"Episode 1: The 4 Reasons You Avoid Client Reviews And The Major Cost"

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Being an agency owner isn't for the faint of heart. Strategy, market conditions, building a team that lasts. This is From the Field, where Josh and Joe help you do it all without losing your mind.

SPEAKER_00 0:13

Hey there, and welcome to the first episode of From the Field Podcast. You know, on Josh and I's behalf, we want to wholeheartedly say thank you for taking time out of your schedule to join us. To us, that's a really big deal. So we came up with this premise because we saw a need for it. And what we saw over and over were agency owners that are hungry for better strategies, techniques. They want to hear from some of the top industry experts, and they also want to hear from their agency owner peers from across the country as to what is really working. So we took that and we paired it with the fact that Josh and I have been great friends for almost 20 years. We also have worked together that entire time and have used each other as a sounding board. So literally, we have brainstormed these concepts for decades. So our backgrounds are very similar, but there also are some key differences that make the conversations really interesting. So take Josh, for example. He's one of the top agency owners in the entire country. If you looked at his accolades, they would stretch a mile long. He's won every award he could possibly win. From the standpoint of actually scaling up an overall growth of an agency, he has done a remarkable job. And then when you pair all of that with the fact that he rubs shoulders with some of the top industry experts all the time, he has some very unique perspectives. On my side, I have been in agency leadership for about 12 years. I have managed multiple teams and multiple locations, sometimes up to 30 representatives. So with that said, I have a really interesting background when it comes to having perspectives from low performers all the way up to superstars. So when you take that along with the fact that I wear my corporate hat and what I support from that standpoint, the conversation between the two of us can take some interesting turns. Ultimately, we come together and try to figure out what's the best course of action as an agency owner. So what we hope is that you find this to be truly valuable when it comes to your agency and to growing it to where you want it to be. So thanks for coming along for the ride and enjoy episode one. Josh, what's going on today? My man, good to be here.

SPEAKER_01 2:30

Good to be soon.

SPEAKER_00 2:32

Good to see you. Good to see you. And welcome everybody to the uh third installment of From the Field Podcast. Today, the topic's gonna be on the four main reasons that agency owners skip client annual reviews and what it actually costs you as an agency owner. So that's what we're gonna jump into today, Josh. Um, I'm gonna kick the first session off, though, and and give you a question kind of coming out of the gate. So, you know, the idea of client annual reviews from the standpoint of a lot of people feeling like, you know, it's it's old school, right? It's something that um no longer really pertains to the way people want to do business and that it's not really that effective across the board. What's your take on that?

SPEAKER_01 3:18

Yeah, I mean, we've all seen the veteran, right, that that taught you how to run the hour and a half long, go through everything, drill down, do everything. And as a consumer or a client, if you've been through one of those, you probably don't want to do it again. So I think some of that feedback is justified. I mean, if you're an agent and you were trained that way or you were brought up that way, you know, there's this idea that we want to knowledge vomit out there and just tell them everything about everything and that we want to educate and we're coming from a great perspective, but really, you know, we like to use the term checkup. Uh, you know, it's it's just a quick checkup, it's high level. It's we want to make sure, you know, has anything changed with you? We want to bring you up to date on communication, we just want to check in on you and see everything's going and quickly hit everything, but more of a an annual check-in, what's new, what's different, what's that, instead of this in-depth client financial review that I think deserves the reputation that it got. Um, so if you feel that way, I don't think you're wrong. Uh I think that there's a way of doing an annual review correctly, which is which is on cadence, is not sales, is 20 to 30 minutes instead of an hour and a half. You know, and if once you indoctrinate that new program in, your clients are gonna love it because you are checking in on them. You know, they do hear from you.

