"I Bought a PIG to Promote my INSURANCE Business" | How to Win Your Local Market

Summary

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Podcast Summary: "I Bought a PIG to Promote my INSURANCE Business"

Stay Paid Podcast – Episode Date: October 16, 2025
Hosts: Josh Stike & Luke Acree
Guest: Mike Kirtley (AC Company, Kirtley Insurance)

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Episode Overview

In this dynamic episode, Luke and Josh are joined by insurance industry leader Mike Kirtley to explore unconventional, high-impact ways to promote local businesses—especially in rural markets. Mike shares how authentic community involvement, sponsorships, and a focus on relationships have powered his brand, illustrated by stories like buying livestock at county fairs and deeply investing in his local area. The conversation is packed with practical advice for agents and business owners looking to build trust, visibility, and long-term clients through genuine connection and creative marketing.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Challenge of Insurance Marketing in Rural Markets ([01:27]–[03:43])

• Insurance is reactive: People only shop for insurance due to a claim or a price hike.
• Traditional advertising (billboards, Yellow Pages) is largely ineffective for immediate results.
• Memorability is critical: Big insurance companies use mascots and relentless marketing for repetition and recall.
  • Luke: “Geico was trying to get in front of consumers like 37 times a month... If that doesn't teach you about the need to be frequent in front of your database, I don't know what will.” ([03:12])

2. Building a Relatable, Local Brand: Buying Livestock at County Fairs ([03:43]–[06:51])

• Mike “buys a pig” (or cow) at local 4H fairs to support kids, put money back in the community, and build relationships with ideal clients (families, homeowners, drivers).
• Relatability is key: Mike dresses and lives like his clients—jeans and boots, not suits.
  • Mike: “If one of my clients sees me in a suit, they're thinking, I'm going to a funeral.” ([04:35])
• The authentic investment builds trust and makes his brand memorable.

3. The Power of Authentic Reciprocity and Shared Values ([05:19]–[06:21])

• Giving back isn't performative; it’s about sharing values with your community.
• Endearment campaigns: Sponsoring local teams, buying livestock, etc., creates bonds and visibility.

4. Sponsoring the Local Race & The Halo Effect ([06:51]–[09:58])

• Mike’s sponsorship of a friend’s race car, and later a memorial race, demonstrates that investing in causes you care about builds goodwill.
• Luke: “That is called the halo effect in psychology... when you associate yourself with things that are good, people take that association and they apply it to the other things you do.” ([08:26])
• Businesses of purpose attract loyalty and referrals.

5. Living and Leading with Gratitude ([10:04]–[12:31])

• Mike’s daily routine includes sending out 1–2 “gratitude texts” to clients, friends, or colleagues to start the day.
  • Mike: “When you do that first thing in the morning, it changes your entire attitude for the day...” ([11:03])
• Fostering gratitude and positive interactions rewires your mindset, reducing anxiety and boosting drive.

6. Enduring the Highs and Lows of Entrepreneurship ([12:31]–[13:59])

• Entrepreneurship brings emotional swings; contributing positively to others combats discouragement.
  • Mike: “The first thing you should do right then is go do something good for somebody.” ([13:28])

7. Cost & ROI of Community Sponsorships ([14:00]–[15:00])

• Sponsoring livestock: $750–$1,500 per hog, up to $4,000 for a cow; $2,500 for a local race.
• The outlay isn’t insignificant, but it’s highly targeted and delivers meaningful community impact.

8. Leveraging the Chamber of Commerce and Local Leadership ([15:00]–[17:40])

• Mike sponsors a multi-year scholarship for the local “Leadership Huntington” program through his Chamber of Commerce.
  • Builds his brand among 650+ area business leaders—his ideal clientele.
• Strategy: Don’t just attend—actively participate, sponsor, and/or help set the agenda.
  • Mike: “If I join something, I will make a splash. I want people to know I'm there.” ([15:12])

9. The Real Reason Agents Succeed or Fail ([18:23]–[21:15])

• Market cycles, timing, and economic factors play a role, but relatability and persistence matter most.
• Knowing your audience and being authentic are non-negotiables.
  • Mike: “You've got to take the step. The door's open, but you've got to be the one to walk through it.” ([18:13])

