 What do you think the number one thing that is a mistake that new agents make? I think there's several. Yeah, yeah, but I'd say the number one in my opinion is probably being a lot of agents like can't get in front of people or they don't know the best way to get in front of people or they try all sorts of different things. I try Facebook leads, I try direct mail, I try this, I try that. Just figure out one thing and that's one thing that I tell agents a lot of times like they agents are they try and make it harder than it really is like let me I gotta figure out all these different things. No, screw that. Just go figure one thing that's really good that you can do whether it's knocking on doors, whether it's calling people, whether it's doing seminars, go figure out one thing and then just go beat the heck out of it. You can tell when you speak like you have a lot of passion for the industry. Yeah, you believe in what you sell and if you believe that's a limiting belief holds a lot of agents back like if you believe in what you sell, you shouldn't worry about what people are going to think when you ask them. All right, today I'm excited to bring another power player to the mix and interview with my brother-in-law, one of my good buddies, Mr. Matthew Allen Smith. Dude, I even used your middle name. There you go. You know me better than most people. That's true, man. I like that. So social is, you know, Matt's done an unbelievable job with helping new agents succeed, recruiting operations, et cetera, as a partner and secure insurance group. And I really wanted to have him on to share his experience because we have a ton of new agents that start watching our content that struggle with prospecting, getting in front of people, closing business, cross-selling, a lot of different things. I asked you the question earlier and I loved your answer, so I'd love for you to share it. What do you think the number one thing that is a mistake that new agents make? I think there's several. But I'd say the number one, in my opinion, is probably being spread too thin. I think a lot of new agents try and know everything and they're like a jack-of-all-trades but a master of none. They want to know how to sell Medicare and life insurance and annuities and everything when, honestly, figure out one, figure out two and really do well at that and then learn the rest as time goes. I was talking with a new agent the other day and he's got some annuity prospects and I said just don't worry about that. If somebody else help you with that and go out there and just do the rest really well. I think spreading yourself too thin can be a problem. That's a really good point too because a lot of people are going to be like, okay, this is my niche. I'm really good at this, which is what you've done well, but I've got this person that asks me about this random thing that I've known nothing about. Well, there's no reason to spend two weeks reading up on it and educating yourself because who knows if they will even take the appointment or even buy it and then you wasted two weeks and you could have been selling other stuff. That's what we love to do locally is partner with someone that is an expert at that. They get a better chance of closing the business anyway. You'll end up doing a commission split or something. 50% of 10,000 then 100% of zero. That's right. Totally, totally. That math, it does add up. That's pretty good. It's pretty good. I love that. I didn't major in math, but why do you think a lot of agents struggle with or why do you think they spread themselves to that? Why do you think that happens? I think another thing and I think the question is, is I think they're not seeing enough people and they're trying to maximize that and they're just not seeing enough people. When you're not seeing enough people, you don't have enough prospects. I think that's another huge issue that agents have and new agents especially. Yeah. What's some of the unique things that Secure does that you guys do that help agents see more people? You'll get some unique things that work really well. We've got a really good discounted lead program, so we do that really well. We help agents with seminars and I'm sure people have probably heard your dad talk and several other people, but seminars we do seminars really well. We do online webinars and we've kind of mastered those. We do a lot of really unique things through discounted leads, through direct mail, helping our agents with direct mail, through seminars and through some online webinars, or some of the most unique ways I think. I've even seen my dad actually go to a different state to do seminars for people. We'll bring on new agents and these agents, you know, they're comfortable speaking from people. They're good and they know Medicare and things like that, but we've truly mastered it. I mean, it's pretty much down to a science. I can kind of give you some numbers if you want, but it's a science at this point. We figured it out and so basically a lot of times, Brian will bring on new agents and he'll go to them. Like he's gone to I know Mississippi, Illinois, Pennsylvania. He's offered to go to Georgia. Just offered to go to Georgia