Well how did you get start back being a coach? I'm sure there's some great stuff there too.
SPEAKER_00Started off at the bottom. I was a second assistant at a junior college of all places and worked my way up. I was a JUCO coach.
SPEAKER_03What was your first win when it came to growing organically?
SPEAKER_00We've got those things in place to where we go bring in people. If they meet us halfway with that work ethic and activity, they're gonna be successful.
SPEAKER_03It had to be easier when you're coaching your team like you already know the mechanics of coaching.
SPEAKER_00You can teach people how to quote, you can teach people all that stuff. That's the part that I had a big void in.
SPEAKER_03Managing people is one of the toughest things. So how do you approach building these champions in your agency?
SPEAKER_00Got a tremendous team. Today, just over eight years of being an agent, we're sitting at over 18 million, and think we're like number 52 this year investing company.
SPEAKER_03So you brought the three million dollar agency. Take us through the beginning of that.
SPEAKER_00You know, when you can only prove yourself 30 times a year, and if you fail, it goes on to cover the newspaper. You develop a sense of urgency to succeed and maximize everything you can.
SPEAKER_03So, what's the number one piece of advice you give any agent listening out there that wants to grow their agency?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I I think the wildest thing that we've had uh was actually with uh an employee. Um, he went to lunch, was out at lunch, we noticed he's 15 minutes late, he's 30 minutes late, he's 45 minutes late. Finally, somebody looks out into the parking lot, we're in a strip mall, they look out in the parking lot while his car's here, and one of our other employees goes out there and the guy's asleep at the wheel, passed out, no one knows what's going on. He's locked in the car, um, won't wake up. We're got multiple people trying to bang on the window, shape the car, finally have to call the authorities to come and get this guy out. And it turns out, I'm thinking, I'm thinking, okay, he's, you know, we got drugs issues, what's going on? Um, turns out he just had this really weird, rare medical condition, and that's the first time it ever hit him. Luckily, he was parked, uh, kind of like, you know, um, you know, narcolepsy or something like that, but it wasn't that. That's what we all thought. Wasn't that, it was something else. Anyway, yeah, he um passed out the wheel, had to have authorities come. We got a crowd of like 50 people around this guy's car by the time you know things. It's great, great advertisement for the agency, let me tell you. Um but yeah, um, my name is BJ Hill. I own Summit Insurance in Loveland, Colorado, and I'm an insurance dude.
SPEAKER_04I are eight. Now I'll do it. I am great. I am eight. We are eight. We are insurance. Oh wow. That's a heck of a story.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's awesome. It was it was it was a bit different. So yeah.
SPEAKER_03Well, what were you guys thinking when I mean uh multiple people you started calling more people outside and banging on the windows? Yeah. That would be kind of scary.
SPEAKER_00I thought he passed away. Yeah, yeah, that's what I we got people shaking it, and he's just slumped over like out of it. But young dude, like 20 mid-20s, young dude, like all of a sudden we're like, oh my god, this is this is not.
SPEAKER_02Has that happened? Did it happen to him before, or was this when he found out he had the yeah, this was this was a first according to him, it was the first time.
SPEAKER_00You know, I don't know if he was keeping it a secret from us because he hadn't worked for us that long, but it was a scary, scary deal.
SPEAKER_02Wow. That seems like it's dangerous for him to be driving around. Exactly. Might adjust his uh risk. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00We uh we up the coverage at that point, yes.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you're like, sorry, but we need to make some changes to policies. Well, awesome. It's so good to have you here on the uh podcast. Why don't you give the folks that are listed uh a little background? Like how did you get? I know that you were a coach prior. Why do you start back being a coach? I'm sure there's some great stuff there too.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, um went straight from playing in college to coaching and started off at the bottom. I was a second assistant at a junior college of all places and worked my way up. I was a JUCO coach, some form of fashion, of a for about nine or ten years, and then got my chance at the Division I level, was an assistant, um, and then uh was a head coach at the division one level for six years before they retired me early, aka uh fired my boy. So um yeah, it was it was a great deal. It was it was a passion. Obviously, a um big part of my life. The game was for a long, long time, and um and then bought the first agency, bought a three million dollar agency in January 1 of 2017. I couldn't spell insurance or liability as being a former college basketball coach. So um very intimidating, had zero confidence uh to go from like one of 350 Division I head coaches to you know uh an insurance dude was was intimidating. I didn't know anything, didn't come up through the industry, and was was very uh unconfident, let's let's put it mildly. But it took me a while, but eventually started pulling from what I had done for so long to be successful in that area. And today, uh just over eight years of being an agent, we're sitting at over 18 million and and uh finished, I think, top, you know, I think we're like number 52 this year, investing company, and got a tremendous team. They they deserve all the credit, and it's now it's fun again. So yeah, man.
