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Transcript

Ryan Eaton: Welcome to the Insurance Leadership Podcast. I'm Ryan Eaton, your host and honored to be with you today. Today, we have Mikel Cook with us with the Cook Group over in Dallas, Texas, and he has been a GA partner with us for many years. We want to take this episode and next month's episode and spend some time going, what's the difference between a small general agency and working with the big shop general agencies out there, Mikel brings a lot of great insight, and I think you're really going to this episode. Thank you all for listening in.

Mikel, my friend, welcome to the show.

Mikel Cook: Good to be here, Ryan.

Ryan Eaton: It's an honor to have you on here. For those listening in today, Mikel has a phenomenal agency, he's a general agent over in Texas, been doing business over there for quite some time now and when we were talking about getting some different general agencies together for this call today, it was one of those things I knew he had to be on so Mikel, seriously, appreciate you being on the show, man.

Mikel Cook: Thanks, Ryan.

Ryan Eaton: Perfect. Look, let's jump in. Tell everybody what got you in the insurance industry. And then, how long you've been there and all that good stuff.

Mikel Cook: Yeah. It's crazy how time flies, but I've actually been in the insurance business close to 25 years, which is it's crazy. I'm not sure how other people got into the business, but, myself, I was getting out of college and I needed a job, I didn't want to live at home, wanted to move out. I had to find that job and through a relationship, I found out about an opportunity at Blue Cross Blue Shield. And I was able to get a position in their provider services, provider relations department, and that was my first taste of the business. It didn't take me, it was a learning process. I didn't know anything at the time, but it didn't take me long to learn that I did not want to stay in that role long term, but it was a good experience that I didn't know where it's going to take me, I actually remember my interview for my first sales position, and I took the interview. I was offered the job. I accepted the position. And I didn't know what it was. I was just like this sounds good, let's try this. And fortunately I had great training and great support and figured things out and it went from there. I didn't know where it was going to lead, but it was a good place.

Ryan Eaton: Oh, that's awesome. What led you or what point did you start your own shop and kind of what led you to do that?

Mikel Cook: Yeah, so out of those 25 years in the business, actually 15 years have been as a general agent and kind of backtrack a little bit. Once I got into sales in the field, and another funny story, I didn't know much, I was just hungry and eager, so I head out in the car right down the road and just look for signs that said insurance, and I didn't know the difference between ABC, Employee Benefits Agency, versus State Farm, so I'm just popping in, just trying to get a meeting and talk about our products and services. And obviously I figured things out over time and learned the system and how the distribution model works and the business. And I just recognize that the opportunity for the general agent. And I was able to kind of transition to that place. So it was great, we've been doing it for about 15 years.

Ryan Eaton: What made you want to start your own shop versus what you were previously doing?

Mikel Cook: Yeah, I think from a young age, I've always had an entrepreneur mentality mindset and always had in my heart to have my own business, own company and go that route. I know that's not for everybody, but for whatever reason, that was in my heart. And fortunately things work out. It's not for everybody though, but it's been good.

Ryan Eaton: Was it easier or harder than you thought it was going to be?

Mikel Cook: I think for anybody that does starts their own business it's always going to be harder. Some people might have a passion for pizza and open a pizza parlor. I love ice cream, have an ice cream shop, but that passion will take you so far. And then eventually the rubber is going to meet the road and you're going to have difficulties, you're going to have challenges, you got to come against you realize that the buck stops with you. So you gotta make things happen. You had to push the ball forward. And for us early in the business early in the general agency, our biggest challenge was actually, the affordable care act, the ACO Obamacare because prior to that, the markets are great for our products, great for our services, we were growing fast and then all of a sudden we had this disruption in the industry. And it wasn't just us, but everybody in the industry was concern, what's this going to look like? What are we going to do? Are we all out of work? And fortunately, hindsight 2020, things were fine, it was a change, it was a disruption to the industry, we had to adjust our focus and approach but fortunately our products and services have been viable and we're still here.

Ryan Eaton: Now that's great, when you started your company, what would you say your strengths were? And what would you say your weaknesses were, the things that you had to work the hardest on when you first started?

