How Rollo Insurance 5X'd in 5 Years Without a Niche or Outside Capital

Jackson [0:00:00]: Our organization is built on relationships.

Jackson [0:00:02]: It's built on the people that we get to know the communities that we serve.

Jackson [0:00:05]: We are very proudly a local generalist.

Jackson [0:00:08]: When people ask me, hey, what's your niche.

Jackson [0:00:10]: I always tell like we don't have one.

Callan [0:00:14]: Welcome to the Insurance Growth Lab, where we go deep on the growth campaigns and strategies driving real results in the insurance industry.

Callan [0:00:22]: I´m Callan Harrington, founder of Flashgrowth.

Callan [0:00:25]: And in each episode, I sit down with marketing and growth leaders from carriers and Sure tech and top brokers to break down one specific initiative, whether it's how they marketed a product, scale a channel or solved a specific growth challenge.

Callan [0:00:39]: It's no fluff just tactical insights you can apply in your own company.

Callan [0:00:43]: Jackson, I wanna start this out.

Callan [0:00:50]: Tell me about teaching old dogs new tricks.

Jackson [0:00:53]: Yeah.

Jackson [0:00:53]: You know, as one of my favorite stories.

Jackson [0:00:55]: Whatever I started in the business.

Jackson [0:00:57]: I took over as director of sales for our team at twenty two.

Jackson [0:01:00]: It was right January of twenty twenty.

Jackson [0:01:02]: So, I mean, everyone knows what happened in the world right after that.

Jackson [0:01:05]: One of the things I had to do was I had to figure out a way to teach all dogs Nut tricks so I'm the new guy coming in.

Jackson [0:01:10]: Right.

Jackson [0:01:10]: Twenty two years old and the majority of our agents probably average age like, forty five.

Jackson [0:01:14]: And I had to figure out a way to get adoption up of some of the technologies we were adding some of the new strategies that we wanna to roll out as an organization.

Jackson [0:01:22]: And so people always say, you can't teach all dogs new tricks.

Jackson [0:01:25]: To that now I reply unless the new dogs make more money.

Jackson [0:01:29]: So what we actually did was to teach all old dogs new tricks is we brought in a lot of new producers, we top them the new way of doing things.

Jackson [0:01:36]: And it was funny.

Jackson [0:01:37]: As they started winning more of the contest and selling more business and having these huge production weeks, a lot of the old docs, you know, they learned the nut tricks.

Jackson [0:01:44]: So...

Callan [0:01:46]: I love that.

Callan [0:01:46]: Well, here's what's interesting.

Callan [0:01:47]: You know, I've heard your story, and Of course, we've got to meet a number of times previous to this just in general.

Callan [0:01:53]: But one of the things I found interesting was You know, I think a lot of people when they immediately hear.

Callan [0:01:59]: It's like, okay.

Callan [0:01:59]: You took over as director of sales.

Callan [0:02:01]: You guys were a pretty good sized agency when you took over.

Callan [0:02:03]: You became president at twenty four.

Callan [0:02:06]: How much did the fact that you were the top producer in the agency matter when it came to taking those positions.

Jackson [0:02:17]: It mattered a lot.

Jackson [0:02:17]: Like to me, I don't think it necessarily mattered as much.

Jackson [0:02:20]: I always had the opinion that, look, I was gonna work hard and earn the respect of the teammates that we have here because everyone respects people who work hard and people who value the other teammates on the team and, like, how can we make a team better.

Jackson [0:02:31]: And so I never had it down in my mind that, you know, essentially, how it would be accepted as a member of the team, but it definitely helps early on with the perception.

Jackson [0:02:39]: I know early on what I took over in sales.

Jackson [0:02:41]: A lot of the producers, quite a few of them came out to me and said hey, the I don't know how you did what you did last year being an intern for six months and being in full time for four months and selling as much insurance as you did, but, like, I need you to show me what you did.

Jackson [0:02:54]: And so the result, I think opened everyone's mind to adoption of maybe some of the new strategies as well.

Jackson [0:03:00]: I think it definitely mattered more to other people than it did to me, but it does matter.

Jackson [0:03:03]: I mean, at the of the day, people they value results.

Jackson [0:03:05]: And when you have results, they wanna find a way to, you know, copy that into their system.

Callan [0:03:10]: Well, I think and for me, that was one thing that I think I kinda had a little bit of impostor syndrome early on where when you start managing people that are older than you.

Callan [0:03:18]: And it's like, in sales, I think it's the best path because to your point and it's exactly what you just said, and you said this earlier, and I...

Callan [0:03:26]: Like, that was what kinda click for me was if you can produce.

Callan [0:03:30]: Anybody in sales wants to learn what you're doing.

Callan [0:03:33]: Don't get me wrong.

Callan [0:03:34]: Some people are just gonna...

Callan [0:03:35]: It doesn't matter.

Callan [0:03:35]: Ten percent of them are probably just gonna be like, I'm not gonna listen to them regardless, but the reality is, they're not gonna listen to anybody regardless.

Callan [0:03:41]: So it doesn't matter if it's you or somebody else, but you're teaching them away so they can make more money so they can improve their lives.

Callan [0:03:48]: Whatever that might be, and I think that's super interesting.

Callan [0:03:51]: I was curious about that.

Callan [0:03:52]: Everybody wants to know what the top producers doing.

Callan [0:03:54]: So I think that's interesting.

Callan [0:03:56]: And then one of the things I'm curious about is how did you start to, like, turn that into a process that you could teach.

Jackson [0:04:02]: Honestly, I started on that pretty early.

Jackson [0:04:04]: Funny enough, like I said, I started as an intern at Texas a M or, like, wow I was at Six a M, my intern at the agency.

Jackson [0:04:09]: And I had a quite a few buddies who, you know, they were playing all four days a week, like, school is easy for them, and they had, you know, backgrounds where their families were pretty successful.

Jackson [0:04:18]: And so they were like, hey, I wanna get into sales too.

Jackson [0:04:21]: My dad does it or my mom does it.

Jackson [0:04:23]: I wanna get into it.

Jackson [0:04:24]: And so I actually had to turn my sales like, thoughts into a process pretty early because I originally built it to train interns coming out of school with me.

Jackson [0:04:33]: Like, my friends who I wanted to turn into the agents.

Jackson [0:04:35]: It didn't exactly work out because everyone else has other group as they wanna go on, but the foundation of it actually did, and we were able to design a course to train new producers and had that system, you know, kinda of built.

Jackson [0:04:45]: And then over time, we just adopted it and built it, you know, even more to some of the new standards and things that we've designed.

Jackson [0:04:51]: But, yeah, originally is designed for interns and, like, friends of mine coming out of college.

Callan [0:04:56]: It's a hard thing to do.

Callan [0:04:57]: Usually, the top producer does not make the best leader.

Callan [0:05:01]: And for the reasons that, you know, I think people bash that alive.

Callan [0:05:05]: Said, well, what does it take to be a top producer?

Callan [0:05:06]: I mean, honestly, a lot of times, You have to be ridiculously selfish with your time in a positive way.

Callan [0:05:11]: Like, I don't think anybody is looking I'm like, oh, they're so selfish because they're out meeting with people day.

Callan [0:05:15]: That's literally their job.

Callan [0:05:16]: I have found off the times the top producer doesn't wanna be a leader.

Callan [0:05:20]: For me, I was above average producer is pretty good at it.

Callan [0:05:23]: Like, I saw what the top people did.

Callan [0:05:26]: And that's why I gravitate more towards leadership for...

Callan [0:05:28]: It very similar what you said.

Callan [0:05:29]: I you take that and put into a process.

Callan [0:05:30]: So I think that's really interesting.

Callan [0:05:32]: And I have a pretty good feeling we're gonna be circling back to that as as we dive into this.

Jackson [0:05:37]: Yeah.

Jackson [0:05:37]: I was also gonna add to you.

Jackson [0:05:38]: I think when you look at most good salespeople people Right?

Jackson [0:05:40]: What do they have on the backside?

Jackson [0:05:41]: They have somebody who's willing to support them someone who's willing to have, you know, different side the brain, but you need both to achieve great things as a salesperson, and it's funny.

