February 27, 2026
There’s a conversation that happens thousands of times a week across the insurance industry. A field leader sits down with an agency owner, reviews their numbers, and says some version of: “Your close rate is low. You need to quote more. Your retention needs to come up. You should be cross-selling more.”
The agency owner nods. Maybe takes a note. The field leader leaves. Nothing changes.
March 17, 2026
I’ve sat through hundreds of agency review meetings. Some on the agency owner side of the table. Some on the field leader side. And I can tell you with confidence that almost nobody looks forward to them.
The agency owner knows what’s coming. Their field leader is going to pull up a dashboard, point at the numbers that are below benchmark, and ask what the plan is to improve them. The agency owner is going to nod, say they’ll work on it, and silently wonder why they blocked 45 minutes for this.
March 27, 2026
I’ve hired producers who crushed it from month one. I’ve hired producers who seemed perfect in the interview and were gone in four months. And for a long time, I thought the difference was the person. Some people have it, some don’t. Find the ones who do and move on from the ones who don’t.
I was wrong about that. Not completely wrong. Talent matters. But the biggest factor in whether a new producer succeeds or fails isn’t who they are. It’s what happens in the first 90 days after they sit down at the desk.