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Agency Acceleration Lab is the podcast for insurance agents and agency owners who want to scale smarter, not harder.
Hosted by Alex Branning, each episode breaks down real growth strategies, marketing systems, and client retention frameworks that help you attract better clients, increase lifetime value, and build a more predictable agency.
If you're serious about building a high-performance insurance business, you're in the right place.
Episode Transcript
Agency Acceleration Lab – Episode 2
Insurance Agency Growth By…an Avatar? Niching Down Revenue Up!
Alex Branning:
All right, hey. I'm here with Hunter and Emily, who have not built a business around a product, but they've built it around an avatar. Can you guys talk more about how you're structuring what you guys are building?
Emily:
So we specifically target truck drivers, and we have been able, through Agent CRM, to really niche down and build out some amazing ways of reaching them, and automations and pipelines to really take us to the next level in our business. So we specifically target truck drivers.
Alex Branning:
Why truck drivers?
Emily:
Hunter used to be a truck driver, and he can speak more to that than me.
Hunter:
Yeah. Just being a driver, just knowing the background and the pain points and what's missing. A lot of people don't realize that in the trucking industry, there's only a handful of mega carriers out there that have thousands of trucks. There's only a handful of them.
What keeps America moving is these small fleets of five and ten trucks. So most of these people don't have enough employees to have group benefits, or a lot of them are leased on to someone where they're a 1099. They're not even employees, so they're not even offered benefits anyway.
So it's just a really good market for people who, first of all, have absolutely nothing.
And there's also a little secret. People are like, “Aren't truck drivers just unhealthy? Aren't they all just overweight, eating truck stop food?”
What you don't realize, if you don't understand the trucking industry, is that they have to have a DOT exam at least every two years. So if their cholesterol is way out of whack, or their blood pressure is way out of whack, or they have diabetes, they'll take their card away.
So they have to keep pretty decent health to stay in a truck.
Alex Branning:
Got you. So now, when you were identifying the truck drivers, I've seen your guys' journey over the past few years. You started by just offering one insurance product, and now you're really building your business around being able to support them in everything that they need. Can you talk more about that?
Emily:
So we're really heavy on the living benefits as well.
What we have found, because we've taken the time to really niche down in our market and we know those pain points, we know that most owner-operators don't have health care, they don't have dental, they don't have hospital indemnity. I mean, there are so many open and exposed avenues that it will put them out of business.
So just like Hunter and I, we own our own business. The same concept for us, right? When you're a business owner, sometimes you're the only one to call. There's not another person above you to call, so you got to figure it out.
So we get to really be that person for them in every aspect of their business to make sure they're not exposed anywhere.
Alex Branning:
I love that. One of the concerns I hear about niching down is that the market's not big enough. Now that you guys offer multiple products to the same person, can you share what your average customer value was when you were just selling one product to maybe now what that looks like now that you're offering more products?
Hunter:
Yeah, and I thought the same thing when we really started working on this truck driver thing five years ago. I didn't want to tell anybody because I thought it was a small market.
But once you really step back and look at it, and you put it into a web browser and ask how many CDL drivers are in the United States, it's roughly a million.
But in the grand scheme of things, a million is probably not a lot. Like, how long can we sustain this?
But what I didn't take into account is every driver has a family. Let's just say every driver has three kids. Well now you went from one million to three million people, right?
So now we're helping families, not just the driver.
We went from only being able to help them with life insurance, and now that we have access to all these ancillary products, health insurance and Medicare too, there are so many different things that we can do.
I was talking to Emily the other day. I'm like, we could literally run an ad, “Medicare for truck drivers,” just because there are a lot of truck drivers out there that don't have an agent. There are a lot of drivers out there in their 60s and 70s and they're still driving. They need somebody to help them.
Alex Branning:
So before, when you were building your business around a product, you had a really good idea of what the commission would be. Let's just use a round number and say every sale would bring in $1,000 commission.
Now that you have multiple ways to support that same truck driver, you still have that $1,000 commission that you could sell them, but you also have these ancillary products. How much higher has your per-customer value gone now that you're adding more lines of insurance to help the same person?
Hunter:
How this even came about is I was doing the presentations and Emily was the application department.
