Pastoring Producers with Purpose with Charles Specht

04/05/21 • 62 min

In this episode of The Power Producers Podcast, David Carothers and co-host Kyle Houck interview Charles Specht, the President & CEO of ConstructiveRisk.com. Charles talks about understanding the Broker Of Record letter and booking appointments.

Episode Highlights:

Charles shares why an agency is a sales organization. (8:40)
Does Charles think there’s a huge gap in the industry not providing any sales training? (10:28)
Charles mentions how the pandemic affected the industry. (14:47)
Why does Charles think that BOR’s have a bad reputation? (17:05)
What does an ideal client look like for Charles? (26:45)
Charles shares the two sides of booking appointments. (33:53)
Charles mentions where most insurance agents are focused. (51:51)

Tweetable Quotes:

“When I got into the business 20 years ago there wasn't a Facebook, there wasn't YouTube, there weren’t smartphones, there weren't those things. It’s a different world today and you have to be able to market, brand and script yourself completely different. Really begin to attract the insurance buyer that you're looking for. It's just different, you really have to specialize in certain things.” - Charles Specht
“Without the broker of record letter, the insurance buyer has nothing. They have to wait until renewal to make that switch. It is the insurance buyer’s power. Those agents who don't like it might say, well, you're stealing my work. No, I'm not stealing your work, I'm just going to go ahead and give them the right service that they need.” - Charles Specht
“If somebody is not good at making phone calls, I'm not gonna try and say cold calling is your new thing. It is just not going to work in the long run. So, everybody's different, every agency is different. The services they have are different and their geographic location is different.” - Charles Specht

Resources Mentioned:

Episode Highlights:

Charles shares why an agency is a sales organization. (8:40)
Does Charles think there’s a huge gap in the industry not providing any sales training? (10:28)
Charles mentions how the pandemic affected the industry. (14:47)
Why does Charles think that BOR’s have a bad reputation? (17:05)
What does an ideal client look like for Charles? (26:45)
Charles shares the two sides of booking appointments. (33:53)
Charles mentions where most insurance agents are focused. (51:51)

Tweetable Quotes:

“When I got into the business 20 years ago there wasn't a Facebook, there wasn't YouTube, there weren’t smartphones, there weren't those things. It’s a different world today and you have to be able to market, brand and script yourself completely different. Really begin to attract the insurance buyer that you're looking for. It's just different, you really have to specialize in certain things.” - Charles Specht
“Without the broker of record letter, the insurance buyer has nothing. They have to wait until renewal to make that switch. It is the insurance buyer’s power. Those agents who don't like it might say, well, you're stealing my work. No, I'm not stealing your work, I'm just going to go ahead and give them the right service that they need.” - Charles Specht
“If somebody is not good at making phone calls, I'm not gonna try and say cold calling is your new thing. It is just not going to work in the long run. So, everybody's different, every agency is different. The services they have are different and their geographic location is different.” - Charles Specht

Resources Mentioned:

Previous Episode

3 Old School Sales Tactics that Still Work

In this episode of The Power Producers Podcast, David Carothers and co-host Kyle Houck discuss the three old types of sales tactics that are still utilized.

Episode Highlights:

David shares that the first type is cold call marketing drops. (2:29)
David mentions why cold call marketing drops are the best. (6:31)
David shares why the pandemic has made cold calling interesting. (7:09)
David shares that the second type is the phones. (8:13)
David shares what to do when you cold call with and without real knowledge. (9:26)
David shares that the third type is the handwritten notes. (11:09)
David breaks down the three types of sales tactics. (13:08)

Tweetable Quotes:

“If you're a good salesperson, you should want to cold call l, that should be your jam, period. Otherwise, it's like playing basketball on a nerf hoop versus playing in the NBA.” - David Carothers
“I think that there is a certain amount of respect you get from someone if you take the time to give them a handwritten note.” - David Carothers
“If they're struggling with any one of those things, everything we do is intentional. If we don't intentionally do it, it's not going to give us the result that we want.” - David Carothers

Resources Mentioned:

Next Episode

One of Four with Aaron Gordon

In this episode of The Power Producers Podcast, David Carothers and co-host Kyle Houck interview Aaron Gordon, the Vice President of Gordon Companies Insurance Services. Aaron talks about how he became the bridge between old school service and new age technology and his niche focus on the commercial business.

Episode Highlights:

Aaron shares the technology story that they have. (10:39)
Aaron shares how people pay by paper checks. (12:57)
What’s the story behind Aaron’s LinkedIn profile? (14:40)
Aaron mentions what he tells to any new producer that he speaks to. (23:15)
Aaron shares his niche focus on the commercial business. (26:17)
Aaron shares the time when he was personally a victim of identity theft. (31:43)
Aaron mentions the difference between EPLI and cyber. (35:11)
Aaron shares why people must have a good relationship with their financial institution. (51:03)

Tweetable Quotes:

“If we want to call ourselves trusted advisors and experts, we don’t mean you have to write a 100-page thesis.” - Aaron Gordon
“One of the reasons why I love being on the PNC side is because our renewals are equally as valuable to us as a piece of new business, meaning that you can strengthen your relationships to get better referrals.” - Aaron Gordon
“I don't think that on the financial management side of a business, people should become so financially dependent on technology. They don't know what's going on in their business, it can spin quickly.” - Aaron Gordon

Resources Mentioned: