Power CEOs (Aired 08-15-25) Grow in a Storm: AI, Insurance & Real-World Strategies | Power CEOs

[00:00:30] Speaker A: Welcome to Power CEOs, the truth behind the business. I'm Jen Goadet, your fearless host, entrepreneur, investor and business strategist. Why are we here? Because I believe that iron sharpens iron. And when we bring industry leaders, movers and shakers, investors and entrepreneurs here to share what's working in business and maybe even some of what's not, we're all able to learn and grow. As a result, our businesses grow and the ripple effect impacts not only ourselves, our teams and their families, but but also our communities and the world. You are in for a treat today because we are going to ride into a conversation about growth in uncertain times and the technology changing the insurance game forever. While most headlines scream that insurance industry is in crisis, Randy Thompson and Ben Oliveris have quietly scaled their business. They are thriving. But how do you grow when your industry is retreating or going through a lot of change? Today we're going to talk boots on the ground strategy, real numbers, and what it takes to grow a business in a disrupted scale sector. Randy, Ben, welcome to the show. [00:01:30] Speaker B: Thank you, ma'. Am. Happy to be here. [00:01:32] Speaker A: I'm really excited about this because I've gotten a lot of questions knowing that you were coming in from viewers. And the number one question they have for you before we dive into the business of insurance is what the heck is happening with our insurance rates? Can you give us some enlightenment into why property and casualty keeps going up? Business, commercial insurance, everything keeps going up. Is there an end in sight? What can we expect? [00:01:55] Speaker B: Well, I'd love to say that there's a magic cure for all of this. [00:01:59] Speaker A: Right. [00:01:59] Speaker B: But if you take a look at what's happened kind of post Covid in America from just a building standpoint, right? Cost of construction, cost of gasoline, cost of milk and eggs. [00:02:12] Speaker A: Right. [00:02:13] Speaker B: And what does this relate to insurance? I mean, bottom line is simply this. The cost has gone up significantly. That's passed on to the end consumer. Now, I wish it was just about that. I mean, really, five, six, seven years ago in our area in Wyoming, you could build a home for 100, 150 bucks a square foot. Today, 450 to $500 a square foot. So you've seen a 400, 500% increase in the cost of labor and materials. I would love to see that come back down. That's passed on to the end consumer. On top of that, we have regulation issues that also limit what an insurance company can and can't do. Right. For instance, we live in an area that's high wildfire. Okay. If the government doesn't help step in to help mitigate that risk. Rates are going to be high for people live in the forest. If you live next to the coast here in Houston with you're in 60 miles of the coastline, well, you got issues with flood, wind, hurricane issues, prices are going to be exponentially higher. So those are a few of the factors that really impact the price that you pay. [00:03:19] Speaker A: Yeah, you know, we all are feeling the pinch on that. And one of the reasons I think a lot of people are concerned is because a lot of insurance agents, a lot of companies have left the marketplace altogether here in the Houston area. So there is really not a lot of competition. We only have a couple of choices. And that is always a hard thing for consumers to swallow as well. [00:03:38] Speaker B: Yep. Yeah. [00:03:39] Speaker C: You know, at the end of the day, it's still a business. And so these insurance companies do have to make money, otherwise they can't provide a service. So like when they have an extreme amount of risk because of these natural disasters, like they're, they're going to pull back because they won't be able to make any money off of it and they're not going to be able to cover people. So really boils down to risk for these big companies. [00:03:59] Speaker A: Absolutely. [00:04:00] Speaker B: And there are a couple of things that help mitigate that for insurance companies. Right. FEMA steps in typically at about 20 to 30 cents on the dollar when there's going to be some kind of a national emergency and it's declared and FEMA steps in to help. But a lot of reinsurance companies have stopped reinsuring. And so what happens is large insurance companies that have a major risk, like in the Houston area or in California, you know, with what happened in the Palisades area, is a reinsurance company says, hey, we don't want to cover this exposure. And so now the insurance companies have the choice either jack your rates up through the roof to offset that risk or leave the market completely. And that's what's happened. [00:04:42] Speaker A: And you know, I think in my lifetime we've seen things come and go here in the Houston market now over time, people will come back when things settle down. And I guess that is exactly about the risk portfolio. So talk to me about the business. What has changed most dramatically in the insurance industry in the last three years? [00:05:02] Speaker B: So just from like a consumer to business type experience, one of the things I thought very interesting is people don't come in and want to sit down and talk to you face to face anymore. They're very reliant on digital automation, the electronic side of things and we can do it that way. But it's starting to feel like the relationships being removed from the transaction, they've been to serve the client. [00:05:27] Speaker A: Oh, more transactional instead of relationship. [00:05:30] Speaker B: Yeah, I've really noticed that since post Covid. It's like that started to change. [00:05:35] Speaker A: I'm interested to know, because you're a top performer and have been for many years in this sector and there's a lot that have struggled in this sector business wise. What's your philosophy around growth during hard times? [00:05:49] Speaker B: Well, you got to lean in and double down, right? And I think when things are tough, you know, be willing to swing for the fences and fail. That's a lot better than like retracting. When you do that, you pretty much guarantee that you're, you're, you're putting life on pause and your business is not going to grow. So there's a few key elements you need to spend money on developing. Training your team. That's, that's critical. The people that work for you