SPEAKER_00 4:30

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. And do you do you sometimes um have people push back on the idea that you can really do this 20 to 30 minutes? So when we see agency owners that are scheduling, they're scheduling 90 minutes, right? Because they don't feel like there's any way you can effectively do this in 20 to 30 minutes. Um We we do. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 4:49

Yeah. And I mean, you you and I have been through this. We we've taught this to people. And you know what's interesting about that is it's the perception that the entire thing is 20 to 30 minutes, right? You're gonna spend 20 to 30 minutes or someone on your team is preparing for the appointment. You're actually gonna be in front of the client for 20 to 30 minutes, and you may have 20, 30, 45 minutes of follow-up time afterwards. So it's not that far away from the traditional appointment. It's just the client focused part, and when you're in front of the client is shorter, it's based on their attention, it's it's more you know tolerant of their time and showing how important their time is to you. So you're just maximizing time in front of someone, and you can also bulk prep those appointments, right? So even though it's 20 to 30 minutes of prep, your admin can do 10 of those, you know, at the same time. So I think that that's the pushback, right? Is that there's no way you can do that. You can't run a professional appointment. And like, let's be honest, some of this is we kind of got to get off our high horse. Like people want to know they're valued. You know, how many providers do you have? You probably have a cell phone company, you have a power company, you have a water company. Do they ever call to just check on your company? Right. No, no, no. It doesn't happen. So the feedback we get when we're in front of the client, hey, we first and foremost, we want to say thanks for coming in. You know, we appreciate your business. This is our business. We appreciate that you continue to choose to use us as your provider. And in and that alone is an important step. But then following up by genuinely asking them, how are you? has anything changed and being prepared so that you can get through that appointment in 20, 30 minutes, the clients will come back for that one. They won't come back for the hour and a half.

SPEAKER_00 6:18

That makes sense. Yeah. If I had a 90-minute appointment that was like pulling teeth and you called me next year, I probably am going to dodge that call. You know, if I have 20 or 30 minutes and I'm talking most of the time and it's a it's a good back and forth, I can I can commit to doing that, you know, every single year. Makes sense.

SPEAKER_01 6:35

The other part, and and I think that it's it's it is a valued and probably honest feedback is I don't want to come in because they're just gonna sell me something. Like if you are selling in your reviews, you're you're you're doing a disservice to yourself and your client. Sure. I mean, that is about checking in on them. That is asking them questions. How can you better serve them? Have we kept up our end of the bargain? Is there anything that we're leaving short? You know, that's about checking in on the client, not about what you're gonna sell or a product you want to put in there. That stuff gets brought up, don't get me wrong. Like they're gonna ask questions. That is gonna be put in your follow-up or summary statement for the end. Yes. And if they need something, schedule a specific time to show that the courtesy it needs, but not during the review. The review is simply a checkup and a check-in on that client. And I think that's really important. You know, one of the things I think of too, um, you know, is is from your role, right? So I'm I'm kind of in the forest. Sure. Like, like I have my agency, I know what's going on here, I help people when they call me, you know, consult with other agents, but you know, from a leadership role, you know, you hear probably a lot of misconceptions out there and reasons why things can't do. But I think the one that that I'd love to hear your opinion on is is I think it's viewed as an optional service step.

SPEAKER_00 7:46

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:46

Right? Like it's it it doesn't seem to be valuable. Like the the agents almost, you know, they're telling you why they shouldn't do it. Yes. And that the the other client doesn't want you to. You know, what's your view from leadership right now as far as you know, what are you hearing from agents that that this is why they can't? Is it just is that what it is, or is there more to it? You know, kind of tell me what you see from your side.

