Vertafore Insurance Podcast

When Sarah Zambrano, the operations director, of Colorado Insurance, started with the agency there were only 4 people on staff including the agency principal, fast forwarding to today there are over 100 people on staff and over 100 million in production. Sarah credits much of the agency's success to the relentless pursuit of consistent process and procedures. The procedures that were set up when they were a small agency are still in use today and are still incredibly valuable to the growth of the agency.

Meet Sarah and hear:

• HowShe got started with Colorado Insurance.
• What fundamental decision help set them up for success.
• How having consistent agency standards helps the agency be intentional in their growth
• Why the customer journey is so important and the processes and procedures they use to maintain consistency in that journey.
• How to prepare your agency for success beyond sales and service.

Elisa Stampf, CEO of Insure Equality, shares how she is working to make insurance a more welcome place for everyone. Through hernon-profit, she has created an actionable framework to help any agency or company achieve a more open, authentic and, ultimately, collaborative culture. It all starts with one, honest conversation.

MeetElisa and hear:

• Why she chose to make DEI for insurance her mission
• Defining Diversity, Equity & Inclusion; why is it important?
• Real-world examples of agencies & companies championing change
• How Insure Equality can help your business
• A sneak peek at Insure Equality's 2024 annual event

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Drew Kinney is the co- owner of Kinney Insurance Agency, and someone you can always count on for a collaboration session. He is always open to sharing his ideas and his success stories with anyone in the industry. Drew is actively involvedwith the daily agency operations including: process management, agency data analytics, business intelligence reporting, and marketing.

Meet Drew and hear:

• Howhe got started in the industry
• What is like working so closely with family and how they make it work
• How they built their tech stack out.
• Step by step walk through how they set up their Agency zoom.
• How to operate your agency with the right tech stack

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Episode 33 of theVIP Podcastis now LIVE!

Seth Zaremba,Founder of b atomic!,shares how he bootstrapped an insurance startup that's changing the analytics game. This isn't your standard, run-of-the-mill KPI conversation about total premium, retention and monthly sales targets. Seth is introducing new KPIs that the industry has never seen. And it all starts with three little words: cost per transaction.

Meet Seth and hear:

• From agency startup to insurtech startup
• Do agencies really own their data?
• Why current analytics don't give us a competitive edge
• The cost per transaction: what it is and why it matters
• How to begin leveraging data in your agency

Tolga Tezel, Founder & CEO of Canopy Connect, is solving for a massive problem in insurance: moving sales data WITHOUT human hands. In any other industry, data is supportive to the product being sold. In insurance, the data IS the product being sold...which means, there's a lot of it. And moving it between systems? Whew. Pretty sure sales teams are already tearing up reading this. But dry up those eyes. Tolga and crew have an exciting solution.

Meet Tolga and hear: - How he ended up in insurtech of all things - Why he has bootstrapped his company from the ground up - How much time sales teams waste being data janitors - An innovative solution for moving hundreds of data fields in just a few clicks - Where Canopy Connect is going next

Episode31 of theVIP Podcastis now LIVE!

Elijah Goodman, Producer at Goodman Family Insurance, was looking for a creative way to gain attention and write more business. He and his buddies created a video that went quickly went viral and Elijah saw his sales increase and his Tik Tok fame rise in the process. Goodman Family Insurance is a family-owned independent insurance agency. Elijah's unique marketing efforts made this local agency a household name and now writes in multiple states outside of his home state of Wisconsin. Meet Elijah and hear:

• How he got his start in the agency.
• The origin story of his viral Tik Tok Videos
• Elijah Goodman's marketing advice for Indie Agents
• The rise and fall of Elijah's Tik Tok Channel.
• What is next for Elijah Goodman and Goodman Family Insurance

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Adam Bowe, Founder of Cake, has created aCarvana-like insurance marketplace where you can buy or sell your book of business.Today, the only wayto buy or sell is...know the rightperson. With cake, that changes to...know the rightplatform. Not only are they democratizing the M&A space, they're also making it possible to exchange groups of accounts (known as "slices"), instead of the whole cake (aka, book of business). Believe us, this is one you don't want to miss.

Meet Adam and hear:

• How Cake works
• The *free Value Your Agency tool available on haveyourcake.com
• Why this platform makes the M&A space available to anyone and everyone
• The "trust"challenge Cake must overcome - and how they're doing it
• Where this platform is headed in 2024+

Margeaux Giles, Founder & CEO of IRYS, sits down with us to try and settle the CRM vs AMS debate. Her experience in both agency operations and insurtech gives her a unique perspective on what the next generation of technology could look like for the indie agent. And it all starts with...the data.

Meet Margeaux and hear:

• 4 key differences between a CRM and AMS

• A high-level overview of the importance of data architecture

• Why agencies need a CRM to be competitive in the digital era

• How to overcome the change management hurdle

Carey Wallace, Founder of AgencyFocus, has an intriguing background. She cut her teeth in startup early-on after helping take a company public shortly after finishing undergrad. Since then, she's gone on to launch two more startups, both in the insurance analytics space. Her most recent venture is focused on helping agencies increase their valuation with......better data.

Meet Carey and hear:

• Who is Carey Wallace and why has AgencyFocus taken off?
• Her belief on the importance of an agency's data in 2023 and beyond
• How data and valuation are linked
• The biggest data challenges she helps under-valued agencies overcome
• A few things you can do to improve your data maturity

Pat Cline, Director of Accelerator Operations at 101 Weston Labs, is building a new kind of accelerator. This accelerator doesn't help carrier insurtech, MGA insurtech or, honestly, any insurtech other than solutions meant to drive change for indie agents. Its partnership with the Independent Insurance Agents of North Carolina state association is what truly makes it powerful.

MeetPat and hear:

• First, what is an accelerator and how is 101 Weston Labs different
• Why 101 Weston Labs & IIANC is a match made in heaven
• A look at the first cohort of insurtech solutions
• The 12 week startup bootcamp and annual event
• Where 101 Weston Labs is headed in the future