Tag: Coaching

Episode 172: Leadership and Tough Conversations

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Learning to lead tough but essential conversations. Today, I will share with you one of the most difficult, but vital aspects you need to learn as a leader: the fine art of navigating tough conversations. These are the crucial, high-stakes moments that can shape the careers, lives, and futures of those you lead.

Highlights:

  • Don’t confront. Coach. Once you know why something is happening then you can deal with the behavior head-on.
  • Discover the three ways to frame and position the tough conversation; First Person, Third Person, and direct attack on the behavior in the situation.
  • Be that RAE of sunlight within your organization; Recognition, Appreciation, and Encouragement.
  • Detangling your “Monkey Brain” (emotional side) from your “Sage Brain” (thinking side) when faced with an issue.
  • Shift your mindset to that of tough conversation are constructive, and will strengthen your organization, your culture, and your team.
  • Before going into a conversation, identify your outcome goal.
  • Discover the 6 tips that you should have in mind before you enter a tough conversation.
  • Develop an execution plan on how you are going to approach the conversation.

 

Until next time, get out there and make a difference, be unstoppable, and leave no regrets!

 

Mike Stromsoe
The Unstoppable Profit Producer
Call 800-770-9984
Website: http://unstoppableprofitproducer.com/
Virtual Events: http://www.uppfaststart.com/

Email [email protected]

Podcast: http://unstoppableprofitpodcast.com
Virtual Training: http://uppfaststart.com

In Person Training: http://beunstoppablebootcamp.com

Episode 171: How to Have ONLY Great Clients

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In this week’s episode, I’m going to bring you some updated ways of thinking about strategies and everything else concerning a very simple principle, the 80/20 rule.  Based on the Pareto principle, these tactics can help you scale your business while focusing on your ideal client using something we like to call Client Segmentation.

Highlights:

  • Understand the Pareto principle and what it means for your agency.
  • 20% of the customers create 80% of the revenue, so focus on satisfying those customers.
  • Alternatively, the bottom 20% of clients consume possibly as much as 80% of your time.
  • Client Segmentation – Utilizing your data determine who your Triple-A to C clients are so that you know where to focus your time and energy.
  • Understand what makes for an excellent client, an average client, and a client that will end up costing the agency more than they produce income-wise for the agency.
  • “Fire” your C clients, those that are wasting your time and costing you money.
  • A personal insurance Triple A client will have three or more policies, one or fewer claims in the last three years, no late pays, and refers people to your agency
  • Keep building deep, significant, meaningful relationships, all of the time, with everybody on your Triple A list but don’t spend time on your C clients unless you believe they are coachable.

 

 

Until next time, get out there and make a difference, be unstoppable, and leave no regrets!

 

Mike Stromsoe
The Unstoppable Profit Producer
Call 800-770-9984
Website: http://unstoppableprofitproducer.com/
Virtual Events: http://www.uppfaststart.com/

Email [email protected]

Podcast: http://unstoppableprofitpodcast.com
Virtual Training: http://uppfaststart.com

In Person Training: http://beunstoppablebootcamp.com

Episode 170: 1 Billion Dollar Revenue (Encore)

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What’s the biggest mistake you’ve made over the past year, or year and a half?  I was in a room with entrepreneurs who generate over $1 billion in annual revenue and that question was one of the most important when it came to learning how to take your business to the next level.  Join me as I share the answer to this question and the stories behind them.

Highlights:

  • Severance packages are the cost of poor leadership
  • Never take your foot off the pedal on a prospect
  • Be careful of who you are hiring
  • Just one person can affect the culture of a company and not always in a good way
  • How you personally lead will make or break the success of your team and over the business
  • The opportunity costs due to lack of action
  • Make sure you have deep conversations with the people you want to promote as sometimes they are already in the right position for them
  • Always be recruiting. Ensure you have the team members to handle the opportunities as they arise
  • When it comes to launching, ensure you have the framework fully developed before doing so
  • Keep your eye on the marketplace
  • Balance your priorities
  • Have a cyber plan and cyber insurance program
  • Hire great people, give them authority and get out of their way

 

Until next time, get out there and make a difference, be unstoppable, and leave no regrets!

