Advertise on podcast: The Insurance Guys Podcast

Seth Zaremba hands the episode its title seventeen minutes in: halfway to somewhere is 100% to nowhere. He says it about a rental Chevy Traverse that has a touchscreen and a row of physical buttons doing the exact same job, which Bradley Flowers calls the most hideous confusing thing he has ever seen, and which both men immediately recognize as what an agency looks like when it tries to be all things to all people. The spine of the hour is Tesla's full self-driving as the working analogy for AI in an insurance agency. Scott Howell opens with the hot take that FSD is the biggest invention since the airplane. Seth, who lets the car drive 94 percent of his miles, explains why the legacy automakers cannot shortcut their way to it, then runs the same argument at insurance processing: the infrastructure has to be built before anything drives itself. From there they get into what agency staff actually fear about AI, the Acrisure layoffs and whether AI was the reason or the excuse, why a new AI tool gets trained like a hire instead of installed like software, and what happens to personal auto premium once the cars are measurably safer. Seth closes on what ships next for Service Center: email first, then voice. Show Overview 00:00 Cold open and sponsors 01:03 Welcome, and the incomparable Bradley Flowers 01:47 Hotel waffles, and whether Ryan Hanley wanted to be a great American 02:11 The newspaper on the porch, and the welfare check 06:39 Guest introduction: Seth Zaremba, BeAtomic 08:48 The hot take: FSD is the biggest invention since the airplane 09:55 Seth's numbers, and why he almost never drives 10:42 Road rage, cortisol, and the Oura Ring 13:52 Will every manufacturer have this in fifteen years? 14:01 Why the legacy automakers cannot shortcut the infrastructure 15:04 The Chevy Traverse with buttons and a screen that do the same thing 16:17 Trying to be all things to all people, in cars and in agencies 17:29 Halfway to somewhere is 100% to nowhere 18:34 What FSD and the Service Center rollout have in common 19:48 Will AI take my job? What Bradley is telling his team 20:51 The Acrisure layoffs, and AI as the excuse 21:46 A bonus for any employee who finds a job to automate 22:46 Expense or revenue: the only two levers a top 100 can pull 24:34 Treat a new AI tool like a hire, not like software 26:26 Buy stock in the human, sell stock in the processor 27:08 Carrier access, portals, and whether anyone pushes back 29:24 The walled gardens are over, and who is trying to stop it 30:21 The wild west before you get to Denver 32:00 The power drill argument for AI security 33:00 The carrier that used AI to write a letter warning about AI 34:25 Personal auto, FSD discounts, and whether the premium disappears 35:53 Liability never goes away, it just moves 37:04 Why supervised FSD may be more dangerous than unsupervised 38:33 The crash data, and what a mirror costs now 39:13 Why people hate a premium that changes every month 40:20 If every car stops for you, pedestrians get the right of way 41:52 Where Service Center is now, and what ships in October 43:16 Email is the second leg, voice is the third 45:14 Why standardization beats knowing every carrier portal 47:45 Talking to your own agency data 48:42 Which carrier to go to first, and the data that would tell you 50:12 Hiring a firm to build the agents instead of doing it yourself 51:34 Internal AI versus external AI, and where to spend 52:50 HawkSoft, Applied, Vertafore, and the AMS thaw 54:33 Rewards come from action, and the sign off 55:43 The Insurance Guys promo code and the 2027 F1 drawing