SPEAKER_03Dude, love that. That is so awesome. So so you bought the three million dollar agency. Take us through the beginning of that, because I know when I first bought the agency, right around the same size. No, mine was smaller, mine was like 2.2. Yeah, but that first year sucked. Like I knew nothing as well.
SPEAKER_00I don't think I don't think I've ever worked so hard and felt like I got nothing out of it. Yeah. Is is that. Um I basically feel like the only thing I accomplished that year was passing the series six. I'll never forget. So I bought I bought a book from a guy who's in the Allstate ALR Hall of Fame and specialized. It was him, his daughter, another part-time person, and a brand new service person when I when I started going in there right before I bought it. And like that was his whole deal. Obviously, sold a ton of it. It was his comfort zone. They weren't growing on the P and C side, but he did an excellent job in that. And so I'm like, okay, it's a big part of bonus. I found a good book to to purchase for that reason. Um, a lot of stuff to hunt and mine and all that stuff. And I don't know, maybe I was asleep that day and training in Chicago for those 10 days, but I don't remember anybody ever telling me that I had to have the I knew I had to get it, but I had no idea that I had to get it within the first six months or I was gonna lose all those accounts. And I remember getting an email from corporate about month three or four, I think it was month three, saying, hey, just as a reminder, and I'm like, reminder, it's the first time I've ever heard this. And um studied for it about as hard as I studied for the PC, and I think I got like a 50% and you know, now I'm really starting to sweat because you can only take it once a month. So now I'm in month four. And I remember basically for the next month going into the office every day and saying, okay, unless this thing is burning down to the ground, um, don't come get me. And I studied all day and passed it the second time. But yeah, that was uh that was scary. And then it was just a little bit of growth, or you know, year two, I think year one, year two, and year three, we grew like 350 to 360k in premium, almost the exact number for three years in a row. And and I'm just like, oh my god, I feel like I'm working so hard and we're not getting anywhere. And then all of a sudden it took off. Um and so, yeah, man, it's it's since then it's been um a constant, constant learning. Add new pieces, okay. We're getting this big. I didn't realize I needed this, I didn't realize I needed this person on my on our team. You know, what do we got to add? What do we got to do? And it's just been a constant uh growth mode and and re-analysis, self-inspection uh constantly.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that is wild, man. I I that that first year is so brutal, especially with taking that test. Yeah like what what what a curveball, you know? Yeah, it's like hey, first time owning a business, or maybe well was mine. Um it's like uh by the way, you gotta take this really hard test and then make sure that the agency doesn't fall apart. And then I was in the same situation as you where I had three months to sell 12 life insurance policies that I've never sold before either. Right. Yeah, that's like that's a lot, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, grew growing up, my old man was an independent agent and did pretty well. Um, and I remember taking the studying for it. You know, he came out to visit me, and I remember being like, hey man, I gotta I gotta go study tonight. And he's like, Yeah, he goes, That touch that test sucks. I never I never could pass it. I'm just like, oh, thanks. Appreciate that ball of confidence right there.
SPEAKER_02Man, yeah, that thing. I I I have this, I got the series seven at Merrill, and they gave well, everybody kind of juiced it as long as they could, you know, because you didn't have to be in production, you just studied. Like they paid you to study, they paid you a lot, which was crazy. But if you failed, you're fired. And it was like, you know, I had my daughter was three, my son, you know, so there was that whole thing. I remember like when I went to hit the screen to are you sure, you know, are you sure you want to see the score? I had sweat dripping down my face like an airplane. Like, I mean, it was just insane. I got a 73 level. Perfect. C minus. I'll take it.
SPEAKER_00C's get degrees, especially in college basketball. Trust me. Keeps everybody else.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Well, and they say the bet you're uh the the lower you are with pass aid, the the better you're gonna be. That's what they said there also. So if you're too if you get too high of a score, you're not gonna you're not gonna be able to do the stuff. So going from that what's up? So you pass, you can go, Craig. So you pass it then and then what? So now now you get to take that off your mind. And it was it was really your other crap.