10. Volume & Value: The Universal Currency ([20:27]–[21:08])

• Success equals more frequent, more valuable touches than the competition.
  • Luke: “If I can stack the volume of touch points that I do for somebody with the value that I give and I can outweigh the competition… I'll win every time.” ([20:45])

11. Relationship Marketing: “Don’t Be the Pushy Agent” ([21:22]–[23:41])

• Mike avoids hard-selling friends or clients—prefers to build rapport and be top of mind when their need arises.
• Example: A friend (chiropractor) never asked about insurance, but called Mike when he needed help.
• Out of sight, never out of mind: Mike builds a wide, loyal network by focusing on friendship first.

12. Simple Everyday Tactics: Tipping & Cards ([24:53]–[27:05])

• Mike always leaves a business card (and a generous tip) at restaurants—over time, this “reactive marketing” brings in real leads.
  • Mike: “You'd be surprised how many calls I've got because a server enjoyed the time with me...and I leave a business card.” ([25:42])

13. Small Gestures Make a Major Impact ([27:14]–[30:09])

• Be remarkably kind and complimentary—especially to service workers who are often overlooked.
• Authentic kindness can transform your mood and, by extension, your sales results.
  • Mike: “When you go do something like that and you leave whatever store… There’s a feeling inside of you that… you are Superman.” ([29:52])

14. Don’t Have Two Identities ([30:11]–[30:43])

• Integration of personal and professional values creates consistency, trust, and freedom.
  • Mike: “You should be the same person all the time. And if you do that, life will get easier, I promise you.” ([30:13])

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Mike on Authenticity:
  “I gotta be relatable to my clients. I wear jeans, I wear boots. I'm just like them. And when there's that relatability and then they see you're giving, it does nothing but launch your brand.” ([05:09])

• Luke on Marketing Frequency:
  “They're trying to hit you 37 times a month. If that doesn't teach you about the need to be frequent in front of your database, I don't know what will.” ([03:14])

• Mike on Doing Good First:
  “The first thing you should do right then is go do something good for somebody.” ([13:28])

• Mike on Gratitude Texts:
  “I send out a gratitude text, at least one, no more than two, every morning... it changes your entire attitude for the day because it reframes your mind into thinking, what can I do? Not, what do I have to do?” ([10:54]–[11:14])

• Luke on Value:
  “If you provide value to people, if you give more than you take... I can stack the volume of touch points... with the value that I give and I can outweigh the competition.” ([20:28]–[21:08])

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Actionable Takeaways

• Daily Practice: Send out 1–2 gratitude texts every morning to clients, friends, or family ([11:02], [32:07]).
• Find Relatable Ways to Be Involved: Sponsor local events, fairs, or relevant causes—especially those embraced by your community ([03:43]–[09:58]).
• Be Your True Self: Integrate who you are in life with who you are in business—don’t compartmentalize ([30:11]).
• Leverage Small Gestures: Over-tip and leave business cards while being genuinely personable; these simple acts build rapport and lead to business ([25:02]–[27:05]).
• Invest in Long-Term, Value-Based Networking: Go beyond passive participation—actively support business leadership programs or similar community advancement vehicles ([15:04]–[17:40]).

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Must-Listen Timestamps

• 03:43: Mike’s story about buying livestock at county fairs
• 08:26: The “halo effect” and its power in marketing
• 11:02: Starting every day with gratitude
• 15:12: Proactive involvement in the Chamber of Commerce
• 21:22: The importance of not “selling” friends—relationship-first marketing
• 25:42: Everyday tactics: over-tipping, leaving business cards
• 30:11: The importance of a unified personal and business identity

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Episode Vibe & Tone

The conversation is down-to-earth, humorous, and rich with real-life stories. The hosts and Mike foster a tone of both motivation and actionable inspiration, making listeners feel empowered to try these approachable, human-centric marketing tactics in their own businesses.