SPEAKER_00 8:06

Yeah, no, that that that's a great point. It's very polarized, right? Because your your really successful agents have a totally different take on it, which I'll expand on in a couple of minutes. But um, the ones that struggle, you're you're right on. And and that is to to be with clients, uh, it's something I could do. It's really, it's a service step. Uh, I know I probably should reach out to my clients. And you can feel when they explain it to you, their outlook is one where they don't see retention. They don't see the ability to find um additional spots in there to be able to help the clients, uh, they don't see the the idea of getting to know the client better. They see all of this as just another step that they have to do. And one of the ways they rationalize not doing that is they say, look, people are busy. They they don't want us to reach out. They don't want to hear from me. So even though all the data tells us if we've got five, six, seven, eight touch points throughout the year, client satisfaction is higher, retention's higher, everything trends the right way. These individuals that really don't want to sit down with the clients, and and I've got a theory as to why that is, and I'm gonna talk about that um, you know, here in a few minutes, but um, they they find uh they find a narrative that allows them to not have to do so, you know, and and that's uh and and you can't and and clients can feel that, right? They can feel when you sit down if you're excited and you feel like you can make a difference today and you want to get to know them, or if this is just a check in the box and neither of us really want to be here. And that's what I see.

SPEAKER_01 9:41

Even worse, right, is they have something to sell you. Like they the the agent has walked into that appointment because their company is doing this push for this product right now, and they're gonna push that on everyone. Right. The client can feel that and sense that a mile away, and they're gonna run and they're never coming back.

SPEAKER_00 9:55

And they shouldn't. No, no, you're you're right on. That is you're right on. That should not be a a high pressure environment. It should be one of those that's uh involves a ton of questions and and a lot of uh you know curiosity from the standpoint of the advisor.

SPEAKER_01 10:10

So when you hear, you know, and unfortunately, part of being in leadership, right, is you see you hear complaints, you you see the the bad with the good, right? And the and the bad sometimes you is louder than the good. But you know, you're not hearing clients call and request new agents because their agent is calling them too much or or because it's there, right? It's quite the opposite, I'm sure. I mean, I know when we take a phone call and it's a competitor's client and it's you know, we have a very specific script that we go through. How did you hear about us? You know, and we want to know what went right and what went wrong in their current relationship. Is it is it price, which of course is part of it, but it's not always price. A lot of it is I never hear from my agent. Yes, I can't get a hold of my agent. So tell me from like from a from a mile high leadership perspective, am I onto something there or is that just kind of a a one-off? Like, what do you see on that side?

SPEAKER_00 10:55

No, I mean you're you're right on it. And and part of um part of my role has changed where where I'm at currently. But it used to be to where I I touched every client that transferred. So anytime there was a transfer, I made an outbound co uh phone call just to see inside of my territory what what level of service are we providing? So if you're transferring, is there a coaching opportunity that I have with one of my team members? Is there something I need to know? I just want to have some insight as to um what would make somebody leave. So as you said, I have never, not one time in almost, you know, 10, 12 years in this role, ever had a client say to me, you know what, they were just too proactive. They wanted to know too much about me. Um, never. But I have had so many calls where when I call, they they never respond. Um, I never see them. I haven't sat down with them for three or four years. Um, those were almost always the the issues was lack of communication, you know, and and and we talked about it before. I would sometimes get um times where clients wanted to transfer away and the agency owner would say, would be very frustrated. And then I would go back in and look at that household and I would see that the last uh review offered was 2021, right? So it's five years ago. And you say, Josh, uh, can you really can you really be upset at the fact that you haven't sat down with this client in five years? I mean, they they don't feel any kind of any kind of tie to you because you don't know them that well. And I think that's the big thing, right? So it's it's once you really know people and you want to get to know people, then then the entire review process runs smoother.

SPEAKER_01 12:42

I I I think that's head on. I mean, I appreciate hearing it from your side of it because internally, this is what we hear, you know, if competitors client or clients are calling us trying to get away from them, or you know, what are we hearing? And it's good to see it from your perspective that that's true. Because when you're calling and and and you know, doing that exit interview, maybe on a client, hey, why do you need to do this? It's it's interesting that it's not what kind of agents think that, oh, I, you know, I'm bugging them too much or I'm a pain. It's the opposite. Right. No, you're you're right on. You're right on. So you and I talk a lot about cost, right? And and I think this is a hidden cost. I think this is something that's that agents are not factoring in. We all want to talk about rate, right? Rate, rate, rate. If I had better rates, if I had better rates. But man, think about all the people that are walking out the door that didn't have to. You you didn't have to give them a reason to accept that call or that shopping. And and and those are the ones that keep me up at night, man.