SPEAKER_00Again, didn't know what I didn't know, but I was was very driven to succeed and scale and do all the things, you know. Who the heck is this training platform? You know, these people have $40, $50 million books, now they have $80 to a million dollar book or $100 million books. I'm like, how do I get there? And you know, start, you know, putting my toe in the lead game. That was super intimidating with all the variables involved, lead quality, people that you got to bring in to do it. And what resonated with me was what we refer to as just the centers of influence and the realtors and lenders. That that resonated with me with my background in recruiting. I felt like I had people that first couple years in the agency that if I went out and got the business, they could they could quote it and do it correctly and and do it from the standards that I wanted to promote our name and and and all those things. So that's what we kind of did year two and year three. And again, didn't feel like I was getting anywhere. And then that's when COVID hit and rates went down. And then all of a sudden, rates are at 2% in those that previous you know 12 to 18 months of building those relationships. We got more leads. I got more leads than I knew what to do with. And we took off, and I think we went from like 3.6 to 4.6 in one year. And then because of that, that's when they opened up buying and merging again and went and purchased another basically the twin sister of what I had purchased before, another exact, you know, 3 million bucks, 90 91% retention, not growing. And so in the course of a year, we grew organically a million and then absorbed that 3 million on January 1. And yeah, and then since then it's taken off. So we were at like 4-6. We went from 4-6 to like 8.6 in or in one year. And then we went to Yeah. That was right. What year was that? Was that during COVID? 21? Yeah. Yeah, 21, 22.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so right now.
SPEAKER_00And then since then it's gone from you know, I think we finished nine, like, I think we finished 22 at right under uh 10, and then it's just kind of snowballed. You know, last year we went last year and 24, we we started 24 at 12.2 and finished at 17. So, yeah, it was a it was it was big.
SPEAKER_03So what was your first like what was your first win when it came to um growing organically?
SPEAKER_00Um having a having a really good lender, trust me, and just having a uh a supreme sense of urgency, and we ended up saving his butt on a deal, and next thing you know, he's sending me a bunch and he's got a buddy and introduces me to the mortgage lenders association, and and it's just kind of rolled from there. Um, you know, I I think when some people have asked, you know, I was on a I was on a uh talking to a group of Colorado agents um last year, and it was me and a couple other agents that have been doing it for a little bit longer, that you know, 20 to 25 years, whose books were about the same size, you know, and I knew the question was going to come, you know, what what has allowed you to have the success maybe in a shorter period of time? And you know, really it was just the sense of urgency you develop as a college basketball coach, I think a lot of people just don't understand, maybe, you know, where when you can only prove yourself 30 times a year, and if you fail, it goes on the cover of the newspaper, or you got people going at you asking, you know, for your job on Twitter, you develop a sense of urgency to you know succeed and maximize everything you can, and then also just really focus on what you can control. You know, I see to me, I see a lot of agents that whine about things that man, we're never gonna change. So it was very similar to coaching when your best player goes down two days before the the next game, the other coach don't care. You don't get an asterisk by your record that says, hey, your best player was hurt. You gotta figure it out. And I think keeping that mentality or transferring that mentality on to the to the agency and to our team is has helped us a lot.
SPEAKER_03That's awesome, man. I you know it's it's cool that you came from the the coaching world because there's so many similarities with sports and coaching, uh especially when it comes to being an owner and and coaching your team. Yep. Um so you already have that under your belt because I think a lot of agents, including myself, when you first get into the agency and you hire that first person or second person, or there's all these questions of are they doing good? Um you know, like I hope I hired a good person and all this stuff. And and and then you you have to learn these variables of you know metrics, like what are they even doing? And then, you know, the actions that lead to the results. And I think most likely coming from a coaching background, you know that you coach the I mean you coach them with their plays and then over and over again run those reps until they succeed. So I it had to be easier when you're coaching your team, like you already know the mechanics of coaching.
SPEAKER_00We all have our we all have our strengths. Like if you're if you're somebody who came up as an LSP and then you manage an agency and then you go buy one, like you don't have to teach people like you can teach people how to quote, you can teach people all that stuff. That's the part that I had a big void in. And I had to go hire people that knew that stuff. But then I what I found out real quick is just because you have a license doesn't mean you want to work at the level that I want to work and scale at. And so finally now I think we're at a piece where we've got the resources in place, i.e., the people that I love to still go recruit. And I love to go find that talented person and make sure now I feel like we've got the the platforms and the resources in place so they do learn all those things. Because the world and I and I've I've made this mistake. I've I've done this too many times in the past where I went and found that person and I kind of turn them over to somebody who wasn't necessarily qualified to teach them all those things because I'm too stubborn, I wasn't gonna go backwards and learn it. Um I I lost a couple of really good people, you know, where they were doing all the work, their activity level was high, but they were quoting themselves out of the game, and I didn't know it, and we didn't know it, and we found out later looking at quotes, you know, and so that's kind of where I was like, okay, that's a big hole in our progression. I gotta fill that hole before I attempt to, you know, scale with people and bring more stuff in. And I feel like now we've got those things in place to where we go bring in people. If they meet us halfway with that work ethic and activity, they're gonna be successful.
