The Preeminent Producer Podcast

A Day In The Life Of A Preeminent Producer

• The Preeminent Producer

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Today we are discussing how our Preeminent Producer Coaches structure their day to maximize success and production. 

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Are you a commercial insurance producer struggling to stand out from the competition? Do you find it challenging to grow your book of business and create a fulfilling career?

Then welcome to The Preeminent Producer Podcast! 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.

You'll discover what it really takes to become Preeminent & build your book of business, in a way that isn’t being taught anywhere else. Our hosts are experts in the field and have built thriving businesses by becoming the most trusted adviser to their clients. Welcome to your journey to becoming a Preeminent Producer.

Let’s dive in!

Ready To Grow Your Book Of Business?
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Speaker 1:

Welcome everybody to another episode of the Preeminent Producer podcast. Today we are talking about structuring your day, a day in the life of a preeminent producer. Is it all the same? Is it different depending on who you are? Well, today we're going to be talking with two coaches, Rick Gregson and Matt Starkey, and they are going to be diving into kind of what their day looks like, and we're also going to be covering the topics of how do you start your day. There's a big movement and kick on this how you start your day and waking up early I mean, a bunch of motivational speakers talk about that. Is that really the key or not? That's what we're going to dive into in today's episode of the Preeminent Producer podcast. Let's dive in.

Speaker 2:

Are you a commercial insurance producer struggling to stand out from the competition? Do you find it challenging to grow your book of business and create a fulfilling career? If so, then welcome to the Preeminent Producer podcast. 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. 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. Our hosts are experts in the field and have built thriving businesses by becoming the most trusted advisor to their clients. Welcome to your journey to becoming a preeminent producer. Let's dive in.

Speaker 3:

Every day is truly different, which is one of the beauties of this industry. This industry is fascinating. Being a producer can be just a tremendous great job, but one of the things that I think makes it so constantly stimulating and fulfilling is the fact that no two days are ever the same. Now there are activities that I and other preeminent producers try to maximize. We try to focus on prospecting, revenue producing activities, what I would call revenue protecting activities, and marketing. We try to maximize that as much as we can. Some days you can spend a whole day doing nothing but that, but then the next day you've got a couple of fires to put out and a couple of client meetings and you don't do anything like that. But again, as I said, that's what makes this job really interesting.

Speaker 3:

One of the things I've shared with clients and prospects as we talk about our respective businesses. One of the things I've often shared is one thing I love about insurance is the fact that we're out there meeting interesting people and seeing how they make their living, and it's kind of a never ending fascination. Back in the old days when I was starting out as a producer, I had maximum time for prospecting, so it's kind of changed over the years as my book has grown and as I've gotten busier with those sort of duties and being a principal in an agency versus just a producer. But in the very early days, yeah, I spent a huge amount of time doing a direct prospecting work and following up with phone calls, and over time again, that can kind of change as your book, as your book grows. But it's important not to lose our focus on doing those activities. Something I thought I'll just read you real quick a little blurb that I wrote and I know I've shared this in the past. But I wrote a little blurb about a description of being an insurance company, a description of being an insurance producer as if it was a classified employment wanted ad or whatever, and what I came up with. And I think it's true. But it's a different way of looking at what we do and I find if we kind of embrace this sort of mindset it really helps our enthusiasm level for what we do. So here's what I came up with very succinctly describing as if it's a help wanted ad or something describing the production position.

Speaker 3:

It's a career offering fantastic income opportunity and great job security. Meet interesting and engaging entrepreneurs and business owners. You won't be chained to a desk. In fact, you'll be out of the office more often than not. No physically demanding work. Your clients will respect you and hold you in high esteem, set your own hours, you'll make lots of friends in the process and enjoy plenty of good lunches, golf and other entertaining activities. And if you were to read something like that, you would think, wow, this is the job for me, this is what I want and that's, if you do this right and become a preeminent producer it's the greatest job in the world. As I've often said before, if you do it the wrong way, in a commoditized way where you're just saying, hey, can I quote your insurance? Blah, blah, blah, it can become true drudgery. So it's really up to you how you approach this. But that's kind of my way of answering indirectly what a day in the life of a preeminent producer is For me. It's different every single day, but that's what makes it such a great career.

Speaker 1:

Matt, let me ask you real quick. There are certain things that are non-negotiable in your day, like as a producer, you got to produce, there are certain goals you're hitting, and so forth. Are there, do you have non-negotiables whether in your day and your week and your month that these things have to be hit, regardless of what's going on and I know you've had a lot going on in your personal life but are there still things where it's like, yeah, these things have to be met, whether it's you personally or the team that you manage?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, there are, paul. That's actually a very insightful question. If you, I find for myself and this is probably true for everybody if you don't create some non-negotiables, if you don't get them on your calendar, then things tend to just slide and they don't get done. So it's really important. I know we've spent a lot of time and we'll continue to in our coaching program all of our coaches In goal setting and kind of forensically breaking down with these goals. What are the activities that we need to do to reach these goals as a producer? And then you've got to take it a step further, I think, and calendar it and set aside the time you know you need to make, whether it's authoring white papers or dropping in, making physical cold calls or sending out marketing letters and emails. You've got to, I think, itemize those, get those on your calendar. And then that time slot from 8 am to 10, you know am every Tuesday that has to be sacrosanct and you really it's a non-negotiable, as you put it, paul.

