 Richard, yesterday when you and I spoke on the phone, you shared something with me that I found to be, I've never heard anybody say this, but you told me that your team came to you with a proposal and a question. Why don't you share that with people who are watching this video and we'll tell everybody why this is relevant for their insurance agency. Give me that backstory, please. It's really good. I'm gonna give you the backstory. The truth is this, I am surrounded by some go-givers here at the agency. I have 10 staff members. They're all licensed and appointed. They're all full-time and they're all professionals. And what I shared with you yesterday was I bragged about them for a little bit. These individuals that are here are super special and it is a group effort that has accomplished quite a bit here at the agency, especially when it comes to life insurance. They're successful in the other lines of business as well, but they excel at life insurance. So what I shared with you was the drive that they have, the ambition, the buy-in that they have when it comes to this agency and how they feel like it's as much theirs as it is mine and it's true it is. Here's what I'll share with you. We accomplished three things, three company records in 2021. The first one came real early. It was May 19th of 2021 that I'll let them know that their efforts had qualified us for a century award. It's agents who issue and pay 100 lives within 365 days. These individuals that work for me, these producers that work for me, accomplished that May 19th of 2021. It was sooner than anyone has ever done it in the company's history. We had that researched by the powers that be at the time. They came to me then and said, look, boss, we'd like to set up for a second record. What would we do if we wanted to accomplish the written record when it comes to applications? And I said, well, let me see. I said, why don't you start out with a goal that's attainable? And they came up with, after brainstorming, said, hey, what if we did 365 lives in 365 days? I said, that's a tall mountain to climb and I never speak for them, but I'm willing to go along for the journey. And so we went down that road and they accomplished their second record, which was they wrote 397 applications in 365 days. 397 applications in 365 days. That's correct. That's been done before by another farmer's agency. That's right, that's right. Now I have to say, and I think it's important, we definitely had assistance from some things that were implemented by the company, accelerated underwriting, human API, a concierge program. There were some things that were really put in place by individuals who are no longer with the company, but who were close to me, who were friends of mine. And so I can't take complete credit for that, but the effort and the work came from the 10 individuals that are here in my office. So then there was a moment in 2021, right there around October 1st that they came to us and said, boss, we are okay with the two records we have, but we'd really like to ask you about a third. What's the third? What if we had the issue of paid records? I said, well, my research shows that the record is held by an individual out of California and it was 327 issued and paid in a year that was done in 2019. It's a tall feat to climb, a tall mountain to climb, because at that moment, October 1st, they would need 90 issued and paid in 90 days. And I said, look, you've never done that. We've never done that. I said, we've had record months. Nobody's ever done that. Nobody's ever done that. So, and it was late in the year. And so the decision was made and they said, look, we'll do it. I set a promotion in front of them to incentivize them and reward them and we were off to the races. We ran to the finish line, whether it was Christmas, whether it was Thanksgiving, we were working, we were diligent and persistent. They ended the year with their third record. They issued and paid 334 lives and Eclipse in the record of 327. And so those three records stand right now and those efforts have allowed them to be noticed and acknowledged and rewarded with Life Agent of the Year for their efforts in 2021. So right now they are the Life Agency of the Year for 2022. And it's their efforts and their diligence and their persistence that made it happen. Yeah, Richard, your accomplishment is impressive with what your team was able to accomplish, not taken away from that. But to me, what's more impressive is that the team came to you three times and said, Richard, we'd like to raise the bar. What is the record for this? What's the record for that? And you gave them the data and they said, let's go ahead and beat that. Not one time with what you're sharing here, did you say, all right team, this is the goal, this is what we try to accomplish. And there's nothing wrong with that. I think we should set a really high bar and high expectations. But what I wanna know is why your team members came to you with that proposal. And as you know, there's over 12,000 farmers agents. And in most cases, agents have to set targets for their team members. It's very rare that team members challenge themselves to hit high numbers, whether it's for PNC or for life. So what I wanna know from you, this is selfishly speaking, how you were able to build a culture like that. And I understand you're going to be speaking at our insurance growth conference here coming up on this exact topic. So the topic you're gonna be talking about is how to motivate, stimulate and compensate your staff to sell more life insurance than any other agency has ever written for farmers insurance. So can you give us just a quick sneak peek? Don't give us the whole 35 minute presentation that you're going to be sharing at the growth conference, but in less than 60 seconds, what are some things that people can start thinking about to better prepare for your presentation at the insurance growth conference? Well, I'll say this. I think if you had to simplify it in a few minutes in a few days, they're gonna see much, much more. And we're gonna share with them exactly how that process works. But it is about sharing. And more than that, it's about finding the correct person, the correct personnel. I spent, and see this is what's gonna be really priceless for them. I spent 17 years being an above average, even an excellent, if you will, auto agent, okay? But missing all of the accolades and all of the acknowledgement and all of the rewards. And it was mainly because of how I was operating and how I was employing and compensating and