SPEAKER_03So this is clearly your superpower. So um for all the other insurance dudes out there that that don't have that superpower, I mean, how do you managing people is one of the toughest things. So how do you approach um building these champions in your in your agency? I think I love by the way how you, when you came in, you said it's my team that did this.
SPEAKER_00I mean clearly that's the that's a sign of a good coach, right there, where you're given all the I think to answer your question, and I made this mistake a lot early on because again, uh the not being confident and coming up in the industry, oh my God, you're licensed and you got a heartbeat. Please come work with me, right? And and that didn't work. Um and because I was I was so thirsty, so to speak, to get somebody in that position, I didn't tell them all the things I wanted to tell them about accountability, about expectations. I thought, okay, I'll get them in the door and then I'll do that. Now it's it's a complete 180. I almost, you know, we've got a we've got a hiring process where they've got to, you know, jump through the hoops and the fill this out and do this video and and and do that, but then they got to meet with you know whatever manager they're gonna be working under, and then it comes to me. And if they like them, and I like the video and I like the answers and I like the personality assessment, I basically almost try to talk them out of it. Because I'm so much harder on over-communicating the expectations up front now, because that's to me, that's the key. I don't think it's it's it's much easier to lead when you've done that on the front end. Now, if you haven't done that and you try to what I did in the past, which is I don't want to say bamboozle them, but maybe look, have it look all sunshine and rainbows, and then they get in there and you're like, hey, no, we got to do this and this and this because I want to be in the top 50 in the country. So you got to change, you gotta change now. That didn't work. Now we do all that on the front end, like, hey, we're we think we're pretty good. Here's the reasons to back it up. I think what I see in you is really good. I think you're a good fit, but let me be really clear this is what a typical day looks like. And we've also implemented that as a is a lot of job shadowing as part of it. Um by the time they get through all that, if we still make a mistake, that's uh that's on us.
SPEAKER_03Awesome. Awesome. Yeah. I we've noticed the same thing. Craig and I have had that conversation a lot, and it's like definitely uh setting those expectations from front. I think you know what it is? I I think you nailed it too when it comes to confidence. You know, a lot of us uh we hire out of sometimes desperation or those times that we need it, or maybe behind the numbers, whatever that may be for you, and then it's like um you just want to get that person in and you you're talking them into it. Right, right. They get in there, and then it's like, okay, now now you gotta do all this other you know, this other stuff. And it's like you know, it's it's almost like you want somebody the the attraction comes from being confident to know, hey, this is what we we do, this, this, this, and this. There's no guesswork in that. They come in, they're not guessing what they have to do to make you happy, they're confident because they're saying, Okay, I know. No, I have to hit these numbers, I have to, you know, do this amount of quotes, I have to, you know, this talk time, um, follow this script. Like it gives them the tools to be successful. So many times, just like you were saying in the past, when I've hired someone that I didn't give the tools for, yeah, they're they're like questioning everything. You know what I mean? They're they're they're not confident, they're not um their their quotes are all over the place. Like they don't even know what looks what good looks like.
SPEAKER_00And I think I think a big piece of that is is is, and you guys know better than anybody, it's it's just a nature of our beast right now. There's so much pressure to write business and write it right away, that if you're taking somebody from outside the industry and you're trying to build them up in your mold, that's not gonna happen in a month. I don't think. Now we're trying to get better at that. We're trying to really uh dial in and drill down on our onboarding and in and microwave that process. But if you're expecting a return on that person, I think in the first month, good on you. You're better at it than me. Um you know, and and so we've really tried to be realistic with that. Um, you know, I used to have a real estate license, and and I I bounced around to a couple uh brokerages, and there's that test, guys, is 168 credit hours. What's ours in P and C like 20 to 40 or something like that? So think about all that stuff. And then their onboarding was worse than anything I've seen with with our carrier. And so it really made me think about, and I screwed up my first two real estate deals because of it, you know, and almost didn't get paid. And so it really made me think about okay, if this is my projected long-term plan, is just to go find talent. You know, forget the industry, just go find talent and then bring them in and build them up uh and give them that confidence. Because I don't care if it's basketball, coaching, recruiting, selling loans, selling real estate, selling insurance, if you're not confident, it's gonna come through. And you can't sell if you're not confident and people are gonna pick you apart and and you're not gonna, you're not gonna, you're not gonna be successful, and you're gonna go in two or three months, you're gonna go look for a different opportunity.
SPEAKER_03Yep. 100%. Yeah. We I can't hear you, Craig.
SPEAKER_00Um he's mute you, Craig.
SPEAKER_03I've been trying to do it for years, it finally worked. Nope. Yeah, we just recruited um a couple new people for the first time in years for this agency because we're out in California and there's been um it's been ridiculous. But uh I just I felt like such a new newbie. There's like a lot has changed since I've done this before. So I just felt like a newbie at it. And um I'm trying to get everything together, you know, update stuff that we've had in the past. Um one of our sales agents, I realize I talked to him the other day, but I just realized like he doesn't have that confidence. And we were we started role-playing a little bit and he he said something about the confidence that I have. And I'm like, dude, I like you gotta understand, I haven't quoted anyone forever. Right. It's not like it, these are universal principles. And and what's great about it too, and this is why I like doing it, is because it changes someone. Yeah, like sales is so amazing because once you build up that, like you're building a person and and you're gonna change that person's life. Uh, sales it done correctly, like it really does uh build their confidence in all areas of life. And um yeah, and I fell short of of building him up, so so we started working on it, and uh I just really I remember like in that moment, I'm like, I really like doing this because of that change. Like watching someone change into that new person is just so so awesome. I mean, that's part of being a a coach, right? Yeah, and it's snowballs.
SPEAKER_00Next thing you know, then then they're helping the next person and they're helping the next person, and that's when it gets really fun. That's why I kind of feel like what has happened to us over the last you know 18 months or so, and it's and it's starting to take off. And then you know what? And then the next problem comes and that you didn't foresee because maybe you've never been at this size or had this many people, you know, and and now you're looking at middle management for the first time, and now that's a different skill set. And how do you coach that person versus coaching you know, your your baseline producers or your baseline service people? And do you have because it gets to the point where if you really do love to that coaching aspect that you're talking about, Jason, you can't you can't get that touch with everybody every day.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_00And so that that's what I'm trying to do now is is coach my coaches. And and so that that that energy or that feeling that you're talking about gets multiplied and amplified through your your your you know your middle management people or your managers or what have you. So that message and that feel, you know, the the key word is culture, is is consistent. You know, because we all we all got into, you know, at least I did. I I I like being a business owner because I like growing something, but I also like freedom. And and you know, to that that's kind of the new piece that I'm looking at right now in the evolution of our agency is that how do I how do I have the message be consistent? How do I, you know, if I'm not here, how do I have trust that that everybody's still receiving the same intensity or feeling or you know, XYZ, whatever, whatever you want emphasized.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it's like it it is funny, like the layers of because it starts with sales, and then you move up, and then you're you're selling your your management team.
SPEAKER_00Yep.
SPEAKER_03And then um so like the message changes. And that is what defines the culture is the way everybody uh treats everybody. So it's like it's like making the rules of the game. It's almost like creating uh the script, the uh vision, the like everything that you're creating for your clients, now you're creating it for your team. And then casting that, and then and then really just instilling like this is what we don't do, this is what we do do, this is where we're going. Um, and the only way to get there is through these vehicles. And and uh yeah, having them rely upon each other. It's it's so crazy too. When you're in a good environment, like if you do that well, it is so much fun to be a part of.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Um I was just telling that to somebody the other day, I think it was one of our realtor partners. I was like, uh she had she's developing a onboarding, doesn't matter what brokerage is, she just she just loves to coach and mentor. And so she developed her own for any realtor from in the area. And she asked me to come speak on finding your why. That's that's one of my deals that I love, and how that can be different at different stages in your life for different people, um so on and so forth. And and I told her, I said, she goes, Man, you're you have such good energy about this. It's really cool to see you speak. And I said, well, if you would have saw BJ, you know, four years ago versus BJ now, it's my feeling on things was a lot different. And and just like you said, it this is this is fun for me again. Um, I I really like my role versus when I had to be in the weeds. I wasn't good at it. I didn't have the confidence, I didn't have the experience, everything that we've talked about, and so I was not the best person to be around on certain days. And and now that I've you know fought through those times that we tell our people to do as well, you know, grind through it. There's light at the end of the tunnel, and we've gotten to a size where I can, you know, hire, just like in coaching, I used to hire assistants to fill my the you know the self-analysis piece. I used to hire assistants to fill in where I wasn't good, whether it was scouting or just you know, XYZ, whatever it was. Now I'm doing the same thing with our agency staff.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00BJ's not good at this, so let's go and and and hire that trait or that that skill set. And that takes a lot of self-um analysis, takes a lot of self-awareness, which I think, I mean, we can talk about that forever. I think that's a major fleeting quality as well. But uh, when you can sit back and do that and not think that you have to be the guy or the girl for everything that goes on in your agency, and you can focus on what you truly love to do, man, it's fun. It's fun.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. And I think when you start giving your team that kind of autonomy, I mean, they they start taking ownership in the like they they in a sense of pride in the agency. Yep. Um and I don't I think at least for me, when I used to be in control of all those things uh and took the control, I like uh the uh everybody would start to ask me questions about their role all the time. Because I was the one defining the rules. I wasn't setting, hey, this is the objective, find a way to to do it. I would tell them I wouldn't tell them the objects I would tell them the objective and this is how to do it. Okay, well, exact well, this isn't working, and how do I do this exactly? And um what's really cool is you can still help them if they come to you on a how to do to do it, but when they like your team will come up with things that you might have never thought of, they get jazzed up, they're pumping each other up, and you you don't even have to be a part of it.