Ryan Hanley's answer to the title question is that one model is not enough yet. He runs several and treats each like an employee with its own job: Claude when a whole team needs the same projects and memory, Kimi K3 from Moonshot for everyday work at a fraction of the cost, GrokBot for agent work inside live systems, and OpenClaw when he wants no guardrails at all. Bradley Flowers brings the other half of the argument from his own hiring process, where the model started hedging on DISC assessments and taking up for the candidate instead of giving him the read he asked for. From there it turns practical. Ryan walks through an insurance prospecting build step by step: anonymize the book, have the AI define five ideal client profiles, build the contact list, then run a seven touch cold drip that adjusts on real feedback. He also explains how an agent found a hundred publishers, ranked them by likelihood, and landed his book deal by emailing five at a time. Bradley has an agent living in his service manager's inbox to win back 60 percent of her day. Scott Howell asks for the 2027 forecast and gets a market that hardens a little, plus a warning about the downward pressure building on agencies that stay out of the tech game. Show Overview 00:00 Intro and sponsors 01:06 Welcome, and the incomparable Bradley Flowers 01:45 New studio, and the property manager on the other side of the wall 02:14 Guest introduction: Ryan Hanley, Finding Peak 03:49 The Mark Walters story: billions shifting under federal investigation 05:11 Smart people do stupid things, and rule one is do not commingle funds 06:14 Regulated versus unregulated, and what you are allowed to say 08:20 Facebook ads for realtors, and the weight loss ad that lasted eight minutes 09:54 Baseball cards, a twelve year old, and a GrokBot arbitrage business 12:28 An Airbnb run on eight programs for a thousand dollars a year 13:51 ChatGPT, Claude, Grok, OpenClaw and GrokBot, sorted by guardrails 14:27 Why Ryan moved to OpenClaw and off Claude 15:56 Running DISC assessments through AI, and the model taking up for the candidate 16:51 Kimi K3, open source, and what a Chinese model actually means 18:21 Treat every model like an employee with its own strengths 19:01 An AI agent living in the service manager's inbox 20:30 Nobody taught AI 101 21:16 Interview the AI about you before you put it to work 21:48 Easy Mode: the book deal, and where the title came from 24:35 How an agent landed the deal, five publisher emails at a time 26:30 The insurance prospecting version of all this 27:31 Five ideal client profiles, HVAC contractors, and a seven touch drip 29:05 You used to think inside the tool, now you just name the goal 30:54 How the book actually gets written: talk to text, then edit 32:34 End every prompt with: ask me your questions one at a time 33:52 The 2027 forecast: harder, but not a hard market 34:21 Do not blame the soft market, and do not take credit for the hard one 34:42 Fifty percent commercial property in a soft market 35:36 PIF and retention are the metrics, not revenue alone 36:31 The downward pressure building on agencies that skip tech 39:07 HawkSoft, Momentum, AgencyZoom, and who is actually moving on AI 41:03 Stop accepting standard development cycles 43:22 Build the feature your CRM does not have 44:55 Why private equity owned platforms do not fund AI 46:03 Hand an agent ownership of AgencyZoom 47:32 ITC, IndieTech, and the conference shakeout 48:08 Rewards come from action, and the sign off

A guest no-showed, so Scott Howell brought two stories instead. The first is an auto claim he calls the craziest he has ever heard. A customer buys a $17,000 Mazda from a dealership Scott also insures, puts liability only on it because he was in a hurry, then drops it back off for a check engine light. The next morning the dealership's technician gets T-boned at a green light, and the driver who hit him calls The General and buys a policy while waiting on the police. Between liability only coverage, garage keepers liability, and an at-fault driver with nothing in force at the time of the wreck, nobody pays for the totaled car. The owner's existing Progressive policy would have covered it if he had never called them at all. The second story is the title. An employee at a friend's agency threw a rock through a Tesla's back window on his way to work, the Tesla followed him to the office and called the police, and he was handcuffed in the parking lot at 9:30 in the morning while his coworkers watched from the window. The owner later found the search still open on his screen: what to say to the police after you throw a rock through somebody's window. Which brings Scott and Bradley Flowers to the moral, which is vet your people before you hire them. Show Overview 00:00 Cold open and sponsors 01:03 Welcome, and the incomparable Bradley Flowers 02:26 Guest no-show, so Scott brought two stories 02:59 Story one: two clients who do not know each other exist 04:40 A check engine light, and liability only 05:05 T-boned at a green light 05:53 The at-fault driver buys a policy while waiting on the police 06:45 Garage keepers versus direct and primary 07:35 Nobody pays: three policies and one totaled car 09:00 The twist: calling Progressive is what killed the claim 09:59 He found a lawyer, and he is suing the dealership 10:38 Story two, names withheld 12:02 A rockhound, an F-150, and a Tesla that cut him off 13:23 They follow him to work and call the police 14:33 Handcuffs in the parking lot while the office watches 14:54 The browser tab left open on his desk 15:39 Were there signs? The slammed door 16:30 Vet your people, and what nine interviews at Progressive buys 17:47 Fast on the ones you want, slow on the ones you are not sure about 18:02 The AI written email that withdrew her candidacy 18:54 The Facebook comment that did dad no favors 19:20 Recap, and there is always tomorrow