Speaker 1:

Very good, very good, rick, any questions that you got from Ed.

Speaker 4:

No, I don't think so, but you know one of the things it was a really good question. My non-negotiables are things I won't do rather than things I will do. So for me, non-negotiable is service work. I don't get involved in service work. Non-negotiable for me, hopefully, is money making activities. I don't want to do something that takes me away from my primary job of obtaining and retaining clients. So, paul, that was a great question and Matt go to answer that, but I'm on the other side of it. My non-negotiables are things I'm not going to do. That's great.

Speaker 1:

That's great, okay, no, awesome. It reminds me for every yes you say, there's a no to something else, right? So if you're saying yes to something you shouldn't be doing, you're really saying no to maybe production and money-making activities and all that good stuff right.

Speaker 4:

Okay, you want me to hit it on on some things that your life changes. Your if you're watching this, you're probably not a preeminent producer. You, you want to become one, which I can congratulate you on because you can. I think back when when Matt was talking, and To my activities when it was a young producer versus now a veteran producer, and it went from frenetic to intentional, and intentional is kind of the word every but the great business buzzword. Now intentional has been for quite a while. In other words, I would show up in the morning and I was just pinball around. I would be running all over the place and I'd be Trying to sell insurance to anybody. I would do whatever. Whoever wanted to buy insurance for Renters insurance policy. Of course I'll write that and it was just. It was a friend of mine calls it hysterical activity on the way to the grave and it was just crazy. It was crazy and as I started to develop and understand more about being producer then and you touched on it map then it became important to own my calendar. In other words, I start out every day here in the office with a yellow tablet and I'm a list guy. I got to make lists because our day gets so very busy that's hard for me to kind of stay in the groove and I'll walk out at the end of the day and go darn it. I forgot to do two or three things. If it's on my list that, I can do them, and I also get a huge chuckle out of taking things off my list. Owning your calendar is one of the most important things you can do to really get control of your day. In other words, you schedule lunch on there with a client and if your lunch is at noon, you're gonna leave the office. At 11, 30, 11, 45, depending upon where it is. You're going to do that appointment. If you have an appointment to make a presentation, you're going to do that. It's also important to make that appointment to make calls, or Make cold calls, make warm calls, follow up on calls, do your prospecting. Do not create your prospect lists between eight and five in the day. That's what God gave us the weekend for. In the evening Research.

Speaker 4:

These people spend your time wisely only going after people that would be good clients for you. Life's too short to do business with people you don't like and to do businesses that don't give you enough revenue. Don't give you enough revenue to do the things that you need to do. So I guess, paul, my day has really changed from that pinball activity that hysterical activity on the way to the grave is as my buddy calls it To really trying to be very intentional where I'm going to spend my time. Our time is really our only diminishing asset. I mean, the older we get means you know the nice thing about getting old, means I didn't die young. And the other thing that they'll tell you as well life is short, yeah, but you're dead, so very long.

Speaker 4:

So you really want to maximize the time that you have to really put this thing in perspective. Spend your time wisely, spend it in money-making activities, know what those money-making activities are, and we can help you with that. As you join along and come along with this, we'll try to get you to know what money-making activities are. And if you're spending time now in non money-making activities, try to give you a strategy to get out of those things and transfer that kind of work to somebody else so you can really be intentional, you can maximize the time that you have and really make this pay again. That's it. This is a career. This isn't a job. This is something that, if you do it Well, you can be incredibly successful. You can make lots of money, which is always a good thing. You have a professionally you can be proud of and Really do great, great things. So that's, that's kind of what my thoughts are. Paul and Matt, that's great.

Speaker 1:

Here's a question for both of you. Um, there's a, there's been a popularity in the topic of waking up super early. You know what's even the sayings of early? Gonna mess it up now as off the cuff, but early was it. Early to bed, early to rise makes one healthy well to men healthy, wealthy and wise.

Speaker 1:

There we go. So, yeah, is there a certain time? Is there, is there a magic formula there? Obviously, you guys aren't sleeping until noon. I mean, what, what's? What's the first? I guess what is the first part of your day. Look like when you wake up to getting in the office, like, is there anything there that's significant, that you feel that contributes to your production?

Speaker 4:

Yeah, yeah, you know what I've said to people. Before my great days starts, the night before, I mean, God knows, I enjoy a nice red wine and or, hopefully, or a glass of scotch. If I've got a big day the next day, I need to be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. But I get up in the morning. I do. I have committed to exercise in the morning. The alarm goes off at about 5.30. I do some things. I also meditate peace and love to everybody. I do some meditation in the morning get me ready for the day.

