Jeff Ascher, President of Coverra Insurance, is a 2nd generation agency owner and self-proclaimed insurance nerd. With over 14 years as an agency leader, Jeff brings a producer, agency principal, and insurance professional view to the industry. With a highly competitive streak, Jeff oversees the development of his production team, helping to shape their views, enhance their skills and most importantly, keep them mindful of the importance of their role as risk advisors alongside the need for elevating the quality of conversations in the marketplace.

“Despite the fact that we cherish our relationships with our carrier partners, having carrier relationships is not a differentiator in the market. Having expertise alone unfortunately isn’t a differentiator. The differentiator is the ability to deploy that expertise to consumers in a way that is translatable to them. Having a process or system to show people even though we aren’t as big as a publicly traded broker or have the outlook appearances that a big agency might have, is important. When we take people through a sales process, we can show we have great institutional knowledge and can package and deploy that, which is the way you can compete against the big dogs.” – Jeff Ascher

Today on the Kaleidoscope Podcast:

• The challenges around owning an independent agency
• How to best attract sales talent
• Leveraging technology resources within the sales process
• Benefits of specialization
• Recommendations for keeping producers motivated
• The focus for the next 3-5 years

Key Takeaways:

• There are many challenges with being an independent agency. Something to keep in mind is that you need to have a growth mindset. Staying stagnant is not an option. Keep your primary focus on organic growth.
• Many agencies aspire to develop proper talent and keep prospects engaged in a sales process but face many challenges with execution. Study your competition, don’t deviate from your sales process, and stay consistent in your beliefs, even if that means walking away from opportunities that may not be the best fit.
• The way that agencies and carriers work together is broken and needs to be disrupted. There is great potential for changes in the way agencies position their relationships with carriers.

Connect with today’s guest Jeff Ascher

Connect with Kaleidoscope co-host Frank Pennachio

Connect with Kaleidoscope co-host Susan Toussaint

This episode was brought to you by……

ReSource Pro’s Growth Solutions practice, a consulting and training organizations for insurance industry professionals. Our business objective is to provide agencies and carriers with the necessary technical and sales insights to elevate sales conversations, compete more effectively, and grow organically.

Connect, Learn, Share

Thank you for joining us on this week’s episode of Kaleidoscope. For more resources, visit the Growth Solutions website, or reach out to Susan Toussaint at susan@resourcepro.com. Subscribe on your preferred podcast platform so you never miss an episode. Love what you’re learning? Review the Kaleidoscope Podcast and share your favorite episodes with friends and colleagues!