Insurtech Building Blocs Podcast: Insurance Industry Shifts
If you're curious about the Insurtech landscape and how the movers and shakers of the industry are progressing, join host Cory Schmidt, Co-Founder & CTO at AgencyBloc, on Insurtech Building Blocs each month, available everywhere you download your favorite podcasts.
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Transcript for the Episode
Note: CS denotes Cory Schmidt, TR denotes Tim Robinson, and CH denotes Cristin Hopkin-Bishop.
TR: All right. Welcome back to another edition of the Insurtech Building Blocs podcast. My name is Tim Robinson. And I'm joined by my cohost, Cory Schmidt. Cory, great to be with you today.
CS: Great to be with you. Excited to dig in again. And pretty excited about our about our guests today.
TR: Yeah, likewise. So, but, but I do have to ask, you know, we're, we're both I guess Midwest, Michigan, Iowa. You always talk about the weather, right? So you guys is winter returned for you guys at this point
CS: in Iowa? It was here yesterday and it's gone today. So I think that's kind of going to be the cycle that we're on for the next a couple of months, but yeah, it can't make up its mind.
TR: That that's good. That means that my weather in Michigan will improve if it's improved for you in Iowa. So this is very important things that Cory and I talk about. Certainly you can look at the weather forecast, but if we talk, I know what's coming my way. So apart from the weather, we've got just a great guest here today and I, and I think some great topics to, to talk through.
TR: So so this episode's guest is Cristin Hopkin-Bishop. Bishop. Uh, COO of The Brokerage Inc. A couple of interesting facts on The Brokerage Inc.. It was founded in 1976 and is the largest family owned FMO in the country specializing in life, health, and Medicare products. So pretty amazing.
TR: And so Cristin, welcome.
CH: Hi, thank you so much for having me today. Okay.
TR: So you're in Texas. So I, you know, I can just continue this weather thread for a moment. So you're, is it Flower Mound, Texas? Is that right? That's
CH: right. Yeah. We're here in Flower Mound, Texas. And today it's sunshine and like 70 degrees, I believe. So it's beautiful.
TR: That's a, that sounds pretty spectacular this time of year when you're in the Midwest. So Yeah. It would I think it'd be great for you know, for our listeners and I know Cory and yourself go back quite a ways, but love to, love to hear some of your background and some of the history of of the business. Yeah, absolutely. And it, you know, it's a business I was born into, so I love getting into it. It's, it's a business I've, I've always known my entire life. When my mom and dad started the business in 1976 and, and I was born a couple of years later I, they were building the business while raising us kids.
CH: And so I literally was born. born into this business. But we started on group health and then slowly integrated some other product lines, life insurance, health insurance under 65. And then we were one of the first F. M. O. S. One of the Magical eight. They talk about that United Healthcare started when in 2005 when the Medicare Advantage product that we know as is today was born. And so we were one of the top distributors and one of the only in the nation and really Medicare advantage is what launched us to go national. So we were able to be fortunate enough to just know people through the business since mom and dad were in the business. And we really poured into Medicare when that, you know, Legislation came through in 2005. So it's been an awesome, awesome ride. And I graduated college in 2007 and told my dad, okay, I'll come try this Medicare thing. I'll come try this business that you've created and built. I don't know if I'm going to like it. I don't know what you know, what we're going to get into. And he made me start from the bottom.
CH: So I was. Data entry every day. I was you know, in front of computers. I literally have worked in every department of the business and it really has helped me get to where I'm at today as the chief operating officer. Because I've sat in everybody's shoes. I've, you know, done what they, what they've done. So we have just, Grown over the years and it's just been, it's been phenomenal. So it's, it's really cool to see what mom and dad started and I'm able to be that second generation and that comes in and really taking it to the next level.
CS: So I, I learned something I did not realize 2005 was both when The Brokerage kind of became an IMO FMO. And also I didn't realize that the formation of the Medicare advantage product lines was sort of the impetus for the creation of that. Is that, is that what you're That's
CH: exactly right. So yeah, we hadn't really gotten it. We did some Medicare supplement business cause that was created, I think in the eighties. And then we, it was the Medicare advantage, the monetization act that was in 2005 and that was when really that product, that HMO product was born. And then it was trying to figure out how to bring that distribution who's going to sell these products. plans. And that was really how it was born. So yeah, that's exactly right.
CS: Interesting. And The Brokerage also didn't realize started as a group benefits agency, which is very different than how I think of The Brokerage today. So do you guys still do group benefits or has it sort of evolved more to the individual
CH: side? Yeah, we do. We, we do write a lot of cases still a month. We have partnered with another agency to to really outsource it a little bit. But we still do write several cases a month. Yeah, dad, the big story is dad would go out during the day and he would meet with clients and meet with businesses and, you know, really try to insurance. He would bring the proposal home at night. My mom was actually working during the day to hold, you know, to be able to hold the fort down. And she would use her typewriter and type up the proposals and then he'd go the next day and go sell the actual insurance plan. So they really, I mean, we're a team you know, in, in the beginning and we're working really hard to, To just grow The Brokerage. But yeah, that's how it all started. And we still do write a little bit of it.
CS: Wow, that's a great story. Love it. Very entrepreneurial in nature. So so, so give give the listeners just a little bit of insight into what The Brokerage looks like today. I know you guys are multifaceted in terms of both, both wholesale as well as retail and many different product lines. What, what does The Brokerage look like today? How would you, how would you describe
CH: it? Yeah. So we the best way to describe is a three legged stool. So we ride a lot of under. 65 that A. C. A. Product. We've been fortunate enough to be one of the G. A. S. That especially here in Texas, when the A. C.
CH: A. Affordable care plan came out in 2012 another government written legislation here, but really launched us to be able to we were just set up in a good position to be able to take on those products and take on that distribution, especially here in Texas. So I think in the beginning we were like the one of four GAs is what they call it on that side of the house to, to write that business. And so and then the second stool would be our life insurance. We do a lot of term, a lot of permanent final expense products really individual type products on the life insurance side of the house. And then our third stool would be Medicare. So we do a lot of that Medicare Advantage, Medicare supplement prescription drug plan business. So yeah, so those three stools really what hold us together and really what we look like overall today. We do have we we've grown just as a business. So we're just over 70 employees now. about 25, 000 agents nationwide that we work with. And that's that independent insurance model that you were referring to kind of that wholesale brokerage shop that we all product lines put together what that looks like.
CH: And then just recently we've opened a retail side of things. I, we work with AgencyBloc a lot on kind of growing out that retail side with us and for us, but that's kind of a new initiative. It, it looks very different than what maybe what some other direct to consumer type shops look like. It's just, it's a little secret sauce that we're, you know, we're kind of figuring out and navigating through but we'll see what How it, how it looks here in several years, but it is, it's a newer initiative for us.
CS: That's awesome. Very interesting. And you, you mentioned it, Cristin, the, the whole kind of importance of independent agents, that channel. And I think we've seen, you know, a number of changes over the last, in the industry as it relates to, you know, what the the consolidation has brought in terms of, you know, changes in the industry. I think the the prevalence of consolidation has been significant in, especially in the Medicare, you know, side of the, Of the industry, The Brokerage seemingly has kind of excelled during that timeframe when there's an increasing level of competition, competition and consolidation. How have you guys looked at that? I mean, you've, you've remained independent. I think you, you mentioned it's a competitive advantage. It's really inspiring. Can you give the listeners just a sense of like why you've kind of made that decision to remain independent and how you feel like that's been a a a competitive advantage for The Brokerage?
CH: Absolutely. I I love that we're able to maintain our independence. It's definitely become some of our tagline and everything we do especially in our industry because there has been so much consolidation just amongst not just our distributor, distributor partners and, or competitors, but also carriers. There's been a lot of carrier consolidation as well. And we are just, I think because we worked. My parents worked so hard in the beginning and we're able to really you had mentioned it, Cory, just that entrepreneur you know, that mom and pop shop. And we never grew more than what we could afford. And we always maintained just our vision of our, of the future, right? Like we, my dad was such a futuristic thinker and he could almost see things before it happened. And I think. With that vision, it allowed us to just make sure we always were operating within our means. You know, I said, we have just over 70 employees, but yet we're one of the largest national marketing agencies in the country.
CH: People that are our size operate with, you know, double to 200 employees. We work hard and we play hard. So that is really, I mean, what we love to do. And that was my dad you know, too, he and my mom still today they, you know, they've just. Really have that way about them. And I think we just, we make good hires. We make people we hire you know, our, our teammates who truly just believe in our mission and believe in just our vision of our company and our culture, and we want to stay independent. We want to find ways to be able to do our own thing and do do it our way. And that might not be what is happening with our competitors. It might not be what's happening down the road, but we're gonna find a way to to make it happen. And we're just so fortunate enough to have a really good Book of business that we've built over the years. I think being a business for almost 50 years has really allowed us to stay independent you know, and, and maintain that.
CH: So it's, it's interesting though, to see all the consolidation and I'm, I'm very interested to see what happens in 10 years and who still is You know, out there, I guess, you know, I'm 40 years old. I want to I want to be in this business for a lot longer. I love what we do. So I just I can't imagine taking some chips off the table at this point in our career.
CS: That's, that's amazing. I imagine that consolidation has also provided some unique challenges to The Brokerage over the course of the last, you know, decade or so. Anything in particular stand out as like the most you know, the most challenging result of consolidation that you, that you guys have had to deal with?
CH: Yeah. So our, you know, agencies that have maybe been with us for a long time you know, they decide that they want to, Go partner up with a group. And like I had mentioned, kind of take some chips off the table. You know, there may be getting to retirement age or looking, you know, for a way out, but they want to make sure their, you know, agency is taken care of. So And that means we, we lose that partnership, right? Because they do go elsewhere. They go, you know, to where they're consolidating their, you know, contracts to so yeah, it, it does make it challenging. It, it, you know, we, we don't know where everybody stands all the time, but we really just try to, it's a relationship business that we're in and we just try to keep that relationship and, Hey, just be open and honest with us about. Where you stand as a business and where you stand as the owner and what are your goals? And we really try to dive a little bit deeper with the business owners to hey, just let us know. So we're not caught off guard or we can work through this or we can help you maybe with the transition plan that is, you know, setting, you know, the future up for, you know, your second generation or anything like that.
CB: So it's it, it does comes with its challenges, but it's I just, I love what we do because every day is a, is a, is a new day and you just don't know what it's going to, what it's going to bring.
TR: No, those are great perspectives. I, and you see consolidation happening in, in several industries and pretty much every industry. You know, I, we've talked a little bit about it in the past. I. Prior to joining AgencyBloc, we were software for the lawn care space or pest control or security, you know, guarding security. There's been consolidation and all of those, those markets. And so it'd be great to. See how it plays out here.
TR: And, and I love, I love your story, right? I love the fact that you're, you're, you're staying independent. You've got the second generation in the, in the business. And, and you've grown, right? You're, it sounds like you guys have grown very nicely. You've built a really solid reputation as well. So I think one of the other things that, that Cory and I, you know, Spend are spending quite a bit of time talking to guests about, but also talking with our, our leadership team is. What are, what are other changes that you're seeing in the industry? You know, I think the CMS pending rulings regulation, that's definitely sparked a lot of activity in the space. So love, love your perspectives there. And even how you think about the, the. Agencies and, and how they could be more, you know, where there's opportunities for them.
CH: I think our business has been through so much with regards to what's happening on on the hill. Right. We, we have found so many we've been in the position where things might not be going right or could not go right based on a signature. And. we've always found ways to overcome it. So I think, yes, it's it's very important for us to be involved in groups like napib or naifa. It's very important for us to be. Hoffa is another on the health side of the house. We're involved in these groups, and it's important for us to know what is happening and what is coming up. But our message to our partners, especially right now, while these regulations are kind of pending, is guys, there's going to be an opportunity somewhere, you know, and because we are, Staying independent.
CH: And because we are maintaining that we're going to be able to turn the ship very quickly. We are going to be able to figure out what it is that we need to do next. And we're gonna we're gonna go that direction. And we want to bring you with us, right? Like, if if that's possible, and we can figure out a way to keep our partnerships going. We are going to do it together, and we're at least going to give you the road map that we're going to take so you can work with us. I think that's something that makes me nervous for some of these bigger groups that have consolidated. I don't know how quickly they can turn. I don't know how quickly they can.
CH: Start selling other products. Whereas The Brokerage is built on a very good foundation that we're going to be able to really set that path and, and show everybody, Hey, this is what we're going to do. So I think with, you know, changes that are coming and yes, we need to stay in the know. We need to know what's happening, but does it make me nervous or scare me? No, it doesn't. We're gonna, we're gonna find our way and find our, our Find the right product to sell at the right time.
TR: It's it's interesting. I've got a, a good friend of mine who's been in commercial real estate for, since the early eighties. And you see some of the things that are happening there with office space. That's not utilized the way that it was before. And talking to him quite a bit, cause he specializes in redevelopment of properties. And he's, he's had, I'm, I'm having the most fun I've ever had. I'm working the hardest I've, I've ever worked. And I'm making the least amount of money because there's a lot of conversations and trying to figure out what the heck's going to happen, right?