Jackson [0:05:49]: You know, when you look at my parents, that's who they are.

Jackson [0:05:51]: My dad is like, the Alpha Dominant salesperson.

Jackson [0:05:53]: Everyone loves.

Jackson [0:05:55]: I mean, he goes on a plane and people are asking him to do insurance versus the other way around.

Jackson [0:05:58]: Like, he's just so good at sales.

Jackson [0:06:00]: And my mom is she was our CFO for twenty five years.

Jackson [0:06:03]: And so Two different sides of the brain and I think I got enough of both of them to where I can kinda turn one off and turned the other on and some of the disc assessments and things like that.

Jackson [0:06:12]: Proved that.

Jackson [0:06:12]: But I've always had more of a love for helping other people be better, right, than necessarily driving myself.

Jackson [0:06:18]: I love sales it was so much fun.

Jackson [0:06:19]: I actually didn't really...

Jackson [0:06:20]: The sales were not fun parts to me as the relationships I was building.

Jackson [0:06:23]: But I just have kinda transferred that now into the relationships that I build with the sales team.

Jackson [0:06:28]: And to me that is so much more fun.

Callan [0:06:30]: Yeah.

Callan [0:06:30]: I love it.

Callan [0:06:31]: And I know you've talked about how your dad is more of the visionary.

Callan [0:06:35]: You mentioned how your mom was...

Callan [0:06:36]: I mean, have that after set in a agency that CFO piece.

Callan [0:06:39]: And I'm not discounting the visionary piece that is huge.

Callan [0:06:42]: And then I've heard as you've came on.

Callan [0:06:44]: You've been more of that integrator.

Callan [0:06:46]: The Eos integrator.

Callan [0:06:47]: It's kind of the operator of the agency which clearly been successful.

Callan [0:06:51]: You guys have five over five years.

Callan [0:06:54]: You're at over two hundred and fifty teammates.

Callan [0:06:57]: And one of the interesting things about that is you specifically called this out, and I think it's super interesting.

Callan [0:07:02]: Fifteen second generation.

Callan [0:07:04]: Teammate, which I'm excited to dive into that a little bit more.

Callan [0:07:07]: And you had already hit on it.

Callan [0:07:09]: He became president twenty four.

Callan [0:07:10]: Now, one of the things I found most interesting about any of this.

Callan [0:07:13]: These stats are great.

Callan [0:07:14]: That's very clear.

Callan [0:07:15]: Those stats speak for themselves.

Callan [0:07:16]: We talked about niches and things like that.

Callan [0:07:20]: And I'm a big believer in a niche.

Callan [0:07:22]: And so that's why I was very interested and you're like, I'm not really.

Callan [0:07:26]: You didn't say it like that.

Callan [0:07:29]: You didn't say it like that.

Callan [0:07:30]: But it was very much like, we do things a little bit different.

Callan [0:07:33]: And clearly, it's been successful, the numbers that I just went over that you had mentioned.

Callan [0:07:37]: Those are niche agency, high super high growth numbers or venture backed brokerage numbers and they're neither and you haven't taken private equity, which is even more interesting.

Callan [0:07:48]: Ra rules, which will talk about quite a bit.

Callan [0:07:51]: Number nine.

Callan [0:07:51]: No matter who where or when our greatest impact is local, focus local.

Callan [0:07:57]: What does that mean to you?

Jackson [0:07:59]: Yeah.

Jackson [0:07:59]: So one thing on that really quick, you probably saw those, like, little three dots kind of in a triangle what that actually means.

Jackson [0:08:04]: That's the logical symbol for there.

Jackson [0:08:06]: Basically, our greatest impact is local.

Jackson [0:08:08]: So logically speaking, we will focus local.

Jackson [0:08:11]: Right?

Jackson [0:08:12]: So it kinda keeps our mind always on, like, at the end of the day, that's the most logical thing for us.

Jackson [0:08:16]: And so what does it mean to me is what our organization is built on relationships.

Jackson [0:08:22]: It's built on the people that we get to know the communities that we serve.

Jackson [0:08:25]: And so we are very proudly a local generalist.

Jackson [0:08:28]: And when people ask me, hey, what's your niche, I always sound like we don't have one, because I think that it's a little bit different nowadays.

Jackson [0:08:35]: Right?

Jackson [0:08:35]: It kinda makes you stand out if you're...

Jackson [0:08:36]: I'm not anti niche.

Jackson [0:08:37]: We have

Callan [0:08:38]: a lot of

Jackson [0:08:38]: lines of business we ride at a very high level.

Jackson [0:08:40]: But I just don't think that the right approach for us specifically is in an industry.

Jackson [0:08:45]: Or a product line.

Jackson [0:08:47]: You know, I always tell people, hey, we're gonna let everyone else focus on industries and product lines, we're gonna focus on people.

Jackson [0:08:51]: Because the end of the day, the person buying the policy, Do they want someone who knows what they're doing.

Jackson [0:08:56]: Yes.

Jackson [0:08:56]: And I think that's why we always say, hey, be a specialist in something is because They wanna have trust and confidence that they know what they're doing.

Jackson [0:09:02]: But at the end of the day, do people buy sometimes because the agent on the other end knows the most about the product line.

Jackson [0:09:08]: Maybe, but I've had a lot of times where we knew more about the product line than the incumbent agent and they didn't leave why Well, because it was the brother or their son or their family member.

Jackson [0:09:16]: So at the end of the day, relationship seems to be one of those things that Trump's knowledge.

Jackson [0:09:20]: And I think, you know, when you get into the world of Ai I heard it said the other day, Ai iq, and what we have to be really good is that the E q side.

Jackson [0:09:27]: Right?

Jackson [0:09:27]: The emotional intelligence side.

Jackson [0:09:28]: And so we're trying to be a relationship first business, and then from that Stems kinda what we have to do as professionals.

Callan [0:09:35]: Okay.

Callan [0:09:35]: So let's dive into.

Callan [0:09:36]: I wanna get into the weeds on this one.

Callan [0:09:37]: You know, you hit a couple things and I totally agree.

Callan [0:09:40]: I've used this example on the show quite a bit.

Callan [0:09:42]: Where we inherited a house in Napoleon, Ohio.

Callan [0:09:45]: There's a zero percent chance you've heard of Napoleon, Ohio because it's it's a small town Usa.

Callan [0:09:51]: Right?

Callan [0:09:51]: Small town, Ohio.

Callan [0:09:52]: And I didn't realize.

Callan [0:09:55]: Right?

Callan [0:09:55]: I grew up in Toledo Toledo is not a big city, but it's bigger.

Callan [0:09:58]: Compared to a small town, and people just will not leave whomever the professional is whether it's not.

Callan [0:10:06]: The agent.

Callan [0:10:07]: I don't even know why I'm we're professional.

Callan [0:10:09]: There are a million better options that we could probably go to than the people that, you know, we don't live there.

Callan [0:10:14]: So the grass is getting cut and all those different things, not saying he does not do a bad job.

Callan [0:10:18]: Does a great job.

Callan [0:10:19]: It's never gonna happen.

Callan [0:10:20]: It will absolutely never happen.

Callan [0:10:22]: I am curious.

Callan [0:10:24]: Did you guys see something similar.

Callan [0:10:25]: Are these in small markets or in these Bigger markets isn't it a mix?

Callan [0:10:30]: What does that look like?

Jackson [0:10:31]: It was an adopted philosophy for me.

Jackson [0:10:33]: Right?

Jackson [0:10:33]: It's how my dad always operated.

Jackson [0:10:34]: I mean, I remember growing up, like, he was the president of the chamber and like, he did the old school agent thing if that makes it.

Jackson [0:10:41]: Right?

Jackson [0:10:41]: He got involved in the community, everyone loved him everyone knew him.

Jackson [0:10:44]: And because of that, that's who they bought insurance from.

Jackson [0:10:46]: And so, you know, whenever I got into the business is very similar.

Jackson [0:10:49]: Now we're in college station, so it's a little bit bigger than some of the areas that he originally was.

Jackson [0:10:53]: But guess what?

Jackson [0:10:54]: Whenever I joined the agency here.