the other day. Yeah. He actually will be going to Georgia. Yeah, Texas, Oklahoma, probably half a dozen more, but he'll travel to those states and do those events and help out and things like that and teach those agents how to do it. And then obviously he's not splitting any commission or anything, but just he wants you to be successful. So that's probably one thing that's unique about Brian and unique about Secura really is Brian, he just wants people to be successful and so he's committed to success. And so I think that's proven by he'll go to Georgia and do a seminar for Secura. He will give. There's no doubt about that. He gives almost, I'm like, you got to slow down. You're giving too much. You're giving it all away. But he does that. That's really why people are attracted to him and you guys. And what's the third thing? Okay, so we talked about, okay, spread yourself too thin. If you're taking notes right now, you got to be taking these notes, right? Because you're probably spreading yourself too thin, right? Because you don't have a niche, right? You're probably struggling to get in front of people. You know, it sounds like this dude can help, right? And what's really some other things that are mistakes that new agents make? Well, I think that the next thing that new agents do is they have a it was like, it's like a fear of just not knowing everything. And so basically like, you're gonna not know something, somebody's gonna ask you a question that you won't know the answer to. Yeah, I could stump you on something, but you don't have to know everything. Do people have a fear of like, oh crap, I don't know 100% of all the questions I could be asked. I don't want to go make that phone call or make the door knock or whatever. Just go do it. And then if you don't know, ask somebody, you know, ask an upline, ask another agent, ask somebody. And I think that's the third mistake agents make all the time is just a fear of thinking, oh crap, I don't know. So true. And I think prospects also, they can smell BS. I guess they know when you be honest, say, Hey, that's a great question. I really don't know the answer. Let me get you the answer and then go back and get the answer. But call that person back. Yes, I think I think that builds credibility with the person as well. It really does. I'm glad you said that. A lot of people say that a lot of people preach like fake it till you make it, right? And I'm not a fan of that because you people can feel when you fake it. Oh, yeah, for sure. I respect that. So go get the answer and then get back to them. I think they respect that. So love that. Those are probably the three biggest mistakes that I would say agents make new agents make. Right. For sure. And if you're out there watching, you're like, man, I don't want to make those mistakes anymore. You know, well, you can eventually get better at those specifically. Why Medicare? You've always had a kind of a kind of drawn to Medicare. It's been a niche that's SIG is really strived at. You personally saw hundreds of prospective clients during A&P this year. You are managing, I don't even know, 3, 4, 5,000 Medicare clients now. 5,000. 5,000 Medicare clients. It's a lot. You know, accounting life or anything else. It's insane. Kind of a drum drew me to it. I would say I really like the residual income. So I think that's number one. Number two, just helping people. Like, I think there's a lot of times that I know you're a life guy and there's a lot of life guys. That's cool. I like life. So he hates me now. I hate Cody. Yeah, I hate all of them. But I enjoy Medicare. I enjoy feeling like I'm helping that person. It's honest to goodness. It's probably a little easier than the life side of things. But that's okay. For sure. Medicare guy, I can say it. But I truly enjoy helping people. I truly enjoy like I'm building something. If you want to make $100,000, how do you do that? Well, in life, you got to go beat the pavement. You got to go knock on doors. You got to go do stuff. And every January, it starts over. If I want to make $100,000, I want to do that with Medicare. I mean, I get you a three-year plan pretty easily. A couple of years, you're making $100,000 and it's all residual income. Which is crazy to think. Like, that's what's so attractive about insurance is you can literally, within two to three years, have a six-figure renewal income. Absolutely. You wake up, 6 a.m., let me drink some coffee. I think I just made, what is that, $500 today? Because that's two grand a week, eight grand a month. Oh, I just made six figures. There you go. Or I went on vacation and I still made money. The office is still there. Exactly. It's just pretty rare. How did you get into it? Well, so I had, I knew somebody. I knew some people. No, I basically, I just married in really. Pretty much. No, I had a background in law enforcement. So I went to school to be a policeman and decided, you know, I don't really know that I want to be on the side of the road at three in the morning, you know, with the drunk guy. I'd rather be at home with my wife and my kids. So anyways, I knew these guys. You can't say kids now too. I can't say kids. We just had our second. But yeah. So