SPEAKER_00 13:32

Yeah. And and you know, one additional thing I'll throw in here. I know AI is very polarizing. People either use it all day, every day, people think it's going to ruin the world, right? So wherever you land on the spectrum. But one thing I know for certain is the ability of the agent right now um to retain people if they show no value goes down with AI's merging, right? Because I can I can learn so much from AI if I need to as a consumer, if I can't get a hold of my rep or they don't sit down with me every year and have a real relationship. So I think it does put pressure on people that um maybe have just allowed those relationships to become stale. They now have have avenues to go to get really good information. And you don't want to be in a position to where um you're you're not that crucial to their plan.

SPEAKER_01 14:22

And that's new. Like the door, you know, you've always left the door open, but it it it took somebody else going in there. Now with the advent of A AI and you know, correct it's on their big phones, they can get that information right away. And then then you've really become, you know, a priced commodity.

SPEAKER_00 14:35

No doubt. No doubt. So I got one for you. So when it's nice talking to you because as an agency owner, usually you're just in your own world, but you have taught so many reps um through the course of so many years. So your perspective is very similar to mine a lot of the times. But from the standpoint of two different groups relative to client annual reviews and the obstacles they run into, what do you see from like a new rep perspective versus a veteran rep perspective? Because I feel like those are different.

SPEAKER_01 15:06

Yeah, I mean, it right, people usually that call for help, and it's you know, we get eight or 10 of them a week. Hey, can I pick your brain real quick? Hey, can I get 30 minutes? You know, it's it's always, it's always 30 minutes. Sure. Uh hey, can I buy a coffee? It's sure. But uh the new agents, right, they have their own preconceived notions that they're either don't know enough yet, they aren't there yet, they're not sure, they're unsure, they don't want to bother the client. Maybe they just got the client transferred to them, they don't know. Right. And I would tell you, it's it's never too early to start, right? When you're onboarding a client, what a blessing, right? You can establish the relationship and and the the rules of engagement, right? We have a system in our office that no matter how a new client comes on two months after. So if we're in the month of August, anyone that comes on board with our agency this month is going to get a specific communication in the month of October, inviting them in, giving them a welcome gift. They're gonna get, you know, not only properly on board and introduced to the team, but they're gonna put a face with a name. They're gonna do all these things. And we do that, we also at that point are gonna explain the communications that are gonna come, the cadence that's gonna come from our office. Hey, you're gonna get an email on this. 35 days before every time you have an auto insurance policy, you're gonna get an email from me. 35 days before your home renews every time I'm gonna send you an email. You're gonna get an annual review offered, and we do the alphabet. So, you know, if if your last name is Adams, A's and B's are going to get January. Okay. You know, that's a core's godden principle from back in the days of power positioning your agency. I mean, this stuff's been around forever because it works. Sure. Okay. So these new agents have all the reasons why they can't do something when actually they're in the perfect position. It's the first time they're meeting this client, they're gonna establish that relationship and that rapport at that time. I I think they're in the catbird seat.

