Today’s episode is on retirement income solutions. Tom Henga is a retirement income specialist. Learn more at MarkMiletello.com.  TRANSCRIPT Announcer 1 Where the Insurance Pros Meet, Episode 2. Announcer 2 If you really want to get good, I mean, you want to be the best in the business, you've got to train a little bit every single day just like the pro football players do. Announcer 1 Where the Insurance Pros Meet is a podcast that brings the greatest talent in the world together: managers, coaches, and producers. The very best experts the insurance and financial services industry has to offer. Get ready to change the way you do business to have your most successful year ever. Now, here's Mark Miletello, a top one percent producer, manager, and your host of "Where the Insurance Pros Meet". Mark Miletello Today we're going to discuss retirement income solutions. We have on the show with us the retirement income specialist himself. He's the author of four best sellers, "Paychecks and PlayChecks", "Retirement Income Masters", "Paycheck and Playchecks for Canadians", and most recently, "Don't Worry Be Happy: Seven Steps to Retirement Security, which has played on public television to over 72 million homes in the US and Canada. Our guest specializes in creating, what I love, is simple and powerful retirement solutions based on math and science and not opinions. I've seen him speak myself. He's exciting. You should look him up. He speaks to businesses, government organizations, professional associations, financial professionals, and more importantly, clients across the globe. The road warrior himself, Tom Hegna. Welcome to the show, Tom. Tom Hegna Thank you, Mark. Thanks for having me. Mark Miletello Well, Tom, NFL season is here. I'm excited. The pros are practiced, rehearsed, the butterflies are gone. It's game time. Tom, congratulations, and thanks for being a leader, a voice, and a consummate professional in the insurance industry; and is, really, the leading speaker and coach in the financial services industry. So, thanks for coming to the show. Can you give us a kickoff of this show with a professional tip or advice just to start us off and get this game going? Tom Hegna Sure. I mean, since you're talking about pro football, let me ask you a question. How often do they train do you think? Do they train once a quarter? Once every six months? A couple of times a year? They train every single day. Sometimes they do doubles. Sometimes they do triples. What people don't understand is that the top producers in any business, but let's just say pro football, they're constantly training. You know what else, they've got a coach. Why would they need a coach? They're the best players in the world. Because the coach sees things they don't. The coach can come up with a game plan. And I think what both you and I do is we focus on training and coaching. Why do people in our industry think that they don't need to train every single day? And, you know, if you or I were training or coaching them, even for 10 or 15 minutes every day, imagine how much better they would be in three months, six months, nine months. And so, I guess that would be my opening pitch, is that if you really want to get good, I mean, you want to be the best in the business, you've got to train a little bit every single day just like the pro football players do. Mark Miletello You know, I'm even more excited now because you're spot on. As a producer, as an agent, sometimes we're out there by ourselves; and here I am, 27 years into my career, and I still have a coach. I still have a mentor. I still look for more knowledge. So, you're exactly right, and that's the type of stuff I knew we were going to get right off the bat from you. Right now, let's break for industry news. There's no secret, the Department of Labor rulings are dominating the news in the insurance and financial services stadium. Tom, help us out. How do you think the industry will or will not change...