Mike Stromsoe
The Unstoppable Profit Producer
Call 800-770-9984
Website: http://unstoppableprofitproducer.com/
Virtual Events: http://www.uppfaststart.com/

Email [email protected]

Podcast: http://unstoppableprofitpodcast.com
Virtual Training: http://uppfaststart.com

In Person Training: http://beunstoppablebootcamp.com

Episode 169: Planning YOUR Plan

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“Time is the great equalizer, and you will never be able to get back the time that you lost; that you wasted.”

I am always looking for ways to improve my productivity and make the most of my time. Recently, I came across the idea of using a “Planning My Plan” sheet to help me stay on track and make the most of my time each day. This sheet has helped me to focus on my top priorities, reach out to the people I need to, and stay accountable to my goals. Listen as we take a closer look at this tool and its benefits to anyone who is looking to make the most of their time and achieve their goals.

Key Takeaways:

  • You become successful in achieving great accomplishments because you stay focused, stay on plan, and stick to where you’re going.
  • By not making the greatest time choices, you are probably facing a lack of impact on those around you professionally and personally.
  • Your top ‘must dos’ on your list should be the high-impact things that only you can do as a business leader.
  • According to the Pareto principle, people should focus on the things that fulfill and give them purpose and are most profitable based on what they do.
  • Don’t get distracted by the agenda of others but stay focused on the impact your daily plan is making.

 

To get a copy of the Planning Your Plan Sheet email me at [email protected]

 

Until next time, get out there and make a difference, be unstoppable, and leave no regrets!

 

Mike Stromsoe
The Unstoppable Profit Producer
Call 800-770-9984
Website: http://unstoppableprofitproducer.com/
Virtual Events: http://www.uppfaststart.com/

Email [email protected]

Podcast: http://unstoppableprofitpodcast.com
Virtual Training: http://uppfaststart.com

In Person Training: http://beunstoppablebootcamp.com

Episode 168: Winning The War For Talent with Andy Arter

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Finding the right talent for your agency has become increasingly harder over the past few years.  Companies are spending more time and money on recruiting only to have 1 in three candidates arrive for the interview.
Andy Arter, the National Sales Director for Team Hired, joins me to discuss the challenges of finding great candidates who show up and do the right work, as well as the need for agencies to adapt to today’s competitive hiring market.

Key Takeaways:

  • There is a disparity in expectations. The way that we hired a couple of years ago is completely different now.
  • Conversion rates (cost of recruitment to the actual number of hires) have shifted due to a larger number of opportunities for employment and how they are incentivizing candidates
  • Statistically, only one in three candidates will show up for an interview and it is the same ratio for retention on the annual basis.
  • In 2019 1 in 60 candidates were wanting to work remotely. Now it is 1 in 7.
  • Independent and Captive Insurance agencies will adapt their hiring strategies differently.
  • Utilizing a training program where you hire three team members and put the time and effort can alleviate the 1 in 3 annual retention rate so that when you do lose, you are not at square one.
  • Extend beyond your local market and look at remote candidates that can be the rockstar you are looking for.
  • Don’t mistake activity for productivity.
  • Discover the three Cs that lead to better hiring and retention; Compensation, Culture, and Career Path.
  • Consider the candidate’s perspective when hiring. When there are more jobs than candidates, you will have fewer applicants if you stick to the old hiring methodology.

 

About our Guest:
Andy Arter serves as the National Sales Director for Team Hired. Andy has served in Sales and Marketing roles for 10 years, produced over $10mil in Direct Business to Business Sales, worked for Real Estate Mogul and Sales Trainer Grant Cardone as a Top Producer, and works with several thousand agencies across the country on recruiting new team members. Andy takes enormous pride in helping clients build and improve their sales, marketing, and hiring processes. When Andy is not interfacing with our Clients, you can probably find him spending time with his Wife, Son, and 2 German Shepherds, and 1 Mini Aussie in the Florida Sunshine!