what that employee was like. And that has all changed, right? And so now it's more of a mentality of, how do we design a compensation program that motivates someone and let them have a buy-in, let them be, if you will, the architects of how that's designed. And it's a work in progress. I shared with you yesterday that we have been working on the compensation program that we have now since 2015, just today. And I know this is gonna sound like it's a cliche, but it's true. Just today, we sat down with our expediter, which is Samantha here in my office, and we tweaked her compensation. And the first thing I did was talk to Susan and say, my office manager and say, hey, look, we're gonna sit down and talk about this. I know you and I need to hash this out, but I also wanna make sure that Samantha's on board. We're gonna make sure that she is actually involved in the way this compensation works. She's the first person that takes the role of expediter here at our office, which is someone who's handling contingencies and making sure that policies don't lapse and making sure that things stay on the books and that it really takes off smoothly. Because the new business, if you look at it like an airplane, we wanna make sure it gets off the ground really smooth. And there's not any bumps, there's not any headwind or anything like that that could obstruct anything. And so her position is that. So just today, we tweaked her compensation. So I know after 29 years of doing this and after 17 years of not being so successful when it comes to life insurance. I know what it takes. I know the type of person that you should be looking for. I know what the profile of that person looks like. I do have examples of ways that we can compensate them and motivate them. I wanna make sure that you're aware that it involves sharing, it involves being transparent. We will have, Susan will have her Wednesday meeting today that she has every Wednesday at 5.15. Some of those meetings involve myfolio. That's how transparent and that's how open we are as here at the agency. I think that's the difference. If I had to sum it up, it has to be, hey, how do you create a team? How do you create a dream team? How do you create individuals that buy in and feel like they're their own profit center? They're their own center of influence. And then how do you keep them gelling well together, helping each other and not working against each other and keep out jealousy and envy and all those things that are very common to the human personality. I think we've accomplished that. My thoughts are now we just have to replicate that. And by the way, we're gonna share that with you at this conference. How do we replicate that? How do we continue to add on more staff? We know staff is the answer and I know you and I share that, Vlad. I know you and I share the fact that we think that, hey, adding an immense amount of staff but correctly training them, motivating them, compensating them is what grows an agency. That is where we're at now, 29 years into our career. The idea is to help agents, especially around the country, agents, whether they're farmers, agents or all state agents or anything else, help them get there sooner than the 17 years it took me. And if we do that, I believe that we're all better. The compensation plan you're gonna share at the conference, right? That's right. I wanna bring not just my compensation program, which is a fee-based program, but I'm gonna bring others that have lent their ideas to me and said, look, this is how we do it. Maybe you start out with a heavy base and you start to reverse and dwindle down, based on their production or you start with a small base and you involve a commission split or in my case, I don't wanna go into detail, but it's four quadrants that my staff is paid in and we are gonna pay two of them today, which is their commission for the sales they do and their life bonus for the quarter. So, but we're gonna be an open book. Yeah, can't wait to see that compensation plan. That's a presentation that I'll be closely paying attention to. Now, one thing I wanna end on is retention of staff. You've been an agent for 29 years. You have several team members who've been with you for over 10 years and that, as you know, is very rare because in the insurance industry, the turnover is as high as a lot of call centers and you've been able to take people, hire the right individuals and keep them with you. And that's something I wanna learn from you as well at the conference, how you're able to retain staff. That's gonna be a big part of the afternoon session that we have with the entire group, but if you can just give us one quick nugget around retention, what would that be? How do you retain staff for such a long time? The key there to retaining staff is making sure that they're never stagnant, that their compensation is never predictable. The other thing, the other factor that you have to bring in is you never want them competing against the other or someone else in your office. You simply want them competing against themselves. I've said this over and over again, but I need to show you and I will show you. I want Vlad to come on and be the best person he can possibly be. I'm not gonna hire Vlad as my life specialist or my commercial specialist. I'm simply gonna hire a personality, an ambition, a drive. We are gonna develop him, train him as a group. We're gonna show him life insurance. We're gonna show him commercial insurance triggers how to pivot to a life conversation. We'll show him all kinds of things, along with compensation. And then we're gonna show him, this is what's possible. And let's put you on a path of, Vlad, we want you to be better year one than you were when you started. We want you to be better year two. Are we growing your income? Because the honest truth is, and I've said this many times, people have heard it, if you're doing more and contributing more and learning more, then I owe you more. We just have to figure out what it is that stimulates you. What it is that motivates you. And once I find that, then I'm gonna simply nurture you and grow you. And then all of a sudden, we're gonna see that Vlad naturally gravitates to commercial or he naturally gravitates to life. And whenever that is, I'm gonna let you know that you are the life specialist. You, that's what you excel at. That's what you're great at. I don't want you to give up your other lines of business. That is the stuff that is the bread and butter of your life. But I want you to also incorporate life insurance and commercial