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Final action item from Luke:

“Between top producers and mediocre producers, the only difference is top producers take action. Take action on that today.” ([32:07])

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Transcript

[A]

Foreign, your number one sales and marketing podcast on a mission to help you close more deals, keep more clients, and build the life of freedom you're working towards. That can only happen if you're willing to take action today. My name is Josh Dyke, Chief marketing officer at Reminder Media, joined as always by Luke Acre, president of Reminder Media. And our guest today is Mike Kirtley. Mike has been a key member of AC company since 2019 and now leads the vendor partner program. There is. With a background as a successful nationwide exclusive agent where he led his agency's transition to independence, Mike has built a reputation for navigating change with skill and strategy. Mike, welcome to Stay Paid. Thanks for being here, guys.

[B]

Thank you all. This is, this is an honor. I'm really happy to have this opportunity to sit down with you all.

[C]

Yeah, Mike, we love having you on the show. I love the AC company, Kenny and the boys there and everything that you guys are doing, you're really blowing up and taking over. I'm really interested to dive in because you run your own agency as an insurance agent. And for every business listening to this, whether you're in real estate, insur insurance, financial advising, we have a myriad of businesses that listen to the show. I think they can get some great takeaways from you on ideas of how to reach your community and build your brand. Because that's always what we're trying to do as a business owner is like, hey, we want to get in front of our ideal target audience and get known like, and trust it. The question for all of us is, how do you do it? How do you do it from a cost effectiveness? How do you do it from a return on investment? You're unique because you're in like a really rural place.

[B]

Yeah, I'm in West Virginia, so our whole state's population is like the same population of Tampa, Florida. Yeah, it's, it's a little, little more logistically difficult here. But you're right, it's. It's top of mind awareness. It. Insurance, I've always said, is something that's very, very difficult to market because you're reactive marketing. No one had, you know, back in the day, 20 years ago, 30 years ago, you had yellow page ads, you had billboards. I never got a phone call from anybody driving down the road looking at a billboard going, hey, that guy's pretty good looking. I'm going to call him for a quote. And that's never happened. Okay. People only buy insurance for two reasons. They have a claims issue or they have a premium issue.

[C]

That's so true.

[B]

So how do you market yourself to be top of mind when one of those issues arises? And that becomes very difficult. You can't run Labor Day sales, you know, you can't run all these other things that retail outlets do. So how do you market yourself to your point, build your brand because your brand's all you got. I mean, it's your name, that's all there is.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

And you see that with the big conglomerates, like the Gecko for Geico or the, you know, whatever. What is it?

[A]

The after Limu. Emu. Yeah.

[B]

Right.

[C]

Flow like all of them have built what we would consider like mascots, but branding to try to become more memorable to the consumer because it's all about memorability. I sat on a panel one time. This will shock people. I said on a panel in Phoenix, Arizona, and I believe it was a guy who used to help out and run marketing for Geico. And he had mentioned on this panel that Geico was trying to get in front of consumers like 37 times a month. And now of course, it's like it's a bunch of different mediums, right? TV commercials, billboards, postcards, emails, you name it.

[B]

Sponsored ads on Facebook.

[C]

Yeah, they're trying to hit you 37 times a month. If that doesn't teach you about the need to be frequent in front of your database, I don't know what will. Can you tell us how you have uniquely gone about trying to spread the Mike Kirkley brand in insurance in your community? I would love for you to start with the story you told me. I think when we first got together, which about like the county fair, like you literally do something at the county fair to kind of. I thought that was super unique.

[B]

Yeah. West Virginia, I mean, every county here, they have a county fair every summer. I mean, you know, you see it on TV sometimes in Texas or out west or something. But we still have county fairs here. A lot of states don't. We still do. And all the county fairs have livestock auction. I mean these, these kids raise cows, chickens, beef, hogs, it doesn't matter. You know, they raise these animals through the, through the FFA programs in their schools and they take them to auction and those kids work their animals and then they sell them and they take that money and apply it towards college. I mean, that's what they do. Well, the, the people you meet at these auctions, these are the people that you want to have as clients. They're hard working people. They have a home in an auto, they have kids that's going to be driving one day if they're not driving. You know, those are your target markets. They're the ones that fix problems themselves, don't turn in claims. So how do you get in front of them? Well, I'll go to the fair and buy a hog. I'll get in the auction, of course, buy half of a pig or half of a cow. I mean, you know, but what happens is you become relatable. And that's the one thing that I think so many people miss out on, especially in insurance. You have to be relatable to your clientele. I wore a suit this past May when I got married. Before that, I don't think I wore a suit for about 20 years because it's not me. If one of my clients sees me in a suit, they're thinking, I'm going to a funeral. I mean, I'm just saying, it's just so I got to be relatable to my clients. I wear jeans, I wear boots. I'm just like them. And when there's that relatability and then they see you're giving, it does nothing but launch your brand.