Scott Howell opens the books on air: I Protect Insurance has been losing money month over month for most of the year, and he says the quiet part out loud, that everybody else's agency is apparently perfect and only his is in a soft market. Clint Orr, now a partner and owner after thirteen years together and a buy sell agreement that finally got signed over lunch at Taco Mama, joins Scott and Bradley Flowers to walk through what they actually did about it. The two have been meeting on Google Meet for an hour a day with a spreadsheet from fractional CFO Carrie Wallace, working tab by tab through salaries, IT, travel, advertising and professional fees, and in a single week they cut just under $50,000 in annual expenses. That includes offices that exist only as a place for an employee to sit, more than a thousand dollars a month in AI subscriptions spread across four ChatGPT accounts and three Claude accounts, and seat licenses nobody was using. From there Clint lays out SummerSlam, the three KPI team contest built to carry the agency through the dog days, and what he had to unlearn going from top producer to leader. Show Overview 01:06 Welcome, and the incomparable Bradley Flowers 01:53 Pet peeve: the brand new territory sales manager who corrects you 03:04 Shorter is always better, and banks are the worst offenders 05:22 The unsolicited calendar invite and the unsolicited drop by 07:03 Part two: Clint Orr, now an owner at I Protect Insurance 08:34 The daily Google Hangout through the financials 11:48 Why Clint wanted the operations side 12:26 Lead block and metaphorical touchdowns: hitting the inflection point 14:25 Everything you never see until you have to do it yourself 16:00 Kenneth leaves, and the smart plug named Kenneth 18:39 The F reorg, the ten thousand dollar bill, and signing at Taco Mama 20:24 Do not hand somebody ownership six months in 21:23 The admission: losing money month over month in a soft market 22:45 The fractional CFO, the spreadsheet, and the tab by tab review 24:10 Just under fifty thousand dollars in annual expenses, gone in a week 25:23 Which offices actually earn their rent 27:29 The hidden cost of an office: coffee, toilet paper, printer paper, internet 28:57 Cut mode, and why you read the bank statement instead of QuickBooks 29:38 Over a thousand a month on AI: four ChatGPT accounts and three Claudes 31:15 Consolidating the tools instead of collecting them 32:17 Seat licenses, shared logins, and website maintenance 33:44 Try to cancel and watch the fifty percent off appear 34:15 The Adobe Sign story: offboarding matters as much as onboarding 36:35 Counting walk ins with the security system instead of guessing 38:25 The monkey off the agency's back 39:40 SummerSlam: three KPIs, team goals, and real prizes 44:18 Two new producers, a sabbatical, and a summer that held 46:28 No longer siloed 47:21 When money is the trigger, you do not leave it at the door 48:30 From hustler to leader 51:06 The gift bag, the birthday calls, and what changed 53:21 One percent better: ranch ad

Ron Shroyer puts a number on the biggest decision an agency owner will ever make: one hour on Zoom and maybe a three hour dinner. That is how long most sellers spend vetting the firm that is buying the largest asset they will ever own, and it is the thread running through this entire conversation. Shroyer, Vice President of M&A Business Development at Alliant Insurance Services, returns to the show to tell Scott Howell and Bradley Flowers what has actually changed since the roll up boom. Cheap capital dried up first, and the firms that bought a hundred agencies in twenty four months never built the integration to make that scale pay, which is why organic growth across the publics has slid into the low single digits. From there Shroyer separates private equity backed from private equity partnered, explains why earnouts so often turn into earn ups, and shows how Alliant's employee ownership, 51 percent employee held with every third employee a shareholder, drives better than 90 percent retention across roughly 120 acquisitions in ten years. Bradley brings the buyer's side of it, laying out why falling insurance rates have him further from acquiring an agency than he has ever been. Then Scott asks the question nobody says out loud: why do so many owners take the big check and spend the next three years fighting the company they sold to? SHOW OVERVIEW 00:00 Cold open and sponsors 01:03 Welcome, and the incomparable Bradley Flowers 01:55 The Hampton Inn waffle theory of customer behavior 05:00 Guest introduction: Ron Shroyer, Alliant Insurance Services 06:48 Consistency, and the empty hotel in downtown Mobile 08:30 From InsurTech to brokerage: how Ron landed at Alliant 10:14 Inside a six billion dollar flat organization 11:19 Culture is the most overused word in the industry 12:31 Knowing which agencies to listen to 14:33 Where M&A actually stands right now 16:08 Private equity backed versus private equity partnered 16:55 Buying a hundred firms in twenty four months and never integrating them 18:19 Osmosis growth, and why Bradley is not buying right now 21:01 Earnouts, earn ups, and the team you leave behind 21:46 Employee ownership and what Alliant is actually looking for 22:48 The USI and Aon shake out 23:26 The big check and the boss problem 26:07 Why acquisitions die on the vine 27:33 120 deals, 90 percent retention, integrated immediately 28:37 The Band-Aids you never ripped off before selling 29:51 AI as the excuse to cut staff, and the Nava Benefits bet 31:41 Should you sell because you are afraid of AI? 34:44 Keeping your people after the check clears 36:30 B shares, spot bonuses, and the recruiting test 37:42 How to tell whether an acquisition actually worked 39:01 Staying on as owner, and the next generation behind you 41:16 From 2.5 times revenue to multi year earnouts 43:57 Multiple bites of the apple 46:14 How to reach Ron Shroyer, and the close