So I would get them sold, get the package picked, and then transfer it to Emily.
I had a guy tell me one time, “My budget's 150 bucks.”
So that's where we left it. I found him a life insurance package for 150 bucks. I transfer the call to Emily and I can hear him through the wall talking about 200 bucks, 250 bucks a month.
And I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa. That guy told me he was at 150 bucks a month.
She's like, “Yeah, but now we're talking about these other things.”
That's when the light bulb went off and I was like, the budget goes up when the value goes up.
Emily:
We really stack it per driver.
The biggest thing revenue-wise is we got out of the box of a one-time payout. When you're selling life insurance you're going to get a one-time payoff.
But now we're at the point where we're getting renewals on these drivers as well.
Life insurance is your right-now money, but when you're building your retirement, that's the health side.So now we're able to not only have that one-time payout of commission, but now we're getting renewals. And every time we're doing their reviews, because Hunter and I really focus on the missing pieces for the driver, we're able to offer them something else.
So we're constantly making sure their family is taken care of while they're driving on the roads.
Because in the beginning it was just an IUL. IULs are great, right? But there are plenty of gaps in an IUL. We all need more than just an IUL.
These drivers don't know that. That's our job to know.
Once you learn a second product it takes you to another level in your business.
You're doing the best thing for your client, you're putting them in a better position, and you're also getting paid for that.
So our client's value is honestly hard to say because now we're in a position where we can walk with our clients the rest of our lives instead of it being a one-time transaction.
Alex Branning:
Wow. So once you're in the door and they see you as the trusted agent, now you have access to their family and their friends.
What does that look like once your foot's in the door?
Emily:
You have to realize it's like any industry. They all have other friends in the exact same industry. That's your first referral point.
Once you're able to bring value to somebody, the referrals just start coming.
We've had drivers text in their work group chat saying, “Hey, they just helped us,” and suddenly all these people are calling.
Once you really niche down and you know their pain points, the referrals are much bigger than just friends and family.
Agent CRM has helped us uncover and reach these people.
Alex Branning:
Let's put the coaching hat on. Pretend I'm an insurance agent who's been focused on selling a product rather than selling to an avatar. How would you help me identify my perfect client avatar?
Hunter:
I would begin by asking what your background is.
Having knowledge in a certain industry is really what's going to help you.
Inside Agent CRM we've built an income protection bundle, and I've taken one of those bundles and customized it for our industry, Income protection is what we do.
But you can learn any industry if you're willing to do the work.
Eric Thomas once said that before he speaks to a company he researches everything about that company so he understands their pain points.
You can definitely learn it if you didn't come from that industry.
Emily:
You have to really know the industry.
If you don't know how they speak or interact day-to-day, you're not going to reach that customer. People can tell when you're faking it.
The trucking industry is ruthless. They'll call you out very quickly.
You still have to do the work and research.
I can't help anybody if I don't know what the problem is.
You've got to dig and do the work.
Alex Branning:
Hunter, you made a video ad that became kind of legendary in the niche marketing space where you were standing on the side of the road.
Others copied it but didn't have the same success because you actually know the trucking industry.
When truck drivers talk to you they can tell immediately that you know what you're talking about.
Let's talk about marketing. You had a very specific marketing plan for truck drivers.
Hunter:
It really comes down to Meta. You have to think about people scrolling.
Truck drivers park their truck, they eat, they shower, and while they're talking to their wife they're scrolling on their phone.
So what is going to stop the scroll?
For me, I shoot videos. We don't use graphics or static images. It's all video.
I go to truck stops and make sure there's a truck in the background.
Sometimes I shoot on the side of the road while traffic is flying by. That catches their attention because I'm their people. If you were targeting construction workers, you'd shoot at a construction site. If you were targeting realtors, you'd shoot inside a beautiful home. That's what stops the scroll.
Alex Branning:
I love that. This was so helpful.
For those of you listening, figure out who your client avatar is that you can build a business around.
You're not limiting yourself. You're making your marketing much more effective.
Once you're in the door, it can turn into much more business.
Hunter and Emily, thank you so much for taking the time.
Alex Branning:
Thank you for watching. Please take notes, take action, and subscribe.
You won't get value from this unless you implement it in your business.
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I'll see you online.