Bots Are Not Replacing Your People. Stop Hoping They Will.

"If you can't manage people, you can't manage bots. You'll manage them worse."   I keep getting emails from agency owners telling me they will not be hiring a virtual employee because they are taking a class to build their own bots. I read those emails and laugh...

The Job You Signed Up For

"What gets licensed people buried isn't hard work. It's the wrong work." Go read the one-star reviews for almost any insurance agency. Not the fraud complaints. The ordinary ones. "Nobody called me back." "I left three messages." "Been a client nine years and I can't...

How to Compete with the Big Direct Carriers When You’re a Small Shop

"I'm not trying to beat GEICO. I'm trying to be the call they make after GEICO lets them down." BY MICHAEL CRUZ Everyone keeps saying independent agencies are losing to GEICO and the direct carriers. The data says otherwise. The Big I's most recent market share report...

Automation Is Coming to Insurance. Here’s Why You Still Need Real People.

"Nobody calls their insurance agency because they want to talk to a bot. They call because something happened." BY JASON CASS   Agency owners are stressed about AI right now. Should I automate? Will bots replace my team? Am I falling behind if I don’t move fast...

Your Agency Needs to Pivot: Here’s Where Most Owners Actually Have to Start.

I’ve watched agencies get swallowed up because the owner refused to change. I’ve been in those rooms. I’ve had those conversations. Here’s what I know. BY MITCH GIBSON   The First Step Has Nothing to Do With Technology   I know that’s not what you want to...

Beware of the Agency Ides of March: The 5 Roads to Agency Endurance

   Let me start with a warning. Most agencies don’t fail because they can’t sell. They fail because they can’t hold what they build. If that hits a little hard, it should. Because if that’s true, then growth isn’t your biggest problem. Sustainability is. This...
IMO, The Best VE Companies Are…

IMO, The Best VE Companies Are…

2022  is the year of the virtual employee The industry name for this workforce is VA, meaning virtual assistants. In my personal experience, they are more than assistants. They are employees and my agency could not operate as it does without them. Therefore, in this...

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The Questions to Ask A VE Company

The Questions to Ask A VE Company

Clarification: Companies refer to them as Va’s (virtual assistants). I feel that their value to our industry and country is equal to my other employees, therefore we refer to them as VE’s (virtual employees).  You don’t know what you don’t know and hiring a VE is not...

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