[C]

Yeah, that, that's the key thing there is the reciprocity of your investing in things that they value and things that they do insincerely, like it's an authentic investment. And I see this a lot of times in marketing from. I call it endearment campaigns, where you are investing back into the community through a charity, through, like sponsoring the little league team. In essence, this is like another variation.

[B]

Exactly.

[C]

Sponsoring the little league team.

[B]

Yes.

[C]

But you're buying a hog or whatever it is at the county auction, which is awesome. This is like where Josh and I grew up, because we both grew up in the county, you know, in the country. Counties.

[B]

Sure.

[C]

Yeah. And so. But what you're doing is your brand is shown there because you're. Are you buying it as Mike Kirkley insurance or just Mike Kirkley Kirkley Insurance? Yeah, there you go. So your brand is named, and then you're also connecting with the families. They see that you're one of them. And people do business with people they know like, and trust. And like is not personality purely. It is shared values. Shared values. People that I am like is who I want to do business with.

[B]

Yeah, I. I heard something a long time ago that said if you make a friend, you can make a sale. You know, so, you know, you, you go to the, the fair, you buy something. What. You know, the parents are thrilled that, that their kid was able to make money. They want to talk to you. They want to be your friend. Then you start talking to them about insurance. You're able to work with them and help them out. Well, they're going to tell everybody else in their family because that's their niece, that's their nephew that got helped, you know, when I bought their animals. So the word just starts spreading.

[C]

So the second unique thing you're doing, which I think is interesting, because we had a lady named Medicare Misty on the show, shout out to Medicare Misty. She's. You got to go check out her episode. She's like the queen of Medicare and she just crushes it. But she also does some sponsorships around a race car driver. Can you share what you're doing, how you got into that in this whole sponsorship thing and what happened there? Cause I think it ties in.

[B]

It does. And this is a sad story, I hate to say, but started sponsoring a guy several years ago. We have a local racetrack, several classes, street stocks, legends, all that stuff, and got to know him, got him as a client. Great guy, Never asked for a lot for sponsorship. He goes, whatever you can give me will help. I tend to give him more than he would ask for because he was so humble about it. So I sponsored him for years. Last November. October, November. It's been almost a year ago. Was diagnosed with cancer. I saw him right before Christmas, and he had already. Cancer took £50 from him. He died in February. 54 years old. Died of cancer. So the racetrack is having a memorial race for him. So what I've done was I upped what I usually did. I spent extra money. But the race is now his memorial race sponsored by Kirtley Insurance, where I was his longtime sponsor. I wanted that to be part of the memorial that they're doing for it. So I've branded the whole race under currently insurance.

[C]

That is called the halo effect in psychology, which is like, I always am cautious when I talk about this stuff because, yeah, you don't want to make it. You don't do it. You did it because he's a friend. You did it because you know. But the added benefit of that, from a marketing standpoint, and this is the takeaway for people, is when you associate yourself with things that are good, people take that association and they apply it to the other things you do. So if you see me giving back at reminder media to the homeless or giving back, you naturally apply that. That's how Luke runs his business. And whether it's true or not, and hopefully it is true, but they apply that. And that's called the halo effect in psychology. So you should be thinking, hey, how do I get in front of my clients and invest in the things that they love? That's your county fair auction type thing that you did. Second is how do I give back to my community in a way that showcases the values that I stand for? And I want to invest in the community. So you get the halo effect, because then that elevates. I mean, the example I always give when I'm speaking is the Fortune 50 companies all have a charity, Right. But the ultimate thing is they want to raise their stock price. Like, that's what they're after, is they. They need to get their stock price up. Why do they have a charity? I'm not limiting that. They are not good people. They are good people, but it's because they know in the line I always use is businesses. No, consumers want to do business with businesses of purpose.