have got to be able to deliver at a high level. When things are tough. You and consumers expect that. Right. They don't want a B or C level type experience. It's got to be A plus every single time. So training is critical. The other thing is you've got to be willing to lean into technology and evolve. There's a revolution going on right now and if we don't evolve with that revolution, we're going to be dinosaurs and be left behind. [00:06:42] Speaker A: I know you've got something to say on that. [00:06:43] Speaker C: Yeah, totally. It really applies to every business, not just insurance, but when you're facing some sort of hardship and you've got something you're facing where you basically have to adapt or become obsolete. The big writing on the wall right now is AI. If you're not using AI and you're not getting into it, then you're going to become obsolete. But the base principle though is still if you don't do anything and you just go to inaction and you stay where you are, nothing ever good is going to come from that. So you've got to just start to work towards what you know is going to do something. You may not know the end result, you may not know where you're going completely, but you do have to put some effort into it and everything will become clearer to you as you start to go through that process. But if you do nothing and you just sit down, then you're done. [00:07:29] Speaker A: Well, that's the old adage. If you're not growing you're dying, and your competition is going to overtake you if you're doing nothing. So I want to lean into something that both of you sort of touched on, and that's. You can't shrink. You can't put your head in the sand. You can't just wait for a better day. You have to take action. And one of the things I see as a business strategist across every industry is the first thing they want to pull back on is marketing. Well, if we pull back on marketing, we kill our lead flow. That's our pipeline to business in the future. So what would you give, what advice would you give to people in the insurance agency specifically, or any industry that is thinking that that is an answer, or they need to make cuts in order to grow. [00:08:10] Speaker B: So being unknown is what I call the invisibility tax. It's an exponential expense that you can't even quantify. If people don't know who you are, they're not going to do business with you. We do business with the people we like and trust. So you better spend the time, effort, and money to stand out and be a little different. People know me as a cowboy coach. Right. I stand out in a crowd because we've put time and effort into a certain type of brand that really resonates for our market. [00:08:42] Speaker C: Yeah. Plus, why are you pulling back? Do you know why you just canceled all your marketing? It's because you got afraid and you're like, I just need to pull back to save my money. So I'm not spending my money unwisely. But really, you need to figure out where you should pull back or where you should push forward. So you need to analyze the data and decide, is this worth the spend? Am I getting a return on it? Make a decision that way versus just pulling back out of fear. [00:09:03] Speaker A: I love it. You just said my magic words. Know your numbers, don't guess. I talk about this all the time. And entrepreneurs really hate numbers. They, in general, hate numbers. They don't want to look at them. They don't want to dive into them. It's not fun for them. But we have to force ourselves to do that. Because if we're. If we don't know the data, then we're just guessing. And how do we know what's going to drive us forward? So let me ask you, with the last couple of minutes that we have before break, what are you doing to future proof your business in this volatile landscape? I mean, it's. It's tight. People don't want to spend money it's harder to get those sales done. And yet you guys are investing in the future. [00:09:43] Speaker B: Well, I lean into relationships significantly because again that this concept of principle that we do business, people we like and trust, it's so key in order to be able to do that. And so the more you stay connected to your, your customers, the better off you're going to be. I had a mentor years ago that said to me, Randy, if you want to sell Bibles, you got to talk to the Christians because they're the ones that read that book. And what he was really was saying is they're the believers who believes in you, was your existing customers. Do not forget about them. Don't go chasing, you know that next, sell down the road and leave your customers behind. It's the customers that have already chosen you that'll be most likely the ones you'll sell more to later. [00:10:27] Speaker C: And getting to that stage where you can serve your customers, it's probably because you're overwhelmed. Right? Like you may not feel like you can go back and serve your customers the way they should be served, which means you got to put in some more time. Like at this point, like if you're not where you want to be, you've really got to get to that point where maybe you have to put in some 20 hour days in order to get caught up to figure out all the things that need to be done and get them done so that you can get to the important things which is dealing with your people. [00:10:53] Speaker A: Absolutely. So I just want to give you guys the high, high level. What I've taken away from this resilience isn't a reaction. It's preparation. It's staying in touch. It's building the relationships, developing the relationships and taking care of your people. And know your numbers, protect your operating leverage. And then finally I heard this. It's make growth a team sport. Invest in your people, mentor your people. And that leadership is going to to make or break your scaling in uncertain times. So scaling during a storm takes grit. But Randy and Ben didn't do it alone. In the next segment, we're going to reveal the tech engine powering that growth, the insurance AI Brain. We'll be right back after these messages. Welcome back to power CEOs. Loving what you're watching. Don't miss a moment of it or any of your favorite NOW Media TV shows. Live or on demand, anytime, anywhere. Download the free Now Media TV app on Roku or iOS and enjoy instant access to our full lineup of programming. Prefer to listen on the go. Catch the podcast version of the show right here on Now Media TV at www.nowmedia.tv. from business and breaking news to lifestyle, culture and everything in between, we