Mikel Cook: Yeah, I think with anything is always going to be about your knowledge and experience. And I, growing up in the South I would say that there's just, we learn people's skills. You learn to be nice to people. You're polite. Yes, sir. Yes, ma'am. And it's just something that carries over from that into the business world. And, like I said, when I started, I didn't know much about products, the industry, and you just, it was learning as we go, but then when you're interacting with agents and brokers, you're dealing with situations and and over time you're going to gain experience so I think it's just a test of time of growing in that experience. And now it's rare that I get a question that I don't know the answer to because I've heard it before.

Ryan Eaton: That's right. You've been in that ditch before, right? Look, today, one of the main things I want to hit on with you is, we talked about even before the show got started, is what we're seeing in the insurance space because there's been acquisitions galore, I think close to 3, 000 now over the past few years. And that's just in the life and health space. Some companies even buying up to three agencies a week. And so I wanted to show the difference between these large corporations that are general agencies out there. And then also show what it looks like to work with a general agency that may only have a few people working there, but still is a great general agency and produces records amount of business. And so I had you and I had another friend, Mark, that I had in mind for this episode today, and so if you don't mind, I'll go ahead and hop in and start asking some of those questions.

Mikel Cook: Let's do it.

Ryan Eaton: Perfect. How would you say you try to differentiate yourself more than anything against a large company?

Mikel Cook: I guess I would start off with a thought, and that's bigger's not always better. I know it's a silly example, but, think about, I've had my cell phone before go out. And I'm not having a tech issue, a problem, my carrier, whoever that is. And I've got to make that dreaded call to the 1 800 number for customer service, tech support, and that call is going to go one of two ways. It's either going to be, and it all depends on who's on the end of that line. Am I getting somebody that's experienced? Somebody that has that is able to identify my problem and fix it in a timely manner. Or more often than not, it turns out to be a long drawn out process in that. But what if you had a guy, that they're in that space? They know exactly what that problem is, it's really easy to get them on the line and he can take care of it quick. And to a certain degree, I think that's where the smaller general agent fits in because you're absolutely right. We've seen it in our markets where larger agencies are acquiring smaller agencies and depending upon their focus and what they're doing, they're either change their structure, allow them to operate somewhat independently, but it is a different dynamic. And I think people, especially depending upon the market that you're in, that you're selling and people really appreciate that personal approach, they really appreciate the knowledge and the experience that comes, and for us what's been helped us with success is that we've been focused and targeted, almost a niche, general agency focused on ancillary products and specifically gap strategies. And that's what's, and over time we've been able to build a reputation in our market, for that so much so that, we get referral business from other agents and as the other advantage, is that these agencies once they become acquired then, there's relationships, they can become aware of our products, aware of our services, and we have a lot of interagency referrals, especially with the larger agencies so I think there's benefits there, but specifically for us it's about being targeted, being focused and being good at what we do.

Ryan Eaton: No, that's awesome, so you've had your agency now for 15 years. What would you say has been your key to success for long-term purposes over those 15 years?

Mikel Cook: Yeah, I think one of the things is the insurance business in my mind is, it's the people business. And we can't forget that as tools and technology and systems, because that's part of what happens when these larger agencies scale. The danger is that we can focus so much on a sales funnel, a ticket system, client management systems, and we forget sometimes that we're in the people business, what we do really matters, we're helping companies, we're helping employees, we're helping families, get access to medical care they need that mental treatments, vision services they need, we're helping families and it's really trying to attach that personal approach to it. And what we do in it, with our agency is the agents and brokers we're dealing with, fortunately we've been able to develop relationships with them over time. And we've been working with agents for 10, 15 years. And we've got business with those agents 10, 15 years, and part of that is we've been able to prove ourselves and show that we know our products, we know what we're doing. And I think that helps to maintain that connection because there's always opportunity with the general agent. Agents always have the option to go straight to the carrier, but why do agencies work through general agencies? Because we can make their life easier, simpler, more of a one stop shop, and for the most part, we know what we're doing.

Ryan Eaton: Now, I think that's great. What would you say? And I know I didn't tell you, I was going to ask you this question, but what would you say the percentage of agents you work with today that you worked with 15 years ago?

Mikel Cook: Oh, it's definitely greater than 50%.

Ryan Eaton: Awesome.

Mikel Cook: It's just that is that long longevity, and I think it's just developing those relationships and having that opportunity to do business over time and get to know people. I've seen agents, retire. I've seen agents have babies of, all kinds of fun stuff. You get to share life together, but it's been fun.

