stuff like that, like, what's the worst that could happen? But really, when you start thinking about like, what's the worst that can happen? It's the cost of not what's the cost of not doing something? Right? I know, when I started my agency, the cost of me not figuring out sales and everything. I mean, my life, I would be making 60 grand a year. Right? So I haven't even made close to that in I haven't made even close to 10 times 10 times that in the last few years. Right. So the cost of not doing that was incredible, life changing. Right? So what's the cost of not everybody's so concerned? What's the cost? Everybody would like to your point with the leads and the expenses that it costs in your agency? What's the like, oh, my gosh, that cost so much. Well, you know, what, I know a lot of agents that have a small book, that are putting very little to nothing into it that are always complaining about their bills and stuff like that. The cost of not for them? Is life changing. Right in the opposite direction.
Craig Pretzinger:
Yes.
Jason Feltman:
You know what I mean? So what's a little bit of pain to get past into whatever you want? So I really hold tightly to the principle of the cost of not exactly what your agent said, what's the we can't afford not to do this? Yeah, there's things like letting yourself down on a lifestyle that you want. You can't afford not to do that. Because you're gonna live an entire life, beating yourself up. Oh, I could have done this. And I like yourself up all the time.
Craig Pretzinger:
Today could be your last day.
Jason Feltman:
Yeah. Right. Like, yeah, every
Craig Pretzinger:
single person involved in this conversation right now. And everybody we know, today could be their last day. So do you want to you want to go like, I'm very glad that back in back then I decided to go all in. And I am now where we are over the last four years because of that decision, even though it was very painful at the time and very scary. Because it I can't imagine the other side of it. Like I would be I would be in a lot of pain right now. If I didn't do that, right. But yeah, it took some pain to do it too.
Jason Feltman:
It does. It always does. As it's not a linear growth, like as you as a business owner, if you want to be self employed, then you're going to be taking to x steps. And you can gradually get to a little bit, you're only going to take gradual steps every year, year a year, if you really want to be truly become like a business owner and business investor, like you're actually investing, like, you need to make some some some decisions that are two steps back to go five steps forward. Yeah, it is never linear. It there's no way that like, if you look at any company, there's no way any company has taken bigs. big leaps, without taking steps back without going in the red without doing things that are easy, like, like the easy steps are just little investments and little this, right? But guess what happens? time's going by time's going by time by, right? Selling a million dollars in an agency is that a lot or little? Some people say a lot. Some people say a little. But what's the variable of the difference is the time if you write that in two months, dude, you're a rockstar. If you write that in 10 years, you suck, right? It's the same, it's the same amount of pain, it might be over a longer period of time. And it definitely nets a different return, I
Craig Pretzinger:
think I could safely say that the spouse of the one who's takes 20 years to get to a million in premium versus the one who writes the 2 billion is gonna be much happier. And that means that the age of is happier,
Jason Feltman:
right? And the spouse also is going to give you crap either way, maybe, right? Maybe, maybe because it will take that it for me and my wife, very hard conversations, like very rocky relationship around the time. But that was one of those times that in our relationship, we went through it. And I think that there is a trust factor that was built through that, that wouldn't have been built any other way. Sure. You know, it's good. It's not all smooth
Craig Pretzinger:
sailing, right? Like, I think those those those rough seasons are what makes the good seasons even better. I
Jason Feltman:
was just talking to Brian, this today about if you build if you plant a plant, right, and you have support for that plant, and it grows and its stock grows, right? Yeah, compared to a plant that is has wind and everything else, the two different plants as they grow in there. And they grow to their full extent, the one that has had the help that had that like branch or whatever tied to it so that it grows straight and all that stuff, to compare it with the other tree that had all of the brand and everything against it. Yeah, that plant that didn't have the help is 10 times stronger than the one that had the help. Right? Because it had it was growing in wind, it had to build up the strength that had to the roots had to go deeper, it had to build stronger, right. So when we do this for ourselves and for our family, and for our teams, it might be a little painful, the wind can be painful, and it might feel like it's going to blow you over. But at the end of the day, you are going to have the strongest trunk and the strongest routes at the bottom of that. Yeah.
Craig Pretzinger:
You just got to link up with the with the right folks that will support you. No, that's right. Yeah, 100%, but not like the stick, not that make you weak,
Jason Feltman:
not the stick,
Craig Pretzinger:
not the stick,
Jason Feltman:
that the stick? Well,
Craig Pretzinger:
this I look at the stick the stick is like having a job that's corporate that's safety, like be safe, right?
Jason Feltman:
The safety net 100%. It's the safety net, it's not ever taking the risk. It's not risking the wind,
Craig Pretzinger:
right? I mean, for all intensive purposes, if you're doing 2x, or you know, one and a half x or 1.25x than it is like a job. That's what you do in, in the corporate world, right? You claw and scratch and stay safe and move up, you know, incremental pieces. And that's not the point of owning a business. If you if you have the business, you you are able to position yourself to have that 10x Right. And I used to think it was crazy, like, oh, yeah, it's just it's sales. But then you see it that you do it. And all of a sudden, it's like, holy crap. Now I want 20x Right, right.
Jason Feltman:
50 Yeah, we we had a rough year last year, like last year was very difficult for me because we couldn't sell in California in our agency. And it really sucked. It really did, especially after, you know, knowing what I know now. And so last year was a very 2x year for me, but it put a lot of things in perspective and knowing what I know now and knowing what I you know, what I've been able to do and bend through and stuff has really helped me cast a vision for the future that I'm excited about and and it's time to do some more of those 10x moves This year, so yeah, let's
Craig Pretzinger:
do it 2420 24 10x or more. That's insurance dudes poem original. Yeah. And you may reproduce it. As you head on over to internet lead secrets at the main site, just just go over to the irs.com and you'll click the link down below, right
Jason Feltman:
linked down below, subscribe. Just join us on this journey. Let's 10x Together, let's not to x if you're in a season of 2x sometimes we have to do it. But you know, let's let's tender season.