Jackson [0:10:55]: That's so he'd already done the same thing in college Station even though it's a bigger community because everywhere you are, people do business with people they like with people they trust.

Jackson [0:11:03]: And knowledge is absolutely one way that you build trust.

Jackson [0:11:06]: Right?

Jackson [0:11:07]: Like, hey, I know this product and therefore, I can protect your business.

Jackson [0:11:10]: But the other way you build trust is through connecting about things not related to business.

Jackson [0:11:14]: Right?

Jackson [0:11:14]: It's about connecting to the person beyond business.

Jackson [0:11:16]: And I think that's a stronger connection.

Jackson [0:11:18]: And so it was an adopted philosophy for me, but it's one that I just saw it was different in the marketplace.

Jackson [0:11:23]: Right?

Jackson [0:11:24]: I think you're doing things the same way everyone else is doing them, then you're gonna get the exact same results.

Jackson [0:11:28]: And so the last thing I wanted to do is just fall into an industry trend of, hey, We gotta go pick a niche because that's what every article says we have to do.

Jackson [0:11:35]: Yeah.

Jackson [0:11:36]: We have to be knowledgeable about what we need to do.

Jackson [0:11:38]: But at the end of the day, we need to double down on what we do know.

Jackson [0:11:41]: And what we do know is people.

Jackson [0:11:43]: And when you get to know people, do understand how to protect them.

Jackson [0:11:47]: And so you can have the best product in the world, But if you don't know your client at the end of the day, you cannot offer it to them.

Jackson [0:11:52]: You can't protect them properly.

Jackson [0:11:53]: So it starts with getting you know, the person.

Jackson [0:11:55]: It follows with finding the right product.

Jackson [0:11:57]: And so, yeah, we just take that little bit of a shift on the regular, you know, approach, but that's what works for us.

Callan [0:12:02]: Okay.

Callan [0:12:02]: Now here's what I'm most interested.

Callan [0:12:03]: You've scaled this.

Callan [0:12:04]: You've clearly demonstrated that you can scale this focus on local model.

Callan [0:12:09]: And one of the things that I'm curious about is.

Callan [0:12:11]: And so we had Linden Block.

Callan [0:12:13]: He's in Saskatchewan and he did something very similar to this with block agencies.

Callan [0:12:17]: And now, he's specifically going after those very small town agencies.

Callan [0:12:23]: And essentially with the story of we're not the big ag.

Callan [0:12:27]: We're not the platform just agency...

Callan [0:12:29]: I'm not saying there's anything wrong with those, but for the right person, he's a really good fit.

Callan [0:12:33]: Now one of the things that he mentioned is, When they acquire an agency, he will live in that town.

Callan [0:12:39]: Well, I say live in quotes.

Callan [0:12:40]: Right?

Callan [0:12:41]: He's not actually going in there living.

Callan [0:12:42]: But for the first couple of weeks, he's going to the hockey games.

Callan [0:12:45]: He's going to the Blueberry festivals, He's go the the job.

Callan [0:12:49]: Very highly Canadian things, which I love.

Callan [0:12:51]: But but he's going to all these things.

Callan [0:12:53]: And that's absolutely impossible for you to do.

Callan [0:12:56]: Given that you guys have...

Callan [0:12:57]: I mean, fifty plus some locations as I understand it.

Callan [0:13:00]: You're not all in the same state either.

Callan [0:13:02]: You're in Georgia.

Callan [0:13:02]: I think Utah you're you're in a number of other states, just giving examples that are not in Texas.

Callan [0:13:07]: How do you guys do this?

Callan [0:13:09]: Are you setting up Or, let's just use an acquisition in this case.

Callan [0:13:13]: The acquisitions are you're looking for?

Callan [0:13:14]: Or are you looking for those principles and those owners to stay on?

Callan [0:13:17]: Or what does that process look like to say, okay.

Callan [0:13:21]: Owners going out, we're getting Raleigh person in there.

Callan [0:13:24]: How do you scale that?

Callan [0:13:25]: How does that even work?

Jackson [0:13:27]: Yeah.

Jackson [0:13:27]: You know, I think everyone else focuses is so much on, like, externally what they're looking?

Jackson [0:13:32]: For.

Jackson [0:13:32]: I'll be honest with you.

Jackson [0:13:33]: I think we focus a lot internally on what our process is going to be, whether it's a new producer we bring on, new account manager we bring on, if it's an office acquisition that we do.

Jackson [0:13:43]: We look at every deal through the lens of what does this office need to do to be successful.

Jackson [0:13:48]: And I think when you think about every insurance agency in the country Needs to do the same three things.

Jackson [0:13:52]: They need to market themselves well to get leads.

Jackson [0:13:55]: They need to close those leads for new business, and then they need to renew clients at a very high level.

Jackson [0:13:59]: Right?

Jackson [0:14:00]: Like, insurance at the end of the day a very very simple proposition.

Jackson [0:14:03]: Most businesses are.

Jackson [0:14:04]: And so what we do is we look at, hey, what is systems do we have on our side that can take all of this maybe agencies are run so differently across the country.

Jackson [0:14:13]: And people come in with different backgrounds.

Jackson [0:14:15]: Right?

Jackson [0:14:15]: We bring somebody in their a teacher with no insurance experience.

Jackson [0:14:18]: We bring someone else in their captive with fifteen years of insurance experience.

Jackson [0:14:21]: Honestly, we have to run them through the same process.

Jackson [0:14:25]: To get them doing it the all away.

Jackson [0:14:27]: Right?

Jackson [0:14:27]: Like, we have a certain standard.

Jackson [0:14:28]: We have a certain instead of, like, it's a culture thing Honestly, people always talk about culture, culture is really when a company has the same set of shared beliefs values and standards.

Jackson [0:14:37]: And so what we have to do is we have to take any of those things externally and make sure our process is internally or such where we can get them on and integrated into our culture.

Jackson [0:14:46]: Right?

Jackson [0:14:46]: Now not doing it the exact same way because, look, the way you sell insurance in Sa City is completely different than Springfield, Missouri.

Jackson [0:14:52]: But the Rollo standard is the same in both places.

Jackson [0:14:55]: And so how do you kind of adjust for the market and have that focus local, but also at the same time, do things in a very professional way and the way we believe business to be done.

Jackson [0:15:05]: Right?

Jackson [0:15:05]: Believe insurance is not a commodity.

Jackson [0:15:07]: We believe it's something we're here to protect families legacies.

Jackson [0:15:09]: I mean, then that can be the home that you buy an individual or the business that you have that supports your family through income.

Jackson [0:15:16]: And so that's how we view it.

Jackson [0:15:18]: We view it.

Jackson [0:15:18]: Hey, yeah.

Jackson [0:15:19]: Every market's is gonna be different.

Jackson [0:15:20]: We have to find people who wanna be integrated into those markets that people who know those communities.

Jackson [0:15:25]: You know, what, Salt has the pioneer days and Springfield has their own different festivals.

Jackson [0:15:28]: It's like, yep we need people who live there and love that community.

Jackson [0:15:32]: And wanna be part of it, and they wanna get back to it, and then we can teach them how to do things the all way.

Jackson [0:15:37]: And when you combine both those things together, I think it leads to a lot of success.

Callan [0:15:42]: Okay.

Callan [0:15:42]: So let's take one of those examples?

Callan [0:15:44]: You mentioned to get people in that area.

Callan [0:15:47]: Is that somebody that you're hiring from within the agency?

Callan [0:15:49]: Is that the principal staying on?

Callan [0:15:51]: Is that somebody that is trained in the Rollo way that is now moving to that location.

Callan [0:15:57]: What does that look like?

Jackson [0:15:58]: Most of the time is the first two.

Jackson [0:15:59]: I would rather have somebody who is from that community, born and raised, loves being there.

Jackson [0:16:05]: Families their, kids we go to school there.

Jackson [0:16:07]: They go to church there, like, we want people ingrained into their community.

Jackson [0:16:11]: And so when people always ask, hey, how many offices do you wanna open.

Jackson [0:16:13]: It's, like, I don't know.

Jackson [0:16:15]: Depends on how many good people we can find.