SPEAKER_00Yep. I think what you're what you're referring to, I think, is is just that ego piece. You know, we all have to have enough ego that drives us to be good, right? But we can't have so much that it keeps us from growing. And I think that's and when you can give some leash back to them, that autonomy that you spoke of, man, it's cool. Because again, they're in the weeds. I'm not. I can't think that I know how to how to process a claim better than Marcia on my team. I've never been there. And if I am trying to tell her how to do it, when she knows I haven't done it, I'm just detracting from all her talent, all her skills. And again, her her her ownership that she's taking in the growth of the business. And so I think I think you can, that's a that's a really slippery slope when it comes to ego. Um, again, to have enough to have the vision to grow, do the work behind the scenes to provide the platform for your people to grow, um, but then you know, relinquishing some of that to give it back and and and letting them kind of like you're saying, hey, here's what we got to do, go figure it out. How can we get to that endpoint? And they're a lot more bought in when they're coming up in a in a you know a culture of that type. And again, that's those are the when you have that type of process or culture or situation, you're actually feeding into your own uh desire or want, which is freedom as a as a as a boss, as a as a business owner. You don't want to be in the weeds at the end of the day. At least I don't.
SPEAKER_03No, I don't either. So so you were talking about old BJ four years ago to now. What are what are what are those lessons that you learned? Tell us a couple of those stories that that kind of shift those beliefs.
SPEAKER_00It was it was it was a lot of sacrifice because as you know, the financial piece, okay, the the self-awareness, like I talked about, okay, I don't know X, Y, and Z. And those are three big things that we have to get figured out to get to the next level. Well, if I don't know them, how do I gonna get, how am I gonna fill those holes? Is it is it a platform? Is it a person? Is it it's gonna be some type of investment or sacrifice on my part? And and that's where I think, unfortunately, you you gotta make a decision at that point. If if you don't have the financial resources, I'm I'm very, very lucky. Uh, I got remarried five years ago, and my wife's a cardiac nurse, and she does well and allowed me to pour some money continually back into the agency. But if you're gonna be the main breadwinner, now how do you how do you how do you learn that stuff? If it's you, now you're working 16 hours a day. That's your sacrifice, you know, versus maybe sacrificing the money to you know do whatever. Um and so I I I sacrificed. I went and I went and financially either borrowed some money, did the did the analysis to figure out where the holes were so we could have the platform to scale. Because I always knew what I wanted my role to be. I wanted my role to be business development and recruiting. That's what I liked doing, because that's what I did for 20 years. And and but to do that again, I don't want to go, I don't want to waste my own time and go find a super talent like Jason Feltman and then and then not have the the things in place to have him be successful. I knew that couldn't happen. So that had to happen first for me to get there, and that's that's why those first three or four years were rough. And and now um, I'll be I'll be honest, COVID was a crappy deal for my wife. It was the best two years in for my agency. You know, my wife had to deal with it on the front lines every day in the hospital. I I the rates went down and we started kicking business through the through the uprights, you know, and that's when we really started to take off. And I just I was fortunate enough to have some business coaches where I had the had the um foresight to, okay, we're gonna need this. Let's let's scroll some away and dump it in because we want to keep hiring people and do the things that we're doing now. I'm back.
SPEAKER_02How did you manage? Yeah, I mean, that was something. So if you if you really, if you're listening, you want to enjoy some fun, just go ahead and watch the YouTube and you'll see me not with no mic. So um how how did you manage the the ment like this? I don't know if you had the similar experience. Well, I know you had the similar COVID experience, but um for us, we had these we had we'd come to this point where we understood what needed to be done after years of fumbling, and and then it was when it was time to execute, they said close, right? And so it was very strange. And and as you talk to everyone, they're all like, oh, I'm not uh time to pull back on marketing and all this. And we had like I I had the money, I was ready to rock, and we just decided to go for it, you know. But it was very, very scary going against the grain like that. Um now in hindsight, it's like, okay, well, what yeah, we were the 20% that got the 80% from that. Yeah, similar. I I how was that for you?