Scott and Bradley record from their new podcast studio, a real upgrade they plan to keep fully equipped and open to other local business owners. Bradley admits the weekly grind can start to feel like a job instead of a joy, then they get a lift from a call Scott made to a listener who is just launching his own agency. Bradley tells the full story of his new Samsung Frame TV landing in a dumpster by accident and getting pulled back out. That leads into agency realities: the Rough Notes curse of post-feature staff turnover, Kenneth outgrowing his operations manager role, and the ongoing challenge of keeping working mothers in an industry largely run by women. Bradley floats a daycare for employees as one possible fix. He also explains to his leadership team why he is not selling. Young kids and a lot of runway still ahead keep him all in

On this The Insurance Guys episode, Scott and Bradley skip the guest chair and open the mailbag. They talk through who actually carries the show, why M&A multiples are still high while rates soften and a Hub International IPO looms, which carriers besides Progressive make quoting less painful (QuoteWell, Novella, Liberty Mutual, Nationwide, Travelers), why post-bind inspections keep adding work after the policy is already bound, and whether one AI tool can really answer the phones, book appointments, and talk to the CRM. No pitch. Just two agency owners answering what listeners asked.

In this episode of The Insurance Guys Podcast, Scott Howell and Bradley Flowers welcome Chris Ball, chairman of WING and the man Scott calls the coolest guy in insurance, for a conversation on how independent agents can compete on a global stage. Chris walks through a career that began reluctantly in his dad’s office and later took him to aviation and aerospace work in New York, including high profile accounts like U2’s jet, then to Marsh in San Francisco before a culture clash sent him home. He shares his firsthand view of 9/11 from nearby as the planes hit and the towers fell, then explains how WING’s network of independent entrepreneurs across cultures now helps members solve complex risks together. The discussion turns to embedded insurance already common in Japan and ripe for North America, which countries treat insurance as seriously as the United States (the UK and Germany among them), and Chris’s blue ocean play: using that global independent network to go after accounts the mega brokerages want. He outlines a five year plan built on organic growth, recruiting top producers, and giving them equity in their books, and closes with a direct challenge to independent agents. You already have the capability and the partners. Go get the global work.

In this episode of The Insurance Guys Podcast, host Scott Howell kicks things off by introducing co-host Bradley Flowers and sharing news of their new real estate venture in Mobile before the conversation turns to Bradley’s frustration with the bureaucratic delays and inefficiencies involved in securing a simple permit to build three interior walls. Scott then formally introduces the episode’s special guest, his business partner Clinton Orr, appearing on the show for the first time, and the two recount the three-and-a-half-year journey filled with obstacles that finally made Clint an official agency owner. They discuss the decision to bring on Patrick McClure as a fractional sales leader who also served as something of a therapist for the partners, then dig into their early days starting out as competitors in the same Nationwide program office. Clint shares the gut punch of finishing that program only to discover there was no agency waiting for him, how he eventually joined Scott’s agency, struggled at first, and ultimately found his successful niche insuring real estate investors. Scott details how he used ChatGPT and Claude to draft their buy-sell agreement, which was later reviewed by attorneys and accountants, outlines his long-term goal of eventually selling the current agency and launching a new one with Clint as majority owner, and Clint opens up about navigating recent tough market conditions, the personal doubt he faced while weighing his future and family, and the genuine excitement he feels training a new hire and mentoring others who want to succeed in the insurance business.