Retirement Income Solutions, Tom Henga, Ep. 2

Today's episode is on new marketing and training platforms for multiple line agents. Lance Johnson is the co-founder of IA Trainers, (Insurance Agent Trainers). Learn more at MarkMiletello.com.  TRANSCRIPT Speaker 1 Where the Insurance Pros Meet, episode one. Lance Johnson If you could help someone get what they want, you're going to get what you want. Speaker 1 Where the Insurance Pros Meet is a podcast that brings the greatest talent in the world together. Managers, coaches, and producers. The very best experts the insurance and financial services industry has to offer. Get ready to change the way you do business to have your most successful year ever. Now, here's Mark Miletello, a top one percent producer, manager, and your host of Where the Insurance Pros Meet. Mark Miletello Welcome. I'm Mark Miletello. Today we're going to discuss new marketing and training platforms for multiple line agents. We have on the show with us co-founder of IA Trainers, that stands for Insurance Agent Trainers, and my partner in the development of the new dynamic training platform MarkMiletello.com. Welcome, Lance Johnson to the show. How are you? Lance Johnson Well, I'm doing great, Mark. Thanks a lot for having me. I appreciate you having me on board today. Mark Miletello Well, I'm excited to have you on board, and some of the things that I know you're going to share with us is really revolutionizing the industry. Lance, you know I'm a golfer, right? Lance Johnson That's correct. Mark Miletello There's nothing better than to walk up to the first t-box and right off the bat crush a drive down the middle of the fairway while everyone is looking and waiting. The rest of the game may not go so well, so while everyone is listening and waiting, I'd like to start the show the same way with valuable information that will just crush it. Lance, for our insurance and financial services listeners, can you give us a quick tip right off the first box? Lance Johnson Yeah, you know my first tip to anybody in business is it's all about getting people what they want, providing things to help people get what they want. The first rule of thumb I go by is if you can help someone get what they want, you're going to get what you want if that makes sense. Mark Miletello It absolutely does, and I totally agree with that. I'm excited to dive into this today to find out more about that. But first Lance, let's go to some industry news. Right now, the insurance industry is going through some crazy times. Training in the industry right now is news that auto insurance losses are climbing at an alarming rate. Many insurance companies have been caught off guard by this trend, some in a major way like I said, and consumers, of course, want to know why? For some time, auto insurance rates were trending consistently down, believe it or not, competition among other things. Since the great recession, since '08, '09 this trend has reversed. Rates again are on the rise; the reasons are there are more and more cars on the road. Those cars are driving much more annual mileage than before. There are higher medical costs, which always seems to be a factor, but also higher repair costs have been a major trend as well. Lance, I know you. You drive all over the state, and I know your commute. You drive a lot of miles, annually right? Lance Johnson Yeah, I do. I put the miles on because I love being on the field working with clients. Mark Miletello I know, and I think most of us if we look at the mileage we drive, and maybe you and I are just from a larger city, but I think people are driving more as the economy picks up. Also with the age of smart cars, the technology is supposed to be there to help with wrecks, right? Self-driving cars, things like that. What's going on here? It's really Lance, it's the other technologies that are causing more wrecks. Everything I guess cell phone related, navigation apps, texting, calls, et cetera. All this including those higher miles that are...

New Marketing and Training Platforms for Multiple Line Agents, Lance Johnson, Ep. 1

Today's episode is on breaking out in a competitive marketing place. Richard Weylman is a highly sought-after marketing consultant in the financial services industry. Learn more at MarkMiletello.com.  TRANSCRIPT Announcer Where The Insurance Pros Meet, Episode 3. Richard Weylman Remember, relationships drive revenue, and if you want to grow a practice today, they want you to relate. Announcer Where The Insurance Pros Meet is a podcast that brings the greatest talent in the world together: managers, coaches, and producers; the very best experts the insurance and financial services industry has to offer. Get ready to change the way you do business to have your most successful year ever. Now, here's Mark Miletello, a top 1% producer, manager, and your host of Where The Insurance Pros Meet. Mark Miletello Today we're going to discuss breaking out in a competitive marketing place. We have a very, very special guest on the show today. He's a highly sought-after marketing consultant in the financial services industry. He's the author of two best-selling books, Opening Closed Doors: Keys To Reaching Hard-To-Reach People, and a recent read of mine, The Power of Why: Breaking Out in a Competitive Marketplace. This book has been endorsed with names like Donald J. Trump, yes, that's now President Trump, Christopher Forbes, Richard S. Bernstein, Milton Pedraza, founder of an online university, the Weylman Center for Excellence in Practice Management. By the way, his work has been described by Christopher Forbes of Forbes magazine as brilliant, and I personally agree. I've been following and learning from our guest for a decade now, and I'm honored and excited to welcome Richard C. Weylman to the show. Welcome, Richard. Richard Weylman Thank you, Mark. Great to be with you. I appreciate the privilege of being part of the programming Where The Insurance Pros Meet. Thank you. Mark Miletello And thank you. Richard, were you able to catch the Mayweather/McGregor fight? Richard Weylman Oh, absolutely. I'm a huge boxing fan. Although a lot of people thought it was going to be for show only, I thought it was very interesting. I thought that McGregor handled himself well given the fact it was way outside of his, how shall we say, his sweet spot. But it was really an interesting fight. I think that it was truly once in a lifetime. Mark Miletello Yeah, it's neat. I love the way the announcers even were questioning in the early rounds. It's funny. I like to start my show with a Mayweather jab, followed by a straight overhand right, which he implemented so well, but knock out information that will immediately help our listeners win in the arena of marketing and sales in the insurance and financial industry. Now, Richard, I know someone who paid $5,000 for a ticket. I personally paid $100 to see the fight. And others that I've talked to cannot even believe people were paying this much to see this fight. So, I think there's a lesson here. As a marketing coach, I can't help but relate this to consumers of our products. I guess the question is, regarding our products in the insurance and financial industry, products that may do the same thing but are priced differently, how is it that agents or reps stay in business unless they're the lowest price? I think you're the perfect person to ask that question too. Richard Weylman Wonderful question. It's a perfect analogy. Why would somebody pay $5,000 or $100 to be able to see that fight? In the end, there are a couple of things to always consider. Why do people, and why are people willing to pay more? If they can afford it, why are they willing to pay more than, let's say, the low-cost provider. It really gets down to a couple of very fundamental things. Number one, it's the value that they place, in the case of insurance, on the recommendations that are being made. If you do a great discovery and really uncover, hear me clearly now, the emotional issues they're dealing with, not just, "I need more life...

Breaking Out In A Competitive Marketing Place, Richard C. Weylman, Ep. 3

Garry Kinder shares how successful agents form the habits of doing the things people who fail don't like to do and won't do. Learn why activity should be your primary focus. View more at MarkMiletello.com.  TRANSCRIPT Speaker 1: 'Where the Insurance Pros Meet,' episode five. Garry Kinder: The one thing you can control is activity. Speaker 1: 'Where the Insurance Pros Meet' is a podcast that brings the greatest talent in the world together. Managers, coaches, and producers, the very best experts the insurance and financial services industry has to offer. Get ready to change the way you do business, to have your most successful year ever. Now, here's Mark Miletello, a top 1% producer, manager, and your host of 'Where the Insurance Pros Meet.' Mark Miletello: Welcome to 'Where the Insurance Pros Meet.' I'm your host, Mark Miletello. Today, we have on the show a true icon in the insurance and financial services industry. Our guest has won more awards, touched more lives, mentored more agents, associated with more companies, written more books, and had over six decades in the insurance and financial services. I could talk half probably the entire show of trying to give a proper introduction to our guest, but I know him personally as a friend. I really think that a personal story he would appreciate more. I met our guest 17 years ago. I came from a prior company where I was top three in that company. I had sold 30,000 of life premium back in 2000. When I made a sideways move to a new company, that was the bottom of the barrel of life. I realized that there was a bigger world out there. I was struggling to figure out how in the world could a multiple line agent do more than 25,000 of life production. I was lucky enough, fortunate enough, to be invited to ... I guess at the time, our guest was being ... It was kind of a study group that the company was seeing could he really affect agents enough to hire him on as a mentor for our company. I was invited to drive to Baton Rouge. I think it was six or eight class session. Garry Kinder: Yup. Mark Miletello: After that meeting, my production personally went to MDRT for three consecutive years after that meeting. All the lives that you've touched, all the agents that you've touched, the clients that you've touched, all roads kind of lead back, and all the greats that I've talked to. Personally, for me, I want to welcome my mentor and one of the greats in the industry. I like to call him the great Garry Kinder. Welcome, Garry. Garry Kinder: Well, it's my pleasure, Mark, to be with you. I remember those days over in, I believe it was Louisiana. Wasn't it? That we met? Mark Miletello: That's right, that's right. Garry Kinder: Yeah. Mark Miletello: In Doug Jones' office. Garry Kinder: I remember those days. Yeah, I remember that. I guess we did have six or seven sessions. We had a ... That session had a great impact on you, and you've become a tremendous performer. I'm always glad to hear you talk about what happened back there in Louisiana. That's great stuff. Mark Miletello: Well ... Garry Kinder: Go ahead. Mark Miletello: Well, and you've always remembered that session. Someone that has taught hundreds of classes a year, how do you remember? How do you look back and every time we talk and we meet, you remember that? I know you went on to have a great career mentoring with my company at the time. I don't know, you just have the ability, I guess, to really ... remember that class, those people, that situation. Maybe it's all of them, maybe you just have a great memory. Garry Kinder: Well, I do have ... I was blessed as a young kid with memory. I could remember things. I'll never forget going to a Dale Carnegie course. The very first evening, they said, "We want to go around and have everybody introduce themselves." We did that. Then they pulled this on us. They said, "Now, who here know the names of all the people that stood up and told you their name, and where they're from? How many of...