Ryan Eaton: If you trust the person you work with, you can access them, you can get to them, they help you solve your problems. You really don't want to leave that type guy and that's your shop, what you guys do and provide phenomenal support there. So that you hit a nail on. How has your strategy helped you overcome challenges that larger companies might not face?

Mikel Cook: Like I mentioned for us being targeted and focused, it's like the ships mentality, these big container ships, it's going to take them a lot of time to move, to turn, where you're small, you're more nimble, you can adjust. When the market changes, we're able to change when we have a new product, a new opportunity, we're able to get that out, deploy it faster, quicker than maybe some of the larger agencies can do so, I think it's being responsive and it's just, staying in touch with our brokers to know what's going on in their world. Sometimes in the larger shops, the communication may not be there as much. So it's really trying to stay closer to your base and what's going on in your market. And that way you can provide the services and solutions that they may be looking for.

Ryan Eaton: I think that's great. You mentioned being able to be quick to pivot in different areas. We were working with a company years ago and I remember we were telling them that, hey, we needed a dental plan changed. And I said, look, the benefit kind of structure is out of date. This was great five or six years ago, but now this is what we're seeing in the market, we need to be able to restructure, he said, yeah, we can do this like what's your timeframe? And at the point it was at the time was 2019. He said, we should be able to get this role, be able to roll this out by the end of 2021. And it was like, Okay. And we realized at that point, we need to find a new carrier to work with, but it was one of those things that hit me the value of being able to pivot, like you said, and be able to make those adjustments so, what value do your relationships with you have with your clients beyond just making the sale? Are you doing stuff, events with them, are you going golfing with them, going to dinner with them? What's your relationship side look like?

Mikel Cook: There is that occasionally but where I was thinking about this is with sales and relationships is trying to get away from being transactional. And what I'm thinking is in this process, as agencies get larger, as companies grow, there's a lot of pressure on performing. There's a lot of pressure on hitting your numbers, hitting your targets. And I think sometimes where agents and brokers can a little a bit of a trap, people can fall into, is being transactional. I've got to get this deal. I've got to hit this target. I've got to make this happen. Whereas, when we turn the page and focus on the relationship and, where's our heart, is it doing the best thing for the client? Is it really helping them out in that area? Oftentimes what I've found is over time, we're trying to do the right thing for our client, for our agent, we might not win that deal. And that's going to happen sometimes, but when we're doing what's best in their interest, then it's going to be in our favor longer term. And what we've seen because of the relationship base is that we've seen for retention, because when people like you and they're working with you and they like doing business with you, they want to keep your business with you, so it's not just about making that sale, it's not just about that, but it's about keeping the business and maintaining the business, and yet to your point it's about staying in touch so we'll do lunches, we'll do dinners, we'll do things and hang out with the agents to maintain that relationship with there but I really take thinking it's key on keeping the business and avoiding falling into that trap of being transactional.

Ryan Eaton: I think that's great. I think there's a lot of value in that. What would you say your agency partners expect from you?

Mikel Cook: At the end of the day, we have to deliver. So it's, we've got to deliver on our promises. And our promises are typically, we're going to provide the products, the solutions, the services that they need, with the ancillary market with specifically with GAP solutions. And we've done that over time and one of the dangers that I've seen happen and we get this feedback from our clients all the time, sometimes when they have an issue and they're working with a larger client or a carrier, they're sending an issue it's almost like a black hole. It's like you're making this call, you're sending this response and you may or may not get a response and they're having to follow up. I think one of the places where we're able to shine is we want to be Johnny on the spot, especially when it comes to fourth quarter, we know our agents, they're busy, they're overloaded so they're getting into a group and we're turning renewals, doing quotes and they're getting in and find out about service issues. They get in talk to a group and say, Hey, I had this surgery last year, and I don't know this, or that got processed and the agents, they don't have time for that. So when they come to us with an issue or we want to be quick, we want to be responsive, we want to stay on the ball, get it handled for them, get it back to them in a prompt manner. And our agents really appreciate that. They tell us all the time.

Ryan Eaton: I would say that all the successful general agencies I know across the country that aren't these, thousand employee companies, the one thing that really differentiates them, in my opinion, is they'll call someone back quick, they'll get on the phone with the carriers, they have relationships with the carriers. If they're on vacation, they're going to answer their phones. And that is, that's a consistent thread that I've seen across the different general agencies that are successful. There's a lot of general agencies out there, but the successful ones they put their client first, their customer first, and they take the phone call at any time and meet those expectations that someone's expects. That's great. So Mikel, your business, you've grown over the years. I remember when you went out to Texas and you got started out there, obviously you've grown since then. How do you handle scale with your company as you continue to grow? What does that look like for you?