got with these guys and dating your sister and thought, you know, it would be a good thing. I think I could do it. No doubt. And you've done very well too. Well, thanks. Thanks. And what would you say is like, okay, I focused on this. If you're you, I focused on this. And that's why I was able to succeed early on in a very difficult industry where 92% will fail. I mean, I'm speaking to a conference in the Philippines to 5,000 agents. Oh, cool. What statistically, 4,200 of them, 4,100 of them are going to fail. Yeah. That's insane. Oh, it's but you were able to succeed at a high level and continue to succeed and continue to do more as you continue to run operations and everything else. Why were you able to make it? I would say when I would say a lot of agents like can't get in front of people, or they don't know the best way to get in front of people or they try all sorts of different things. I try Facebook leads, I try direct mail, I try this, I try this, just figure out one thing. And that's one thing that I tell agents a lot of times like they agents are they try and make it harder than it really is. Like let me I got to figure out all these different things. No, screw that, just go figure one thing that's really good that you can do, whether it's knocking on doors, whether it's calling people, whether it's doing seminars, go figure out one thing, and then just go beat the heck out of it. Go, I mean, I've heard you do the math and stuff before, you know, how many doors do I need to knock on, how many phone calls do I need to make, how many whatever. That's what you do. I mean, you, you, you figure out, okay, how many pieces of direct mail do I need to buy, how many, you know, and so I think that was it. Just figure out one thing that I'm good at or a couple things that I'm good at and just maximize those. I remember us calling leads together at night on like five years ago, where we're on the SAG side just calling, making calls at eight o'clock at night. Right, right. Is there any reason short of a, what was it, a nuclear bomb on why you wouldn't be there? Boom, boom. He's a closer. That's the lockdown question, man. That's it. So, when you're setting an appointment, he just brought it up, so we'll teach you on it, right? There you go. You're just set the appointment. You've agreed on a time. Is there any reason short of a nuclear bomb while you wouldn't be there Friday at two, right? And that's the lockdown to give people to say, well, actually you're right, I do have a document. Like if you're going to find out, you want to know now so that they stand, that they don't stand you up and they show up. And then that's how you get it to improve your appointment setting, right? I think we did zombie apocalypse too once. Probably, probably through all kind of crazy stuff, you know, but it works. Yeah, absolutely for sure. A lot of that little stuff, you know. Absolutely, absolutely. What's the, now that you're starting to help a lot of new agents, we have a new agent program here at SAG and Springfield. We're bringing on agents and helping them get in front of, you know, webinars and leads, seminars and all that kind of stuff. What's some of the things that are some of the systems that you've been able to implement or helped implement that have helped some of those new agents find success, made it easier for those that are new to the business and have really put some of those systems in place to help them have a smoother transition the first couple of years? Yeah, so we've really worked a lot on cross-selling opportunities, cross-selling when you can. Who's the easiest person to sell something to? Somebody that's already bought, you know. Work on cross-selling, you know, work on just kind of what I said earlier on maximizing on like figuring what you're good at, what you enjoy, you know. We've got some LOAs and we basically, we gave him some Facebook leads, we gave him some great mail, gave him all sorts of different types of leads and we said, well figure out what you like, you know. Which is good because not everyone, I like that you said that because not everyone watching right now is going to do and enjoy doing the exact same thing like I didn't mind door-knocking. A lot of people don't like to door-knock, you know. They don't really want to door-knock. I didn't mind it, you know. So I like that because we've got like, you're right because you're managing agents where there's door-knockers, there's cold callers, people that only do seminars, people that are managing webinars, people that are doing Facebook, like Facebook leads, but other people hate Facebook leads. Some like direct mail, some that don't, some that are working more one market more than others. More markets huge, more markets huge for sure. Speak on that because I felt like you did a really good job of that as a new agent. Most people don't. Ask everyone you know. People are afraid of that. Ty, Ty did a great job of that as well. Ty probably did a better job than I did. He probably did a better job than I did too. But I mean, ask everybody you know, your mom, your dad, your mother's aunt's cousin, because they like you. They need insurance. They know they need insurance. They