[B]

Absolutely not.

[C]

Businesses of profit. Yes. Profit should be the benefit that comes from doing things of purpose.

[B]

You know, I heard a. I heard a pastor once say, if you do the right thing, blessings will chase you down.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

So it doesn't matter what you're doing, be it in your personal life, be it your business life. And that's something. It just aggravates me to no end is how many people have two different lives. Yeah, they have a business life and a personal life. It shouldn't be that way. You should be agreeing. So if you do the right thing, it doesn't matter. You're going to get blessed. Be it at work, in your office, with new clients, at home, it doesn't matter. Just do the right thing. One of the things I started doing a while ago, and I do it every day, and honestly, this changes everything. I send out a gratitude text, at least one, no more than two, every morning. It can be to a client, it could be to a family member, it could be to a friend. I sent one this morning to a friend of mine who's an agent that we've just got a friendship with, and he's halfway across the country. And it's just simple. Hey, I hope you're doing well. Been thinking about you. Want to tell you I appreciate you. Thanks for being there. Have a great week.

[C]

That's so great.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

But what happens is when you do that first thing in the morning, it changes your entire attitude for the day because it reframes your mind into thinking, what can I do? Not, what do I have to do?

[A]

What.

[B]

What can I do to help people be it in insurance or anywhere else. And then it gets you thinking how blessed you really are.

[C]

Well, you know what's funny, man, is I saw an Instagram clip one time, so you got a fact check it to see if it's actually true. But it was powerful. You know, you can't totally believe what you see on TikTok and Instagram.

[B]

What?

[C]

But basically.

[B]

Hold on, let me, let me redo some things. Hold on, guys.

[C]

I'm hoping this one, I'm hoping this is true because I thought it was a pretty powerful examp. It was basically that when you study the human brain, when the human brain is thinking of thoughts of thankfulness and gratitude, it cannot fire the part of the brain that is about worry and stress and anxiety. No, I believe that it's like a counter. It's a counter. It's like when you are firing the part of the brain that is all about thankfulness, you. It's. I don't want to say it's impossible, but it's like it's defeats the part of the brain that's firing about worry and stress and anxiety. And I thought that was really cool. I hope it is true because that is true. Yeah, I know, I know. Biblically, it's a true thing. I don't know physiology wise, because I'm not, you know, well educated enough.

[B]

Let's talk about running a business. How many times you know this? They say the life of an entrepreneur is the highest of highs, the lowest of lows every 15 minutes a day.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

And that's true if you, if you're running an agency or any business.

[C]

I was in Phoenix. I was in Phoenix, Arizona last night, feeling on top of the world. And yesterday I came back to the office. Cover yours, Josh. Josh wasn't here though. He's on vacation. Maybe this is why I felt that is I came back to and I was just like, God, man. I went from like level 10 to negative 2. Right. Because of all the problems.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

That it's like. And it's just amazing how it's just like I came in so motivated and left so, so defeated. And so it's like it happens to everybody because it's just like when you are taking whatever it is, the content in that's punching you in the face.

[B]

Yep. And what happens is you get that all day long every day. Right. And eventually you become paralyzed by it. I mean, it kind of causes even a mental paralysis. You're not as creative, you're down, you're stressed. Now you're worried.

[A]

Yeah, Seriously.

[B]

So the first thing you should do right then is go do something good for somebody.

[C]

That's so well said.

[B]

I mean, just. It doesn't matter what it is. Literally help an old lady get something off the top shelf at the Walmart. It doesn't matter. One ripple effect will have more. So when you start doing that, you're absolutely right. I think you're a thousand percent on point. I think it is physio physiologically true because it is biblically true. And that is when you give. It does change who you are. And it doesn't have to be money. It's anything.

[C]

Yeah, it truly does.