SPEAKER_00 16:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:46

The other side of that coin, right, is the veterans that call me up and they've already decided they can't do it for a different reason. You know, yeah. They can't do it because they they never have before. It's gonna be weird if I start calling now. Look, the client doesn't like you're not that important, right? There's this self-import idea that like they they are aware of how much you've ever called or not. If you call them, it's a good thing. For sure. If you reach out to them in a soft communication, it's a good thing. When they come in, explain, hey, you know, one of the things that we're really doubling down on is just making sure that we're reaching out to you more often. You know, you don't have to respond. I just want you to know that we're here. I want to open up that line of communication multiple times per year. Is there anything that you'd like more information on? You know, and once you establish that it's not going to be a scary hour and a half insurance financial services review where you go through deductibles and explain and sell them all this stuff, but a quick 20 to 30 minute checkup, you're you're already rebuilding that and you're setting the foundation for a positive relationship. So, so you're you're right. I mean, they're they're different agents, whether they're new, middle, veterans, they all have the reasons why they can't do something like this. But but it's all it's all an excuse. Right. Ultimately the numbers and the clients say they want more interaction, they want education, they don't want sales, right? Like I think that's a huge, huge, huge difference. If your review process is how you're trying to sell stuff, you're in the wrong business. And I and I got a feeling it's gonna handle it. It'll the business itself will take care of you. Yes. And that's a scary thing to say, but we're in that business now, right? Like you said, AI is there, all these things are there. So yeah, I I think that's really what I see, just to answer your question, would be like everybody always has their preconceived notions of why it won't work. And they're calling me to either reiterate why it doesn't work. Very few people call and they actually want to know, you know, how to make it work.

SPEAKER_00 18:39

Sure, sure. No, you bring up a couple interesting points too. And I think as a new representative, a new agent, you can now set the tone going in because it it's a blank slate. So I can say, hey, you know, my goal is to protect you 364 days out of the year. I do need 30 minutes of your time, though, of one of those days. Love it. Right. The the 365th day, I need you to commit that to me. And you and I have both seen it where if you are a veteran 10, 15, 20 years in and you've never had a review process, it takes a while to train your clientele to know that it's important to be able to come in, come in once a year and sit down and talk through things. Um, so if you can do it on the front end, that makes a big difference. And and one real quick story. I I was in an office, it was 15, 16 years ago, had a great farm rep that came into that office, which was a different territory than his normal territory, but that's where he had a lot of clients and he did reviews during the exact same time, the same two months of the year every year. And he was on vacation. I'm trying to call people, right? And I had a a book of business at the time that um nobody had called on. So I would call these people. They had no interest in talking to me. Um, but we're we're taking his phone calls and he's gone for two weeks on vacation, where he usually calls every year to schedule. And we scheduled 18 of his reviews from people calling in and saying, um, you know, hey, Josh, Josh always calls me this time of the year to sit down. I don't know what his schedule looks like, but I want to get it set up. So it's like, and I and I'm watching all of these incoming calls from clients that are so used to doing this, it's just part of what they do every year. So I think that's the ultimate goal, too, right? Is to get to where the clients expect it. They understand what it's gonna be, and it's an enjoyable process. And I love your onboarding because that that leaves a really good taste in someone's mouth that this is this isn't gonna be painful.

SPEAKER_01 20:38

Yeah, yeah. And you better follow through on it, right? If you tell them they're coming in, they're not gonna buy something, they're not selling something, and you try to push it, you you've lost all the trust, right? You you also have to follow through with that. And I think it's interesting. So you talk about that in one of my favorite quotes, right, was the best day to plant a tree was 20 years ago. Right. The next best day is right now. Like that idea that, yeah, we'd love if we've been doing this the whole time, but you didn't. Sure. But we're here now. So like why would we waste any more time? Can you talk about maybe maybe some obstacles that you see from your side? Like we, we I know my book, I know my area, I know my team, like I've trained people to run reviews, I've done all this, but on a more of a global or statewide level, like what are the obstacles that you're seeing? And and also, you know, how do they change that from being a sales agent, right? That the the impression is they're coming in to be sold something to to what they should be. Can you kind of talk on that a little bit?

