Vertafore Insurance Podcast

Building a better leader, with Nicole Smith

This week on the VIP we are excited to welcome Nicole Smith, founder & CEO of JMS Creative Leadership Solutions and author of 20 Leadership Golden Nuggets: Practical leadership lessons to use today. 

Nicole is an expert on all things leadership. She has built her career around helping others develop the tools they need to succeed and lead teams better. In this episode Rick and Nicole discuss:

• Understanding leadership (5:30)
• Emotional intelligence (9:35)
• Self-awareness (21:00)
• Affinity bias (26:50)

InsuRant: The time to plan is NOW

It's planning season! The holidays are right around the corner, so it's time to start planning for 2021. Now is the time to define business goals and make changes to accomplish them! Rick has six categories to think about for successful business planning:

1. Staff (4:56)
2. Sales (7:45)
3. Service (9:57)
4. Diversification (13:40)
5. Technology (17:14)
6. Culture (24:15)

2020 COVID-19 insurance insights and trends

As 2020 winds down we're evaluating lessons learned and planning for 2021! Rick's guest is Tom Super, vice president of insurance at J.D. Power, the nation's leading insurance customer intelligence and CX advisory company whose partnerships extend to the top 20 P&C carriers in the U.S. Tom shares insights into:

• COVID-19 initiatives for premium relief (9:15)
• Customized advice: Why agents are more important than AI and bots in this crisis (13:59)
• The impact of declining customer income (16:25)
• The benefits of carriers integrating agents into their digital processes (23:46)
• Key factors about today's consumers that independent agents should know (29:15)

This episode is full of insights to help you make informed plans for the upcoming year.

Re-energize in Q4 and finish the year on fire!

Q4 is when most people slow down and plan for the holiday season. How about doing it a little differently this year and end on a fantastic note? In this rant, Rick challenges us to re-energize, seize the moment, and end the year strong! Rick suggests:

• Sales: Set audacious goals, plan how to meet them, crush Q4, and set yourself up for an even better 2021 (4:06)
• Customer Service: Connect with your customers, work on surpassing your renewals goal, clear up your backlog, and finish this year strong (8:43)
• Leaders/Owners: Re-energize your staff, modernize your agency, and enter 2021 with a jump start (12:59)

Market connectivity in the insurance distribution channel

Market connectivity is a big topic of conversation in the insurance industry right now. The pandemic brought it to the forefront when members of the insurance distribution channel scrambled to find ways to connect when stay-at-home orders were in place. In this week's rant, Rick breaks down insurance market connectivity and gives tips on how you can start and modernize your connectivity processes. 

Protect your WFH office from cybercriminals

Many of us are working from home because of the pandemic. We feel safe, locked away in our offices, or secure office space in our homes. We don't think about the cybercriminals who are hunting for prey 24-hours a day. They're waiting for a tiny mistake or oversight to pounce and wreak havoc on our business. 

Today's guest, Brad Schrum of Wingman Insurance—a cybersecurity expert with 25+ years of experience—is going to talk through some simple steps we can take to secure our data and explain why cybersecurity insurance is necessary for all insurance businesses.

Commercial Submissions: The future is almost here!

The insurance industry is very excited about new technology that will revolutionize commercial submissions for the independent agency. Rick's guest — Sharmila Ray, who leads Vertafore's carrier solutions strategy — shares valuable insights into how close we are to having this technology. Sharmila's insurance industry expertise spans more than 15 years, including 12 years with McKinsey & Company where she worked with carriers on growth and distribution strategy.

Sharmila shares insights on: 

• What customers in the small commercial lines of business really want (7:40)
• Why the independent agent model is here to stay (10:50)
• How carriers are preparing their systems for technology that will provide real-time quote and bind (11:45)
• How InsurTech companies, including Vertafore, are investing in commercial submissions technology for small and medium agencies (15:15)

Being on the brink of transformative technology is very exciting. Listen as Sharmila also shares how her commercial lines prediction from five years ago is on the verge of being realized. 

Surety Bonds made easy, with Aaron Steffey

Insurance agents often shy away from selling surety bonds because they are difficult and time consuming to write. In this episode, Aaron Steffey — managing partner of Steffey Insurance Agency, and co-owner of Propeller Insurance — joins Rick to share exciting news on how to write surety bonds in minutes and how to empower your customers to complete the process online at their convenience. Listen as Aaron tells Rick how automating the surety bond distribution process can bring you new business opportunities. 

Believing in diversity is not enough; be the change!

At the end of a successful webinar, some of Rick's guests asked where the women and people of color were. As a strong advocate of social justice, he was surprised to realize he had unconsciously chosen a panel that looks like him. 

In this week's rant Rick shares how that realization led him to think deeper about diversity and inclusion, and delve into:

• Diversity in society (2:43)
• Diversity at work (10:06)
• Diversifying your book of business (16:40)

As Rick shares his thoughts on the subject, he looks forward to hearing yours. 

How to handle conversations about social justice

Discussions about social justice are important - but they are also often uncomfortable and difficult. In this episode, Kwame Christian joins Risk to talk about how to have these conversations effectively. Kwame is a lawyer, professor, author, and director of The American Negotiation Institute, and has the world's most successful podcast on negotiation and conflict resolution. Kwame shares insights on:

• Why America is struggling with conversations about race (7:03)
• How to overcome the struggle of having difficult conversations (11:45)
• Next steps after you've had the conversation (22:02)

Americans are trying to have these difficult conversations openly and honestly in the hope of effecting change. Listen up for some additional tools and resources from Kwame to to enhance your skills with difficult conversations, both in your personal and professional life.