The Great Garry Kinder - A True Insurance Industry Icon, Ep. 5

Author, Morris Sims shares how to create understanding with clients. Learn the power of influence in sales. View more at MarkMiletello.com.  TRANSCRIPT Speaker 1: Where the Insurance Pros Meet, Episode 6. Morris Sims: What we do, Mark, as insurance agents, we change people's lives. We change people's lives for the better every day. Speaker 1: Where the Insurance Pros Meet is a podcast that brings the greatest talent in the world together: managers, coaches, and producers, the very best experts the insurance and financial services industry has to offer. Get ready to change the way you do business to have your most successful year ever. Now here's Mark Miletello, a top 1% producer, manager, and your host of Where the Insurance Pros Meet. Mark Miletello: Welcome to Where the Insurance Pros Meet. I'm your host, Mark Miletello. Today we're going to discuss influence, understanding influence, increasing your influence, and principles of influence. Of course, in sales, we use our influence on either leading a team to increase production or as an individual just to increase sales. Influence is in everything we do. Our guest is an expert on the subject. He has trained over 80,000 agents and managers. He's written a book called Practical Influence. Highly sought-after leader and coach. I love welcoming Morris Sims to the show. Welcome, Morris. Morris Sims: Well, thanks, Mark. I really appreciate it. Mark Miletello: Glad having you and I'm excited to jump into this. You know, Morris, I kind of designed this show to run alongside a format of, and I gravitate toward, professional athletes. Many times, I was watching Major League Baseball this weekend and I was thinking the practice, from an early childhood they are practicing their skill. Even when they're late in their career, they still practice almost year around and honing their skills. They must have a coach. They have coaches throughout their entire career. I think there's a lot of similarities. What my goal in going into management was to bring that same understanding that we need, our clients really need us to be professionals out in the field. As we're recording this show, Major League Baseball is in the heat of the season. Teams are jockeying for the positions. But, Morris, professionals, they're in the spotlight, right? I would say they have a huge influence over others. Correct? Morris Sims: Oh, I think so, Mark. I think there are a lot of different principles of influence academically that are not necessarily the same principles that I have in the book, but rather maybe a little more academic principle that they've studied over the years in universities. The kind of influence that we're talking about there is the charisma and the collegial, if you will maybe, type of influence. It has to do with seeing someone and wanting to be like them. "I want to be as good as Dak Prescott. I want to be as good as," et cetera. Mark Miletello: Right. That's what drives me sometimes is watching others win awards. You know? Influence affects us. Aren't those major league athletes, aren't they influenced by others as well? Morris Sims: Oh, I think we all are. We all allow ourselves to be influenced by others around us all the time. I guess it's what you would call more of kind of influence: "I want to be like Mike. I want to be able to achieve the same things that Mark has achieved. I want to make MDRT." All those kinds of things are the kind of influence that comes along with other people. We're influenced by their lives, by what they've made of their lives, and we want to be able to be as good as they are. Mark Miletello: You hit it perfect. I want to be like Mike. That type of influence really still today, we know what that means, and they did a good job marketing that. Right off the bat, we're jumping into this, but, Morris, we're going to put you up to bat at first. We want you to step up there and hit us a home run on the first pitch and give us a professional tip right off the bat...

The Power of Influence in Sales, Morris Sims, Ep. 6

How to give yourself a competitive edge, build your brand and bring in business through speaking. Deirdre Van Nest shares top speaking tips to win customers. Learn more at MarkMiletello.com.  TRANSCRIPT Speaker 1: Where the Insurance Pros Meet, episode seven. Deirdre Van Nest: Every time you speak you have the opportunity to attract people to you, to build up your brand, to bring in business, or the opposite. Speaker 1: Where the Insurance Pros Meet is a podcast that brings the greatest talent in the world together. Managers, coaches, and producers the very best experts the insurance and financial services industry has to offer. Get ready to change the way you do business to have your most successful year ever. Now here's Mark Miletello, a top one percent producer, manager, and your host of Where the Insurance Pros Meet. Mark Miletello: Welcome back to the show. Today is an exciting day, I promised myself and the listeners that when I started this show, in my opinion the best, the greatest platform for really investment reps or insurance agents of Where the Insurance Pros Meet anyone that's in the financial services industry that I would search out and even have brand new agents, veteran agents, top speakers, top thinkers and minds in the industry, so today we have a very, very special guest. We have someone and let me give you a little background before I give you all the goods. As you may or may not know I'm speaking in Lamp in 2018 for Gamma as a multiple line speaker and I fly in to Chicago and right before I'm going into my rehearsal where they do provide a professional speech coach I'm fortunate enough to sit next to the next speaker that arrived a little bit early and just so happens she is a professional speech coach. To me that was very lucky to build a quick friendship the few minutes we had together I knew this individual was special, I knew that she was on it and I invited her to critique and to come in and watch me, which they didn't really allow but I forced it. I want to welcome a very special guest to the show that in a few short minutes I just really felt could really help our industry in a way, welcome Deirdre Van Nest to the show. Deirdre Van Nest: Aw thank you, Mark. Mark Miletello: Deirdre you're the creator of Crazy Good Talks the Blueprint, a system that teaches financial and insurance professionals how to become crazy good speakers so that they can bring in business and build their brands using speaking. I mean I didn't really know what all that meant until I met you and within a few short minutes, you're molding me into something that's doing a lot better job at what I'm attempting to do. Welcome to the show, I'm excited to have you and what you do for our listeners here. Deirdre Van Nest: I'm excited to be here and it's been a pleasure to help you. You are a quick student. Mark Miletello: What does that mean? Are there some that are not? Deirdre Van Nest: Some are not, yeah. Yes, you are. Mark Miletello: Well thank you and like I said I just realized you're very special. Can you tell me a little bit about ... tell the listener a little bit about your background and maybe they'll get a sense for maybe what I've found in you? Deirdre Van Nest: Yeah you know what I first loved to do is talk for a moment about why I care about helping the industry, particularly when it comes to speaking. I firmly believe that every person, and then this is regardless of what you do for a living, but every person unless we develop a skill set of becoming a compelling speaker, the type of speaker Mark who can get other people to sit up and listen and act we will never truly reach our full potential. I'll never forget, I used to be in a networking group where ... you know those networking groups where you have to a 60 or 30 second commercial every week? Mark Miletello: Yep. Deirdre Van Nest: Ever been a part? Okay. I was in this networking group and every week I was with the same people and people would get up and they'd...