Jackson [0:16:16]: Right?

Jackson [0:16:16]: Because there's good people all over this country.

Jackson [0:16:18]: And so if we can find the good people, and the people who wanna be integrated in their community.

Jackson [0:16:22]: Then we can show them how insurance needs to be done at a very high level.

Callan [0:16:26]: Makes complete sense.

Callan [0:16:27]: Walk me through what that process looks like.

Callan [0:16:28]: Can you get into the weeds a little bit?

Callan [0:16:30]: Like...

Jackson [0:16:30]: Yeah.

Jackson [0:16:30]: Yeah.

Jackson [0:16:30]: Specific to the recruiting of them or for the integration of them?

Callan [0:16:35]: I'm kinda curious in the integration?

Callan [0:16:36]: Recruiting.

Callan [0:16:36]: You probably get at this size, you get a ton of inbound, Like, you can use a cons consultant.

Callan [0:16:41]: You could do your own cold calling.

Callan [0:16:42]: My I guess, there's a million ways to get those.

Callan [0:16:43]: I'm curious more though, because I think it's the part that people underestimate in acquiring any business, not relegated to insurance by any means.

Callan [0:16:51]: To is the integration.

Callan [0:16:52]: That integrations...

Callan [0:16:53]: You know, I've been part of probably ten acquisitions just because I was happy to be part of a couple of companies that acquired quite a bit, like, in the tech space.

Callan [0:17:00]: But Yep.

Callan [0:17:01]: That's always the part.

Callan [0:17:02]: It's always very exciting.

Callan [0:17:03]: Like, we're getting this in, and I know you guys have done countless of these once that happens in the weeds, what comes next?

Callan [0:17:11]: What does that look like?

Jackson [0:17:12]: So let me ask you this when you did all those acquisitions.

Jackson [0:17:14]: What was your kind of generic process that Y'all followed?

Callan [0:17:17]: Oh, boy.

Callan [0:17:17]: Well, I can tell you where we got it wrong is when we didn't have a process.

Callan [0:17:21]: Right?

Callan [0:17:21]: And and and we're kinda just going by...

Callan [0:17:24]: And I would say, like, with the company that did a lot of these and we really actually had an integration process definitely went better for sure.

Callan [0:17:34]: That's why I'm always intrigued because what does that process look like?

Jackson [0:17:37]: Yeah.

Jackson [0:17:37]: So for us, man, it's simple, we have to teach them the Roller culture.

Jackson [0:17:40]: Again, I I don't mean that, like, the buzz word type way of just like the feeling that you need to have.

Jackson [0:17:45]: It's three things for us, belief, value and standard.

Jackson [0:17:48]: So we teach them the beliefs values and standards did define who we are as a company.

Jackson [0:17:52]: They define How Rollo Insurance does business the way we're gonna make decisions.

Jackson [0:17:55]: And then we asked them to number one, share that.

Jackson [0:17:58]: And number two, we asked them to kinda hold themselves accountable to the individual responsibilities they have to have towards those things.

Jackson [0:18:04]: And so first thing is we teach them about the beliefs of the company.

Jackson [0:18:07]: We teach them how we view insurance.

Jackson [0:18:08]: Right?

Jackson [0:18:09]: Always say the difference is real.

Jackson [0:18:10]: Everyone thinks insurance is about rates, but really it's about educating them to protect their assets for life.

Jackson [0:18:15]: We are here to educate our clients on what insurance options are available because at the end of the day, Every single person in the country is different from an asset perspective, what they own, how they own it, the structure of that, we have to understand that.

Jackson [0:18:28]: We have to understand what's important to them.

Jackson [0:18:29]: And then our job to protect them for the rest of their life through the insurance part of that process.

Jackson [0:18:33]: And so we teach them the way that we view insurance.

Jackson [0:18:36]: We teach them the beliefs that we have.

Jackson [0:18:38]: And when you do that, it's funny because you start getting into carriers and limits that we select, and you start getting into the processes that we have on the front end for inbound and intake.

Jackson [0:18:47]: And it starts aligning everything together.

Jackson [0:18:49]: Right?

Jackson [0:18:50]: So we could start with just the processes.

Jackson [0:18:51]: Hey.

Jackson [0:18:52]: You click here You click here.

Jackson [0:18:53]: You do this.

Jackson [0:18:54]: You always start your day every morning with looking at this list, but it's a lot better when we can teach them how to view the job Then any changes that we throw at them along the way.

Jackson [0:19:04]: They understand.

Jackson [0:19:05]: Oh, yeah.

Jackson [0:19:05]: Understand why we made that change because this is how we view the world and this how we view insurance.

Jackson [0:19:09]: So the second thing we teach them is our values, which is the Ra rules.

Jackson [0:19:12]: You mentioned it before.

Jackson [0:19:12]: We teach them the characteristics that we need to have that are consistent throughout every one of our offices based on the way we wanna interact with other people.

Jackson [0:19:20]: That could be the way we interact with clients that could be a way we interact with prospects in the community with our carrier partners with our technology vendors, is the way that we are to operate.

Jackson [0:19:29]: And when you look at them, they're very heavily centered around relationships, problem solving, commitment to excellence, driving and trying to win finding innovation, they're all the type of characteristics that we expect in a team.

Jackson [0:19:41]: And so that's pretty refreshing a lot of times honestly.

Jackson [0:19:44]: Two teammates who've been in an office.

Jackson [0:19:46]: I always tell our M and A team, look there's two questions when you walk into an acquisition you ask.

Jackson [0:19:50]: The first one is, what do you love about x y z insurance.

Jackson [0:19:54]: They always have things they love.

Jackson [0:19:55]: Well I love that we're family at owned.

Jackson [0:19:57]: I love that the owner does this for us at Christmas.

Jackson [0:20:00]: Okay.

Jackson [0:20:00]: Awesome.

Jackson [0:20:01]: That's not gonna change.

Jackson [0:20:01]: Now let me ask this.

Jackson [0:20:03]: What do you hate about this place?

Jackson [0:20:04]: Because everybody always has an answer to that one too.

Jackson [0:20:07]: Well, honestly, I really hate this.

Jackson [0:20:09]: Okay.

Jackson [0:20:09]: Cool Guess what?

Jackson [0:20:10]: With our system, this how we solve for that.

Jackson [0:20:12]: Because our agency, our culture is built around solutions to problems.

Jackson [0:20:15]: Right?

Jackson [0:20:16]: Whether that's an account manager who identifies it a producer, one of my executive team members, like, we are constantly solving problems and improving our agency.

Jackson [0:20:23]: So whenever we buy an agency, most of the time, we have already solved for the things that they hate in that agency, and that's how we drive adoption to the culture it's.

Jackson [0:20:31]: Look, you're gonna keep what you love because we're family owned too.

Jackson [0:20:34]: We're locally driven too.

Jackson [0:20:35]: We want you to be committed to the community.

Jackson [0:20:37]: The things that make you special, we're going to keep those.

Jackson [0:20:40]: The things that you don't like, we've probably already have improved those and if we haven't it, and we'll find a way to do so, and people they love that.

Jackson [0:20:47]: So those are the two questions we ask, and then the final thing is the standards.

Jackson [0:20:50]: Look, nobody wants to be average.

Jackson [0:20:52]: That's still reality.

Jackson [0:20:53]: People make a lot of average decisions, unfortunately, but nobody wants to be average.

Jackson [0:20:58]: If I were to ask you or me...

Jackson [0:20:59]: Hey, do you wanna win the national championship?

Jackson [0:21:01]: You say yes.

Jackson [0:21:02]: Okay.

Jackson [0:21:02]: The difference is how much work do we put in day in and day out to do that.

Jackson [0:21:05]: Right?

Jackson [0:21:05]: The commitment that we have to achieving that goal.

Jackson [0:21:08]: And so what we explained to them is, hey, this is the standards we have for our company.

Jackson [0:21:11]: This is what it looks like from an individual numbers perspective.

Jackson [0:21:15]: Right?

Jackson [0:21:15]: If you're an account manager, you have metrics that you're held accountable to.

Jackson [0:21:18]: If your producer, same thing.