are streaming 247 ready whenever you are. Without further ado, we're gonna dive right back into our topic du jour. Imagine shaving hours of off of every insurance task you touch and doing it without losing that personal connection. Randy and Ben have been partnered to build an AI insurance brain that makes this real. It's not theory. This is what AI integration looks like in a real world high stakes industry. Before you say, wait, Jen, we talk about AI a lot. I'm a little bit afraid. Insurance is a regulated industry so there's a lot of compliance and other considerations, private information that has to go into this. So I wanted to really dive in and figure out what is the insurance brain and how does it work in practice. Inquiring minds want to know. [00:13:15] Speaker B: Well, this is a man that build the engine under the hood. So Ben, why don't you take it to start with? [00:13:20] Speaker C: Yeah, honestly my first thought when you ask a question like that is generally most people don't use AI enough in their day to day interactions with their customers. And if you're an owner and you're trying to bring this to your team to say, hey, we need to incorporate AI into our business flow somehow. Most times these people are going to be reluctant, like they're going to have some idea built up in their head that it's not something they want to use or they don't want to get into. So there's like a, there's a barrier at the beginning of this where you have to kind of show them that, look how this can help you be better at your job. Look how this can help you be more empathetic. Look how this can help you just do basic things like check your grammar and write your emails better. Like all these little tiny things are somewhat overlooked by most people I feel like, that are just, you know, they don't really follow AI or they're not using anything currently. So if that's you, then it's really a process of getting in there with them and breaking it down and showing them how this can be a benefit to them instead of something that's contentious or they're afraid of. [00:14:23] Speaker A: Well, a lot of fear too comes because they're afraid that it's going to replace their job instead of amplifying what they're able to do. So you talked a little bit about relationships earlier. How does this allow your team to build Even stronger relationships with your current clientele. [00:14:37] Speaker B: Well, insurance is pretty complex. There's a lot of paperwork and there's a lot of detail that goes into making sure that's correct. Right. And so the idea of utilizing AI is to help eliminate or remove or delegate the tedious stuff that has to still be done. And it can take care of that and free up your time exponentially free up your time so you can do what? Spend more time face to face with the people that really matter. And at the end of the day, if you're making a connection with your customers, everybody wins. [00:15:08] Speaker A: Indeed. And so talk to me a little bit about what processes or pain points did you build the AI insurance brain to solve initially? Like, what was the big pain point that you're like, if I can solve this, this is going to go somewhere. [00:15:22] Speaker B: So I came from a teaching and coaching background before I made the transition into the insurance world. And the first couple of years I worked really hard. I wasn't afraid to talk to people and work really hard, and I carried everything on my shoulders and we did very well. But it was really all on me. And it got to the point where I was literally facing a nervous breakdown because I didn't think I could keep doing this unless I could scale. I recognized that the one thing that I needed to spend a lot more time doing was training my team. If I could get them to do things the way I was going to do it, then that burden could be shifted. Right. And so a big transition happened in my agency in the first couple years and I began to train my team like I did my wrestlers. You know, it was repetition every single day where I would model and then make them go practice. And what we did is we took that same concept and we put it into the brain. And so now any agent anywhere in the world can take a double digit millionaire's brain. Somebody that has been very successful for over 20 years in this business, and at a keystroke, have access to him 24 hours a day to train your team so that they can execute at a high, high level. That was the whole concept behind the Brain to start with, is let's get a training platform for people so they can all succeed at an excellent level. [00:16:45] Speaker A: And so you actually built this with your team in mind, but also making it a product that goes out to other agencies. [00:16:52] Speaker B: Yeah, thousands of agents have access to this now and they can all utilize it. [00:16:56] Speaker A: That's fantastic. So talk to me about the business behind this. Like, what impact has this had on your client experience and Then also on the experience, because I know you guys coach other agents and brokers. What impact has this had on that experience for them? [00:17:13] Speaker C: Our agents that used to use this for our training used to become serve, watch the video, learn how to do it. The ones that were really successful with it, they would take it and they would study it and they'd master it and they'd make it their own. And that could be a process for some people because it's not easy to learn a new sales process or something that's going to work for you. Now you take that to this next level where we've dumped all that content, like years and years, like 20 plus years of content into this AI and it gives you a 20 year head start now on where you should be thinking through these processes and learning them. And you can do it any time of day, all day long. So the barrier of entry is totally removed. Like you can have any agent with no experience. Day one, get in there and start talking to this AI and learn the best way from step one, how to sell life insurance the best or Medicare or whatever it is you're selling. Like it's incredible in that sense because nobody has an excuse to fail anymore unless they're not using it. If they don't use it, then yeah, they're not going to succeed. But the ones that do use it, I mean, it's up to them. [00:18:20] Speaker B: I would add that the smartest person in the room is the one that's failed to most. And so one of the things we've done is we've taken all of my failures and we put it in the brain so that you don't have to fail again. And what that does for my team, for those that work right in my own agency, is it gives them access at it at an instant all the time for best practices. And my customers are having an elevated experience that is tremendous. And we've had exponential growth the last couple years that we started using this. And they don't ask for me anymore. So I have team members that have only been with me a year that are already acting like they've been in the business 20 years because of the access to the content. [00:19:07] Speaker A: Because they can just say what would Randy do? And it would spit it right out to them. [00:19:09] Speaker B: Exactly. [00:19:10] Speaker A: That's really phenomenal. So now let's talk about the dirty side, because we talk about this a lot on the show. AI, Everybody thinks it's a magic button that you're just going to integrate. It's going to be beautiful. There's Going to be no road bumps, no issues. Talk about like the biggest challenges that you guys have faced implementing the new technology. [00:19:27] Speaker C: Yeah, I mean, there's like different, like, levels of depth. Right. Like, there's surface level problems where, you know, it's just basic stuff, like just. [00:19:36] Speaker B: Learning how to ask the freaking question. Right. [00:19:38] Speaker C: I don't know what, I don't know what should I be asking this AI and they have no idea what it can actually do. And then, you know, there's an automation layer that goes into this where we program it, what to say and what to do. Not so much program it, but basically train it to give it options on how it should be thinking about stuff and what knowledge base it should be pulling from to make its decisions. And then it can get even deeper past that and start to get into full automation where it's just acting and operating by itself without a lot of human interaction. [00:20:10] Speaker B: So the goal is to get the AI to run your business for you, so your time is spent with people. So we can do all that backend automation. That's the ultimate goal of this. But I would say that in my opinion, the one biggest hurdle is learning how to ask good questions. And that starts by asking bad questions. [00:20:33] Speaker A: Right? [00:20:34] Speaker B: So you can say, you know, what is a really bad question that I should ask AI about being an insurance agent? And it'll kick out responses. Okay, now how would I reframe that so I get good information and it will actually teach you how to interact with it. And as you learn that. So that's, I'd say, would be the number one thing you've got to learn to do if you're going to utilize AI. The other thing you got to do is you get to get over yourself. [00:20:58] Speaker A: Okay. [00:20:58] Speaker B: Because there's a lot of suspicion about this new technology. Like, well, is this confidential? Is it accurate? You know, is this really going to move the needle for me? And, you know, you can't be confident with something if you're not familiar with it. And you're not going to be familiar with it unless you spend a little time with it. So why not swing for the fences and go for it and figure it out, Give it a try and find out. You'll be surprised how amazing this is. The rest of the world is getting on board, and if you don't, you're going to be like the dinosaurs. [00:21:28] Speaker C: Yeah, I mean, the key part of that is to ask dumb questions, right? Like, it may not seem like a dumb question to you, but just ask every question that comes to you. [00:21:37] Speaker B: Have Fun with it. [00:21:38] Speaker C: Yeah. Incorporate it into every decision you make. Maybe you don't have to take its advice, but at least now you have a consultant who is giving you ideas that you've never thought of before. And it's going to quicken your understanding of things and it's going to give you things that you've never considered which will help you make better decisions. You're still ultimately the decision maker at this point where you got to decide how to incorporate it and how to run with it. But at least you have these. This knowledge base that you've never been able to touch before now right at your fingertips. [00:22:04] Speaker B: Give you a perfect example. Just a few weeks ago, I was training my team on using the brain, and I said, let's ask it a really dumb question. And one of the girls in the office is like, I'm really lazy and I don't want to do anything. How can I still make money? You know, Funny, you know? And it kicked out a fantastic response. You're not going anywhere if you stay in this mode. This is what you should do. And then it gave them very good actionable responses, you know, of things they should do. And one of the favorite sayings we've programmed in the brain is you don't get Randy's results from your work ethic. You get your results from your work ethic. And I think it was just kind of a clear indication, like it really does help. And so don't be afraid of trying out. [00:22:45] Speaker A: Yeah, you get what you put into it. So, folks, if you're watching this, the best AI integration starts with your knowledge base. Train it on how you work. You need to interact with it, you need to play with it. You have to understand it in order for it to work for you. If you want to learn more about how to do this in the insurance industry, how can they find the AI? Insurance brain? [00:23:04] Speaker C: Yeah. So right now you can go get it@insurance247AI. And that'll give you access to the brain. It's basically instant access to some of the best knowledge and training. That's just one section of it. It's actually got many different layers to it, from everything from running your business to taxes to compliance and sales and operations and team members and all that stuff. So that kind of stuff is all built into it, and it's really up to you to figure out what you don't know and ask it, and it'll tell you and it'll fill in the gaps. [00:23:36] Speaker B: And it's built in such a way that it doesn't matter what type of insurance you're in, whether it's paying PNC or commercial or life or health. Right. Whether you're into annuities. And it doesn't matter where you are in the world. This is built for the industry everywhere. [00:23:49] Speaker A: Yes. So if you're watching insurance247ai, if you want to check out the insurance brain, make sure you mention that you found it on Power CEOs. If you're in another industry, not insurance, reach out to me on LinkedIn or the Power CEOs Facebook group because I have