insurance and Bristol West and IRAs and rollovers and anything else we can sell. And I want you to be a part of it, but we are gonna grow your knowledge level, your contribution. And as long as we're growing your knowledge and your contribution, then there is truly no ceiling to what you can make. We sell that to people, but we don't live by. We sell it to people saying, hey, there's no ceiling to what you can make. But the truth is we hold ourselves here and then our staff here. And what we're capable of accomplishing and earning is here and what they can is right here. And it needs to be the same. It should be the same. That's why I'm not afraid for you to show somebody my folio. I'm not afraid for you to show them what it is I compensate them. We don't share personal information. For instance, I'm not gonna share what I pay Vlad to someone else that works for me. That's his personal business, but he's definitely gonna see what I make and what payroll costs me and what keeping the lights on post and what all the overhead looks like. And so that they're very in tune with what it is to be an agent. And then you're replicating yourself and just saying, hey, we're gonna get you help, but maybe you start out as a receptionist, then you become a CSSR, then you become a producer, then you go from a producer to what Susan is now and in house ABC, you know? I want that progression to happen. The same way we wanna grow as professionals as agents, the producers and the staff that work in your office need to do the same. And I think we hire someone and say, okay, you're my CSR and now you're gonna be my CSR for the next 10 years and this is what I'm gonna pay you and I offered you a whole bunch of money to start and then I can't figure out why you're not motivated. It is not the right way to do it. And so we figured out how to do it. And so now, and I say this and I'll close with this because I think this is the key. We have two newbies that make up number nine and number 10 here at the agency. They've been with us about four and a half months. I've said this to my district manager, I've said this to the company. I'm excited about what's possible when these two individuals are trained and seasoned and ready to go. I don't doubt that they are capable of writing 800 to 900 lives a year. They are very much capable of doing that. This group of 10. And if we add 11 or we add 12- How many lives did you say? I wouldn't doubt 800 to 900 a year. Okay, if they're capable of doing 400, which they got real close last year with eight individuals, then 10 trained and ready to go. CSSR slash producers, sky's the limit. And you have to remember, Vlad, let's say for instance, you've been on three years or four years and you produced, I don't know, 53 lives last year. Vlad, you're getting better. This year might be 68 for you. Next year might be 82 for you. I'm not gonna put a limit on it. What I know is it's all uphill. It's all soaring is all that's happening. I'll share with you this and I think this is key. Yesenia has been with me four years and last year, 2021, she wrote 128 lives. Christian has been with me seven going on eight years and Christian wrote 117. They still had stellar personal lines growth, stellar auto and home numbers, but their life insurance, they were century world winners within themselves. And we didn't have anyone on staff when 2021 ended that had not written at least six lives. So this is possible. It's a group effort and we're excited about what the future brings. And no, I won't put a bridle on them. They shot me, they amazed me. And so I'm done putting limits on what I think they can accomplish. So when I say 800 or 900, I think that's very, very, very possible. Yeah, I mean, your agency is in a league of its own and you're practicing what you're preaching, where you're comparing your team's capabilities to your team's capabilities from the years before. You're not comparing numbers to, although you do wanna see how you're doing compared to other farmers' agents, you're past that stage. You hold three records for that. And now it's just a matter of how far can we push this? And you saying 800, 900 lives for the year? Some agents look at that and say, that's insane. Well, not to you and not to your team it isn't because you've been able to achieve things that others haven't done before. Richard, your accomplishments speak for themselves. Correct me if I'm wrong with any of these. Eight-time president council winner, 19-time toppers club, achiever, multi-time MDRT winner and two-time life agent of the year. You're not someone who likes to do presentations but does something different for yourself. You do what you preach and that's what I respect about you. And that's why ultimately you were one of the people we wanted to reach out to and invite to speak at this conference. I'm super excited about that. Anything you wanna share with the agents as to why they should attend a conference like this, not just with listening to your presentation but other professionals within the space. My thoughts, it's very simple. Anytime you take the time to invest in yourself, really put the chips behind yourself to become better, to broaden your knowledge level, to take on an additional line of business, to learn from someone who maybe is excelling at certain areas of expertise. Anytime you do that, that time is never wasted. That money is never wasted. Only good things come out of that. The thing I've observed PC after PC accomplishment after accomplishment, any of those achievement clubs, the greatest thing you get from it is when you can share just a moment with somebody, just a moment to sit down and maybe you're breaking bread, maybe you're having coffee, maybe you're having breakfast and you just start a conversation and you'd be shocked. Just this PC that I came back from, I came back with at least 10, maybe 12 ideas that I was anxious to implement. And that's somebody 29 years in, but because I can learn and I can see and I can pick your brain, that's what these type of conferences will give you. It's money well spent, it's time well spent. There is no such thing as I went seeking knowledge. I dedicated myself to it. I took notes, I sat in the course, I paid attention, I paid my dues and I got nothing for it. There's no such thing. That's a unicorn, there's no such thing. Especially when you're learning from the best. That's it. That's it. Thank you, Richard. Sure. I am looking forward to hearing you speak at the Insurance Gold Conference 2022. We'll talk again soon. Have a great day. Appreciate it.