Latest / Beyond Fulfillment Podcast / From Goofball to Guru: Reinventing Life Insurance Leads with Todd Schuchart
Transcript
- 0:00Today we sit down with Todd Shuhart to discuss his unconventional journey into the life insurance lead generation space.
- 0:09Todd shares how he stumbled into the industry by accident, leveraging his deep experience in sales and the lessons from his corporate background.
- 0:18We delve into Todd's agent first philosophy, detailing how his early days as a producer and his disenchantment with corporate leadership shaped his mission to empower agents.
- 0:30Todd reveals the importance of lifting agents up, filling the gap left by companies that push innovation down without giving salespeople the tools they need to succeed.
- 0:40We also discussed the hurdles that Todd faced when introducing new sales technology such as AI driven CRMs to a traditionally minded industry like life insurance.
- 0:51And we highlight the importance of honest, transparent communication, especially when integrating AI into the client interactions.
- 1:01If you found value from this content, please like and subscribe.
- 1:05All right, Todd Shohart, welcome to Beyond Fulfillment.
- 1:09Thanks, Dave.
- 1:10Appreciate you, man.
- 1:11Glad to be here.
- 1:12Yeah, absolutely.
- 1:13Glad you could take the time.
- 1:15Okay, so let's, let's get right into it.
- 1:19So Todd, how did a self pro, self proclaimed goofball find his niche and become an expert in the seemingly serious world of, of life insurance leads body?
- 1:32That's a really good question.
- 1:33On accident is really the answer.
- 1:36The whole digital experience for me has been on accident all the way back to 07.
- 1:41When I got in the space, it was just, you know, one of those things, Divine intervention, maybe universal favor.
- 1:49I'm not exactly sure, but I'm glad I'm here.
- 1:53You know, I had a, a question from an old partner.
- 1:56He called me one day and said, we got to look at this life insurance leads gen thing, thing.
- 2:00And I was doing some other stuff at the time.
- 2:02I'm like, I don't know.
- 2:03And he just, he, you know, he was very persistent and we do what we do really good work together.
- 2:08So I said, all right, let's take a peek.
- 2:10And that's what we did.
- 2:11We looked into it.
- 2:11We got tied into.
- 2:14What we didn't know at the time was a poor play on infinite banking, utilizing IULs to show people how to get out of debt tied to a software that they had to buy for $4,000.
- 2:26The challenge was getting someone to spend $4,000 to get out of debt.
- 2:30It kind of feels like, you know, it just, it didn't line up with the story.
- 2:38And in that process learned about getting licensed and went out and did that.
- 2:42And in doing so, I learned this business from a perspective that most marketers aren't willing to do and that's to dive into the niche and to become part of it.
- 2:54So I produce, I write policies, I train, and the whole, the whole thing.
- 3:00And I do all of that, Dave, because what I learned in my corporate career when I got to the C suite is they were so disconnected from the street that they were pushing things out that made the life
- 3:12of the sales agent incredibly difficult.
- 3:15So I learned at that point that if you don't have a toe in the, in the streets to though, you're kind of going to be obsolete sooner than later.
- 3:23So for me, it allowed me to one get street credit with my, with my lead buyers because I can teach you how to sell these leads.
- 3:34And it made our lead gen efforts actually work.
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- 4:33You know, the messaging that we use and the way that we approach this all came from things I was hearing when I was working and selling life insurance.
- 4:41Make sense?
- 4:42Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
- 4:44Okay, so what was the pivotal moment that made you realize that the, the life insurance industry was ripe for innovation within the lead generation space?
- 4:54Yeah, good question.
- 4:56So again, my previous career, I was in newspaper and I got to be part of the transition from newspaper into the digital space.
- 5:06And when you look at industry, there's not a lot left in the world that hasn't either innovated out of old school processes or completely gone out of business because somebody else had innovated them out of business.
- 5:22Google and the Yellow Pages, Netflix to Blockbuster.
- 5:26Right.
- 5:26We see this over and over again as digital takes hold and does those things.
- 5:31And insurance was kind of one of those last major giants that hadn't evolved much past, you know, what they've been doing for hundreds of years.
- 5:41And then Covid hit and you know, Monday they did one thing.
