Season 2 Episode 17
Season 2 Episode 17
Drew Shockley is the Senior Vice President of Training and Development at EverQuote in Indiana. Besides serving as a leading healthcare insurance expert, he also trains agents about successful sales techniques, systems and technology, and marketing strategies.
Originally from East Tennessee, he moved to Indiana for college. Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield was where he began his professional career in 2005. Over the next few years, he co-founded and managed Crosspointe Insurance Advisors, an independent insurance agency dedicated to helping consumers shop for health insurance and enroll in Medicare.
Over the course of his 17+ years in the insurance industry, Shockley has helped thousands of individuals and families make important healthcare decisions. In 2020, EverQuote, a publicly traded marketing company based in Boston, MA, acquired Crosspointe. Under the new name Eversurance, the company continued to grow. Eversurance now has licensed agents serving all five major insurance lines: health, medicare, life, home, and auto.
In this month’s episode, Ryan Eaton welcomes Drew Shockley. Drew is the Senior Vice President of Training & Development at EverQuote. He shares his involvement in the insurance industry that dates back to his teenage years. The success Shockley had from his early endeavors has enabled him to share insights into leadership, acquisitions, and salesmanship.
Business integration can be among the most challenging and complex tasks a business owner will ever face. Signing the dotted line on a transaction is often the easiest part. The trajectory and purpose of the transcation are what will determine how meaningful it was.
The goal of integration should be to add as much value as possible to a transaction, rather than treating it as a complicated challenge. The main concern of Shockley was maintaining momentum for his team and the new team he was bringing in.
Like 'maintaining momentum' at the beginning of the integration process, communication flows throughout it. In Drew's experience, it was essential for their team to communicate their expectations during this process.
For those of you going through these conversations. I challenge you to think about what you want post-acquisition. If you want to keep building and growing, it’s essential to share your vision and what you want to accomplish during that time.
The importance of effective leadership cannot be overstated when it comes to building great organizational culture. Leadership shapes culture by reinforcing values, regardless of title, position or name. Throughout your life and career, you'll discover how leadership benefits all aspects of your life.
Shockley attributes some of his favorite leadership principles to John Maxwell in his book The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. Maxwell’s book is part of Drew’s training of new sales team members. His favorite John Maxwell’s quote is “Leadership is influence, nothing more, nothing less.”
We all have the ability to influence. You can influence people below, you can influence people beside you, and you can influence up.
Building your team, you got to put people in place that love people, have a servant’s heart, and put people first. And if you do that, your company will have great success.
A successful insurance agency requires a lot of time, effort, and investment. Passion and desire are important when it comes to sales, service, and growth strategies.
Be sure to tune into next month’s episode as we continue our discussions with the best leaders in the industry.
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