I’m wondering if anyone has any advice on recommending agents who work for less than ideal companies? I found an amazing agent with State Farm-she worked in roofing and her office even has a claims liaison who has a background as an adjuster and mediates between the adjuster and roofing contractor. Unfortunately, her company is State Farm who is infamous for denials and I’ve already had a couple people raise their eyebrows when I say one of my preferred agents works there. How do I overcome this issue?

I want to get some perspective on this situation, I live in a rural area, so some of the agents I’m connecting with represent the same carrier, like State Farm, and work in different cities but are only about 20 minutes apart. They’re likely to know each other and interact regularly. Do you have any advice for building referral relationships with multiple agents from the same carrier in the same region? Have you seen that create any conflicts or friction, and how would you recommend approaching it?

I was talking with a client today who just finished going through the training and they're excited to get some agent relationships going but still have other responsibilities to manage while they build that network. Rather than doing a little bit each day, they're planning to spend 1 day each week focused on agents. I'm all for it but when we talked through the plan, they shared that they plan to meet with 8 insurance agents a day on that day. While volume is great, their plan was destined to fail. 8 meetings means they'll be forced to keep meetings very short, have no time to drive, eat, schedule follow ups, buffer to not be late, etc. The whole point to our methodology is that the agent relationship has weight and value and won't often be converted with short surface level "spray and pray" methods. 3-4 Solid meetings in a day will have a better chance of converting that 8 fly-by's that never get through the agent's defenses. What's the most agent meetings you'd suggest to someone on your team...and why that number and not more or less?

I run ChoreChimps, a VA placement agency, and I work on the people and operations side of businesses. Helping owners put reliable support around recurring admin, customer communication, follow-up, scheduling, and day-to-day execution. I’ve been spending more time learning about the roofing and restoration space, particularly how contractors build referral relationships with insurance professionals, realtors, property managers, and other local partners. I’m interested in the systems behind those relationships, how contractors consistently follow up, stay in touch with referral partners, and keep opportunities from falling through the cracks as the business grows. Looking forward to learning from the group and getting to know some of you. 🙂