- 5:45Tuesday, the game changed.
- 5:47And for me, that was exciting.
- 5:50That's where I thought, oh man, there's nothing but opportunity in the space.
- 5:53So let's do this.
- 5:54We really can do some things here.
- 5:56And also for a guy that doesn't want to go driving around everybody's home, I really like the idea of this type of interaction.
- 6:04Like I'm, I'm in my, my shorts, I don't have any shoes on.
- 6:07I can see 15 people a day.
- 6:09If somebody no shows me, I can just go use the bathroom or my kitchen or.
- 6:14You know what I mean?
- 6:14It was just, it was really appealing.
- 6:16All the pieces kind of fell into place where I think the industry is ripe for innovation and that's kind of what I thrive on.
- 6:25Okay, so the name Razor Ridge leads what's the story and the philosophy behind that sharp imagery?
- 6:35So you think about that kind of cutting edge, climbing the mountain, finding your space and your footing and all that kind of fun stuff is really the thought process behind all of that.
- 6:50Plus, I think it's a little bit more fun.
- 6:53You can do more of an outdoorsy nomad lifestyle kind of approach to really what this business is becoming.
- 7:01You know, the days of suits and ties and B and I meetings and local networking events and Rotary clubs.
- 7:09Does it still work?
- 7:11Yeah, to an extent, but it's not how you have to do this business anymore.
- 7:15You could be a, you could be sitting on a beach, you could be sitting on a boat, you could be climbing a mountain.
- 7:20I've got plenty of stories of agents closing deals in some of the, some of the weirdest places.
- 7:26And it's, it's really kind of neat how the evolution of all the tools and, and the digitizing of the industry has, has allowed us to do that.
- 7:34So we really wanted to have something that we felt met, you know, just the, the cutting edge and freedom of, of what, you know, the outdoors brings and having that type of lifestyle.
- 7:48Okay, so you mentioned earlier your agent first approach.
- 7:54I mean, how did those early experiences that you had being a producer shape this approach that you champion today?
- 8:06Yeah, in my corporate life, I worked so hard to get to the C suite.
- 8:13And when I got there, I was so disenchanted with just the lack of understanding of what went on for the sales rep.
- 8:21And I'm a sales guy first.
- 8:23I read my first sales book in the sixth grade.
- 8:26I mean, I knew I was going to be a sales guy from as soon as I found out I couldn't be paunch on chips.
- 8:32So I knew that I had no choice, right, that I was going to be doing this.
- 8:35And, you know, all that kind of comes Together and you look at what's what what's being done in any given industry, not just life insurance, but any given industry, what's being done to the salespeople and wrapped in this
- 8:55thing of for.
- 8:56And the reality is a lot of times what's being done to them is not for them.
- 9:01It doesn't help them, it doesn't give them the tools and the pieces that they need to move forward.
- 9:06So being able to sell, I was a top producer when I was just selling insurance, when we were vetting and testing our leads.
- 9:16I sell every lead type before we roll it out.
- 9:19It gives me the ability to understand what the agent is dealing with and then the ability to build tools, solutions and processes around those gaps.
- 9:32So the space in every, every space does this.
- 9:35You get to that C suite, you get disenchanted and you push innovation, you push innovation down and it feels like somebody's pushing it down, you know, just on the top of your head, you can't quite get above the
- 9:48water.
- 9:49And our whole approach is lifting the agents up so that they can get some breathing room.
- 9:55Because from the agent's chair forward is where the innovation is missing.
- 10:02So as, as IMOs and carriers are pushing innovation down, we see a huge gap in lifting agents up to meet what the carriers and IMOs are doing so that they, they have tools in order to keep up with
- 10:17the things that are that are coming.
- 10:19I hope that answered your question.
- 10:20But it's a passion, definitely.
- 10:22It's a passion driven thing and it fee.
- 10:25I feel like as a lifelong sales champion, we're abused.
- 10:32You know, everybody blames sales for everything.
- 10:34Very, very, very, very rarely do they bl success of the organization.
- 10:41You know, it's usually some guy screaming it who is in a tower somewhere that hasn't sold a thing in, in God knows how long.