need life insurance. They need Medicare. They need whatever you're selling. They probably already own it. Why not help you? They already own it. Yeah, for sure. They know they need it. They probably already own it. They like you. They'll buy it from you. And especially if you've got a great product. Totally. That shows that you believe in it. Absolutely. You can tell when, when you speak, you have a lot of passion for the industry. You believe in what you sell. Absolutely. That's a limiting belief those live agents back. If you believe in what you sell, you shouldn't worry about what people are going to think when you ask them. Then you're not really selling anything either. It's just natural. Yeah. Totally agree. What were some of the things that you did? Speaking on one market and working on one market. What are some of the things that you did early on? Was it a hit list? Maybe it was a cocoa for coffee. Maybe it was a phone call. What were some of the things that you did that maybe else had a box that someone can learn from if they're wanting to go immediately? Help people that they love. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I think a couple of things. I think, well, like dad, mom, that was just like, Hey, that was the hardest. By this, you know, yeah. But I talked with you and they already owned it. I guarantee it might as well. You might as well be the agent. Absolutely. Absolutely. But one thing that was kind of unique that I got from you and Dallas actually, Dallas kept a list. He called it a hit list of rolling 100. Everybody that guy talked to would be on a sheet of paper and whether it was the pastor of his church is whoever came in. I've stolen that rolling 100 from him and taught on it and given him credit several times because it's brilliant. Oh, it's brilliant. Everybody and as soon as they buy, cross them off, put somebody else on the list. Exactly. And I think that's phenomenal. And especially if you're a new agent and, you know, I don't have a lot of money for leads or you know, whatever. You know people, you know somebody, you know, it's the pizza place you go all the time. Like God, I sold a policy at the pizza place the other day just eating lunch. Yeah, we go there all the time. And the lady came up and was like, you're the Medicare guy, right? Boom. Okay. How about that? Who wants to be sitting at lunch at like, you're the dude that helps everyone through Medicare, I think. Didn't really think. Yeah. But same thing with the rolling 100. You go places, you know people, put them on your list, make sure they know what you do. We are creatures of habit. You frequent pizza joints. I go to the same four restaurants around the office every day. Lauren and I eat at Haruno twice a week sushi joint right down the street. It's crazy. Mine's Chick-fil-A. There you go. I eat Chick-fil-A today. Yeah, me too. You know. Yeah. That's awesome. Actually in Tuesday's barbecue day, but we had Chick-fil-A instead. What's some of the things that you really have learned that you've seen that you would like to educate on or help with or mentioned while we're doing this now? Well, I think probably I kind of, I'd like to come back to kind of what I said earlier. Yeah. I am, when I told you the three things that, that new agents constantly screw up on. Yeah. Yeah. Like I'm pretty sure I did all three of them, probably worse than anybody, but especially like, I'm the kind of person I want to know every single thing about everything. Love to have that personality. That was honestly my biggest struggle starting out was, and I think I probably annoyed you when I first started out and everybody else in my family because they all do insurance, but what do I say if this person asked me this question? And you would always be like, don't you don't know? It doesn't matter. Whatever. Figure that later. And so for me, that was my biggest struggle of just not knowing, and not knowing everything that there was to know. But that, I think what I did that, that I just found out stuff that I enjoyed, and I just kept doing it, you know. Yes. So. I love that you mentioned that too because there's a, I would say a lot of insurance agents are the exact same way. How did you get over that? Because probably we're struggling with that. That's holding them back a little bit. How did you get over it to where now you're like, yeah, whatever. I don't care. That's, I pretty much just decided, yeah, whatever I don't care. I'll learn it, but I spend a lot of time learning stuff and learning about different policies and things like that, but also just that mindset that you just said of, hey, it is what it is. If I don't know the answer to something, I'm not going to pretend like I do. Where does that come from? Maybe it's parents, childhood upbringing. The last thing you're ever going to do is lie to somebody. Yeah, absolutely. And I definitely think, yeah, upbringing for sure. I also think one thing that new agents also do, and not to hijack your interview, but one thing that I think new agents do is they get like, oh my gosh, I have to sell this policy and they get like really stressed out and amped up and to the point where like prospects can feel you