Running An Insurance Agency Podcast: Fight For Your Agency

In this episode of the Ridiculously Amazing Insurance Agent podcast, host Kelly Donahue-Piro interviews Gina Clevenger, Employee Benefits Consultant at Clevenger Insurance Agency, and Joe Clevenger, President at Clevenger Insurance Agency. Gina and Joe discuss how they use Agency Performance Partners to execute their ideas in an efficient and streamlined manner.

Episode Highlights:

Kelly introduces Gina and Joe Clevenger. (00:48)
Joe mentions that they’re a husband-and-wife team. He started in the agency in 2006 and purchased it from his father in 2017. (1:49)
Gina shares that she’s working more on the employee benefits and in sales and Joe has all the great ideas. They also use Agency Performance Partners to ensure that they execute their ideas in a very efficient and streamlined manner. (1:54)
Gina shares their podcast called Richer or Poorer, and it’s a marriage therapy and business consulting podcast. (5:35)
In Joe’s opinion, the industry is going to start moving away from the private passenger auto, they would have to start focusing more on home and commercial products to drive their business. (7:07)
Joe mentions that we should start moving more commercially, and focus more on commercial products. (7:59)
Joe shares that ensuring their management systems are up to date and placing accurate data are a huge factor, and once they start getting better data from their management system, they can make better decisions as a whole. (8:37)
Gina thinks that we need to step up as the younger generation and change the experience in insurance. (10:43)
Joe shares that they struggled with commercials and how to manage them, for a long time. But this year, they’re starting to build a better commercial process. (11:31)
Joe shares some of the things they do culturally that helped them set up and initiate their core values and mission. (28:12)
Joe mentions that their culture has changed drastically over the last 12 months, and they took Kelly’s advice as well. (27:57)
Gina shares how Kelly has helped them in their performance and made their business profitable. (30:29)
Gina explains the two different pieces of training they have. (32:15)
Joe mentions that they’ve redefined their CSRs so they could be producers as well. (39:14)
Gina shares that they still do the performance metrics, and they also send out an anonymous survey, every six months. (41:14)

Key Quotes:

“One of my life goals is to be more vulnerable and to teach people about myself outside Clevenger Insurance. Because I love what I do, people feel like I’m robotic and sometimes I lead with Clevenger Insurance so much, I wanted the world to know me other than Clevenger Insurance.” – Gina Clevenger
“Hiring people that fit our core values and fit our culture, as people want to go out and help in the community, want to be part of something bigger. This isn’t about me, this isn’t about Gina, this is about the whole team here.” – Joe Clevenger
“When you’re an owner of an independent insurance agency, you’re getting paid to lead your team. You are the captain of the ship and you are encouraging them and empowering them to help you grow.” – Gina Clevenger
“When you hear the word consultant or outside advocates such as Agency Performance partners, the person in the relationship that doesn’t watch the book is the one that’s going to be scared to spend the money in the book.” – Gina Clevenger

Resources Mentioned: