It all starts with understanding the expectation you set for yourself and your agency.
Then it becomes a matter of accepting the fact people need you now in ways they never did before.
Because sometimes it's just fine to let someone do something for themselves.
Other times the only thing that matters is being able to talk to someone they trust.
Mike Crowley, Vice President at Crowley Insurance, talks about the process his agency went through to readjust and meet those needs.
Joey Giangola: Mr. Mike Crowley. How are you doing today, sir?
Mike Crowley: Joey, I'm doing great. How are you?
Joey Giangola: Mike, I'm doing all right. I want to know this before we go too far. When should you have to stop trying to make a sale?
Mike Crowley: When should you stop trying to have to make a sale, man? That's a question out of nowhere here, Joey.
Joey Giangola: Oh, yeah. You got to start strong, right?
Mike Crowley: I stopped trying a long time ago to make a sale, to be honest with you. You should never actually have to try. And in my opinion, if you're doing what we are licensed to do, you're going to sell whether you're trying or not. That's a key in the, you know, I was a few minutes late to this conversation because I was on a call with somebody who literally has seven quotes from seven different agents trying to open a business and they have no education, no advice, no nothing, but documents and numbers and prices. Without even trying I can make the sale just based off of the fact that I'm going to help the person what's best for them. And it's just part of new nature. You're trying to help people in this industry and you don't need to try to sell something to somebody. And I don't know if that's where you were going with this or?
Joey Giangola: Well, I mean, you gave a much better answer to what I thought was a silly question, but I think you elevated it a little bit. I was going to go with stores that put way too much stuff in the checkout line for people to actually look at. And then it impedes with me trying to check out, I'm ready to go. They're still... What are they doing? I'm not sure what's happening. I don't want to be rude, but at some point we got to get on with this thing and I want give them my money. So I guess the better question is like, what point does it detract from the experience? What point do you try to grab every last dollar to where you then create social anxiety for the people that are trying to do business with you. Because they have the fear of angering the person in front of them.
But since you've already brought it to insurance, let's keep it there Mike, because you know, why not? That's what we're here to talk about. You know, I think, I think that the interesting thing is there you say you don't have to try to make a sale there. I would say that I have run across many a number of folks of our generation that feel that way. I've heard, I'm not a very good salesman or something in that neighborhood of like I don't have to try to do this thing. What is it about the way that maybe we were raised and brought into the industry that maybe differs from the one that sort of ushered us in the first place?
Mike Crowley: You brought up something about the grocery store checkout about the experience. I think the world has changed enough where people are lacking an everyday things, a good experience. There's way too many people that, Hey, I'm wanting to checkout. I want to do this. And I think for us, especially the way that we initially were brought into the industry, family base just like you initially, you just learn to take care of people and you're not learning to sell something. We would've been used car salesman if we were really good at selling something and this just kind of fits the fact that we're here to educate you and help you.
And I think that the more that you focus on the education part and the experience part and putting the two of those together is where you really see the magic happen of how easy this business can be. And I think that's just where we've kind of brought into it because that was the way our agencies and our families were set up. But you know, the more people are struggling to have that human interaction the more that that customer craves somebody that actually cares about them.
Joey Giangola: When did the light bulb click for you in terms of, like you said, creating an experience where putting the education at the center? I don't want to like dismiss and say that insurance agents before 2002 didn't educate people, but you know what I mean? At some point they became a different level of education, a different means of communicating that information. At what point did that sort of click for you in terms of saying, I can really make a difference here in a way that I didn't think I could before. And was there a moment and if there was kind of maybe describe it in excessive detail in terms of like your thoughts and experiences.
Mike Crowley: I think at the time technology came in and full force. Where it's giving the consumer options with everything is when the need to adjust your experience changed, and the experience is going to be different for you than it is going to be different for the next person. So how can you meet everybody's way of satisfaction? I want to meet somebody over here. Well, maybe I need to meet them on YouTube versus the person that needs to come sit face-to-face or the person that needs to come here. So if you started to try and figure that out, I would say between five and six, seven years ago, it was a huge need of saying, okay, technology's been around for a while.
People are starting to figure out how to do things on their own, but then they're struggling when there's a problem and they're losing the opportunity to talk to somebody. So when technology met the need of still the human interaction and not being able to justify and figure that out, I think that's when it was like, all right, what can we do to make sure people realize that we're here to meet them where they want to be met and always still be there on the backend for the struggles that they might encounter.
Joey Giangola: Well, you said something I thought was interesting of people wanting to do things on their own. And do you think that we really truly understand what that means in insurance yet, or even begun to scratch the surface? Because for a long time it was treated as like this negative, almost like unheard of sort of activity. What is your outlook on that? And is there ways that we can continue to push that. At what points do you maybe think are untapped or where you're you excited at sort of playing with that idea?
Mike Crowley: I think you can see that when the insured techs are starting to fail. The insured techs that didn't want an independent agent around and they wanted to squish us like a bug and are now begging us to represent their products. To me, it's because they don't know how to incorporate that human interaction and that relationship because each person in each situation is so different. Today, I might really crave the need to do something myself, to make it very easy, but tomorrow I have a different problem that needs to have that conversation. So how can or who can meet me on both of them, who can give me the tools that's needed to service my simple need today that I want to do. And I don't want to wait on hold, or I don't want to call anybody, I just want to be able to send this in and it's done versus Hey, now I have a problem and I can't figure it out myself. Where do I go? I don't even know where to start, and I need somebody to have a conversation with.
And now, even for us, we can't even have conversations with some of the people that we need to then talk to because there's long hold times. You're talking to a chatbot that's really not a person, a service center went overseas and now you can't get somebody that understands what you're talking about and all those kind of things can fit. And it's like, all right, for us from the client facing service portal type thing that we provide no matter how we provide it, how can we help solve that person? To me I mean, that's the key, that's the key of where this is going to go. And that's what gets me excited trying to find new ways to help people, because each interaction is so custom, you got to deliver the tools that helps people. And maybe that person doesn't want to watch that video on the how-tos, but they have no problem doing something different and having that tool available.
Joey Giangola: It sort of talking about the dynamic range of potential like responses and inquiries and just different touch points along the process. What does that look like? I mean, you said tools, right? So I guess I got to ask, like what's in the agency toolbox today? What's working? What's not? Where do you think there is something that can really help other agents that are sort of at this crossroads too?
Mike Crowley: I think the key there is having a toolbox. It really doesn't matter what's in the toolbox as long as there's different things in the toolbox. And I'll give an example. So we love video. We have done a lot of video. We have a lot of video that's open to the public on YouTube, on our website, but we also have a lot of video that is internal type stuff. I've used different videos as a way to speed up a conversation if it helps answer a customer's question. In maybe the old days, you'd get on the phone and have a 20 minute conversation reexplaining something but when you already have the answer in a two and a half minute video, it's so much easier to just send it here, watch this on YouTube. And here's the video or go to this page on our website to understand what coverage I'm really talking about here.
And if that doesn't answer your question, we'll be glad to help you, but you're saving time in all these different aspects. It's like, you're building that tool once you're putting it in your toolbox and you just know it's there for that future use. We have some tools, we need more, we're testing different stuff, but it's more of the fact that we were able to find some things to put in there, customer texting to add a vehicle to our office. And we ask, okay, based on the year of the vehicle, this is something that they may not want full comp and collision coverage on it. They may only want comprehensive coverage. They may only want liability coverage. So let's ask that question to them and then you get that question back. Well, what's the difference between comprehensive and collision? And boom, there's a YouTube video that just speaks it, but it's us talking about it. Little tools like that that's saving time every which way you're going is just making the process a little bit more efficient.
You know that commercial customer that struggles with the annual audit, how to fill out this form because they forgot from last year or there's a new person handling it. Now you got that video that's on your back end of your site that you can say, "Hey, for XYZ insurance company this is how you fill out the form and it's somebody walking through, somebody doing it." So you're not sitting there with the 10 customers that struggle with this, you just send out a video once.
Joey Giangola: So I got two questions from that. I want to get back to what you want to add to the toolbox or sort of what you may have your eye on in terms of like, what's coming in next. But I got to ask this question because I can kind of hear people just screaming in the back of my head like Mike, you can't send a link to somebody and like they're not going to be satisfied with that response. You're not giving them the level of service that they demand of you. And then sort of too, like at what point did you realize, because I think I might know the answer, but did you realize that if they are accepting of that, at what level were you able to then elevate the agency even more because you had more time because of those, again, changing those behaviors of your customers.
Mike Crowley:So the first part is somebody going to be satisfied with this? Right. And that was a crossroads that I had to go through, but you got to set the expectation with yourself to say, am I doing and providing the value that my agency is set out to do? And that I'm setting out to do as the insurance professional that they've technically hired or bought insurance from. To me, you're doing it tenfold, you've known me for a long time and I've been a big component for video proposals for new customers. And I just got off a call with someone that just did want, and they're like, "Man, I've seen a whole bunch of quotes and nobody else has ever done that."
And I'm like, "Well, I've been doing it for years and talking about it for years, doesn't mean anybody's ever going to pick it up." You got to meet the customer and you got to reset your own expectations for them. And I think that's the key to that. So if they're not happy with a link, because they don't watch a link or they don't want to watch a video. They want you to answer the question. You're going to know that with your relationship with that person so that you're able to figure that out. And I'm not sending that link to that specific customer because they don't check their email or they don't do something else. So I think knowing your customer and having that relationship to start will just help that service along the road and know who's there to help it. What was the second part of that question? I've gone on.
Joey Giangola:Yeah. Well, I mean, yeah. Second part was just sort of in terms of what are you looking to add to the toolbox, right? You're starting to see sort of areas that need improvement whether there's gaps or whatever, maybe customer's expectations aren't being met somewhere. What's on your radar to sort of now start welcoming into the fold, adding new things and making it even better?
Mike Crowley:I think the constant building and changing and it's funny I make lists of all these things I want to do and add in. And then if I don't get to it all within that year's goal or a couple years ago, I look back and I'm like, "Yeah, that's still good, but I would've changed it three times since then because something else has helped or improved something." So constantly wanting to improve on that I think is the key adding more detailed in processes and like cheat sheets or links or the ability to do things in different ways. Okay, we can text this from here, but we need to email this from here and we got a template for here. So a lot of internal stuff is key in building that.
One tool we're adding this year we wanted to add it last year, but New York is kind of funky with some of the stuff they do. Shocker to anybody that's listening, is Glove Box for our personal lines customers. It's on been on my radar for a while, but it definitely where I want to have as a tool for the customers that want that tool. We've never been somebody that pushed insurance carriers, mobile app or platform or anything along those lines. Because one, I don't want my clients to have to try and service something on their own that they don't understand. And now I'd like the ability to kind of handle some of that on own and have that backend control. I'm a little control freak when it comes to some of that stuff. I don't have faith that they send something into the insurance company and it's going to get done because we send stuff to the insurance company doesn't get done. So why is it going to work from the insurance care or the insurance customer side?
So that's probably the big, big tool that we're going to add in, but it's always fine tuning the internal stuff. I constantly am making notes and making changes to our internal processes and to be able to make my staff's life easier, to have that situation pop up and they have that quick link to a video to send to somebody while they're on the phone with them, Hey, we just sent you a text with a link to this. It's going to help you do that. And having all that kind of stuff at their fingertips is kind of my goal is to kind of just keep changing.
Joey Giangola: Yeah. And I think the thing that's interesting there is like I've heard a lot of this too, and I'm sure you have as well is there's this constant need to want to see what's next. But at the same time, there's a little bit of fatigue around like you said trying to keep up with certain things. And like you said, if I would've done this thing I would've changed it three times. At what point, how do you sort of draw the line and staying focused? I know I've heard from tons of agents where it is a challenge, but is there like a little litmus test that you use or sort of like a qualifier to sort of back away from something maybe at some point to say, I think we're good right now. This is something we can do 12 months, whatever of the number is to sort of pace yourself?
Mike Crowley:I think the trigger is this going to solve an internal problem first? And I look at that because my staff wears a bunch of different hats. I wear way too many and we sit there and say, "Okay, how can we make our time more efficient internally that can help benefit potentially a customer?" I'm sure every customer would love to grab us on the phone for 20 minutes or pop in the office and talk for a half hour about something that we can answer in a 30 second text message that is like customized to answer that question, the thing is how can we set ourselves up for success that's only going to help improve the experience.
So I look at it two ways, is this going to improve the customer's experience? Is this going to make my staff or myself job easier internally? Are we going to save time? Is it going to be more efficient? Is it going to be easier for the customer to understand versus doing it the old way? If it answers to both of the things I look at it, if it doesn't, I push it to the side and say maybe later.
Joey Giangola: Yeah, that makes sense. And it's interesting that you take the internal approach first. How has the morale been around the office then when sort of that focus is taken to making everybody's lives a little bit easier there. Again, because oftentimes we associate change in certain insurance industry with resistance and like I'm not doing that. Like I've done it this way for years. Was there any sort of tricks to get the agency into that sort of flywheel of momentum?