Jackson [0:21:19]: If you're Jackson raul the president of the agency, there's things I'm accountable too.

Jackson [0:21:23]: I have scorecard metrics as well.

Jackson [0:21:24]: Everybody understands there are individual standards is what creates the company wide brand that we have.

Jackson [0:21:31]: And the importance inside of certain markets where we have three or four offices that they do their job at a very high level.

Jackson [0:21:37]: So you ask, like, hey, what does that process look like?

Jackson [0:21:39]: It looks like we teach them our culture.

Jackson [0:21:41]: And by doing that, we hit on, this is where you click, and this is how we do this, and this is how you follow this process.

Jackson [0:21:47]: But we do it by teaching beliefs, values and standards that we have as a company.

Jackson [0:21:51]: Because if you understand those three things, you're gonna be able to make it here for twenty twenty five, twenty twenty six and twenty forty five, twenty forty six.

Jackson [0:21:58]: Yeah.

Jackson [0:21:59]: Because the end of the day, you're gonna understand is we adapt and change why we're doing that.

Callan [0:22:03]: What happens when it doesn't go to plan.

Callan [0:22:04]: What happens everything sounds great.

Callan [0:22:06]: They tell you exactly what you wanna hear this probably the exception to the rule because you guys have got this vetting process.

Callan [0:22:12]: I am positive just as down as you had this integration process.

Callan [0:22:15]: But I have to assume some of these have happened.

Callan [0:22:17]: And what does that look like?

Callan [0:22:20]: How do you either correct course or do you not correct course and you go totally different direction or what does that look like?

Jackson [0:22:28]: Honestly, if you're looking at acquisition, I would say, either one.

Jackson [0:22:31]: If it doesn't work, it's because there's a mis of the culture there.

Jackson [0:22:34]: Right?

Jackson [0:22:34]: Maybe they believe insurance should be done a different way than we do.

Jackson [0:22:37]: Right?

Jackson [0:22:37]: Mh.

Jackson [0:22:38]: Well, at the end of the day, they're not gonna like it because the decisions that we make.

Jackson [0:22:41]: Right?

Jackson [0:22:41]: The process that we drive the way we do business is built around our culture because it's built around our beliefs.

Jackson [0:22:47]: And so if you ever have somebody that doesn't align to that to be honest with you, neither party is very happy and it makes for a very easy change.

Jackson [0:22:53]: And, you know, that's what I tell people all the time he's like, we only want people here who want to be here who want to do it the right way.

Jackson [0:23:01]: Because there are a lot of other good agencies.

Jackson [0:23:03]: But there's not so many that are in the country that I'm impressed with to the point where I think they're building something as special as we are building And I think people people want to win.

Jackson [0:23:12]: Right?

Jackson [0:23:12]: People wanna go to college fallout programs that win and that have a culture.

Jackson [0:23:15]: That doesn't mean it's easy.

Jackson [0:23:17]: Like Alabama, you didn't go there because practices were easy.

Jackson [0:23:20]: You went there to win a national championship.

Jackson [0:23:21]: And I think there a certain level of, people really wanna buy into that.

Jackson [0:23:25]: Sometimes it's because maybe I don't do a good job as the leader of explaining, hey, This is what we mean.

Jackson [0:23:30]: This is why we do things a certain way.

Jackson [0:23:32]: So we try to make sure we go back and explain that to everybody.

Jackson [0:23:35]: And to your point, I mean, we have a very low turnover rate I think we do a good job on the front end.

Jackson [0:23:39]: I'd tell people all a the time.

Jackson [0:23:40]: When people start with us their first day, the first four hours they spend it with me.

Jackson [0:23:44]: My job is to run them out of the building as fast as possible if they don't align to our culture.

Jackson [0:23:48]: If they didn't know what they were signing up for because they will buy the first four hours and by lunch lunchtime on Monday, they're gonna know whether or not they wanna be here.

Jackson [0:23:55]: And the good news is we never had anybody leave, So I think we are doing a pretty good job in the vetting process.

Jackson [0:23:59]: So...

Callan [0:24:00]: I mean, I love it.

Callan [0:24:00]: That's excellent.

Callan [0:24:01]: And basically, what I'm hearing you say is, it does happen.

Callan [0:24:04]: Doesn't happen very often.

Callan [0:24:05]: It goes to plan more likely than it doesn't.

Callan [0:24:08]: But when it does happen, and we find it's not a culture fit, we'd make the necessary changes whether that's recruiting new peep people.

Callan [0:24:14]: They're gonna essentially recruit themselves out because they'll realize It's just going against the grain nonstop isn't fun for anybody more or less.

Callan [0:24:21]: Is that right?

Jackson [0:24:21]: Yeah.

Jackson [0:24:21]: A hundred.

Jackson [0:24:22]: I mean, everybody has one life fill in, and I don't think anybody wants to be at a place where they don't fit where they don't fit in.

Jackson [0:24:28]: And whether that's because they don't wanna live up to the standard or because they have a philosophical difference in the way they view insurance.

Jackson [0:24:32]: Nobody wants to live that way.

Jackson [0:24:34]: So it's honestly it's pretty easy conversations.

Jackson [0:24:36]: It's, you know, a two way conversation, everybody kinda gets on the same page and agree.

Jackson [0:24:39]: We move our separate ways.

Jackson [0:24:40]: But to your point, it doesn't happen very often because, again on the front side, our filter for recruiting is our same filter for how we achieve excellence, and that's our culture.

Jackson [0:24:48]: We've become very intentional at teaching it.

Jackson [0:24:51]: Right?

Jackson [0:24:51]: We actually have one slide in our entire agency that defines who we are as a company.

Jackson [0:24:56]: And I can point to it and we can explain different pieces of our culture and how it makes us unique and how it drives, you know, our success and that's been the biggest change for us over the last five years is originally when we designed it.

Jackson [0:25:08]: We sit down with a group of people were like, hey.

Jackson [0:25:10]: Obviously, we're building something special here.

Jackson [0:25:11]: Right?

Jackson [0:25:12]: We're scaling at a high level.

Jackson [0:25:13]: Everyone's being very, very successful.

Jackson [0:25:14]: The problem was we couldn't even describe our culture.

Jackson [0:25:18]: So if you came in, like, it's one of those things like, if you were here, you could fill it.

Jackson [0:25:22]: But if you were outside, I couldn't even describe it to you.

Jackson [0:25:25]: Was like, I don't know.

Jackson [0:25:25]: Just this feeling.

Jackson [0:25:26]: And we had to get past that and until we did, we went from not being able to describe our culture to being able to define our culture.

Jackson [0:25:32]: These are the things that make us have that feeling that make us successful that make us love working together as teammates, and that has been the number one driver, and it does drive people out for everyone's while.

Jackson [0:25:43]: I mean, look, That's just gonna happen.

Jackson [0:25:44]: But more often than anything, it drives all of us up.

Jackson [0:25:47]: It makes us better every day.

Jackson [0:25:48]: And it makes us a culture where we're we're willing to push each other.

Jackson [0:25:52]: Right synergy.

Jackson [0:25:52]: You can get more done with two people then you came with one if the synergy is there, and that's how we try to view the business and operate.

Callan [0:25:59]: Okay.

Callan [0:25:59]: You are clearly passionate about it.

Callan [0:26:01]: You probably get everybody fired up when they're going through onboarding or through this transition.

Callan [0:26:07]: I love everything that you're saying.

Callan [0:26:09]: Yeah.

Callan [0:26:09]: I've got Jesse Ko fans first behind me from this savannah Bananas, which I think they're also

Jackson [0:26:14]: college station, by the way.

Jackson [0:26:15]: Largest Savannah banana game ever on Saturday this week.

Callan [0:26:18]: As an Ohio State fan, I can't tell you how badly I wanna see a game at college station.

Callan [0:26:22]: Like legitimately, I've heard.

Callan [0:26:23]: It's phenomenal.

Callan [0:26:24]: I've heard it's ridiculously loud.

Callan [0:26:26]: Like, I really wanna see a game there.

Jackson [0:26:28]: Well, that's reversed for you.

Jackson [0:26:30]: So it's, you know what Well...