solutions for your industry as well. AI isn't here to replace people, is here to free us up to do more human work, to really focus on what matters most and streamline our operations so that we can save time and focus on that human aspect. In the next segment we're going to talk about how it's reshaping strategy and what other business owners can learn for after these important messages. Foreign welcome Back to Power CEOs the truth behind the business. If you're just tuning in, you want to go to NOW Media TV and kept the first half today's show because it has been pure gold. Business insurance isn't just protection, it's prediction. And with AI, we're no longer guessing. In this next segment we're going to explore how smart businesses can use AI for risk mitigation, strategic planning and even customer insights that are going to change the game. I'm here with Randy and Ben. We were diving deep and actually over the break we were talking about some of the most important aspects of the AI brain and we talked about sales guys and how you're able to now learn better about your customer, get the deal done in a more human way by interacting with this. So can you dive into that a little bit? What does that look like? [00:25:41] Speaker C: Yeah, I mean when you're a starting out agent, you're consumed with operations like how do I run this business, how do I fill out the paperwork, how do I do my day to day tasks? And you kind of leave the selling behind. And so this AI is really designed to be a sales first, like how do you make money? And it's not designed to be like sleazy sales, it's designed to be educational based sales. So I truly believe that if you educate somebody that they'll make the right decisions for themselves. Your job as a salesperson isn't to try to push something on somebody. It's to bring them up to speed, to teach them what their options are and they're going to pick what they want. So that's what this AI does at a very high level. It turns everything into that first sell first, but educate first. Right? [00:26:21] Speaker B: Yeah, it's kind of a wants based selling process. In my. In June, I was in Miami at what's called the Million Dollar Roundtable. It's the largest organization of financial advisors and insurance agents in the world. Top 1% get invited to it. I sat through 21 presentations in a row on AI and every single one of them said the same thing. If you're not using AI, you're going to be replaced within the next three years. And so I'm going to tell you that the real purpose of AI is to elevate your game so you can sell at a higher level. Wants based selling, connection based selling, solving problems, that's what it does for us. [00:26:57] Speaker A: So talk to me about how you're using the brain to shift from kind of reactive selling. Because traditional sales is, I get on a call, I figure out what it is that's going on in your life. But now we have so much consumer data and, and we have all of our past experiences as well as what we can scrape from the Internet now in market research. So how are you moving from more of a reactive process to a proactive process with the tools that you have available? [00:27:24] Speaker C: It's all about reps and feedback, right? So if you're a professional athlete, you got access to the best coaches in the world, you got access to the best trainers in the world, the best dietitians, all that stuff. And they'll give you direct feedback, like in real time about what you're doing right and what you're doing wrong. So the professionals get that level of access. We brought that to the day. One agent who can now use this AI to train and ask it questions about anything it doesn't know. It's going to give you direct feedback telling you, hey, you're thinking about this all wrong. You need to think about it from this perspective. And here's why. And then the more you do that, the more reps, the more training you get into it up front before you ever go and see somebody will put you right in the right spot when you're actually in front of somebody talking to them. So practice, practice, practice. The AI is going to give you the best practice you could possibly get without having to spend time with, you know, a whole bunch of other people all day long. [00:28:16] Speaker A: So is this role playing? [00:28:17] Speaker C: It can role play, it can come up with training situations where like you have daily Training, like, what do we train on for this month? We're not dealing with objections very well. The AI will come up with a whole training plan for you. But, like, this is what you need to talk about today, this morning. Let's go over that. Here's 10 objections that you guys need to memorize. I mean, it can get very detailed in that kind of stuff, or it can just be, hey, I had this problem with the customer today. How would you have solved that? And then the AI will say, well, you should have done it this way and bring all the points that go into it, and they can read that and learn it. Right. Previously, before AI, you would have had to find somebody who knew what they were talking about, like Randy, and go ask him, how are you doing this? And typically, you'd only get to ask him one question, and then you don't see him again. Right. Or you try to get his phone number and try to talk to him. Not anymore. Now you have an AI that is trained on the best minds in the world, and you can ask it questions anytime you want with whatever on your mind. Like, my favorite use case with it is, what's your problem today? Like, what did you struggle with? And dump that in there. And it'll give you a great feedback on how to solve it, how to avoid it, how to train to get. [00:29:21] Speaker A: Better on it, and what would Randy do, you know? [00:29:24] Speaker B: Yeah, I had a situation here just recently that was interesting. We had a widow come in the office. She had about 20 pages worth of financial documents that her husband had kept in a file. He had passed away with a heart attack. And Tom hadn't really included her on anything to do with her money. And she's like, I don't understand any of this, and I need help. I was like, well, let's take a look at that. And so we actually took that, downloaded it, and had the AI analyze where the gaps or concerns and risks were. And it was amazing. In about two or three minutes, it was able to spit out a really nice summary for her. That would have taken me hours of my own time. Right. It was already trained on me, and I was able to sit down and say, okay, this