SPEAKER_00 21:32

Yeah, yeah. And I'm gonna I'm gonna tell you my theory on what I personally see as the biggest obstacle for um most agent agents when it comes to their review process. And and I think I think that is, and it's never talked about. And I don't know if it's because consciously they never really think it, but I think there's a lot, a lot of agents who really question their overall value to their clients. Does it really matter if I sit down with them? Do I really Had that much I'm gonna bring to the table, right? Right. So because it's kind of a a non-event, whether we sit down or we don't, there's no urgency around that. So um I end up in a position to where that's just not high on my list of things to do. So you talk a lot on the importance of being able to be a discussion partner. Okay, going in, yeah, asking, asking all the questions, learning as much as you can about the clients. And you find your like yourself, you know when you sit down with somebody for 30 minutes, even though you're not selling in this appointment, you're passionate about you're gonna uncover if there's shortfalls in their plan, you're gonna uncover blind spots that they have, they've never even considered. Like you're passionate about that part of the process to put them in a better position, because ultimately that's the reason you took this career was the impact that you're able to have. So that piece of it, um, even though you're not selling, you're still uncovering, as you said. And then if there is a need of some kind, later on, we're gonna now schedule to be able to sit down and really have a finite conversation about that topic. But here's what I find, and this analogy, I think to me, is is the big one is if you took, if you took yourself and you took a very average uh agent that has not focused on improving themselves, on on getting additional knowledge, on understanding planning better, understanding all of the products that they have and when they're applicable, right? If you sent, if you could run the same review you against that individual, the the room, so like the the the annual review room is the same room, but the amount of doors and opportunity inside of that room is exponentially higher for you. So you could walk into a 30-minute review, and there might be 10 doors because you have worked so hard on being the best you can be when it comes to knowledge. So you know when you sit down with people that you're gonna be able to make a difference. Somebody that that you know doesn't understand a product and does nothing to learn about when it would apply to their clients, or they know nothing about planning and they're they're not furthering their skill set, it it they're right. It doesn't matter if they sit down with their clients because if you just go through every single car and all it is is here's your here's your deductibles, here's the coverages you have. Um, and it's all it is is just FYI. Reading a slide to them, right?

SPEAKER_01 24:33

Like it's like that boring meeting we all go to where the guy stands up there and reads, brings down the slide.

SPEAKER_00 24:38

That's exactly right. Yeah, you might as well just email it out to them. So, so to me, uh what I find that's the that's the disparity I see. The people that are students of our craft that try to get better, that would never have a product they didn't understand when a when it would apply, they're the ones that can't wait to schedule reviews and to have third-party vendors that schedule them, to have their own team that schedules them. That they control the process because if it's done correctly for most great agency owners, it's the most fun part of the entire career. But the person that doesn't, that they're not a student of the game, then it's one of those things where it's just kind of a pain to have to do. So to me, the more I dig in and talk to people, it's it's that underlying belief that it doesn't really matter if I sit across from them or not that stops them from having a really solid process. But they never really I don't think they ever really put that together. And it's kind of a hard thing to to tell a 20-year veteran is here's kind of what I'm what I'm seeing and hearing, because they tend to take offense to that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:46

And I mean, you you put it really well because I think of it like they think it doesn't work or they think the client doesn't want it. Well, if you're also not putting into the education side of it, and these are things, right, we can do, you can get better at these at 7:30 in the morning. Yes. This is the filler time where the agents sit there, the phone's not ringing, they're you know, they're mad about whatever, and they're not getting better. You know, you can join a study group, you can mock these up. That new operating system that that we've been trying out, you know, with with Coors Gotten has AI meetings. Like you you can actually run a meeting and run a review against an AI client. So so my team can run unlimited sample reviews against a learning AI that's a different time every time. And I mean, they're just getting it bats, it bats, at bats. I mean, they're they're getting years worth of training in a week. Yes, you know, it would take them that long. But we've always talked about the five, five, five. You know, run five reviews for a new agent, run five with a new agent, and then observe five with that agent, you know, and and watch how how quickly they'll improve in 15 reps. Like the learning curve is is pretty quick. Yes, because you're you're not selling, right? You're going through an agenda that takes 22 to 24 minutes that includes some niceties. Yes. If anything comes up, you're notating it down, and then you're gonna teach a follow-up system because you are going to construct a follow-up next steps email or communication immediately afterwards that says these are the the things we talked about, these were the things that came up, and this would be the next step if we want to address any of them. And it could be anything from what would it be if I moved from $500 to a thousand dollar deductible?