Speaker 4:

My wife thinks I'm crazy and she's probably right and it's a little woo-woo kind of stuff. Not that much, but I think it's. I set the same routine every day when I get to the office. I get here almost always exactly the same time. That has changed, by the way, with my career. I used to be here at 8 o'clock in the morning, in the office open at 8.30. And I roll in about nine now. But every day and my routine is pretty much the same. I know what my schedule is, I know what's on my to-do list, or the first thing I do check my calendar to check my to-do list, or create my to-do list, and away I go.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I suppose maybe as life goes on we become some of us become more creatures of the world, creatures of habit and routine. I'm definitely that way. I feel fortunate in that I've always been a really a morning person. And I say fortunate because if I can start my day early enough, there's no interruptions from the staff or even clients, and I can get a lot done in a compressed period of time. Those early morning hours I'm talking about before 8 am, before the typical business day starts for most people. So I get up early. I mean, whether I set the alarm or not, I'm awake at 4 am, plus or minus five minutes, and I have a certain routine. Rick, also like you, I have a certain routine of reading and exercising and eating before I start the day. But I still start my day pretty early because I'm getting up at four. So plenty of time to do all that and still get an early start.

Speaker 3:

That's pretty early, yeah, and I typically find in those first couple hours of when I'm at the office early with no interruptions, nobody else around, I often kind of remark to myself that I'm getting more done in those two hours than I do the rest of the day. Once all hell breaks loose and you get pulled in every direction. So, paul, I'm trying to remember your original question. I hopefully, hopefully, that kind of addresses it.

Speaker 1:

No, I think it does, I think it does. So, no, that's great guys, I appreciate it.

Speaker 4:

Any last words that you would yeah, matt, yeah, one last word, matt.

Speaker 4:

The other thing that I would do and I didn't do it earlier because I had, when I had kids at home I didn't do this, but I was a single dad so I was busy with these kids.

Speaker 4:

But when I got my kids out of the house, saturday mornings were I would go to the office leisurely on a Saturday morning, work for probably two hours from 9 to 1130, trying to get other people that were here in the office out of the office, because I didn't have kids at home did have any of those responsibilities and I used to say it's three for one. I can get three hours worth of work done in one hour. And, matt, I think that's what you were kind of alluding to there, those early morning hours where you're uninterrupted the ops. The other thing if there was somebody in the office, we had an agreement, no-transcript, we don't talk to each other, I mean other than hey, I'm in the building, hi, how you doing? You know they're there for the same reason I am, but that was always very, very useful for me on a Saturday morning.

Speaker 3:

That's great. And one other thing that occurs to me and Rick, you touched on this earlier is structuring your day. You use lists. I do the same thing, otherwise I'll forget. But you touched on, I believe, doing some pre-planning the evening before for your day tomorrow. I think you touched on that. Yeah, I try to do that too. I keep my to-do list these days, like a lot of people on an iPhone. I mean, it's just you know you can set the alarms and the reminders and everything, and I'll do that definitely no surprise old school for me.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, you know I finally migrated to this, but anyway, yeah, I try to do that the evening before and go over, look at tomorrow's, add things to tomorrow's list. So I'm not spending for me physiologically or the most productive hours in the morning. I'm not creating a list at that time. You know I've already got my blueprint set up for the day and I find that helps. And one other thing you mentioned, rick, you said something like you kind of get a kick out of crossing things off your list or whatever Same thing here.

Speaker 4:

I love deleting it from that list and you know, yeah, you know, I think, what it is here and I'll try to be really brief with this. What Matt does may not be right for you, what I do may not be right for you, but you know what really is important? Having your own system that keeps you in the groove, that keeps you motivated, that keeps you moving forward. Whether it's something Matt does, something I do, doesn't matter. It's what works for you. Steal a little from Matt, a little from me. Put it in your own structure, do it and adhere to it. Have some acuity with it. So if you're finding it isn't quite working, tweak it until you get a system down that works for you. And whatever that thing is, if it starts working, stick with it.

Speaker 1:

All right, guys, hope you enjoyed that episode. I think it's really important to just remember what you do matters, and you've got to be focused on those revenue generating activities or those money making activities. There's no way you're going to become a preeminent producer if you're constantly getting distracted with things that don't really produce. So food for thought today Check yourself, see what you can do differently to structure your day, to set you up better for success. And until next time, guys, we'll see you in the next episode of the Preeminent Producer Podcast.

Speaker 2:

Thanks so much for joining us on this episode of the Preeminent Producer Podcast. If you're enjoying the show, please feel free to subscribe, rate and leave a review wherever you listen to your podcast. That helps others find the show and we greatly appreciate it. Once again, thanks for joining us and we'll catch you in the next episode of the Preeminent Producer Podcast.