Callan [0:26:32]: We legitimately make this happen.

Callan [0:26:33]: I as well have seasoned tickets, so let's make this happen.

Jackson [0:26:36]: Alright.

Jackson [0:26:36]: We'll barter her right here live one.

Callan [0:26:40]: We could record live.

Callan [0:26:41]: Okay.

Callan [0:26:42]: So I love all of this.

Callan [0:26:44]: I love the Rollo rules.

Callan [0:26:45]: One of the challenges that always comes up.

Callan [0:26:47]: And I would argue have an even more unique challenge from an...

Callan [0:26:51]: Or I'm sorry.

Callan [0:26:52]: I was gonna say employees.

Callan [0:26:53]: And I was earlier, you said, where were kinda going through some of this.

Callan [0:26:57]: You stop being and said, well, we don't call employees.

Callan [0:26:59]: Their teammates.

Callan [0:26:59]: And you were very specific about that.

Callan [0:27:02]: And I like that because I'm curious and that this kinda dovetail into this is You know, with...

Callan [0:27:09]: Whenever you have the rules, whether it's core values, you know, you put a lot of time into creating them, and I firmly do believe that whenever you create them, everybody believes them.

Callan [0:27:21]: Not always.

Callan [0:27:21]: I mean, some people are just throwing stuff up there just to throw it up there for sure, but you guys clearly didn't.

Callan [0:27:26]: And what I'm curious about is, how do you drive true adoption to that?

Callan [0:27:33]: Because you guys are very...

Callan [0:27:34]: You're not decentralized.

Callan [0:27:35]: Actually, you've proven that you're the opposite.

Callan [0:27:37]: You're very centralized in that.

Callan [0:27:39]: You have key processes that everyone rolled out.

Callan [0:27:41]: This is not just an individual you're running your own ship.

Callan [0:27:43]: And I'm not saying there's anything right or wrong with either way, but you guys clearly are not.

Callan [0:27:47]: You guys are very process Oriented.

Callan [0:27:49]: And drive a lot of alignment.

Callan [0:27:50]: How do you do that when you have offices all over the country?

Callan [0:27:55]: And they're not in a home office.

Callan [0:27:57]: How do you drive adoption of those rules of that culture.

Callan [0:28:00]: I know you mentioned one of the things.

Callan [0:28:02]: You said teammates.

Callan [0:28:02]: Bold Penguin for example, we never said leads.

Callan [0:28:05]: We only said pros specs.

Callan [0:28:06]: We had a million different things like that.

Callan [0:28:07]: It was very similar to what you're describing, but I'd be curious, how are you guys doing that.

Jackson [0:28:12]: So the first thing is this.

Jackson [0:28:13]: I think the buy actually happened ever before the creation of, like, the role rules or the...

Jackson [0:28:18]: Again, everyone could feel the culture like everyone that we brought in wanted to add value to the team, and they wanted to do their best individually.

Jackson [0:28:28]: Right?

Jackson [0:28:28]: Two very unique traits actually.

Jackson [0:28:29]: Like, mh.

Jackson [0:28:30]: Having somebody who's willing to commit a hundred percent to making themselves the best version of themselves and also not being so selfish.

Jackson [0:28:35]: They don't care about the team.

Jackson [0:28:36]: It's a very weird dynamic.

Jackson [0:28:37]: But I think it speaks to the people that we bring in.

Jackson [0:28:40]: Right?

Jackson [0:28:40]: So the adoption was actually fairly easy because when we rolled it out, everyone said, yeah.

Jackson [0:28:45]: That's right.

Jackson [0:28:46]: I felt that for years.

Jackson [0:28:47]: And now I see.

Jackson [0:28:48]: Right Now I can actually...

Jackson [0:28:49]: There's something I can point to that explains this.

Jackson [0:28:52]: And so take our all rules.

Jackson [0:28:53]: We actually spent about eight months designing them me, my mom and my dad, who is a CEO and CFO at the time.

Jackson [0:28:58]: And we just designed it based on the way that we view the world the way we wanted to take care of clients the way that our teammates took care of clients already.

Jackson [0:29:06]: And so we rolled them out.

Jackson [0:29:08]: Actually, we have a Anc and agency once a year Agency kickoff off event where we bring everyone to college station.

Jackson [0:29:12]: We kinda roll out the message for the year.

Jackson [0:29:13]: We rolled out four of them.

Jackson [0:29:15]: So our keynote speaker rolled one out.

Jackson [0:29:17]: I rolled one out.

Jackson [0:29:18]: My dad rolled two out.

Jackson [0:29:19]: And so we had four of them we rolled out.

Jackson [0:29:22]: Then for the next eight weeks on Mondays, we rolled out one at a time.

Jackson [0:29:26]: And so, essentially, we had this whole rollout process.

Jackson [0:29:28]: So the first thing is, I think that it was already there.

Jackson [0:29:30]: We just formalized it.

Jackson [0:29:32]: Yep.

Jackson [0:29:32]: The second thing is we rolled it out in a way where, you know, we probably spend more time than most agencies talking culture and talking about the concepts and the philosophies of how we view business more so than we talk about...

Jackson [0:29:44]: Strategy sometimes.

Jackson [0:29:45]: If that makes sense.

Jackson [0:29:46]: Because I think Philosophy drives strategy a lot of times.

Callan [0:29:49]: Yeah.

Jackson [0:29:49]: And so we start there, we got maybe the rollout that we had a plan to roll this out.

Jackson [0:29:53]: And then after that it's about refining it.

Jackson [0:29:55]: And so I can tell you the the things that we note today are different than what we knew two years ago, and I'm sure what we know two years from now will be different as well.

Jackson [0:30:02]: So it's a constant refinement of how these values play out in the marketplace, how we explain them the stories that we have behind them Hey I told the story to this client you should have seen the smile brought to their face.

Jackson [0:30:14]: Right?

Jackson [0:30:15]: So I'll give you an example.

Jackson [0:30:16]: We have a carry rep in time.

Jackson [0:30:17]: One of our rules is a do right period.

Jackson [0:30:19]: Okay?

Jackson [0:30:20]: There's actually an m dash in it and Ai did not create it.

Jackson [0:30:23]: I need to probably say that now in the world...

Jackson [0:30:24]: This is created a pre Ai.

Jackson [0:30:25]: Okay?

Jackson [0:30:26]: So Chad Had nothing to do with these But it just says do right period.

Jackson [0:30:29]: And I told that to one of our reps one time, and he said, you know what?

Jackson [0:30:34]: My whole life I grew.

Jackson [0:30:36]: That's when my dad always told me.

Jackson [0:30:37]: Say, no matter what happened.

Jackson [0:30:38]: You do the right thing.

Jackson [0:30:39]: Period.

Jackson [0:30:39]: Yeah.

Jackson [0:30:40]: And so we actually have these challenge points we give out to our teammate.

Jackson [0:30:43]: To live out the rules in an extraordinary way.

Jackson [0:30:45]: When we see them live out the rule in an extraordinary way.

Jackson [0:30:47]: We have challenge coins one for each rule.

Jackson [0:30:49]: I actually gave him one of those, and he literally leaves it on his desk still to this day.

Jackson [0:30:54]: And he just looks at it.

Jackson [0:30:55]: So I think the way we drive adoption is we have stories like that.

Jackson [0:30:58]: They show people the impact of why we choose to do business the way we do it.

Jackson [0:31:02]: The rules already existed, we just formalized them.

Jackson [0:31:05]: Yep then we drove the rollout, you know, to where people thought about it, and they liked it.

Jackson [0:31:08]: And now it's just a constant part of who we are.

Jackson [0:31:10]: You don't get on any webinar at this point.

Jackson [0:31:12]: And someone not mention one of the rules because it always applies to how we're doing business or how we're going to do business and and the thought we have.

Jackson [0:31:19]: And so it becomes part of who you are, talent, it's so important that you can't help but talk about it.

Jackson [0:31:25]: That makes sense.

Callan [0:31:26]: Oh, it makes total sense.

Callan [0:31:28]: It's a hundred percent.

Callan [0:31:28]: I think if you can pull it off it's one of the most powerful things that you can do.