SPEAKER_00 27:16

Right.

SPEAKER_01 27:16

I'm not doing that if you're in the review. No, okay, I'll send you those as part of the follow-up. Yes. That's just part of it. Right. Then they're gonna get a professional, you know, respectful of their time follow-up from me. And then when they're ready, maybe, maybe only the husband is at the appointment, maybe only the wife's at the appointment. They want to talk together. Great. Yeah. Like that's how good decisions are made. You don't want to talk to one spouse and they say yes, they go home, the other spouse has no idea what you're talking about.

SPEAKER_00 27:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:43

So I think you're right. I think that education side of it answers what we could be doing if you're not confident in it. I mean, the stats show it works, right? You shouldn't not do it because you you think they don't want it. We already know that. We've disproved that. But you know, for me, it's it's what can we do in a market that was so rate-driven. And, you know, we blame everything on rates. Clients, clients, we think they just want rates. They want to be taken care of. You know, you mentioned discussion partner. I was looking up, I have three copies of that book right here. Sure. Uh, that is a phenomenal yearly read. It talks about the difference of being on, like, I think of it as sitting on the same side of the desk as them instead of sitting across. That's well said, right? Yes. Like we we all know that broker, um, that we, you know, the fake team make it or whatever it be, he's gonna, he or she's gonna sit in the high-backed chair and you got to sit out in the secretary's waiting room and you're gonna sit across from the desk and they're gonna tell you how smart they are. This is why you're paying me to manage, you know. Versus the old school, like we used to sit at dining room tables with people. You go to their house, you know, they'd they'd offer you a cup of coffee or a tea. And now, you know, we've gotten so fast in the world that you don't have that. But when you do get an opportunity to sit with them, sit with them. You know, you're not sitting against them, you know, you're on their team and they need to view you that way. You need to be the person they call if they have questions about that. Yes. Yeah. And I think that that explains the relationship better. But no, I love your opinion on that because it's it's like I said, it's just a different perspective than from where I live. Like in the ownership side of agency, like we have a nice sized agency, but I don't see a hundred test kitchens like you do a year.

SPEAKER_00 29:13

Sure, sure. You know, some some things though stick with you for for years. So I remember my first year as a representative, I had um a joint appointment with one of one of the best people in the entire company. So this person has been around 30 years, huge amounts of success. And I thought I I pretty much had the review process down. And he liked me and was willing to kind of take me under his wing and run some appointments. So I let him run this appointment. And I'm talking 90% of the time in my reviews. And all of a sudden he starts asking all these questions and he talks like 10% of the time and made so much more progress. When we got done, I said, You didn't hardly talk. And he looked at me like I was stupid. He goes, It's not about me. And I'm like, Oh, okay. But but that was that was 18 years ago. And and that takes me back and makes me remember all the time. Um, people don't know what they don't know. And like you said, when you can run a join appointment and you can see someone have success, you go, Wow, I didn't even know I was, I didn't even know I was missing these things. And those are the things, once you start putting those together, makes you want to go out and run reviews because you know the impact you can have. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:28

I mean, my my takeaway, you know, from today, you know, would be whether this is a new agent that's talking to me or a person in leadership or something that's been an agency for 25 years or 10 years, you know, is like the the tree story, right? Best data planner tree was 20 years ago. Next best day is today. We love it if you already had this process and you're already perfect at it, but you weren't. So let's get better now. Yes, you know, commit to everybody you onboard now is gonna get brought in under the you know assumption of annu review, explaining the cadence and communication. And then start, take your clients and put them in alphabet. If you don't have a plan, right? It's like what we we know the famous one, right? What's the best CRM? The one you use. It's the one you use. Yes, right. That that's just what it is. Right. But if you don't have a plan for reviews, I strongly suggest the old alphabet one that Cors gotten taught back in the day and still teaches today, because it works. We did that, we divided our clients by that way. It's a very easy way when a client comes in. If you know their last name is Brown, hey, Mr. and Mrs. Brown, uh, we we meet with all of our clients the last names of A and B in the month of January. So just let you know coming up here in the month of December, we'll be calling to schedule your annual review for the month of January. Yeah. That's it. That's it. That's it's assumptive. And then when they come in and it's not a sales appointment, they'll come back.