Johnny Gwin, the podcast’s original and current producer, joins Scott Howell and Bradley Flowers to look back on the show’s early days, the discipline of reaching fifty episodes, and the technical challenges of those first recordings.   He shares career advice, walks through David Ogilvy’s core advertising principles, and traces his own creativity to television, music, and formal training at Portfolio Center in Atlanta, Ga. The conversation covers the naming of Portal Insurance, the podcast’s potential future in video and broader business topics, and what Johnny has learned about the insurance industry.   Johnny also discusses his work with Meducate AI, which uses AI-cloned physician voices for patient education, while Scott introduces his Gift Giver app idea. The episode wraps with Johnny’s straightforward editing approach of listening at 2.2x speed to catch every detail and keep the final cut tight.

Scott Howell and Bradley Flowers welcome Garrette Droege to discuss the major technological shifts reshaping insurance. Garrette shares how his theater background strengthens client work through improvisation, then explains why blockchain remains actively developed by financial institutions and how crypto is maturing into institutional digital assets and stablecoins. The conversation explores AI as a force multiplier that lets younger agents upskill quickly, covers practical tools already boosting agency productivity, and examines how AI will handle routine tasks while humans focus on higher-value work. Garrette urges owners to start experimenting with AI now, much like the early days of cyber coverage, and closes with the rising need for proof of humanity against deepfakes.

In this episode of The Insurance Guys Podcast, host Scott Howell joins co-hosts Vishal Sankhla and Bradley Flowers to welcome special guest Andy Barker, CEO of Houchens Insurance Group. Scott opens by sharing a recent meeting with Auto Owners about securing a contract for his agency before the conversation turns to Andy’s impressive career path, which began with a transition from Cingular Wireless into insurance in 2002. Andy discusses his ownership of a D-1 sports training gym and how his passion for fitness shapes his business philosophy, then explores how technology such as Out Market AI elevates both customer and employee experiences. He details Hawkins’ successful intern program that develops young talent into future leaders, the history and cultural impact of the company’s ESOP, and a growth strategy built on strong organic performance supplemented by selective acquisitions. Andy also reflects on his initial skepticism toward artificial intelligence and how it has become a powerful workflow enhancement, before predicting that the independent agencies that thrive in the years ahead will be those remaining nimble and adaptable to change. The episode closes with a lively round of rapid-fire questions.

In this episode of The Insurance Guys Podcast, Scott Howell and Bradley Flowers dig into practical agency management wins, starting with Bradley’s most profitable month happening while he was on paternity leave and the KPI-based monthly/quarterly bonus structure that replaced pure commission for account managers. They stress account rounding and a smarter cross-sell process (account managers start the conversation, then hand off to an inside sales team), debate what a true “producer” is and how to handle agency vs. self-generated leads, explore the value of strong operations roles and even a fractional COO offering, and touch on industry cycles, government pressure on rates, the costly driver-to-vehicle ratio problem, hiring experienced vs. green talent, job-shadowing candidates, and the hard call of letting a toxic employee go.

In this episode of The Insurance Guys Podcast, hosts Scott Howell and Bradley Flowers welcome Ben Walker of Custom Insurance Solutions and CIS Private Client. Ben shares his remarkable journey from owning a KFC franchise and managing movie theaters to building a thriving high net worth personal lines agency. He opens up about the early churn and burn days of writing any business possible before niching down after buying out his partner, sparked by a visit from a Pure Insurance rep. Listeners will hear practical strategies for marketing to affluent clients through targeted direct mail, understanding their mindset around risk management rather than price, and building deep relationships that win business. Ben also discusses the story behind his book Fortified, his ambitious five year plan to lead nationally while quadrupling premium, and why he values independence over selling the agency. A must listen for agents ready to elevate their high net worth game. Find Fortified on Amazon or by messaging Ben directly.

In this episode, Scott Howell and Bradley Flowers welcome fractional sales leader Patrick McClure to share proven strategies for doubling insurance agency revenue. After a light-hearted introduction featuring Bradley’s humorous “Insurance Soup” story, Patrick discusses his journey from Clemson football to building a successful career in insurance. He outlines his effective onboarding process, emphasizes how to run high-impact sales meetings with targeted deal strategy and role-playing, and highlights the transformative value of a fractional sales leader. Packed with practical leadership insights, this conversation delivers actionable tactics for agency growth and sales excellence.