is what Tom's doing. And here are a few things that were concerned that you should be concerned about. And it was amazing the confidence that she had walking out the door. So the AI can do a lot of things that can coach you up to your own skill level, but can analyze data to give great recommendations as well. [00:30:30] Speaker A: And it really accelerates the speed of decision Making. [00:30:32] Speaker B: Oh, tremendous. [00:30:33] Speaker A: And I find it. It's really great to bounce ideas off as a strategist. I am a strategist, and I have a certain. I've worked in professional services for a really long time, and I trained my own brain as well. And what I use it for is to bounce ideas and say, okay, what am I missing? You know, me like the back of my hand. Did I forget anything? Did I miss anything? Because even those of us who have been doing this for, you know, 20, 30 years, there's still some things that maybe on any given day, maybe we haven't had enough caffeine, or at the end of the day, something slipped, and it's right there to say, but normally you say this. Did you consider that? And so I really like the fact that I can bounce ideas off of it and make sure that I'm still on point, because it gives you those other perspectives. [00:31:15] Speaker B: Well, and speed. The speed of implementation. What it does is gives you more time in your day to do more. So in Jean's situation, we were able to help her out very quickly, and then that gave me more time to do other things and be more productive. [00:31:31] Speaker A: Oh, absolutely. And I'll give you another example. Like in mine, and this is not in the insurance industry, I want to just link it so that everybody who's not in insurance kind of sees where this is in another space. I train mine on all of my processes for looking at a deal. I'm an investor. I also am the person who looks at deals for a private equity firm. So every time that deals come in and I get 50, 60 of them a week, the AI goes through three iterations. Through my initial screen. Does it pass or fail? Fail goes away. Does it go to the next level? Does it go to the next level? I only see the ones that have a 90% confidence level that due diligence is gonna be worth my time. [00:32:05] Speaker B: Okay. [00:32:06] Speaker A: And so that used to take me 30, 40 hours a week, and now it happens in minutes. Minutes. And so what I am able to do now is now I'm able to process even more. I'm able to look at more deals. I'm able to triple your output. Right, exactly. The throughput is phenomenal. And so when we're thinking of about this, if you're thinking about this at home, start thinking about what are the things that you do every single week that's always happening, that's predictable, because those things that are happening repetitively in a predictable pattern, those are the things that you can put a process to and those are the things that you can automate or you can leverage AI to help you accelerate. So start thinking about what are those things that are eating up my time that I do every single week? Because that's going to be your highest ROI as well. One of the things that someone asked me, they wanted to automate something or use AI for something that was a process they ran twice. I'm like, that's not worth your time. You're not going to save enough money on that. You're not going to see an ROI forever because it's only happening twice a month. You want to think about the use cases that are every day in your business, like looking at a policy, what is the best for my client, those kind of things. So if you're in any industry, it's important for you to start thinking about what are the things that are sucking up your time that are repetitive, predictable, you're able to process to it and, and really start diving in, because if you're waiting, you're going to be left behind. Everyone at this point in time should be diving in and learning some sort of way to interact with AI, even if you're just using an open source and asking questions to learn what that even looks like before you do your own. So talk to me about what kind of proactive insights for the business level from the strategic level you guys are able to employ in your business now with AI that maybe you didn't have three to five years ago. [00:33:43] Speaker C: Yeah, big ones, definitely. Data analytics, right? So there's, there's systems out there where you can plug your data in and it'll give you really good results. The next level of that, where I found like the best results is by programming, like using AI coding assistance to build out my own reports very quickly. And so like those things that maybe you only do two times a month, like you can have an AI coding assistant build out that entire automation very quickly, within minutes. Sometimes, sometimes if it's a very simple report, you just give it access to what it needs and you can build it out and set it to remind you. Every month there's things that might take a couple hours to build out or even like a couple weeks, depending on how complicated the task is. But that type of stuff is getting even better, like all the time. Like, even the simple stuff that you think, now this isn't worth it. Well, now I can get something actually automated in 10 minutes. So it's, it's crazy how, how that's been like, just like my life the last couple months. Is just man, like I can do so much more with like automations and reporting and knowing my numbers because I can just dump this into a coding assistant and have it build it all out and give me the report and then validate it, make sure it works and then just keep using it over and over again. [00:34:55] Speaker A: And so folks, if you're listening to this, I just want to kind of like expand on what he just said. He's using this in a CEO fashion to know his numbers and to look at the data and understand where to drive the business. But a lot of times we have middle managers who are doing these reports. Maybe we have six locations and each location has a manager who's reported, required to report. I'm going to use the automotive industry. I have a client who's in the automotive industry and he has this problem. His, his manager is taking two days to compile his financials. That doesn't make any sense. Now you can program what this is into AI it does take a little bit to go in but now his manager can be in the floor handling the people problem, doing those things and generate that report in minutes and just ask it real world questions like you and I