Hi Joey. You’ve been a Goosehead agency owner since 2015. Tell us a bit more about your background.
I have historically been one of the top individual producing agents in the company year over year and also owner of one of the largest agencies at Goosehead. I have positioned myself to step out of sales and concentrate full time on managing and growing my agency.

Why did you choose to franchise with Goosehead?
It was an easy decision. I preferred to concentrate on selling and wanted Goosehead to take care of customer service and other back-end work. Our interests are aligned both economically and with putting the customer as our central focus.

What’s your favorite thing about owning a franchise?
Seeing my employees and others at Goosehead succeed. We inherently are a meritocracy and culture of excellence. It’s important to surround ourselves with the best in the industry. I also love the comradery among different agency owners across the company.

What does your team look like, and are you planning to continue growing your business?
I currently have nine producers, two of which just started in the past month. We also have two more producers starting soon. I plan to use Goosehead’s recruiting program and my own resources to continue hiring as the year goes on. I look forward to having a sales manager or two by next year. My constant focus is training people to be leaders and to set a good example for others around them.

What advice would you give to those interested in opening an insurance franchise?
This is an all-in business. You can’t put one foot in and expect to succeed. There are plenty of ways to get creative, but your focus should evolve around the model of building a referral partner network. As long as you can get people in the real estate industry to like you, then that is half the battle. The rest is up to you to put the work in.

Just remember, you are a reflection on the rest of us and brand is everything. I only want those that strive to be the best agents in the country representing Goosehead.

What is the biggest trend you’re seeing in the industry right now affecting your business?
The hard market has directly impacted our product capacity and competitiveness. Our retention and sales closing ratios have been affected by certain captive carriers grabbing up market share, but I have been in this business long enough to know that it is cyclical. We still win plenty of business even when it is hard, and when things are soft it is too easy sometimes. The best agents will always prevail. I still managed to grow our agency by 30%+ every year regardless of market conditions.

Tell us about a career moment you’re most proud of.
Too many to count. I was the top-producing agent in the franchise channel multiple times in my first 5 years and most likely have produced the most individual premium across the company in my tenure if it was all added up. What makes me really proud though is how many people I impacted and motivated along the way to be better at what they do. With that, there have been plenty of agency owners who stepped out of selling much sooner than I did and have grown their agency exponentially quicker. So, I find that very commendable and look back at some regrets of not doing certain things sooner, but it is sometimes hard to shake the salesperson out of me. I enjoy the grind but glad to now be able to show my producers the ropes.

What is your favorite part of your job?
Moving forward it is 100% about enjoyment of putting my all in to the team. I like setting meetings just to show them the ropes about product knowledge and how to best sell a client something while constantly adding value. I love seeing my producers activate referral partner relationships and celebrate big wins with them. Ultimately, I enjoy seeing people be successful.

What do you enjoy most about being part of Goosehead?
I enjoy that I have built such a solid relationship with so many folks, from the executives to the service agents. Each and every one of them are what makes this company tick. I also really have appreciated the shift in leadership direction over the past couple of years to re-focused on our mission that the customer is the center of our universe.

Get connected with our team to learn more about owning a Goosehead franchise.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the Goosehead franchisee and do not necessarily reflect the views of Goosehead Insurance. Joey Bertrand is speaking on his own behalf and not on behalf of Goosehead Insurance or its affiliates.

The testimonial(s) presented on www.goosehead.com are personal to each individual and may not be indicative of future performance or success of any other individuals. Goosehead cannot and does not guarantee results


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