Lessons Learned When Starting Out As An Insurance Producer

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Welcome everyone to another episode of the Preeminent Producer Podcast.
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Today we are going to be hearing from Matt Starkey about his kind of beginning days, of how he started the agency, some of the challenges he faced, as well as some of the lessons learned along the way.
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So if you find yourself stressed out, maybe a little fearful about what the future holds you're trying to produce, but maybe not seeing the results that you currently would like to see, take a listen to what Matt has to say, learn some of the lessons that he learned and apply them.
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So here we go, let's dive in, and I'll catch you at the end of this episode.
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Are you a commercial insurance producer struggling to stand out from the competition?
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Do you find it challenging to grow your book of business and create a fulfilling career?
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If so, then welcome to the Preeminent Producer Podcast.
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Each week, we'll be tackling important topics, sharing proven strategies and insights from successful producers that are in the trenches and have traveled the journey to becoming a preeminent producer.
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You'll discover what it really takes to become preeminent and build your book of business in a way that isn't being taught anywhere else.
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Our hosts are experts in the field and have built thriving businesses by becoming the most trusted advisor to their clients.
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Welcome to your journey to becoming a preeminent producer.
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Let's dive in.
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Okay yeah.
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I thought I'd share just a little bit about my story when I first started my first agency and a little background on that, some obstacles that I faced for either a newish producer starting out producing or maybe a newish agency principal, you know, forming or having recently formed an agency.
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So we'll kind of see where this goes.
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But basically my background when I started my first agency when I was 30 years old, and my background up to that point I had been an underwriter for a few years and a surplus lines broker for a couple of years.
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So I knew coverage pretty well and I had worked for a couple of years prior to starting that first agency as a marketing, a placement person at another retail insurance agency.
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But I really had zero production experience.
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I had never written a single policy, I was just a placement person.
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And one day I sat down and I looked at the accounts that I was working on to place and it was a half dozen or so accounts and I noticed that the total commercial PNC premium maybe was 100 grand for those six accounts.
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Yet the workers comp premium was closer to a million bucks.
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Now I knew absolutely nothing about workers comp but that got my attention and I sat down with a buddy of mine at the same agency who was also in that marketing department, and I said, bob, that wasn't his name, but I'm leaving his name out of here intentionally I said, bob, look at this, he goes.
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Yeah, I said, you know, I don't know.
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And Bob didn't know either anything about workers' comp.
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But other than they got to buy it.
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Yeah, the commissions are a little lower, but, boy, look at the premiums, you know, and the rates seem to keep going up every year.
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I said, bob, why don't we start our own agency and specialize in workers comp?
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And he said you know, we were dumb kids.
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And he said, well, okay.
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So we said those were the days when agency I'm sorry, carrier appointments were were difficult to get.
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And yet it was hard to get those appointments.
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So we set up a lunch with a marketing rep from kind of a key workers comp carrier here in California.
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They, like a lot of other carriers here.
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They went, they're no longer around, but this is many years ago.
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And we said, fred, we're thinking about starting our own agency.
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And he said, well, I wondered when you're going to get around to that.
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And we said, well, we'll do it if you'll appoint us and he said, well, let me go make a phone call Again.
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Days before everybody had a cell phone, went and made a phone call, came back, said, okay, you're appointed.
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We said, great, now what's this experience mod thingy we've been hearing all about?
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I mean, we knew nothing, you know, but it was sort of like the Bumblebee analogy.
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We just, you know, got it going.
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So we got off.
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Well, by the way so I have already mentioned I was 30 years old.
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To get that agency going, I emptied my small savings account of every dollar that I had took out a second of my home, set up through a private party, a line of credit for $200,000.
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Set up through a private party, a line of credit for $200,000.
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And we got into that to the tune of about a hundred, and I had a four-year-old and a newborn, and so there was a lot of pressure for me to produce something.
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I had never actually done up to that point and got off to kind of a non-auspicious start.
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The first account I've shared this with you guys before I think the first account that I wrote I don't even remember what it was now, but the deposit check bounced.
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And then the second account that I wrote after 30 days found out they had declared bankruptcy.
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So here I am, you know a hundred thousand or so in debt, no more money, the two kids and boy.
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That doesn't motivate you.
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And of course I'm thinking I left the secure job that I had, that I was pretty good at, making a decent income and so that provided a lot of motivation.
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So my business partner at the time and I we both went to our respective offices, we locked the doors and we just started making phone calls because we were desperate.
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So we were lucky enough to.
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During the course of those phone calls we stumbled upon a certain niche that helped and if you can develop niches, that really helps that particular niche.
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It was kind of short-lived but it was good while it lasted.
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It was a special program we ran into for P&C coverage for home builders here in Southern California.
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So they developed pretty good premiums and we had a real competitive program.
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So that helped us get through.
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We eventually paid off that line of credit that we were into, you know, for 100 grand or so and finally kind of got things turned around.