and they feel when you're uncomfortable and they don't want to buy from that person. Oh, absolutely. They don't want to buy from that person. So one thing that, and this is, I just thought about one thing that I really learned was, I don't give a freak if you buy the policy or not. I remember the house I was sitting in, when my mindset shifted. I was sitting there and it was, if you're a Medicare agent, I was trying to sell this lady a dual plan, which was by far the best thing this lady could have ever bought. And doesn't cost her anything, gets her a ton of free benefits, whatever. Well, I'm sitting there and her and her daughter grilling me on this dual plan on why it's a good thing and all the other stuff. And I don't know really why I said what I said or did what I did, but I said, I don't care if you buy it or not. Just tell, it's the best thing for you. I really don't care if you take it or not. I'm going to walk to my car and pass three other people that want this. We're at a senior housing. And I think that was when it was like, oh, you know, it was confidence. And so I think a lot of new agents like confidence and they feel like, oh my gosh, I have to make this sale. You don't, you know, just go out there and be relaxed, be calm and sell it. So I think that's something else too, you know, that's good. Just agents are, they lack confidence and then they, you know, people feel that. So we're afraid a lot of times that we're going to lose the sell. And you just demonstrated something to where lose the sell on your own terms, you know, like, and, and a lot of times too, I bet they stopped asking as many questions because they're probably like, this dude's really just trying to help us. He doesn't even care. I sold an annuity one time. And I'm not an annuity guy by any stretch of the imagination. But, but I was selling an annuity once biggest case to date that I'd ever sold. I literally was having lunch with a prospect and her mom, a prospect and her daughter. And I said, look, just don't waste my time. Are you interested or not? If you are, I'd love to be able to help you. If not, that's cool too. But just don't waste my time. Don't waste your time. It's the biggest sale I've ever made. I kind of got some of that stuff from you where it was just like, just be confident with it. It was the best thing for this lady, you know, and, and so I think confidence is a big thing too. Oh, dude, it's huge, man. The prospect feels it. It gives you some small confidence when you're able to say stuff like that and then walk out after making a sell, you know, I think it's awesome. Yeah. I think a lot of new agents need to be more confident for sure. Yeah. What's some of the things that they can do that you did, you know, and it's probably obviously it's learning, it's trial and error, it's experience, but what's some of the things that you've you that helped your confidence when you didn't maybe didn't have as much of it as you do now? Well, I guess just trying not to get discouraged. People are going to say no, people are going to not buy the policy, people are going to whatever just don't let that crap get you down. It's just that's good. Get back on the horse, just keep going, keep talking to someone. Eventually, someone will say yes. Eventually, somebody's going to buy something from you. Just keep asking. You're not, you know, asking the right questions. Keep getting in front of people, see more people. Right. I think you always say 15 people a week or whatever. That's right. That's what you need to do. At least. You really do. Unless it's AEP and it's like 100 people a week. Yeah, exactly. What made you initially want to get into law enforcement as a kid? Was it just random side note? Probably, I don't know. I always playing cops and robbers. I always want to be the good guy. Maybe TV shows. Yeah, there you go. It was good. I got a four-year degree in criminal justice and I always joke with clients and tell them, you know, this job's fun. Probably not as much fun as being a policeman would be. Probably not. You know, I don't get to tackle somebody today. That's right. It's kind of frowned upon in this business, but yeah, this one a little bit more money and do that. No, I not tackle the prospect yet. Eventually. Maybe an agent. Yeah, Dallas. Right, right. But yeah, so love what I do and wouldn't rather do anything else. That's phenomenal. You can feel your passion. I've seen you grow as a business person the last several years. It's been amazing to see and you're doing some big stuff. Anything else you want to share? Before we close it out? Just be confident. Don't be scared and keep seeing people. Boom. I love it. You're here first, Matt. Thank you for your time, bro. Thanks, buddy. Appreciate it. Thank you guys for watching. Go be confident. Hey, if you enjoyed this, I got another one you're gonna love. It's right there. Click on it. See you in there. Hey, there's five words right now. You should never say you got to stop saying. Promise me you'll stop saying them. We'll do it. I don't know what the words are. Over the next few minutes, you'll know and you will never use them again. Number one. And as I preface why we're going into this.