Today In 5 Minutes Or Less (TLDR):

• 🔒The Secret Sauce Agency Owners Skip (and Why It’ …

• Why Insurance Industry Retreads Don’t Work and Wha …

• Around The Web 🌎

  • Referral program

🔒The Secret Sauce Agency Owners Skip (and Why It’s Costing Thousands)🔒

Dear Insurance Champions,

Ever feel like you’re hustling nonstop, buying leads, dialing for hours, training staff , and still wondering where the profit actually is? You’re not alone, dude. But if your agency's growth plan doesn’t include these three numbers, you're basically flying blind. Here's how you fix that, and build the money machine your agency deserves.

The 3 Numbers Every Agency Owner MUST Track

Most agency owners ask, "How much do leads cost?" Real talk: That’s the WRONG question. What you need is this:

1. Cost Per Sale (CPS)

This is the REAL cost it takes to get one new customer in the door. Forget what each lead costs , what matters is how much total $$$ you spend to put a policy on the books. Here’s how to calculate it:

• Tally up everything: leads, staff hours, telemarketer costs, even that extra Red Bull for your closer.

• Divide by the number of sales generated.

• Now you know what it actually takes to win a customer.

Why it matters: You’re not just buying leads; you’re buying sales. Knowing your true CPS lets you tell the difference between a vendor that prints money and one that eats cash.

2. Lifetime Value (LTV)

Don’t get stuck on the commission from the front-end sale. The real magic? How much a customer brings in over their full stay with your agency.

How to crank up LTV:

• Improve retention: Keep them longer, make more on renewals.

• Cross-sell: Add lines, upsell coverages, bundle EVERY time.

• Systemize onboarding: Agencies that "wow" clients on day one see stickier books and higher multipliers down the line.

3. Payback Period

This is how fast your investment returns , how long it takes new business to cover what you spent to win it. In property & casualty, it’s longer than other industries, but you can tighten it up:

• Add variable comp and carrier bonus projections to your math.

• Shorten the cycle with accelerated cross-sell at onboarding.

If your payback period is dragging past a year and your LTV isn’t at least 3X what you put in, it’s time to course correct.

ACTION STEPS , Your Monday Morning Checklist

• Audit last month's lead spend: What did you actually pay per policy written? Don’t guess–pull the numbers.

• Calculate your average LTV: Run the math using your book’s retention rate and average policy value (yes, this takes 30 minutes, but it's worth thousands).

• Map your payback period: How long until each sale gets your spend back in the door?

• Tighten the referral process: Every new client should generate at least one referral , if not, get intentional and hold the team accountable.

Here’s the deal, brother: If you’re not tracking these, you’re not running an agency , you’re just busy. Dig into the numbers, build your money machine, and stop letting cash slip through your fingers.

Craig Pretzinger and Jason Feltman

The Insurance Dudes! 🚀

Why Insurance Industry Retreads Don’t Work and What to Do Instead

That cycle of scrambling to hire because someone suddenly left, it’s brutal. I’ve felt it myself. Someone resigns, or worse, just stops showing up, and now you’re desperate. When you’re in that spot, it’s easy to rush. You grab the next “available” person, just to fill the seat. But deep down, you know you’re taking a risk. More often than not, it backfires. Maybe they don’t fit your values. Maybe they start tearing at your team culture, quietly or not so quietly, and suddenly that one quick fix becomes its own big problem. But what do you do? You keep them, because there’s no one else in line. That’s when it really starts to unravel.

The best thing I ever learned was to always be recruiting. Not just when there’s an open seat, but every single week. Set time aside to interview. Even if you don’t need someone, even if it feels redundant, keep doing it. You’d be surprised how often unpredictability strikes, someone goes to lunch and never comes back. If you wait for that moment to start looking, you’re already behind.

Here’s the reality: our teams, our agencies, they live and die by the people in them. When we hold off on recruiting until our backs are against the wall, we put ourselves in a position to make decisions we later regret. We settle for a “warm body,” and it’s not just about productivity, it’s about the tone and feel of the whole agency. The culture gets hit, morale takes a dive, and sometimes good people leave just because someone wrong was allowed to stay too long.

So, make interviewing and networking a routine, not a reaction. Build a bench of talent, even if it feels like overkill. The hires you make before you “need” them are often your best, because you chose them with intention, not desperation. You’re in control, not the chaos. Even if it takes time, forming that habit is what keeps your agency sturdy, your culture healthy, and your stress levels in check. In the long run, that steady approach wins every time.

Around The Web 🌎

The YouTube 🎥

In this episode, we sit down with agency owner Michelle O'Connor to break down the operational shifts required to build a sustainable book of business. We walk through navigating claims handling, transitioning into agency leadership, and setting up daily processes that protect retention while driving steady agency growth.

This Week On The Podcast 🎧

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✅ The #1 International Best Selling Book: Million Dollar Agency

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