Things I learned the last 9 months after presenting 5 Signs it’s Time to Sell Your Agency and unveiling Escape Velocity—our 5 point platform for agency success. 

If you recall, we walked through the lives of two special individuals in our industry who created agencies that are well recognized.

If you are reading this, you have heard of the 5 Forces for business growth. But which force will be the most impactful to the industry? Talent? Technology? Model? Experts? Funnels?

Marketing Funnels.

Marketing Funnels enable the industry to connect the need to the professional by offering guidance on products. The introduction of AI and machine learning will create stronger relationships both to the firm and product solution at a faster pace relative to traditional marketing efforts (mail, email, phone calls).

Are you like me? If we’ve ever met, you’d know I’m a “cup half-full” guy. I feel the pressure of all that is happening in our industry – economic uncertainty, fewer agents coming into the business, the average age of advisors nearing retirement – and know the challenges agencies like yours are facing every day. Then, my mind races as I think of all the opportunities these challenges present.

Let me share some solutions with you in this post.

Consider who you partner with to bring your strategic plan to life.

You know how important it is for an agency or financial professional to establish trust with clients. It’s the key for being the firm agents come to for large or complex cases and to staying in business for the long-term.

In my last blog post about creating a profitable business model, I discussed the potential in niching down and serving a select group of clients in all areas. But that only works if you can demonstrate your expertise in doing that.

Keep reading to learn how to leverage expertise to grow your practice.

Just imagine if… You no longer had to worry about a key account calling you up and saying they were a) leaving you for a competitor, b) retiring, or c) selling…

That sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach? Gone.

Instead, your agency would continue to flourish.

But what about right now—would this situation concern you?

This is called concentration risk, and your business model is at the root of it. In this article, I tackle this topic. Keep reading to discover how choosing the right business model can help eliminate this potential threat and others.

Have you ever wondered what “improved tech” for your agency really means? Or where you should make investments to build a better agency management system or sales enablement system? How about which solutions offer the most seamless experience?

I'm tackling these questions and more in this article, so stay tuned.

The common approach to hiring top producers and key employees is no longer sufficient. 

Recruiting and hiring individual producers (and employees) is the “average” agency’s approach to finding the best talent in the business.

Too many agencies are still thinking about talent acquisition this way. But the fastest growing agencies are going in a different direction, as I'll explain in this post...

We’ve compiled a few CARES Act resources into a Quick Reference Guide for Small Business Owners and Sole Proprietors with the financial professionals and agency owners we work with in mind.

For archival purposes only – DOL Rule was vacated on June 21, 2018.

It’s been 10 months since the DOL Rule was vacated. That’s it, less than a year since our world was turned upside down. And we know that it’s still in the process of changing the way we do business forever.