Callan [0:31:32]: That's why I'm so curious.

Callan [0:31:33]: So you've got the challenge coins, which I love.

Callan [0:31:35]: You've got some of the vernacular.

Callan [0:31:36]: It's been changed as in, like, we're not employees were teammates.

Callan [0:31:39]: What are some of those other things that are like that that you're using to help support and recognize people that are living up to those rules?

Jackson [0:31:50]: I think a lot of is we do a lot of internal.

Jackson [0:31:51]: Stuff.

Jackson [0:31:52]: Right?

Jackson [0:31:52]: Whether it's live streams, Youtube webinars because of our remote distance.

Jackson [0:31:56]: Right?

Jackson [0:31:57]: We have to do a lot via webinars or live streams.

Jackson [0:31:59]: We Mh.

Jackson [0:32:00]: We do a lot, like, town halls and things like that that we do.

Jackson [0:32:03]: We do digitally And we're just constantly finding ways to celebrate our teammates because the cool thing is when we have everyone in local communities, they can live these rules out like each and every day because it's such a natural part of who they are in their community, It's always, like, catching someone in the act of doing something so great if that makes sense.

Jackson [0:32:20]: Like, we're always trying to find ways to catch people in the act to reward them whether it's a shout on a call or we'll reward them with a challenge coin.

Jackson [0:32:27]: I mean, this year, when you showed up a kick off, We had a booklet created of all the awesome stuff we had done throughout the year era marketing culture team designed this.

Jackson [0:32:34]: And in there, one of the pages was everyone who won a challenge going.

Jackson [0:32:37]: How they wanted it, what they did to win a, a picture of them, the recognition.

Jackson [0:32:41]: So, I mean, we just have a culture where a couple years ago, I'm a younger guy.

Jackson [0:32:45]: I'm pretty driven, and I'm always focusing on the next thing.

Jackson [0:32:49]: That's kind of my job for the agency is to make sure we're not falling behind.

Jackson [0:32:52]: But with that, it comes a challenge of celebrating the wins in the moment.

Jackson [0:32:57]: And so We have intentionally as a team tried to do a better job of celebrating wins in the moment.

Jackson [0:33:04]: And there's probably not a call that you get on within our organization that somebody is not getting a shout out for doing something great.

Jackson [0:33:11]: And I think, again, it speaks to the people we have here and to our collective group effort and buy in to who we wanna be as a company.

Callan [0:33:19]: I think that's excellent.

Callan [0:33:20]: So you guys adopted Eos, or as I understand it was a...

Callan [0:33:23]: You kinda put your spin on the Eos model.

Callan [0:33:26]: So eighty percent...

Callan [0:33:27]: I'm just making numbers here.

Callan [0:33:29]: Eighty percent, Eos, twenty percent, Ra Eos.

Callan [0:33:31]: When you look back...

Callan [0:33:33]: I mean, obviously, you're a huge part of the...

Callan [0:33:35]: If you just look past five years.

Callan [0:33:36]: In five exiting over five years, not private equity owned as I understand it haven't taken on any outside capital.

Callan [0:33:42]: Nope.

Callan [0:33:43]: Fully...

Callan [0:33:44]: Out.

Callan [0:33:44]: Fully family owned.

Callan [0:33:45]: Yep.

Callan [0:33:46]: Which is incredible.

Callan [0:33:46]: What would you say is the absolute number one most important thing that led to that five in five years?

Jackson [0:33:53]: The right people doing it the right way.

Jackson [0:33:55]: It sounds like I'm on repeat.

Jackson [0:33:56]: I'm sure.

Jackson [0:33:57]: But I'll be honest with you.

Jackson [0:33:59]: When we started growing, it was a commitment to who we are.

Jackson [0:34:02]: Right?

Jackson [0:34:03]: Covid had just hit, basically when we decided we were gonna grow.

Jackson [0:34:06]: And that created certain challenges.

Jackson [0:34:08]: But I think when you look at how we operate as a company.

Jackson [0:34:11]: Give you one example, the market's has been really, really tough for the last three, four years.

Jackson [0:34:15]: Right?

Jackson [0:34:15]: So majority of my time at this point has been a market so hard, I have yet to find anyone who's been in the business long enough to say, no I've seen something worse.

Jackson [0:34:22]: Right?

Jackson [0:34:23]: You find people been in this fifty years, and they say, no.

Jackson [0:34:25]: This is the worst I've ever seen it.

Jackson [0:34:26]: Yeah.

Jackson [0:34:27]: My take is well sweet because I've only been in the business four years.

Jackson [0:34:30]: And if you've never seen it, and I've never seen it.

Jackson [0:34:32]: And now we're equal.

Jackson [0:34:33]: Right?

Jackson [0:34:33]: Now we're on equal footing.

Jackson [0:34:34]: It's basically first one to figure out the solution to this.

Jackson [0:34:36]: And so it's our attitude, man and...

Jackson [0:34:39]: I know if it's crazy or if it's optimistic or what it is, but like, we wanna grow.

Jackson [0:34:43]: Who cares what the market's is doing.

Jackson [0:34:45]: We're gonna figure out a way to do it, and we're gonna find good people.

Jackson [0:34:47]: We believe that there are good people out there And I think early on, it was tough because we were having to tell people about who we are.

Jackson [0:34:53]: Right?

Jackson [0:34:54]: We couldn't even describe our culture yet.

Jackson [0:34:55]: So we were having to explain it in all these words.

Jackson [0:34:57]: And now, we have so many people who are here that validate the message for us because At the end of the day, people wanna be part of something special in my opinion.

Jackson [0:35:07]: The right kind of people do.

Jackson [0:35:08]: They wanna be challenged.

Jackson [0:35:09]: They wanna be pushed.

Jackson [0:35:10]: And I think my dad ultimately is the one who deserves a credit for this because he is a classic entrepreneur.

Jackson [0:35:16]: Like no one's ever told him what to do probably day in his life.

Jackson [0:35:20]: Right?

Jackson [0:35:20]: But at the same time he stands for the right things.

Jackson [0:35:22]: He stands for relationships.

Jackson [0:35:24]: He stands for family.

Jackson [0:35:25]: We say all time God family country.

Jackson [0:35:27]: Those are our first three priorities in order.

Jackson [0:35:29]: And I think when you stand for the right thing, Even in times where it's not easy.

Jackson [0:35:33]: Maybe when the whole world's going the other direction, it makes you stand out and and no other reason then, we're just doing things the way we believe they should be done.

Jackson [0:35:42]: And I think when you have the character like my dad does to do that even when everyone else is saying you're wrong.

Jackson [0:35:47]: You're gonna naturally attract people to you who are like you.

Jackson [0:35:51]: And when you do that, you can do such great things.

Jackson [0:35:53]: That tell people all time.

Jackson [0:35:54]: It's so easy to make money, but it's hard to do with people you really, really enjoy.

Jackson [0:35:58]: And that's why I think we've caught lightning in a bottle to some degree as we.

Jackson [0:36:02]: Like, I love working with everybody here.

Jackson [0:36:03]: I love getting to know their families.

Jackson [0:36:05]: I love getting to know them, but at the same time when we're here, we work super hard to be the best of what we're here to do, which is be the best insurance agency in the country.

Jackson [0:36:12]: And so we work hard at that, but it doesn't change our priorities outside of the office every day.

Jackson [0:36:17]: And I think when you do that, You just find a very balanced life that's fulfilling and fun, and why would you not wanna do something fun?

Callan [0:36:24]: Yeah.

Callan [0:36:24]: The relationships for everything at the end of the day.

Callan [0:36:27]: Whether you got a huge business small business, whatever that might be.

Callan [0:36:29]: You're right.

Callan [0:36:30]: You spend the majority of your time with those people and is a lot easier if you really enjoy working with those people, I can wholeheartedly agree with that.

Callan [0:36:38]: You know, what don't the things I'm curious on the flip side of that is, what are things during this period that you thought for sure, This is gonna be a game changer that you implemented and was just a complete flop.

Callan [0:36:51]: A couple of examples would be, we implemented a lead management system.

Callan [0:36:56]: And we thought everyone was going to adopt this, and it just didn't happen.