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The other couple things that we did that I think got us turned around is we realized that differentiation is a key.
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And so we developed really kind of cutting edge state of the art appearing proposals.
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So way back when we were doing really nice computer full color graphic proposals.
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They were so nice and so different than anything that our competitors were doing at the time that one of the most common things we'd hear from our prospects.
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When we gave them the proposal, they would say, well, is this for me to keep?
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Can I write on this?
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Because it the proposal.
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They would say, well, is this for me to keep?
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Can I write on this?
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Because it would.
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Just, they were kind of stunning.
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Nowadays everybody does that sort of thing.
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Back then they were an attention getter and the other thing we did is we started developing good referral sources.
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So those are kind of the things that got us through that rough patch.
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But it was pretty scary.
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So my real motivation was for getting up at 5 am every morning.
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Getting to work was challenging.
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I was broke and in debt and a couple of young kids, so that's a good motivator.
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So a couple of lessons that I learned from that and that I would share really briefly would be if you're going to start out producing and you don't have a book of business or you're going to start an agency and maybe you don't have a book of business.
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It can be done.
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But you got to go in with your eyes wide open.
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Realistically, you're going to have to sacrifice.
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Now that other very famous Starkey in the world, richard Starkey.
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Some of you guys will know, rick, I know you know Ringo Starr we're not related as far as I you know.
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He wrote a song and it don't come easy.
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So you know that's a lesson for that.
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You just have to keep in mind it don't come easy, you're going to have to sacrifice, but is it worth the sacrifice?
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Well, I know all of us involved in preeminent producer would say absolutely.
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And Rick, you've outlined this before.
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What makes this such a great industry, such a unique sales industry and sales position?
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So many good things going for it.
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But you got to go in with your eyes wide open.
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There really might be some lean times at first.
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And then I thought I would just kind of wrap it up real quick with five kind of big picture tips that I think I'll share with people.
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One and I've said this before and I'm stating this as tip number one because I think it belongs in that position Differentiation is everything we have in this industry right now round number is about 680,000 licensed insurance agents in the US.
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That's a lot of competition and that number over the next decade is projected to go up to over 700,000.
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So you gotta do something to stand out.
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So keep in mind differentiation, it's everything.
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Number two, a tip that I live by is develop referral sources.
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You know your hit ratio on leads that you drum up through some cold call type mechanism is typically going to be one out of four, maybe one out of five, you know, but on referrals it's probably going to be one out of four, maybe one out of five, you know, but on referrals it's probably going to be one out of two.
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So developing referral sources is a great way to go.
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I mentioned niches.
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If you can develop or find or create some niches, it's a very efficient way of marketing.
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It in turn develops more and more referrals and kind of be a snowballing you know type of impact.
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So niches is really good.
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I'm fond of saying Rick and Paul, I know you've heard me say this before, probably ad nauseum, but I think it's really valuable once in a while to take a step back and think about what we're doing.
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How can I differentiate?
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How can I develop more referral sources?
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Are there any possible niches out there, et cetera.
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But think about what we're doing.
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So it's so easy to get wrapped up in the day-to-day insanity and chaos of marketing activity that sometimes we're not going about this, maybe in the smartest way that we could.
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So I'm a big believer in you know, it's that concept of the e-myth.
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That book by Gerber I think it was Michael Gerber, I think it was his name he talks about working on your business on your business, not in your business.
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It's that concept.
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And then, finally, I would say you got to be yourself.
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Play to whatever your strengths are.
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If you try to imitate some other successful producer that you know it's not going to work.
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And these business owners that we deal with, I think they're looking for authenticity and they can see through if you're trying to put on a certain DJ voice or are using closing strategies that you're not really comfortable with.
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But somebody told you they were a good idea.
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So I would say I would recommend anybody.
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Be yourself.
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Don't try to imitate somebody else or be somebody you're not, you know.
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So I think, if we all keep those things in mind, take a step back and think about what we're doing once in a while, we'll all be well served.
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Matt, I think you've said a bunch of good things, which doesn't surprise me, and I think one of the things that we talk about and I think this would apply to so many businesses is business in general is not fair.
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It's hard, people will lie to you, they won't treat you fairly, and I think if we were talking to realtors or attorneys or car salespeople, it would be the same story.
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But it's worth it in our industry because of what you just said.
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But I think the thing that keeps you on track is just what you said, matt you found your why, and it was you're in debt, you've started an agency, you've got to pay this stuff off, you've got a family.
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All of those things are your why of why you showed up, kept your nose to the grindstone, day after day, doing the hard work that later turned out to be a big win for you, and I think that's what this is all about finding your why in a very difficult industry, but an industry that's worth it, that makes you work harder than the next man or woman, that drives you and is the force that pulls you towards success.
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Yeah, rick, absolutely.
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And something you said there just stimulated another thought, and that is it's such a great industry, you know, if you get through the lean years, whatever, it's such a great industry.
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And another great thing about it is there's a and maybe this is true for every sales industry, I don't know, but there's a lot of mediocrity in our industry, and a former business partner of mine was fond of saying once in a while he would say you know, you don't really have to be a Phi Beta Kappa to be head and shoulders above most of the thundering herd of agents out there, and I think that's true.
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Again, it's easy to get sucked into that vortex of just being so busy that we're not really thinking logically and strategically about what we're doing.
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But if you do that and figure out your, why figure out your differentiators?
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It's not that complex.
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No, it's not.
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I think I heard Lou Holtz say something, and if you ever want to hear some really entertaining things, listen to Lou Holtz speak.
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When he was talking to his football team, he said you know, you don't have to be the best football team in the United States, you don't have to be the best football team in this state or even in the city, you just have to be the best team in the stadium on that day.
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So, as we go, we don't have to be the best insurance agents in the world.
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We don't even know who that is.
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We have an obligation, obviously, to be professional and knowledgeable, of course, but when we're in a competitive situation with another broker and we're trying to take something over on a VOR, we just have to be the best of the people that are in that fight, if you will, and it changes.
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I know what makes us better, but we always have to be motivated.
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We always have, because business is hard and not fair.
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We always have to have that.
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Why that goes by golly.
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I'm going to get up this morning, as Matt did, go to the office early and start making the phone calls, start doing the things that you need to do.
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That puts you on the road of success, that constant, never-ending movement towards success, yeah.
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You know one other thing that you mentioned there, Rick, about people are people, so you'll even get lied to.
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You know things will happen.
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The other thing that will happen is it happens to all of us to this day and it will still happen to me.
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I'll try to minimize it, but in the process of getting lied to or whatever, you're going to get rolled.
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Sometimes You're going to come in with the best thing and they're going to BOR it to their current agent or whatever, and you've got to be able to.
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We've talked about this before.
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I think Christian's talked about this at length.
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You've got to be able to pick yourself up at length.
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You got to be able to pick yourself up, brush yourself off and get going again and not not let that negativity uh uh become part of your, your, uh, your personality or whatever.
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You got to keep that positive attitude.
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And half the battle to to do it's difficult to get rolled and stuff but half the battle to overcoming that is, I think, to realize it's going to happen, it to happen, it does happen, and sometimes we benefit being the incumbent by that sort of situation, thank goodness.
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Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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Well, you know, and take business, life itself isn't fair.
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Life is not fair.
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I mean, people lie to us personally, things happen to us in our personal lives.
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We face tragedies, we do whatever.
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It's not just business.
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And for me there was an existence system that I had.
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I had a photo of my boys on my desk and every time I would get down I'd look at these guys, go God, somebody's got to feed these guys.
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It's got to be me.
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I guess you know they can't go out and forage for themselves.
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Yet I waited until they were 15, let them go out and forage for themselves, can hunt for berries and nuts and things, but there has to be that thing that is in front of you that when you're down you look at it and go this is why I'm doing what I'm doing.
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This is why I have to keep doing this.
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And, by the way, if you're lucky, you're in this business and you're succeeding and you're enjoying it, I mean not that there will be strategies, strife and pain and those kind of things, but but that you enjoy the business.
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I enjoy the business.
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I know Christian does too.
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So I'm lucky we are to be in this great business.
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That can be enjoyable.
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Boy.
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That is so true.
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I'm so glad you brought up that last point, rick, because I had meant to do that.
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Have some fun along the way.
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It can be fun.
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You're going to be interesting people, entrepreneurial people.
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You'll develop over time really good friendships with a lot of those guys and you can have some fun along the way.
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All right.
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Hope you enjoyed that.
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Hope you got some little nuggets of gold out of that.
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I think it's important once again in this episode, as well as our past one, hearing from Rick and really kind of discovering your why.
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That's kind of a common theme here of really understanding and getting clear on your why Are you producing?
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Do you have to produce?
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Because you've got little ones relying on you.
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What is your why?
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And then really develop a strategic plan and do what it takes to get the job done, but keep your why in front of you.
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So if you're not clearing your why, take time today and really get clear on that.
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If you'd like more information and maybe even need help on discovering your why or coming up with a battle plan after you've discovered your why, I encourage you to check us out at the preeminent producercom.
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Take a look at the programs that we have, get involved and get coached by these preeminent producers and our coaches and really start to get real results.
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This whole thing is designed to help you streamline and shorten the distance of time from you and the success you're going after.
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Why do it on your own and have it take forever when you can shorten the distance of time, because you've got coaches there helping you along the way.
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So check us out at thepreeminentproducercom and we'll see you in the next episode of the Preeminent Producer Podcast.
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Thanks so much for joining us on this episode of the preeminent producer podcast.
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Once again, thanks for joining us and we'll catch you in the next episode of the preeminent Producer Podcast.