Throwback: Chuck Blondino: The Data to Make Your Agency Successful

In this throwback episode of Agents Influence podcast from January of 2020, host Jason Cass interviews Chuck Blondino, Director of Agency Capabilities and Programs at Safeco Insurance and Liberty Mutual Insurance, who has been on the show previously in 2015 and 2017. Chuck Blondino shares what it took for him to grow his business, what high-growth agencies are doing for expansion, ways to approach the recruitment process, and the insightful Edelman.com trust barometer report.   Episode Highlights:  Jason Cass introduces guest Chuck Blondino. (1:01) Is Chuck Blondino an iPhone user or an Android user? (4:02) Does he love to win or does he hate to lose? (4:31) Is he stronger because of his skill or because of luck? (6:28) Chuck Blondino talks about his journey in his business. (9:00) What was it like for Chuck moving from Seattle, Washington to Salt Lake City, Utah at age 20 to build his business? (11:17) You’ve got to be recruiting all the time. (22:41) What are high-growth agencies doing to expand? (23:02) How does Chuck approach being in his own business? (26:39) What does Chuck mean by people having a ‘handshake mindset? (29:55) Chuck talks about what he learned from the Edelman.com trust barometer report. (37:42) A report says that 75% of agents want their agent managers to cross-sell and sell more. (44:34)    3 Key Points: The market share for independent agents hasn’t moved in a decade more than 1 point in personal lines (30%) and commercial lines (76%).  When many people are hiring, unfortunately they don’t start shifting into the CEO mindset and don’t invest in the culture or the training.  About 46% of the high-growth agencies are hiring producers and 56% of high-growth agencies have someone handling the marketing duties for them.    Key Quotes: “Today, there are so many ways to make it (success) happen, so many ways to achieve success that to get stuck is almost a choice.” – Chuck Blondino “As soon as you say the words ‘I’m too busy to…’ you’ve got to hire somebody. You’ve got to hire people to help because that is where the multiplication comes in.” – Chuck Blondino “I’m trying to