SPEAKER_00I remember having um, I remember having one of my service team members come in and say, hey, I want to work from home. And and I'm guys, I'm so type D. Like, I'm just like, I gotta, my wife is kind of, you gotta slow down, BJ, you gotta slow down. I'm just like constantly at the 30,000 foot level, overlooking stuff and going back to hiring the right people that can BJ, slow the hell down for a second, will you? Just like let me talk to you. Um I remember after that conversation, because I I wasn't even, you know, the sickness and the and the COVID stuff, I had heard things, wasn't really raising on my radar yet. And uh I remember going home and talking to my wife, and I'm like, hey, what's is this is this gonna be a big deal? And she goes, Yeah. Um, and it it I within like a month is when she was, she had to, she was in a cardiac cath lab. She came up in the in the industry as a as an ICU nurse. So she went back to ICU to help out. And she goes, I'll tell you this, I've been doing this for 20 years. I've never seen multiple people in an IC unit at one time before. She goes, I've never ever seen that. And she goes, so it's it's real. And so I remember literally going into the office the next day and saying, okay, we're gonna change our mindset. If this is gonna be what we, what everybody's saying it's gonna be, people are gonna be home, they're gonna have more time to talk to you. So take advantage of it. That's gotta be our mindset right now. And you know, I don't know if that rah-rah speech is what did it, but it it cemented the mindset in my expectations in my head, and that's so that's that's what they heard every day. So um I think it had something to do with it. And yeah, we just chose to take that mindset through it, and you combine that with the fact that the rates were down and we were getting a lot of referral business, it it equaled a big couple of years for us.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. So I mean, it's it's interesting, like with your background of being a coach, it's something that comes natural, I would think, you know, has it's it's not natural, but it's something that you worked on for so long that it's become part of you, right? To to have those meetings every day, to meet with them, to pump them up and understand that role as the leader. Uh for for us, we were in the trenches, you know, doing some of the stuff, and then like to shift to a point where where we got it that, oh, they require this talking to every day, right? And and it was really hard to to lean into that because you can't see the results right away, right? And and like humans, we always, well, well, it didn't work after a day, so it must not work. But we still when we started sticking to that is like you know, a week later, two weeks later, three weeks, all of a sudden, it's like the change happens, right? And uh, I mean, it was just it's amazing. So anybody listening, I think, uh, needs to take that from from this and from what you did, because it really does shine the light on how important it is to have that daily meeting. I mean, just the daily meeting is is a huge.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, we we started we implemented a daily huddle about a year and a half ago. Um, and we do it every day. It doesn't have to be long, um, but we do a daily huddle, and depending on the day of the week, it's a different emphasis. Um, and then it breaks out into a breakout room for just our salespeople. We start it with everybody, and then it'll do a breakout room for just our salespeople where we do some accountability, but it goes back to that, you know, that slow drip concept that you're talking about, where they're hearing it consistently, so it becomes just part of what is expected, what they do, versus you know what I think some of us do, where, and I know I used to do this, is like, okay, it's it's going good, and all of a sudden it goes bad, and now you now you want to re-emphasize everything. You know, it's like it's like that old saying, when's the best time to work on your roof? It's when the sun's shining. You know, if you if you wait, if you wait for when it's raining and then you realize you got a problem, you're you're hosed. You know, and so we try to do that daily maintenance um so it just becomes you know part of the deal. It wasn't easy. You know, we we recently implemented um we we've done the huddle for a while. We've recently implemented that breakout room where we make the outbound, the salespeople articulate certain expectations versus maybe submit it in a document and then they forget about it, right? And now it's up to you to hold the accountability. What I really love what we've gone to just recently is having them articulate it. Okay, how many households did you quote? Well, why why was it that far underneath our expectations? Make them answer that question because they don't want to do that two or three days in a row in front of their peers. You know, it starts it starts wearing on them and they start exposing themselves. And it helps you in your and to make the dis the hard decisions that we have to make as as owners a lot easier because they're they're kind of making the decision for you. Again, if you've you know shown those expectations and clearly communicated that from day one or even in the in the recruiting process, it makes those whole things a lot easier versus kind of putting our head in the sand and hoping. And then when it comes to making those tough calls, those are those aren't good days, you know.