SPEAKER_00 31:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:43

No, you're you're things happen, their life changes, you know. So I I would encourage people to to just commit to dividing up your clients into a list and and start doing that. And if you don't know how to run a 20 or 30 minute appointment, you can reach out to us. There's there's tons of stuff out there, right? About people talking about a modern attention span and and why those old long appointments don't work. Right. So there's there's resources out there, but that's what my takeaway from our conversation today would be man, you know, just get started and get better at it. You know, you team up with somebody, do something, because we've proven, and I loved hearing from you on some of the background from leadership, you know, of what it looks like. Because I feel it here. The clients we meet with don't leave us. Right. That's just the reality of it. I I noticed that it's it's very infrequent if we meet with a client frequently that they leave.

SPEAKER_00 32:32

Yes. And I know one thing I know about you, and that is if I'm your client, I'm gonna get the opportunity to sit down. So I'm not gonna fall through the cracks because you've got that systematized. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:43

We probably should do a future one talking about, you know, utilizing team for reviews. Because as we've moved on to virtual appointments, phone calls, these kind of things, there's nothing wrong with it. We would prefer to meet with the client in person every year, but we have a lot of people that, hey, can we do this over the phone? Sure. I've got a whole system for that. Okay. I want my junior agents, he takes care of that. He's very, very good at that. Sometimes those only take eight to ten minutes. Yeah. You know, they might take the call on their way home. It's at least we're connecting with them. How are you? We want to check in on you, make sure everything's okay. Right. Has there any changes this year? You know, so I think that's what what would be your perspective after kind of hearing both sides of ours? Is there any takeaways you would have from today's session?

SPEAKER_00 33:22

No, I I think you're right on. I I think there's a lot. I mean, obviously, this is a pretty quick session. I think there's a lot of uh questions that come out of this topic, just as you said. How do I, who should be calling, what they should what should they be saying, what should the cadence be? What's the actual structure of the review look like? Um, you know, how does the two appointment process work? I think there's a lot of questions that spin off. So I'd be interested, the people that are watching today that have questions, if they can put that into the comments and you and I'll be able to go back and either have additional sessions to cover those or be able to answer them in those comment sections.

SPEAKER_01 33:57

Yeah, I'd be open to bringing some people on too. You know, if if anybody has subject matter experts that that that they're interested in hearing from, I mean, we we know enough people, we can bring them on. And it it's a different thing. It it sounds weird to run something in 20 to 30 minutes, but when you wrap your head around the idea that you that doesn't include the prep work and it doesn't include the postwork, it it doesn't unprofessionalize it at all. As a matter of fact, it the client appreciates it. And when they leave, it's hey, that wasn't that bad. And then when you call them the next year, guess what? They're likely to come back in. Yes. And that's key. That's establishing and keeping that relationship. And if they they like you, they know you care about them, you got a pretty good chance of keeping them.

SPEAKER_00 34:36

Yep. Oh, I think that's right on. That's all I've got on my side. I think that's a great session, and I think that's a lot of good information people can actually apply.

SPEAKER_01 34:45

I think so too. And and I encourage the feedback. If anybody has any opinions on this, we'd love to hear from you. Um, you know, we kind of feel like we're talking into a into a closet right here. So you know, anything we can hear from, we're happy to adapt to. Uh you and I are both that way, and we look forward to uh kind of communicating with people.

SPEAKER_00 35:00

Absolutely. Hey, thanks, Josh. I appreciate it. Thank you, buddy. Talk to you soon.