Crazy Good Talks, Deirdre Van Nest, Ep. 7

Garry Kinder is back on the show to talk about the common denominator of success. He shares his key industry insights and talks about why you must set and measure goals. Learn more at MarkMiletello.com.  TRANSCRIPT Speaker 1: Where The Insurance Pros Meet, episode eight. Mark Miletello: Goals are set to be met. Speaker 1: Where The Insurance Pros Meet is a podcast that brings the greatest talent in the world together: managers, coaches, and producers. The very best experts the insurance and financial services industry has to offer. Get ready to change the way you do business to have your most successful year ever. Now here's Mark Miletello, a top 1% producer, manager, and your host of Where The Insurance Pros Meet. Mark Miletello: Welcome to the show. We're glad you joined us. I'm your host, Mark Miletello. Today we have a repeat guest on the show, one of the industry's greatest mentors, coaches, producers. I guess you've been in this industry for six decades now, five to six decades, but a true icon. Mark Miletello: How long has it been? Garry Kinder: Well, I came into this business in 1953 when I was a junior in college. I was at a university where you could get a degree in insurance, and I did that. My bother encouraged me to start selling life insurance when I a junior in college, so that's '53 to 2017. Mark Miletello: Well, that qualifies for six decades, 64 years. Congratulations and welcome back to the show, my mentor and one of my just ... personal friends Garry Kinder, welcome. Garry Kinder: Glad to be back. Mark Miletello: Well Garry, thanks for taking the time to join us. Last show, it was just one of the most exciting times for me to have someone that means so much to me... share. And really what I wanted to do on the last show was dive in and get to know you, and get to know you as a person. It was more about, I think, learning and walking through your life. But one thing that we did touch on a whole lot that I'm glad that you decided to come back, and I hoped that you would, is I really wanted to get in and talk about the things that you do so well, which is mentoring, coaching and teaching. And let's talk about the success and how to be successful of agents. Is that okay with you? Garry Kinder: Sure, sure. Mark Miletello: Garry Garry Kinder: You can ask the questions. Mark Miletello: Go ahead. Garry Kinder: No, you can ask the questions. Mark Miletello: Well, I think one of the first messages that I've read coming into this industry, and I believe maybe even you shared it with me. There's an old speech by Albert E. N. Gray, it's called, The Common Denominator or Success. I think anyone in this business should have, or maybe even knows about that, and really you can probably research it, find it. I think everyone should read it when they enter this business. But the crux of that speech he gave back, I guess ... I think it was, what, 50, 60, 70 years ago? It was a long time. Garry Kinder: Sure. Mark Miletello: The idea was that successful people form the habits of doing things that failures won't do, right? Garry Kinder: That's right. Successful people form the habits ... I'm giving you the exact words that he used. Successful people form the habits of doing the things that failing people don't like to do. This could've been given to students in college. It could've been given to athletes. For an example, students in college, what is a failing student in college, what is it they don't like to do? Mark Miletello: Study, go to class. Garry Kinder: They don't like to study. Go to class and study, that's right. And the ones that are going to class and studying, they don't like it either. But they do it because they have the discipline to do what they ought to do. Now you take athletes ... I've played athletics in high school and college and I've played with some pretty dad gone good people, but they never made it. They never got past the first practice because they were not willing to do the things that failing...

The Common Denominator of Success, Garry Kinder, Ep. 8

Guest Morris Sims shares why you have to know your "why". Recognizing how purpose drives us can help you finally get to the bottom of your "why" and cause you to excel in business. Thinking on purpose is a must for success. Learn more at MarkMiletello.com.  TRANSCRIPT Speaker 1: Where the Insurance Pros Meet, Episode 9. Morris Sims: Figure out what you're real why is. You're going to find out that it is absolutely wrapped in passion, that why drives me to get myself up and out of bed at five o'clock in the morning. Speaker 1: Where the Insurance Pros Meet is a podcast that brings the greatest talent in the world together, managers, coaches and producers, the very best experts that insurance and financial services industry has to offer. Get ready to change the way you do business to have your most successful year ever. Now, here's Mark Miletello, a top 1% producer, manager and your host of Where the Insurance Pros Meet. Mark Miletello: Welcome to Where the Insurance Pros Meet. I'm your host Mark Miletello. Today, we're going to discuss thinking on purpose, recognizing how purpose drives us. Now, our guest has been on Where the Insurance Pros Meet before discussing his book Practical Influence and how influence affects us. But today, we're excited to having back and share and influence us again regarding another important topic in a salesperson's mindset purpose. Again, he's trained over 80,000 agents, managers. I can't even wrap my brain around the work that he's done in this field. One of our industry's thought leaders and coach, Morris Sims, welcome back to the show. Morris Sims: Mark, it's great to be here. Thanks for having me again. Mark Miletello: Wow. I'm excited to have you again and thanks for coming back. Such a great topic we had last time, so I'm tremendously excited to jump right in this. But before I do, Morris, do you golf at all or no? Do you try? Morris Sims: I tried. At one point in my life, I tried and figured out that every time I hit that little white ball, it would go about 75 yards straight down the fairway and then turn 90 degrees to the right and I had never been able to get past that. My golfing now is at the range with my son having a nice adult beverage while he hits the golf balls. Mark Miletello: Well, that way you can enjoy it, right? You and I the last conversation we had was about my late father. And I remember every time I went with him in course, he was my mentor in the business. He was one of the greats in the industry. He was one of the ... Well I’ll tell you he was the number one agent under Combined Insurance with W. Clement Stone. I want to have maybe an entire other show about him one day, but I remember being on the course with him and every time I would swing, he would have like five tips so by the time the end of my game, I would have a terrible swing that we tried ... We didn't practice at all. We just went out on the field and by the end of the game, I was swinging this awkward swing and was mentally ... I couldn't even handle pulling that club back and striking the ball because he had so many tips. Finally, after a while, I'd say, "Look, just quit coaching me," and I think about that and how it relates to insurance and especially new reps that go out there without practicing, without refining their skill and I think they're going to have a par round in the world of sales and that's just not the case, is it, Morris? Morris Sims: No, it's not. It takes a lot of focus and a lot of hard work to get there. The key in my mind is that, well, it does take work. Anything that's worthwhile takes work and this is worthwhile, and it takes some effort, but you can do it. You can do it. It is certainly achievable and has been achieved by thousands and thousands of men and women across the ages. Don't ever give up. It may be difficult to get started but every minute of work that you put into it, I could promise you that. Mark Miletello: Well, and I've read in one of your writings that you...