SPEAKER_02I mean, all putting these guardrails in place really creates those expectations, and then yeah, no surprises, right? Like what Jason was talking about, not you know, if you don't give those expectations, I mean, literally, it's it you can see how terrible everything goes, right? Like they just do whatever. And and if you go back and look, and even if you trade even trading them properly, bringing them down the the pipeline and then letting go. I mean, of course, you know, not micromanaging, but but like if you totally let go of of it, I mean it slowly starts to precaution, right? This this uh entropy.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it's it's it's funny to too because it's like I I really realize when it comes to even the activity, the perception that they might have is totally different than the actual you know, activity. So like we'll we'll you know, we really track like talk time, like what even as little as them uh marking something in the CRM correctly the doing the accountability on that, you really start seeing the holes. I mean it it and it's you I think one of the things is we we uh don't realize even though we are paying someone to do a job, right? I know a lot of agency owners, oh I'm paying them to do that. But like in the when you're in the moment and you're quoting multiple people, sometimes you forget to put in notes. Sometimes you forget to mark something in a CRM and you get in the habit of whatever you're doing and and you don't even realize it. So it's not it's not necessarily their fault. We it's our fault for not um laying out the activity uh the expectations in the activity rather than the expectations of the result um because those are the leading indicators rather than the lagging indicators is is all that activity and then and then just checking it. Yeah like just checking it for them.
SPEAKER_00You're you're preaching you're preaching to the choir because I we literally you know two years ago we went to bringing in our own telemarketers and and having them hit certain requirements for three months and then sitting them down and being like hey if you were licensed this is this is the amount of transfers you produced in the last three months this is our close rate this is our average premium per item so if you'd have been licensed this is what you would have made and that's what we did for the last year and a half and we've got four people now between the age of 18 and 22 on our team one of them's leading two of them are our top three in sales this month and and this year but what what was eye-opening to me and it shouldn't have been because I coached 18 to 22 year old knuckleheads for 20 years of my life which is why the hair went completely gray I'm just happy I have it is they need to be told those things more than once. And that's what again going back to the self-analysis or self-awareness we're all business owners. I would have bet that all three of us if somebody tells us what we have to do to be successful in our books or our agencies one time, we only need to hear it once and we go do it 90% of us aren't like that. You know that's why they're not agency owners themselves or business owners themselves but they still are a valuable piece of what you're trying to get done. And so I literally just hired that position that you're talking about Jason of the guy that's gonna double check the pipelines the guy that's gonna you know listen to more phone calls than I ever would have got to and give immediate feedback that that person that's gonna um check the quotes and make sure that they're not getting sloppy with the roof type or the square footage or XYZ because they do need to be told those things more than once. If they didn't they they they wouldn't be in the situation they would or what I even love doing right now is is hopefully in five years they want to go start their own deal. And now I've been that person to help them elevate and do things that they didn't think they could do. Because we all know insurance has got a pretty low barrier to entry but yet you can you can teach somebody the the skills to go be a big time business owner in any field I think because if they've got a good grasp on what the three of us do every day to be as successful as we are dang there's a lot of there's a lot of businesses that I think don't take this much you know and and you can you can be really successful.
SPEAKER_03100% it's amazing so what's the number one piece of advice you give any agent uh listening out there that wants to grow their agency oh man wow um being able you know I think I I think being able to temper um your sense of urgency that you have to do what you want to do in the understanding of what we just talked about.
SPEAKER_00The the growth of your agency isn't number one on your people's priority list. It's not keeping them up at night but how do you articulate that and communicate through their lens so they're doing what you want at that standard or at that high level so they can see where it benefits them. You know are you laying out the things to you know whether it's the the contest the incentives the PTO so they do on Sunday night think you know what I got a pretty good gig tomorrow. A lot of my friends hate what they got to do tomorrow morning on a on a Monday morning but on Sunday night your people are going, you know what? I get to go be involved in a pretty cool situation. I think if you can do that you know I and I do it I that's it's hard. And I used to be a lot worse at it. I used to be a lot more coach Hill than agency owner BJ Hill uh and and I've tried to it's been hard to temper those things uh you know understanding when to to kick in the butt so to speak and when to to pat him on the backside and say hey it's all right this thing's not gonna go down in flames because you didn't make that sale let's learn from it and let's try to do better tomorrow.
SPEAKER_02Love it man amazing I love it we're gonna we're gonna let you go because we've kept you 13 minutes after uh I I think we could pull a Rogan and go four hours because you've got really good stuff. So I think we're gonna have to bring you back for a part two. You're down for that. And uh man so good to meet you.
SPEAKER_00I wish that my uh technical yeah we gotta do it again just for that I mean whatever Jason did to mute you for that long I was that was impressive until I know it was impressive I know he has the master button over there I just wanted to keep the gray hair gray beard dudes that's it Craig didn't have it he's too dark with no beard I know it well that's because I'm that's because I'm 27 I was gonna say 29 but I'm glad I've just been an I'm just an agent good stuff well DJ thanks so much uh awesome to have you where is Loveland near Denver?
SPEAKER_02We're an hour north 20 minutes north an hour my son lives in Denver north yep yep cool well my son's up in Denver so maybe we'll swing by and say hi cool thank you guys well thank you we appreciate you coming on and uh let's let's talk so much BJ thanks guys great meeting you better