Mike Crowley: Yeah, the biggest is to focus on is this going to help internally versus just trying different things because that's where and how I learned in the past. So like where I'd look at it and be like, "Ooh, this seems great." And then all of a sudden, I'm the only one figuring it out or using it and nobody else is implementing it because it really doesn't fit or solve their problem. It's like the potential shiny object to the customer over here. But one, I got to get the customers to adapt to it. Two, I got to get the staff to adapt to it and it doesn't seem like either of them really care to right now.
So just because it looks cool from my perspective, this isn't worth it. And that's kind of why I changed my thinking is because I failed too much throughout trying to implement these different things and then not work or me getting frustrated. The fact that this is I'm paying for this, or I'm putting time into this, I want you to try it and then it's not being done. You know, that's on me from not setting my team up to succeed and then setting the customers up to succeed with it.
Joey Giangola:Of everything that we've talked about is there a decision that you made or didn't make that you think stands hidden shoulders above everything else that just, no matter what, like this is something that I can look back on and say, boy, this was exponentially outperform my expectations. And if I had to do it again, I wish I would've done it sooner. Again, whether it's on not doing something, doing something, what is the most impactful thing you think in the last, insert amount of time, that sort of has changed the course of the agency?
Mike Crowley: I think it was actually just getting myself on video early on being in a early adapter of that, getting into video proposals right from the start of when video proposals came out and started being talked about four to five years ago, I went on YouTube when only you and Ryan Hanley would do YouTube across the whole country. And then listen to enough of that for a while you got comfortable with it. And I think those are the two because where everybody else is now trying to do certain things, I've developed a comfort level way past what everybody else has, which is helping make everything else easier. It's helping me helping train the staff better for them to want to be able to do it versus us trying to figure this stuff out.
So that's the one that's been the best for the agency. You know, we've definitely received way more bang for our buck from the time and effort and money that we've put into those things for implementing when we did. Outside of that, no, there's not really anything that I really wish I did because I tried too many things that didn't succeed and it wasn't because there wasn't a need for it, but it didn't fit the current makeup of the agency. And so yeah it would be great if this worked really well and I was able to do this and this but if it's not fitting the flow, if it's not fitting the current, staffing model or fitting with the way our customers want to do business, all it is a waste of money. I still have those lists of things that I'd really like to do, but again, it's not hurting our agency by any means. And you know, we're doing just fine without them.
Joey Giangola: All right, Mike, I got three more questions for you.
Mike Crowley: Okay.
Joey Giangola: And the first one is, what's one thing you hope you never forget?
Mike Crowley: One thing I hope I never forget. I never forget where I initially started from because I've made a lot of changes over the years, the grind that I started in a family agency to be able to build from my zero customers at my desk up to what I would say is a successful book of business and agency never forget that love and the grind for the business because whereas I might not grind so much on trying to sell policies like I used to because I now have other people that can do that. It's the grind to continuously be improving of the agency and not getting into that cost mentality. So that is something that I wish I never stop
Joey Giangola: Now on the other side of that, what is one thing you still have yet to learn?
Mike Crowley: So if we're going to stay in the same kind of realm, the one thing that you would think that I would've put a little more attention to was how to do ads successfully when it comes to Facebook or you know, LinkedIn or whatever social media platform you want to use to have the content library that I have and not know how to really do ads successfully was something that every time I tried to learn, I just couldn't wrap my head around nor did I want to take the extra time to do it. It's definitely one of those things that should be hired out in my agency versus internal.
Joey Giangola: Mike, last question to you if I were to hand you a magic wand of sorts to reshape change, alter, speed up, really any part of insurance, what's that thing? Where's it going? And what's it doing?
Mike Crowley: Oh, it is changing the insurance carriers technology and being able to do the things that we need to do on an even scale from carrier to carrier or from product to product. There is way too many, well, we got to do it this way for this carrier. And then this carrier, we got to do it for this way and this doesn't do this or this doesn't download or this, you know one of the main benefits of being an independent agent is having the variety of carriers and being able to help people. But when we have to have a 37 page document, how to train on individual carriers on how to do every little thing, because it's different and it doesn't work from system to system, it causes more frustration than you wouldn't believe.
If everybody got onto the same... Think about how like a comparative rate initially came out and you were able to put information in it. Oh, my gosh, you got sample quotes from X number of companies. Imagine if everything could work just seamless like that, where everything is in one system and can be able to move. That would be fantastic.
Joey Giangola: Mike this has been fantastic and I'm going to leave it right there.
Mike Crowley: Awesome. Well, thanks for having me.