Thinking on Purpose, Morris Sims, Ep. 9

General Agent, Matt Harness, shares how he recruits agents and launches a successful insurance agency. Learn what Matt says holds agents back. View more information at MarkMiletello.com.  TRANSCRIPT Speaker 1: Where the Insurance Pros Meet, episode 10. Matt Hartness: We are our own worst enemy in what gets in the way of future production. Speaker 1: Where the Insurance Pros Meet is a podcast that brings the greatest talent in the world together. Managers, coaches, and producers. The very best experts the insurance and financial services industry has to offer. Get ready to change the way you do business to have your most successful year ever. Now, here's Mark Miletello, a top 1% producer, manager, and your host of Where the Insurance Pros Meet. Mark Miletello: Welcome back to the show. We'd like to thank the listeners for tuning in. We have an exciting show as we always do. We have guests on this show that already with under 10 episodes launched, we have industry gurus. We've had outside talent, and marketing, and speaking, and coaching. We've had new agents. We've had leaders in the industry. I'm just crazy excited here to have a person that I have watched grow in this business from a producer to an assistant, associate general agent, and now has become the leading general agent in one of the top insurance companies in America. One of the oldest, and largest, and most dynamic companies in America. Welcome. Today, we're going to discuss with him recruiting and launching a successful agency. Welcome to the show, Matt Hartness. Matt Hartness: Thanks, Mark. I appreciate you having me today. I look forward to the conversation. Mark Miletello: Man, we got so much to learn from you. I just can't wait to extract it. Matt, I guess in the past, maybe I've mentored you a little bit. Would you admit to that, or no? Matt Hartness: Absolutely, man. I was early in my career, I was calling you or seeing you at various events out and about, picking your brain and asking questions. All along, I would have counted you as one of my mentors through my career, and still, I'd count you as a mentor. Mark Miletello: Well, thank you for that. I don't say that brag or to steal any of your thunder. What I say that too is a great mentor of mine, Garry Kinder, said "Hey, in the first three months, a new person does what you tell them to do. They don't know how to speak, so they speak like you speak. They walk like you walk. Then after that, you start to let them fly a little bit. Then before long, two to three years later typically, they become mentors of yours." That's what I'd like to say about you, Matt, is that you have now arrived at a place where I feel like we mentor each other. You are a mentor of mine, so congratulations on the hard work I know every step of the way, the hard work you've put to become based on the standards that they calculate. Now, I know there are rules here and there. You've become the leading general agent with one of the greatest companies in America, so congratulations on that. Thank you for mentoring me back now, which you have all along. Matt Hartness: Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, it's been an excellent ride. As we're talking mentors, I could not have done it with many of people and even current teammates that I have now to make it happen. It's been a collaborative of a lot of people to help with the success that I am currently having today. Thank you very much for that. Mark Miletello: Well, I know you're right in the middle of it, and you're a busy person, so thank you for taking the time because I think your perspective is just what I love about this show, that people all across our industry will be able to hear from someone, and really like myself, there was a producer and worked all the way through those different levels to now you're in a management and a leadership role. And so, I think it's going to be very interesting to talk and hear some of the things that you're doing. I'm anxious to hear and learn from...