- 10:49And the reality is it's not, it's the salespeople that bring it.
- 10:53So as much as grief as we give them, we need to, to give them the tools and think of them first because that's what drives the, the health of the organizations.
- 11:02Yeah, no, agreed.
- 11:04And you know, I'm, I'm a lifelong sales guy myself, so nothing happens till a sale is made.
- 11:08So I certainly, I certainly support that.
- 11:12Okay, so what, what were some of the initial hurdles you faced when, you know, you introduced this conversational sales training and the AI driven CRM tools to such a traditionally minded industry?
- 11:28Yeah, old school or old guard doesn't like it at all.
- 11:35You know, as much as salespeople have to Change and adjust.
- 11:38They also resist it, probably the most.
- 11:41So I have that in mind every time that I'm rolling pieces out.
- 11:45And the easiest way to do that is to do first and to teach second, because you can't.
- 11:52You can't debate success, right?
- 11:57So how do we challenge the old guard is we.
- 12:00We.
- 12:00We smoke them, right?
- 12:02We come out and we do things they didn't think were possible.
- 12:05And then we circle back and we show them how we did it.
- 12:09So the conversational sales training.
- 12:12Listen, at the end of the day, everybody can sell.
- 12:16Everybody has sold in their life.
- 12:18If you were a kid and you convinced your parents at one point to let you stay out past curfew for a special event, you sold them.
- 12:27If they said no, and you had to come back and say, hey, listen, I'll clean my room, I'll do the dishes, and I'll mow the lawn if you let me stay out two more hours.
- 12:36You value stacked.
- 12:37You sidestep rebuttal.
- 12:39Then you're closed.
- 12:39And they say, yeah, go ahead.
- 12:40And now you've done the thing that everybody else is terrified of.
- 12:44You closed the deal.
- 12:45What people do in sales is they go, I'm in sales now, so I must be in a sales mode.
- 12:52And they forget that it's just two people talking together, right?
- 12:56It's the lead and the agent, and the.
- 12:58And the lead should be talking.
- 13:00The agent should be listening to see if there's an opportunity there to service the need.
- 13:05If they listen with intent to understand and they know their product, then they're going to have themselves a client.
- 13:14If they come in and they try to do all the manipulation tactics and the old school sales stuff from the 80s that I miss and love and was really good at, but doesn't work today.
- 13:27You know, it's about connecting with people and just having those conversations.
- 13:31And I think the easiest way to do that is to teach people how to open a sales call and how to just shut up and listen to understand not asking a question, because it's in a script that somebody
- 13:45gave me that I don't get right?
- 13:47And there's so much of that going on that agents don't get the opportunity, the freedom or the Runway to find their own voice.
- 13:59So a lot of what we're doing is.
- 14:01This is the structure of conversational selling.
- 14:04These are kind of the pieces that we're doing.
- 14:06I teach heavily on opening the call because that's where the close is made.
- 14:10If you don't open, you're never going to close.
- 14:12You can always Tell if you open wrong, you hear things like got to think about it, talk to my wife partner about it or pray about it.
- 14:19You screwed something up in your intro.
- 14:21So if we can teach the intro, the rest of it plays off of that.
- 14:24And then you give people the freedom to just talk to somebody and make a connection.
- 14:29Stop trying to be sales and just be a person communicating with another person.
- 14:35Now you have a mission, but that shouldn't take over that connection piece.
- 14:41And I think that's where we get it wrong.
- 14:45Okay, and so following up on that, were there any frustrations that, that emerged when you first, you know, implemented this, this way of.
- 14:56I guess we can call it simplifying the sales process.
- 15:00Yeah, that's exactly it.
- 15:01Simplifying.
- 15:02It just broke people.
- 15:04It breaks people still to this day.
- 15:07You know, it's, it's got to be this convoluted, hard thing.
- 15:10I've got to master these 400 rebuttals.
- 15:13I've got to, I got to learn all these manipulation tactics and I've got to do neuro linguistic programming.
- 15:19And none of that matters.
- 15:21Now.
- 15:22Are there sales strategies that you can use like the takeaway and regaining control by taking, by asking the questions?
- 15:31Yes.
- 15:31Is that anything you gotta worry about right away?
- 15:34Not at all.
- 15:35This goes back to kind of like we see in digital.
- 15:37Digital's been an interesting thing.
- 15:39It's taught us a lot about people.
- 15:41So if you ever blog, you know, the thing about blogging is your first blog posts are probably horrific.
- 15:48You know, you've got to get in and find your voice.
- 15:51And it's the same thing on a sales call.
- 15:53You have to be doing it.
- 15:54You have to take practice serious.
- 15:57Listen, sales is, that is the, is the hardest working most.
- 16:01You'll make the most money in any other career.
- 16:03It's also the easiest, lowest paying job.
- 16:06The deciding factor is the practitioner.
- 16:09So if you practice, like really, truly practice your craft, you can blow the doors off this thing and make, I mean there's high school dropouts making a million dollars a year.
- 16:21They practice.
- 16:23That's the difference.
- 16:24You know, it's, it's like anything else that you want to be excellent at.
- 16:26You got to put the time in.
- 16:28And that's where I see some resistance coming from.
- 16:31And, and you know, people want it to be the prospecting video that they saw where it's just me on vacation having drinks.
- 16:39You know, there, there's some things you have to do to earn those kinds of trips.
- 16:44So I, I think that, yeah, that's probably it.
- 16:47And then Watching people fight their own demons.
- 16:50And then the other is always looking for the new shiny object.
- 16:54What's the silver bullet that's going to save me from having to do the work?
- 16:58There isn't one.
- 16:59There never will be.
- 17:01It's all a waste of time, energy, and effort.
- 17:03So put all that to the side, get in front of a mirror and practice your open.
- 17:08Hey, Dave, how you doing?
- 17:10What got you on the call with me today?
- 17:11What can I help you with?
- 17:12What are we looking at?
- 17:13What'd you see in the ad that grabbed your attention?
- 17:15And then shut the hell up and let them talk.
- 17:18And you're going to learn everything you need to know to help that person protect their family.
- 17:22It's simple, really.
- 17:26Okay.
- 17:27And so what's one counterintuitive lesson that you've learned on your entrepreneurial journey that might surprise our listeners?
- 17:40Being wrong is a bad thing.
- 17:44Being wrong is your mission.
- 17:47You gotta fail and you gotta fail fast.
- 17:51So I, we, we've been taught since we were kids the wrong answer is a bad answer.
- 17:56You know, you get a bad mark, you get a bad report card, you get grounded.
- 18:00All these bad things happen when you're wrong.
- 18:03So it puts us in a state of fear of being wrong, which means we never fully commit.
- 18:08And the reality is, everything you need to be the best is only sitting in your failure.
- 18:16So the second you realize failing is the quickest path to success is the time that you're actually going to start to blow the doors off.
- 18:24Whatever it is you're looking to do.
- 18:26You got to accept it and you got to embrace it and look at it as a gift.
- 18:32Love that.
- 18:33Okay.
- 18:34And you know, Todd, people can look at, you know, your success and, and what you've built and you know, I'm sure there's some maybe misunderstandings, but what do you think is the, the biggest misconception about what it takes
- 18:51to, to get to the top level?
- 18:56That's a good one, brother.
- 18:58You know, I, I think, I think people feel like it's easy.
- 19:06You know, this guy did it and man, they make it sound so easy.
- 19:11And the reality is, until you find your voice and you find your footing and you understand exactly what it is that you're doing through hours of practice and, and, and self reflection, it's not going to be easy.
- 19:26It's going to be really hard and really challenging and make you feel like you want to cry and quit and clean your house instead of do everything else right.
- 19:37Yeah, I, I, that's it.
- 19:39Really.
- 19:41It's just hard.
- 19:43You Got to do the work.
- 19:44If you don't do the work, you know, you're not going to be Michael Jordan.
- 19:47How many people you think want to be Michael Jordan?
- 19:50How many kids grew up with basketball?
- 19:53How many kids played really great all through, you know, their childhood and high school and even went on to play at college and never made it to the pros?
- 20:03Right.
- 20:03Everybody puts in the work.
- 20:05They all want to be there.