TR: Where do we go from here? But he's seen enough of the cycles where he's, his mentality is with disruption, some level of disruption comes opportunity and your ability to read into that, respond, use your resources, and be really thoughtful about what you bring forward makes a difference between being. Successful or maybe not successful or just even challenging. Right. So so I, I love your perspective and I, and I think it's spot on.
CH: Yeah, thank you. And I couldn't agree more. I, I think it's something that my dad kind of instilled in me and instilled in us just as a company. And I'm so thankful for that you know, perspective.
CS: I also think there's an aspect of, you know, a bootstrapped company that's built over the long haul just has to your, to your point, Cristin, like a foundation that just makes it very solid and allows it to weather some of those situations where something that's been cobbled together quickly or started without a lot of thought and without having to learn a lot of those lessons along the way, it feels like it's less equipped to be able to handle some of those disruptions that happen undoubtedly, you know, in the business In the business cycle.
CS: So I've always admired, you know, your approach and the brokerages approach to being you know, open minded to things that are happening. I know the you guys were you know, a leader as it related to like dealing with some of the compliance challenges that have come up the last couple of years. And I think a lot of folks were just, you know, spent a lot of time screaming or, you know, telling people how unhappy they were.
CS: And I think, you know, You guys have a tendency to just move on to, okay, how are we going to solve for this? How do we make our downlines more successful? How do we provide solutions for them? Which is again, I think just a testament to, to how you guys have become successful. I think that's, that's really a big reason in my mind.
CH: Thank you. Yeah, I appreciate that.
CS: One of the things I'm a bit curious about, you mentioned 70 team members. 25, 000, you know, independent agents as part of kind of your distribution channel, and you've got all these other things that you mentioned as well in terms of, you know, irons in the fire for the three legged stool, how have you been able to scale your business?
CS: Without, you know, adding a lot more team members, if you will, being in that, you know, 70 looks more like 150 or 200 and, and maybe another IMO in the space. How have you been able to do that effectively?
CH: So I think our model we partner with FMOs, so we can be called an FMO, but a lot of times we're at the level that maybe is even higher than an FMO level. And so we partner with a lot of FMOs and and then, you know, they are really responsible for scaling their business. You know, one FMO might have 500 agents. Yes, ultimately we are creating the tools and the resources and everything for, Them to be able to use, but it really trickles down. So I think that's. But I think to making the right hires of our teammates making sure that, you know, our, our employees here know that, hey, we're, we're serious about our job. We're serious about what we're doing. You know, at the end of the day, our job is to make sure these beneficiaries have quality. and that works for them and their family or make sure that they are covered, you know, with their life insurance needs and making sure that they are taken care of.
CH: Their families are taken care of. And so I think making sure our employees buy into that, you know, vision of what we want to do and then just making sure that our, our partners know, Hey, we are here and just understanding our role in the industry.
TR: I imagine as you've gone through the The growth and, you know, servicing that, that many agents technology is a, it's probably a, a part of the efficiency as well, because I totally agree. I mean, this is as you scale businesses, having the right, the right people with you being really thoughtful about the culture. And as I was looking at some of your core values which aligned very, very much with, with how we think about AgencyBloc If, if there is an area where you see where maybe you've seen the, the biggest benefit or lift, or maybe the biggest opportunity going forward from a technology perspective love, love your thoughts there.
CH: Yeah. Technology. It's always that like buzzword. It's like AI, right? Like people say AI or technology, and it's got to grow your business. You've got to be involved and have your ear to the ground on what's happening in order to attract. Partners to stay with us or to bring new partners to do business with us. So technology, I feel like is, is something we can never settle. It's something that we are constantly making sure we're aligned competitively. It's something we can't get stale with. We're always asking our partners. Hey, what is it that you need? What? What can we do better? What? Where's our faults? We're, we're very open with trying to figure out ways of improvement. And so, We have partnered with obviously AgencyBloc. You know, we, we use AgencyBloc for a lot of our contracting needs, keeping track of these hierarchies. We pay commissions through AgencyBloc. We've partnered with another group to keep track of agent of Agent production.