Recruiting and Launching a Successful Insurance Agency, Matt Harness, Ep. 10

Brand Journalist &amp; Marketing Consultant, Phoebe Chongchua, shares three tips to increase insurance sales by becoming an online authority in your industry. Learn how new media marketing builds trust with consumers and helps close deals. Learn more at MarkMiletello.com. &nbsp; Guest: Phoebe Chongchua Phoebe Chongchua is a multimedia Brand Journalist, Consultant &amp; Marketing Strategist who makes brands Remarkable. Using her skills as TV News Journalist, she connects brands and consumers through powerful storytelling. Companies gain a competitive advantage when they learn to "Be the Media." Phoebe is a "Top 50 Podcaster to Follow.” Listen to "The Brand Journalism Advantage" podcast in iTunes or at ThinkLikeAJournalist.com &nbsp; &nbsp; Note: “Where The Insurance Pros Meet” is an audio podcast and is meant for the ear. A transcript of the audio is provided for referencing a particular section or for you to follow along. Listen to the episode to get the most out of our show. We use both speech recognition software and human transcribers to create the transcripts so they may contain errors. If you’re going to quote us in print, please be sure to check the corresponding audio.  TRANSCRIPT &nbsp; Mark Miletello: Welcome back to the show. I'm excited; we have a special show lined up today. We have one of the world's greatest minds in marketing and media and journalism. Our guest is a brand journalist and consultant who teaches businesses how to think like a journalist and be the media. I'm going to dive into that because I want to know what does that mean to us, how to think like a journalist, and how do we be the media. It's awesome. She launched the brand Journalism Advantage Podcast in the fall of 2014, and within nine months she was named a top 50 podcaster by Cision for shows on public relations, marketing, and social media. She also made the list of 35 outstanding podcast picks by entrepreneurs on Inc.com. She's an award-winning former TV news journalist from right here in San Diego who loves the pursuit of a good story. Welcome our special guest Phoebe Chongchua to the show. Phoebe Chongchua: Hey Mark, how are you? Mark Miletello: I have to step up my game. I'm doing great, but I don't even know, how many shows do you have live out there that you produced? Phoebe Chongchua: For the brand Journalism Advantage we have about 400+ episodes to date. You know that is no easy feat, right? Mark Miletello: It's not an easy feat. For the listeners, Phoebe is the inspiration behind and really my mentor in launching one of the first and greatest, I believe, platforms for our industry. What's so unique about you, Phoebe is that you've been around our industry now for at least nine to ten years. With your background, and now you know a lot of our background, it's just going to be an unbelievable show too, so thank you for joining us. It's an honor and a privilege. Phoebe Chongchua: You know what, Mark? I think that what you are doing truly is an inspiration and should be listened to by many agents because this is what it's all about, getting your voice out there, being heard and giving valuable information to the agents so that they can thrive in the industry. There aren't a lot of people out there doing this. Mark Miletello: We're jumping right into this, and I love it, but you know our industry. I feel like our industry is way behind on a lot of the social, maybe it's a lot of industries Phoebe. You work with very, very large corporations, some of the world's largest corporations. You've worked with Mom &amp; Pop shops, you've worked with anyone in between. Is it me or is our industry way behind online marketing, social media, things like that, or is it really everyone struggles in that area? Phoebe Chongchua: I think a lot of brands and large corporations are definitely excelling in this space, but then there are a lot of brands that just don't get it, and they're really creating these streams of broadcasts where they get...

Three Marketing Tips To Increase Your Insurance Business, Phoebe Chongchua, Ep. 11

Troy Korsgaden is a #1 bestselling author, a highly sought after speaker and consultant in the insurance and financial services industry with a proven track record of success. Hear how he created his success.

How to Succeed in Insurance, Troy Korsgaden, Ep. 12

Where the Insurance Pros Meet is a podcast that brings the greatest talent in the world together. Managers, coaches, and producers. The very best experts the insurance and financial services industry has to offer. Get ready to change the way you do business to have your most successful year ever. Mark Miletello, a top one percent producer, manager, and is the host of "Where the Insurance Pros Meet."

Where the Insurance Pros Meet

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