- 20:07Not everybody, not everybody is willing, I'm saying not everybody is willing to get to the point and do the things you have to do to be the top of your game.
- 20:16You know, there's a reason there's one or two really good sales guys on every team and everybody else is kind of middle of the road.
- 20:22It's because those people have put in the time.
- 20:25You know, when I'm driving my car, I'm listening to Get Better, I do this still.
- 20:29I'm still reading sales books, I'm still on blogs, I'm still watching and listening to podcasts because I'm still learning or being reminded of things.
- 20:38You know, we aren't always all gonna be the best all the time.
- 20:42So it's really helpful to constantly be in that mode of openness and lear.
- 20:48So, you know, you got to put in the time.
- 20:50If you want to make the money, you got to put in the time.
- 20:53You don't own anything in this world until you pay for it.
- 20:55And for us, that currency is investing in yourself and your time and giving yourself permission to fail and to move on and keep, keep pushing forward.
- 21:04Does that answer that question?
- 21:06Yeah.
- 21:06Yeah, absolutely.
- 21:08Okay.
- 21:09And Todd, how is the evolution of technology and particularly AI change the landscape of lead generation?
- 21:18You know, particularly for life insurance?
- 21:20Yeah.
- 21:21So Dave, I don't, I don't think for the lead gen side, it's, it's at the point where it's really doing a whole lot there.
- 21:26But on the lead nurturing side, getting the agents into the sales conversation, having consistency in lead follow up and nurturing is where the win is, I feel at this point.
- 21:40So we've got agents, we have, we run a conversational AI inside our CRM.
- 21:44It is not the lead communication, it is a piece of the communication.
- 21:50So we lean into pre canned lead nurturing, agent interaction and AI conversational nurturing.
- 22:00And then you have to define what those roles are.
- 22:03Right.
- 22:03Like each, each AI tool or agent that you implement has to have a specialty, just like every person does in your company.
- 22:13Your top closer is not your receptionist and your receptionist isn't doing things that your CFO is doing.
- 22:19Right.
- 22:19Each one of those is a job.
- 22:21So each one of those pieces of technology needs to do its job and understand how that flows together.
- 22:27So I think we're going to see a lot more come of AI in the next six to 18 months.
- 22:32That's really going to change the sales landscape.
- 22:35We're working on some really great tools for not just the sales piece and the lead nurturing, but the other side of the equation that really gets neglected quite often, and that's the sales training and nurturing of the agent
- 22:48skills.
- 22:51Okay, and how would you balance the need for cutting edge technology, you know, such as AI, with the human element that's so critical in building trust with your clients?
- 23:05Well, the first is you let them know it's AI, right?
- 23:08That you don't.
- 23:09We don't trick people.
- 23:11Right.
- 23:12So.
- 23:12Hey, Dave, I'm Todd's AI assistant.
- 23:14If you'd like to speak to Todd instead of me, I can make sure that I either transfer you over now or I can book an appointment for you to speak to him.
- 23:20But if you're cool with this, I have a couple questions for you so that Todd can put some proposals together.
- 23:25It's that type of thing, right?
- 23:27It's, it's full transparency.
- 23:29It's not trying to pull a fast one on somebody and trick them into thinking they're talking to a person.
- 23:34We saw that when chatbots first came out a handful of years ago.
- 23:39First of all, they were horrific, right?
- 23:40Because it wasn't conversational, it wasn't AI driven.
- 23:44It was if this, then that type stuff and you'd ask a question and it wasn't trained for it and you get an answer back and you go, okay, this isn't clearly is not a person.
- 23:53And then you're done.
- 23:54Because the user experience, you lost the trust.
- 23:57So I think it's really easy to keep the trust if you're just straight up, you're talking to AI right now.
- 24:04Have you talked to AI before, Dave?
- 24:06No.
- 24:07Well, cool.
- 24:07Let's have some fun with this.
- 24:08And by the way, if any point you want to speak to a human, just say so, and I'll get you over to one.
- 24:13So what do you say?
- 24:14Want to go ahead and ask some questions?
- 24:16You know, that type of thing?
- 24:19That's really it.
- 24:22Okay.
- 24:23And what's a story from your journey that really highlights the impact Razor Ridge Leads has had on an individual agent?