 

https://teamhired.com/

https://www.facebook.com/ChooseTeamHired

https://www.linkedin.com/in/andyarter/

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCt7RmdvIo47flTMEp2BEJAA

 

 

Until next time, get out there and make a difference, be unstoppable, and leave no regrets!

 

Mike Stromsoe
The Unstoppable Profit Producer
Call 800-770-9984
Website: http://unstoppableprofitproducer.com/
Virtual Events: http://www.uppfaststart.com/

Email [email protected]

Episode 167: Why People Buy from YOU with Bob Burg (Encore)

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Over 23+ years, the referral programs developed in our insurance agency business were at the core of generating more than $49 million dollars in sales. In this episode AND at the 2022 Be Unstoppable Bootcamp, you will learn from the man who was a huge inspiration in the development and marketing of our referral programs – Mr. Bob Burg.

You will not want to miss one second of this podcast and make sure to grab your seat and hotel room for the Be Unstoppable Bootcamp before they are gone. These “Tickets to paradise will NOT last!  Visit http://beunstoppablebootcamp.com now.

 

Key Takeaways:

  • People refer and do business with people they know, like, and trust
  • People are going to buy for their reasons, not ours and unless we are adept at discovering what those reasons are, we’re going to have a difficult time having the sale take place
  • A mistake we make is when we allow ourselves to believe what we understand is happiness is what someone else would understand is happiness
  • Gain an understanding of the Profit Motive and how profit is not just a financial one.
  • It is your mission to discover other’s profit motive
  • Discover how to establish a mentor/protégé relationship

About our Guest:

For over 30 years Bob Burg has been successfully showing entrepreneurs, leaders, and sales professionals how to communicate their value and accelerate their referral business.

Although for years he was best known for his sales classic, Endless Referrals, it’s his business parable, The Go-Giver, coauthored with John David Mann that has created a worldwide movement.

While part of a four-book series, The Go-Giver itself has sold more than one million copies and been translated into 30 languages. It was rated #10 on Inc. Magazine’s list of The Most Motivational Books Ever Written, and was on HubSpot’s 20 Most Highly Rated Sales Books of All Time.

Bob is an advocate, supporter and defender of the Free Enterprise system, believing that the amount of money one makes is directly proportional to how many people they serve.

He is also an unapologetic animal fanatic and served on the Board of Directors of Furry Friends Adoption & Clinic in his town of Jupiter, Florida.

https://burg.com

Until next time, get out there and make a difference, be unstoppable, and leave no regrets!

 

Mike Stromsoe
The Unstoppable Profit Producer
Call 800-770-9984
Email [email protected]

Episode 166: Your Weakest Link

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20 years ago, I had the benefit of going to a session to learn about becoming a greater Insurance Agency entrepreneur. The session was conducted was John Jakes and talked about identifying your weakest link every quarter and letting them move on back to the marketplace. Now he worked with organizations of over 25 people on a team but this lead me to create the Destiny Question to determine who the weakest link is on your team.

Key Takeaways:

  • You cannot change somebody at their core (attitude and character) but you can train them from a skill standpoint
  • Always be recruiting so that you have the ability to replace that weakest link when you need to.
  • Develop a culture of achievement within your organization
  • Your business is only as good as your weakest link
  • The ultimate goal is to build an organization that is built of leaders
  • People need to be able to envision the future in your organization, but your organization will not have a great future if you’re going to be satisfied with a team that sustains the weakest link

 

Until next time, get out there and make a difference, be unstoppable, and leave no regrets!

 

Mike Stromsoe
The Unstoppable Profit Producer
Call 800-770-9984
Website: http://unstoppableprofitproducer.com/
Virtual Events: http://www.uppfaststart.com/

Email [email protected]

Episode 165: People Do Business with People with Andrew Wynn

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With a mission to modernize insurance’s financial infrastructure, Ascend’s co-founder, Andrew Wynn, joins me to discuss not only how Ascend can help you grow your business and create wealth so that you have more freedom, but they are also going to give you more freedom. Whether or not accounting is your strong suit, this episode will help you discover the efficiencies you need in your business today.