talking, what is the, what is the trend? What is our sales pipeline? They can ask those questions and understand it and it saves a lot of time. So be thinking about not only how you can do this in your investment world or as a CEO or as a founder, but also think about how your executives, your your middle managers, how your leaders can be leveraging this to save their time so they can focus more on building your best asset, your people, the people who are serving your client's house. So we do have to take a brief break, but this has been really phenomenal. Remember that if you are leveraging the technology, you are now able to take a proactive approach to your strategy, to your leadership. This isn't just about digitizing your business. It's about de risking it with smart data use and making the right decision faster because you have more, more data at your hands and can make a more intelligent decision. Every business can build a brain by mapping its most repetitive tasks. If you want help with that, reach out to me. If you're an insurance, reach out to Randy. We are going to be right back after these important messages. Welcome Back to power CEOs the truth behind the business. Are you loving what you're watching? Don't miss an amazing moment of power CEOs or any of your favorite now media shows, live or on demand, anytime, anywhere. Go ahead and Download the free Now Media TV app on Roku or iOS and enjoy instant access. If you prefer to Listen on the go catch the podcast version of the show right on NowMedia TV. That's NowMedia TV. From business and breaking news to lifestyle culture and everything in between, we are streaming 24 7. Ready when you are. Without further ado, we are diving into the future with Randy and Ben. The future of insurance is already knocking. Climate volatility, shrinking underwriting appetites, AI disruption, regulatory changes. It's all converging. It's not just in the insurance industry, it's in all industries, folks. Everything is happening right now. In this big final segment, we're going to go big picture on the risks ahead and how to lead through them. So I'm going to start with, guys, what do you see coming down the pipeline in the next 12 to 36 months for insurance as it pertains to CEOs and entrepreneurs who are watching? [00:38:14] Speaker C: A big thing that's coming down is these big carriers, these big insurance companies, like, they're figuring out how to use AI themselves. They're going through it right now. They're making sure that it's compliant and they can use it. So they're giving these tools out there. Some of them are testing out actually AI sales, right? So I mean, that's going to be huge. You're going to to have real people competing with AI sales agents. And which one is going to be better? Like, that'll be the question. [00:38:38] Speaker B: Well, it's already happening. And be honest, I think what insurance companies are going to be doing everywhere is looking for how AI can make them efficient and drive costs down so they can stay competitive in a cutthroat market. And so for agents that are in the business, you better be in AI because you'll be replaced by your carrier if you're not. [00:38:57] Speaker A: And you guys do commercial as well. So what are some of the things that business owners, founders and entrepreneurs need to be thinking differently about from a protection standpoint? Because now we have cybersecurity, we have private privacy, we have data. If we're integrating AI, what are the things that we need to be asking our agents? [00:39:13] Speaker C: Well, one thing is you don't have to ask your agent. You can ask an AI. So dump all of your contracts into the AI, every single document that you've got on a decision you're making, have it analyze it and give you a report so you can see where the loopholes are, where the pain points are. Like, you should be doing that with every single contract. That's coming up for you or any product that you're thinking about buying. You should be using AI to analyze it. They'll analyze it a lot better than a human could and give you a more comprehensive look at it versus a human who may have knowledge gaps. Right. They may not know about this one part of the contract, but know another part very well. AI will be indiscriminate and look at it as a whole and give you everything. [00:39:51] Speaker B: It'll help you be a better decision maker. It'll give you more information. Really, at the end of the day, I always say good decisions come from good information. Good information comes from good questions. So ask the AI, let it give you the information so you can make a better decision. You're still gonna have to go buy the insurance, but you're gonna get it customized right for you. [00:40:07] Speaker A: And so I'm gonna ask you, because you've been in this, you've been in this business for a really, really long time, you're very successful, you've seen it all. What are the one or two things that founders miss when they think about covering their, their businesses? Like, what are the one or two things that most entrepreneurs don't think about that either you educate on or that you spot when maybe they're shopping policies? [00:40:30] Speaker B: Liability, in my opinion, is one of the greatest risks that is out there. And we, we're so focused on covering the shiny object that we forget that there's something far greater behind here. Right? And in almost every state, your net worth and your income is exposed in any kind of a liability lawsuit. So if you're a founder, if you're a net worth millionaire, if you're making a lot of money, you better make sure liability is your number one coverage. Not the personal property you own, but the liability that would cause you to lose everything you've worked your life for. [00:41:03] Speaker C: Second, liability would be life insurance as an asset tool that you can use to accumulate cash. Just like a savings account, you can dump money into a life insurance policy and then you have access to it when you need it. So if you're, if two years down the road, you come to a point where you need to take out a loan to purchase something for your business, you can use the cash in that life insurance policy as collateral, take out a loan from the carrier, and they'll give you that money like within a week, within a couple days sometimes. [00:41:32] Speaker B: So like, we call that float. Warren Buffett used it probably more successfully than anybody else does, and banks do it. The largest owners of life insurance In America are banks, and they use that as a Tier 1 capital asset for access, for investment purposes. [00:41:46] Speaker C: Yeah, we do it in our own business. We got like a whole bunch of policies in there, and one day we're like, hey, do we want to take out a loan on this? No, let's, let's go take the, the asset and that life insurance and use that, collateralize it. [00:41:58] Speaker B: Yep, yep. [00:41:58] Speaker C: So, I mean, it's phenomenal in that sense. If you're just saving money right now in a business and you have a savings account, I would encourage you to take that and put it into a life insurance asset because you're basically getting the benefits of the savings account, but more, you're gonna get better rates, you're gonna have death benefits from it and a bunch of other stuff that you can get in there. So, I mean, it's like a savings account for a business or even a personal person times 10. [00:42:22] Speaker B: Yeah, it's a wealth creation tool and. [00:42:24] Speaker C: It'S an asset to the business. So it adds value to your business when you go to sell it. They look at that as value. [00:42:30] Speaker A: Absolutely. So, guys, we've talked about getting educated, getting insured, risk falling behind if we don't. We've talked about building tech literacy and proficiency into our day today as leaders and also with our teams. We've talked about how AI is part of the new, basically the new CEO job description. It's a new norm, is the new norm. So I want to make sure that each and every one of you start looking at AI as a profit tool, not just as an expense reducer. This has been incredibly eye opening. Thank you guys for all of your expertise. Where can viewers find you if they want to learn more about the insurance industry? I'm going to ask that first and then we'll ask. We'll once again ask, how can they find your brand? [00:43:11] Speaker C: Yeah, honestly, you don't need us anymore. Like, coaching is kind of going to be done away in the near future. What you need is, you need our AI. Our AI is trained on everything we know and more like more than we could ever give you in one conversation. So, like, to get access to that AI, you go to insurance247AI and test it out. Right. And it's improving every day, so it gets better by the minute. It's a powerful tool to teach you how to sell at the highest levels and teach your team members to sell at the highest levels. [00:43:42] Speaker B: No, let's just say I am a little old school and I'm happy to take a phone Call if you want to reach out to me, you can get a hold of me. Look at me on Instagram, therealcowboycoach or Facebook. Randy Thompson, love to hear from you. And I love to connect and make an impact in people's lives. [00:44:00] Speaker A: Thanks, guys. And so we've talked about a lot. We've talked about insurance industry as a whole. We've talked about the risks that, that we have to our businesses and we want to protect that. We talked about a lot of things regarding AI and your AI brain. If, if anybody is watching, whether they're insurance or not, anybody watching, if it's an investor, if it's an executive, it's a founder. What is the one key takeaway that you really want them to walk away from? And I'm gonna go to you first, Randy. [00:44:28] Speaker B: Oh my gosh. The one key takeaway from today. Try new things. If you're not in AI, you better do it. Okay. And use it to train your team. Because there's no way that your team's gonna go forward and stay current without it. [00:44:43] Speaker C: Yeah. And mine would be push your limitations. Right. You probably live in this box where you think you can only be here and something's gotta rock your world enough to realize that there's a whole bunch more out there that you could be doing. It could be you went from eight hours to 20 hours a week, week. And then you realize, huh, that wasn't as bad as I thought it was. Or maybe it's your first time running a marathon and then you realized, huh, I wasn't as bad as I thought it was. So artificial limitations in most sense govern most things we do in our life. And just break down those barriers and try something new. [00:45:15] Speaker A: I love it. Try something new. Push forward. It's time to get going with that. Randy, Ben, thank you so much for giving us a front row seat to both the challenges and the exciting opportunities ahead with insurance industry and AI. You guys have shown us that even in industries facing headwinds, innovation, mindset, the right tools can be the difference between success and failure in the future. And really future proof your business. Thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate both of you. [00:45:39] Speaker B: Our pleasure. Thank you. [00:45:41] Speaker C: Thank you. [00:45:42] Speaker A: And you. Yes, you. It is time for us to take action. This isn't just an insurance episode. It has been a master class. And how to scale during disruption, how to lead through change. And how to future proof your company in an era of exponential uncertainty. Radiant Ben didn't wait for the future. They built it. Now the only question Is will you. Is it time for you to build and keep building boldly? You heard each of them tell you, don't let your limitations stop you. Move forward. Try it. Start today. Well, you know, I'm a coach. I can't help myself. I. If you just watched us for the last hour, that's meaningless. You haven't done anything. You have to actually take action on something in order to build the forward momentum that's going to grow your business and have that impact. So whatever you heard today, whether it's going and start playing with AI, whether it's contact Randy and Ben and learn a little bit more about their insurance brain, or maybe it's I need to contact them and talk about my insurance in general because I really like the idea, idea of this life insurance as an asset aspect. Whatever you heard today that you're not doing, today is the day right now. Not tomorrow, not next week, but right now. To take action on that. Make sure you let them know that you found them on power CEOs. That way they know that I am doing what I say I'm doing and making sure you're taking action. But make sure you take action because that's how we are going to grow and shape the future that we want to be a part of. So without further ado, all things do come to an end, including this show, unfortunately. But the good news is we will be here same time, same station next week. So until then, win today, win this week, and I'll see you next time.