CH: So as through agent vision, and that really helps us be able to track our production from a high level. It's able, we're able to see all of our production real time because it ties into our carrier portals and it's combined all in one. So I love AgencyBloc's dashboard because I'm able to see. After the commissions are paid, you know, what, what really is in the bank and what products are, you know, where but agent's vision gives us an idea of what that product, that production looks like kind of before the commissions are paid. So that's just one example. We just redid our website. Go check out www. thebrokerjink. com. You will see my face on there. So. So we're really pouring into this new vision of real people, real agencies. It's, it's, we are doing business as a family. It's my mom and I on that page. And so we're just constantly watching what are, you know, what's our SEO doing?
CH: Who's coming to our pages. What, what can we do to, to get better? Our. The broker link is our behind the scenes portal that we have on our site. And it's it's, it's getting a refreshed look this summer. So we're just constantly trying to come up with ways and and ideas of, of, to make sure that we are bringing the best. information to our agents and partners. And that's all through technology. I feel like it's always a topic that what can we dig into next?
CS: I also love every time Cristin, you reach out, it's like, Hey, is there any way you can help us with X? You know, as it relates to a technology opportunity, which again, to your point, like, You know, we built our business by listening to customers and leaning in and understanding their needs. And it sounds like you guys are doing effectively the exact same thing with your downlines to try to understand, like, what are your challenges? How can we help you? How can we make you more effective as a broker? Which I think is great. I think if the more you do that, I think it just becomes obvious what you need to invest your time and resources in. It's just, it's not that complicated, right? I mean, people want to make technology sound really difficult, but I think if you spend your time thinking about, you know, how to solve problems for people, then it becomes really apparent how to do so.
CH: Yeah, that's exactly right. And, you know, because we are maintaining our independence and, you know, we don't have private equity money to really lean on to invest in technology, maybe like some other groups do we have to get creative. And so that's why we try to find good partners in this space. Wonderful industry that we're in. How can we partner up? It's why I go to you, Cory, is this something that we can make happen? And if you say no or yes, or, you know, I pivot, you know, all right, I'm moving on. Like we got to find another solution somewhere else.
CH: But I love that. I love that we can have that, you know, true partnership and helping each other grow, you know, grow our businesses together.
CS: Yeah, absolutely. Well, and we've appreciated the partnership over the years. I know you've been, been a customer for a long time of ours and we've really appreciated that and, and all the feedback that's come along with that.
CS: I think the, you know, we've grown together in some ways, right? A lot, we have, our businesses have both changed pretty dramatically over the past few years as we've worked together, which is, it was always fun to, to observe and be part of. When you think about Cristin, kind of where The Brokerage is going to be focused for the next, you know, 2024 and beyond and anything in particular, that's kind of got your attention and that you really want to spend your time on to, to ensure that that the, the great success of the organization continues on.
CH: I think that our direct to consumer piece is something that we've. got to just be aware of. I think it's a piece that even our carrier partners are moving towards. I think it's something that we will continue to just explore and figure out ways to grow that piece. But really making sure that we're maintaining our core business, which is our distribution model. I think that Eh. Things are going to change and things are heading into a direction with healthcare alone. I don't know what, I don't know what the, what the plans are and I just think making sure that we are maintaining our growth and maintaining the ability to pivot when we need to. So we'll see, we'll see where, you know, where things go but I think, You know, after 2024, after these regs come out, we'll all be able to sleep better at night.
CH: So we'll see what happens with that. But we have a lot of other stools to, to stand on. And we'll just have to find ways to, to make it work. If, if, you know, something is negative that comes out.
TR: No, that's it's, it's been really it's been really interesting to, to have you on today and talk through the, the broker jank and get your perspectives. I. I will share as someone who's been COO a handful of times. It is really important. I'm going back to the beginning, but it is really important to get your hands on many aspects of the organization. And I can tell that you're very passionate about the work that you do. And, and that comes from understanding how the business works and interfacing with customers. So such a pleasure to, to have you on today. And we'll I think just in the next little bit, we'll have a better sense of what's, what's going on with the new regs and we'll see where that conversation takes us. But I, are you going to be at Medicarians?
CH: I will be. Yeah. We've got a lot of travel ahead here in the near future. But yet we'll be at Medicarians and a BlocBuilder here in a couple of weeks as well. Great.
TR: Yeah. Look, look forward to connecting in person and with that we'll we'll sign off. But but again, Cristin, great spend time with you today Cory, we will see you around. Appreciate
CS: it everybody. Thanks so much,
CH: Cristin. Absolutely. Thank you for having me. I really appreciate it.
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on Friday, May 24, 2024
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