Key Takeaways:

  • Discover how Andrew and his partner, Praveen, got into marketing to insurance companies to help agencies focus on the client and not worry so much about the infrastructure like accounting and payments.
  • With the advancement of technology, we started investing in carrier-focused tech and perhaps have gone too far with all the insurtech companies
  • As the capability grows, consumers don’t want to buy insurance from a computer but instead from a person who is going to be enabled through technology.
  • Companies are shifting their direct bill to Ascend because they want to own that customer expense and receive commissions earlier
  • When the sale is ready, make it as frictionless as possible to complete the transaction
  • Traditionally insurance has been a virtual product sold in a physical building and it does not need to be that way.
  • When you’re myopically focused on the little parts of the business, you sometimes forget the bigger picture.

 

About Ascend

Ascend is founded by two-time insurtech entrepreneurs, Andrew Wynn, and Praveen Chekuri, who built a home maintenance startup called Sheltr, which provides homeowners with routine preventative maintenance service and diagnostics to offer data-driven proactive care to catch issues before they become costly repairs. The company became the first acquisition made by insurtech unicorn Hippo because of its intuitive and technological approach to building an insurance product that went beyond the customer interaction. Prior to Sheltr, both Andrew and Praveen were employees at Instacart, leading the company’s product and data integration teams.

https://www.useascend.com/

 

Until next time, get out there and make a difference, be unstoppable, and leave no regrets!

 

Mike Stromsoe
The Unstoppable Profit Producer
Call 800-770-9984
Website: http://unstoppableprofitproducer.com/
Virtual Events: http://www.uppfaststart.com/

Email [email protected]

Episode 164: A Culture of Ownership

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Cultural transformation.  The culture of your business is changing, and you need to meet it head-on to adapt and continue to grow your business.  In this episode, I will discuss some key ways to help you transform your business to get a Culture of Ownership with accountability and empowerment. You will also discover the eight characteristics of a culture of ownership

Key Takeaways:

  • Empowerment – You want everybody to be empowered to be able to act and operate and to make their decisions on their own without the intervention of anybody else as if they were an owner.
  • If you want an uptick in your growth, it starts with you.
  • Every business should have identified at its core what its values are.
  • You should have somewhere between three and seven identified core values.
  • There are 20 characteristics to incorporate into your beliefs to help build your core values
  • When you create a culture of ownership, you’ve got patriots, not mercenaries.
  • If you’re going to transform your culture, you’ve got to take steps to coach them, to lead them on why this is important
  • The eight characteristics of a culture of ownership are based on you having a plan that they can buy int

 

Until next time, get out there and make a difference, be unstoppable, and leave no regrets!

 

Mike Stromsoe
The Unstoppable Profit Producer
Call 800-770-9984
Website: http://unstoppableprofitproducer.com/
Virtual Events: http://www.uppfaststart.com/

Email [email protected]

Episode 163: True Profitability

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How close attention do you pay to your numbers? You cannot understand your true profitability if you don’t know your numbers.

In this episode, I am going to take you through some of our most profitable years, looking specifically at marketing, technology, and payroll numbers. Through reviewing how we were profitable you will be able to learn the key areas to look for within your own agency’s finances.  I also take you through the KPIs that you must be aware of all the time.

Key Takeaways:

  • Ensure you are monitoring your profit-loss statements at least once a month and that your reconciliations are completed each month
  • 20 to 30% range of gross income should be your net profit
  • Depending on your needs and strategy, an average of 11.5% of gross revenue is a respectable amount.
  • Don’t spend an exorbitant amount on technology, around 3% of your gross revenue
  • Payroll will always be your highest expense and on average around 35-40% of revenue, not including the CEO or owner’s compensation.
  • Monitor your online bank accounts so that you can fix anything that is off immediately
  • Know your number of enforce policies, always know those KPIs or have quick access to them
  • Time Premium Retention is not a good gauge of true growth and profitability
  • Do you know the top five sources of new business getting written within your agency?
  • Determine your revenue per employee.
  • Know your breakdown of commercial versus personal versus life and health insurance.

 

Until next time, get out there and make a difference, be unstoppable, and leave no regrets!

 

Mike Stromsoe
The Unstoppable Profit Producer
Call 800-770-9984
Email [email protected]

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