Mikel Cook: Earlier I talked about some of the negatives of technology and tools. And I'm going to talk about the positives because, we also rely, I were able to leverage tools, systems, technology for efficiency. It's a different world than when we got started 15 years ago. Technology has changed heck, when I got started in the insurance business, I don't know if you remember the show the office, but I always laugh because that whole office that they're in with the cubicles and computers, that looked just like that blue cross blue shield office I worked in, we worked at, and it's just a different world. When I got started with fax machines and Melanie and group apps and checks and all of that get processed. And it's moving so fast so you have to stay up with it and what tools and technology helps you be more efficient. And as a general agent, it's also we're relying on our carrier partners. So our carriers have great tools, great systems, and it's having those relationships with the carriers, knowing who to go to, to get problems, issues solved and quickly. So I think it's a combination of leveraging, tools technology. And our carrier partners that helps us to scale and grow.

Ryan Eaton: I think that's a great, so let me ask you this, I'm go off point here for a second, but you mentioned the technology, I'm glad you bring that up. There's so many of these larger general agencies out there in the market maybe they have a good relationship with different payroll vendors or been admin systems or whatever the case maybe it's quoted to build sales platforms and into their website, whatever the case may be. I've found that sometimes it feels like you're just getting transferred and passed around. How do you do it? If someone comes to you and say, Mikel, I need help with getting this set up or do you have any connections? What do you do in those types of situations where you maybe don't have 5, 000 groups that are under your belt that you could pull big strings with some of these companies, what do you do in those situations to help your clients?

Mikel Cook: Yeah, depending upon the technology and the situation in our experience level, sometimes we're able to jump right in and help them give them some insight, give them some direction about, Hey, this might be the best route to go. That might be a better route to go, we've heard great things about this system or that system. And then sometimes our carrier partners will provide tools and systems and we make it a priority to be up to speed with those tools and systems and that way, we can do a lot of the training ourselves. And then when we need to, we can pass them off to the right people. With our carrier partners to do that training on the tools and systems, because, as agents and brokers, there are different points on the spectrum, I don't know, I'd be interested to see a study about average age in the industry, but I remember oftentimes you go to a Nehu meeting or something, and I'd always go when I got started, especially I look across the room and I'm like, I'm the youngest guy in this room by, 10 years, 15 years by any that there's that trend is continued, but there's new blood in the business, there's new younger people and it's about getting them trained out but, it's really helping agents to utilize technology and realize, the tools and systems we'll make available to them, how it can help them, how they can use that, and it can benefit their agency.

Ryan Eaton: Oh, that's good. What is the biggest compliment you could receive from a client? When I use the word client, brokerage or an agency out there.

Mikel Cook: Yeah, we don't seek after this, but it's always good to hear, but from time to time, we've had some of our agents and account reps we work with tell us that. We're their favorite people to work with. I've got one of my agents has told me you guys are the best in the business and to us, it's just affirmation that we're doing our job. We're taking care of our people and that they appreciate what we're doing. And it makes you feel good, but that's what we're here to do.

Ryan Eaton: That's right. Mikel I'll give you one last question and we're coming up it's today, it's nine 11 and it's at that point, fourth quarter is knocking at our doors, quotes are already starting to come in. What is the biggest thing you do to help your brokers during fourth quarter?

Mikel Cook: We know this season is crazy for our agents and brokers and for everybody. So it's with sports mentality, it's game time so you have to get up every day, be ready to focus, be ready to respond, and so that we can perform for our agents, our brokers, our clients, because we want to make their life as easy as possible, we know that they're running, both ways. So we want to be quick, we want to be fast, we want to get them what they need as quickly as we can. And they appreciate that. We know it does, we know they do.

Ryan Eaton: Mikel, I can't tell you how much I appreciate you being on the show today. You nailed it.

Mikel Cook: Hey, it's good to be here, Ryan. I appreciate you think about us.

Ryan Eaton: Thank you as well for being with us today on the Insurance Leadership Podcast, where a good plan today is better than a great plan months from now. Thank you so much.