- 24:32Success.
- 24:36It's one of my favorite things, is to get the feedback from agents.
- 24:41We run a done for you program inside of Razor Ridge, where we pretty much set up a little marketing agency for you, generating exclusive leads just for you.
- 24:52I can't tell you now, we get people like anything that will come in and completely bomb out, but the ones that work the program and understand that they've got to evolve as a salesperson and as a life agent.
- 25:04The ones that do, we've taken people that have struggled and turned them into top performers.
- 25:10You know, when you get that email that somebody made $45,000 last month on a $2,000 all in investment, and they just.
- 25:17It changes their life.
- 25:19You get to be part of a very small piece of it, but you get to be part of that transition.
- 25:25I realized years and years ago that what I do as a sales manager is talked about at the dinner table of my salespeople with their families.
- 25:39And once I think you realize that, you start to take a different ownership and.
- 25:45And approach to how you work with somebody, you know, and.
- 25:49And you realize that you're a ripple effect.
- 25:53You know, it's.
- 25:53It's.
- 25:54They make more money.
- 25:55They get to change their life.
- 25:57Their family gets to change their life.
- 25:59It's.
- 26:00It's a really.
- 26:01It's a really cool thing that when I first started this, truthfully, Dave, I.
- 26:06I was too young and naive to even think about.
- 26:09I was all about driving the.
- 26:11Driving the.
- 26:11Moving the needle, you know, pushing the.
- 26:13Pushing the P.
- 26:14L.
- 26:14And.
- 26:15And all that kind of fun.
- 26:16Stu day, somebody told me a story about their dinner conversation involving me, and I was like, oh, wow, this is really.
- 26:25Like.
- 26:25This is because I talk about them at dinner.
- 26:27Why didn't I think they were talking about me and the things that we were doing?
- 26:31So I love to hear all of it.
- 26:33I love to hear the successes.
- 26:34I love to see somebody finally find their footing and just really own that thing that they came here for.
- 26:42You know, we all have this dream of.
- 26:45Of what we're doing or the.
- 26:47Or direction that we want to take our lives because we're miserable where we currently are.
- 26:51We're not making enough money or we just want to do better by our families.
- 26:55To be a part of.
- 26:56Of seeing that happen is.
- 26:58It's everything that's, you know, money's great, but it only goes so far.
- 27:02Right?
- 27:03So, yeah, lots of those little, little wins.
- 27:08Okay.
- 27:09All right.
- 27:10And, Todd, if people want to get in touch with you, learn more about Razor Ridge or reach out, what's the best way people can.
- 27:18Can find you online?
- 27:19Yeah.
- 27:19So raise a ridge.com always.
- 27:22You can find our links to our YouTube channel.
- 27:24Our LinkedIn and our Facebook page.
- 27:26Our Facebook page is closed.
- 27:27We do trainings in there all the time.
- 27:29There's great resources.
- 27:31You get your free conversational sales training on our website.
- 27:34I don't charge for it.
- 27:35It is hands down better than the 90% of the paid programs on the market.
- 27:41Our YouTube channel, we do weekly lives.
- 27:43We do exclusive trainings in there as well.
- 27:46We build on the four core and on how to use Pipeline to manage your business.
- 27:51So follow us and hang out with us.
- 27:52We'd love to see you.
- 27:53I go live every Thursday.
- 27:55All that can be found on the website and in our Facebook group.
- 27:59I do live trainings.
- 28:00Last couple weeks have been live role playing.
- 28:02We're moving into a new series starting next week after Easter.
- 28:07So we've got a lot of.
- 28:08A lot of really cool things kind of hanging in and around there.
- 28:11So come hang out with us.
- 28:12We'd love to see you.
- 28:13All right, we'll link all that in the show notes for everyone.
- 28:16All right.
- 28:17Well, Todd, thank you so much for taking the time to be here and sharing all this valuable wisdom from your journey with our audience.
- 28:22We greatly appreciate it.
- 28:24Dave, thanks for having me.
- 28:25This was great.
- 28:25Appreciate you.
- 28:26All right.
- 28:27And that's all the time we have for now.
- 28:29We will see you next time.