Callan [0:37:01]: Probably oftentimes it's it is investing in some sort of technology Yeah.

Callan [0:37:05]: Process or something, and it just didn't work.

Jackson [0:37:09]: I feel like those errors came before I got here to the agency.

Jackson [0:37:13]: If that makes sense.

Jackson [0:37:14]: Like, I almost operate through Secondhand hand knowledge a lot of the times where, like, yes, we did.

Jackson [0:37:20]: We bought it a management system very early on in the agency did not work at all.

Jackson [0:37:24]: But by the time I got here, the one we picked does work.

Jackson [0:37:27]: Right?

Jackson [0:37:27]: Like, anything that we buy at this point, we measured, like, four times, and we have a desired outcome, and we have, like, a very measured part to hit.

Jackson [0:37:33]: So, like, a lot of those errors, like, thankfully, I've been lucky enough to walk in an organization where they can...

Jackson [0:37:38]: Like, is, I'm getting close to making a bad decision, there's usually three or four people to pull me back from the lead say no We tried this.

Jackson [0:37:44]: Think about it this way.

Jackson [0:37:45]: Right?

Jackson [0:37:46]: And it keeps us from having those errors.

Jackson [0:37:47]: And so it's a benefit value of having people who are a lot wiser than me around me.

Jackson [0:37:51]: Right?

Jackson [0:37:51]: Like, I told you all the time.

Jackson [0:37:52]: My job is to make us go, like, a thousand miles an hour.

Jackson [0:37:55]: I'm young.

Jackson [0:37:55]: I'm the energize your bunny.

Jackson [0:37:57]: Their job is to make sure we stay on the lines of the road.

Jackson [0:37:59]: Right.

Jackson [0:38:00]: Their jobs to make sure we don't wreck.

Callan [0:38:02]: Are there situations where you did get that feedback and where you're like, hey, we've done it...

Callan [0:38:07]: We've tried this didn't work where you said, I think it's gonna work this time for these reasons?

Jackson [0:38:13]: Yeah.

Jackson [0:38:13]: Oh, for sure.

Jackson [0:38:14]: I think a lot of that had to do Like I'll give you an example like early on.

Jackson [0:38:17]: I was two, three years in the business.

Jackson [0:38:19]: Forget retention.

Jackson [0:38:20]: We don't...

Jackson [0:38:20]: Let's worry about new business.

Jackson [0:38:21]: Right?

Jackson [0:38:21]: Retention is gonna be what it is.

Jackson [0:38:22]: There's nothing we can do to drive that.

Jackson [0:38:24]: Let's focus on new business.

Jackson [0:38:25]: And a lot of that had to do with where I was in my career.

Jackson [0:38:29]: Right?

Jackson [0:38:29]: Where I was within the agency.

Jackson [0:38:31]: And so I've had to learn some of those lessons the hard way where two years later, retention is not necessarily suffering, but I hear all other people are doing it better than us, and that drives me crazy.

Jackson [0:38:41]: And I said, well, why are they doing it better?

Jackson [0:38:43]: Well, because we've spent all our time and resources focusing on new business and lead generation and close ratios.

Jackson [0:38:48]: And so then I flip my focus.

Jackson [0:38:50]: Okay.

Jackson [0:38:50]: You know what?

Jackson [0:38:50]: Now I'm gonna be fan about client experience.

Jackson [0:38:52]: And so a lot of the times, though having that group around me.

Jackson [0:38:57]: It's mainly my dad.

Jackson [0:38:58]: I'll tell you My dad's been in the business for twenty six years, and he's wise beyond his years in that way, where he always, he'll bring things up to me.

Jackson [0:39:06]: I'm thinking, man, you know don't know what you're talking about.

Jackson [0:39:09]: That's not where the industry is going.

Jackson [0:39:10]: In, like, six weeks later, I call him.

Jackson [0:39:13]: You're right.

Jackson [0:39:14]: I don't know why.

Jackson [0:39:15]: But I...

Jackson [0:39:16]: The way it is because our brains are a little different.

Jackson [0:39:18]: So he says that he's looking out in the future.

Jackson [0:39:20]: And I'm looking at it today.

Jackson [0:39:21]: I'm like, no That's not the case.

Jackson [0:39:23]: And it takes me six weeks worth to walk in ahead, and I look up, and I'm like, you know what?

Jackson [0:39:27]: He's right.

Jackson [0:39:27]: Like, and we gotta flip to what he's saying.

Jackson [0:39:29]: So a lot of times having those great resources and mentors around you people who a lot wiser than you who've seen things before.

Jackson [0:39:34]: Maybe not that exact example, but they've seen things like it.

Jackson [0:39:38]: They can advise you.

Jackson [0:39:39]: But, yeah, No.

Jackson [0:39:40]: My personal leadership has definitely held us back multiple times along the way.

Jackson [0:39:43]: And a lot of times it has to do with, again, my focus, I'm one of those...

Jackson [0:39:46]: If I get locked in, I'm locked in.

Jackson [0:39:48]: And so sometimes I get too locked in, and I need somebody else to come in and say, hey.

Jackson [0:39:52]: Thankfully, we got good people We're not failing in this area, but it's not performing to its most optimal level.

Jackson [0:39:59]: Like, can we optimize this, please?

Jackson [0:40:01]: And so then I have to shift that focus and and we go about it?

Callan [0:40:04]: You know, it's so interesting and I'm super interested to ask this question.

Callan [0:40:08]: But the last question I have for you is if we're sitting down, we're having an interview in ten years time.

Callan [0:40:14]: Everything went one hundred percent to plan, what are you doing?

Callan [0:40:18]: What does it look like?

Jackson [0:40:20]: Man, you know what?

Jackson [0:40:21]: I think we're doing pretty much the same thing we're doing right now.

Jackson [0:40:24]: I think it's changed.

Jackson [0:40:26]: I think in ten years from now, Ai is gonna do some things.

Jackson [0:40:28]: It's gonna change the way agencies operate ultimately.

Jackson [0:40:31]: I mean, we have a lot of mono naught work that we do as agency agencies Right?

Jackson [0:40:33]: We just have to specifically independent agencies.

Jackson [0:40:36]: I think there's gonna be changes to the business, but what we're doing, I don't think it changes.

Jackson [0:40:41]: Being fan about who we are, putting that out in the marketplace, looking for clients who wanna buy insurance based on education, not based on price only.

Jackson [0:40:50]: I think what we're doing is very, very similar.

Jackson [0:40:53]: I think maybe who we're doing it with is a little bit different because I think hopefully by then we've grown because I think we've grown internally.

Jackson [0:41:00]: We've optimized things where we're maybe more efficient, but at the same time, I think hopefully we have more people who work here.

Jackson [0:41:05]: I think ten years from now.

Jackson [0:41:07]: I hope we have a lot more second generation professionals in the business.

Jackson [0:41:10]: You know, I told you earlier, one of our goals, like, we want more of our teammates kids and their nieces and nephews and they're, like, We want family members in this business.

Jackson [0:41:20]: Is a family business.

Jackson [0:41:21]: We want more family members in the business.

Jackson [0:41:22]: So ten years from now.

Jackson [0:41:24]: I'm not sure necessarily, it looks any different from what we focus on every day.

Jackson [0:41:29]: The process we drive to get there might be a bit different and the teammates who are here.

Jackson [0:41:33]: Hopefully, are a little bit different because I hope we have more family members brought into the agency.

Jackson [0:41:37]: But I outside of that, I'm not sure really what changes.

Callan [0:41:41]: Man, you were so resolute and you've got so much energy around this.

Callan [0:41:46]: Honestly, I'm excited to get this episode out there just so people can be a part of that because it's infectious.

Callan [0:41:51]: Jackson.

Callan [0:41:52]: Thanks for coming on today, man.

Callan [0:41:53]: Was excellent.

Jackson [0:41:54]: Hey, man.

Jackson [0:41:54]: Thank you for having me Thank for what doing an awesome podcast.

Jackson [0:41:56]: Glad to be a part of it.

Callan [0:41:58]: Oh, hundred percent.

Callan [0:41:58]: Brother.