[A]

What if you can kind of for the. Everybody listening, like, what do you spend on those types of programs? Whether it's the, the county fairs, like, are you comfortable sharing? Like.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. So depending on the community, you, you know, if you buy a cow, which I typically don't because I can't eat all. I can eat a lot of meat. That's a lot of meat. I mean, I'm good with a T bone a day. But now after a while, I got to take a break. You know, you're three or four grand before butcher bills and everything. You can buy a hog anywhere from 750 to 1500. I spent 2500 for the race. So it's not major money, but it's, it's, it's enough money that it helps.

[C]

And it turns heads and it makes you pay attention. Yeah. Because you're spending enough to where you want to make sure that you're doing, you know, you're doing a good event or you're doing, you know, you're actually getting a bang for your buck. Can you talk a little bit? Because that's a great segue into the chamber of commerce strategy.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Which I don't think a lot of people are doing. I thought this was unique. Can you share about that?

[B]

Yeah. So our local chamber. I just joined our local chamber because there's a new president that used to work with my wife. So she's been wanting me to join. I've never joined. And we've talked about it back and forth. And I told her, I said, here's the issue. I don't like joining anything. And riding, riding bench, that's just not me. You know, if I join something, I will make a splash. I want people to know I'm there. So my wife, last year in our local chamber, they have a thing called Leadership Huntington. I'm out of Huntington, West Virginia. And it's. You have to apply for this. They Only take so many per year, like two dozen. It cost fifteen hundred dollars and it's once a month. They actually go to different business types. They learn about the area, they learn about leadership. You know, so this is a thing for people to become better in the business world. Here in our local area, well, that costs $1,500. Not a big deal. However, there are a lot of people that apply that are, you know, one or two years in business. They don't have $1,500 or a nonprofit. That is hard to justify that. So what I decided to do, I signed a three year commitment that I would sponsor a scholarship through the chamber for someone to attend this leadership Huntington annual training class for the next three years. So I'll be sponsoring three different people. I signed a three year commitment, so I'm paying for them to go through now. In conjunction with that, I had to have, I had to be on the selection team and I had to be on the criteria determination team. You know, if my name's on it, I want to make sure I know what criteria I'm looking for. I don't have to have final pick, but I want to be involved if my name's on it. And of course that met with no resistance whatsoever. They were thrilled that I wanted to be a part of it. So now start, it's going to start next August, but I'm going to have a scholarship under the Curtly insurance umbrella to help build business owners in our local community.

[C]

That's so smart, man.

[B]

Well, and think about the check this.

[C]

Owner client for like, man, seriously, it's like, what a great way to influence the other people who want to influence people in their community.

[B]

Right. And look at it this way. If you're an insurance agent, who's your target market? Your target market is the 40 to 60 year old married family with kids and a house, a couple cars, maybe a teenage driver. I mean, that's who you want because that business is, it's, it's the stickiest business. You have less, you have better retention. Or our chamber has 650 members in it. Most of them are business owners or business leaders.

[C]

Okay.

[B]

There's 650 of my desired clientele right there.

[C]

Yeah, see, I don't see a lot of people. We've never really heard people, maybe one or two over 700 episodes. Talk about chamber of commerce. We should really try to find an expert.

[B]

And here's why. I've been to several of the events. You know, they do the after hours and they'll do all this Stuff. And here's what happens. Everybody gets a click of friendship. And then when you go to these after hours, the same four people are talking to the same four people at every event.

[C]

Yeah. It's very hard to teach people how to be good networkers. Right.

[B]

Nothing happens. So what happens is the chamber, eventually the chamber ends up not being a marketing tool for who you are because no one does anything. You've got to take the step. I mean, that's the thing. The door's open, but you've got to be the one to walk through it.

[C]

So you're really successful as an insurance agent, agency owner. Why is it that so many insurance agents fail within just a couple years? What is it about the ones who make it versus the ones who don't that you see?

[B]

Well, I will tell you the first part about that may have nothing to do with the person. It may have to do with the climate of the industry.

[C]

Okay.

[B]

So if you think about from COVID up, it has been the worst five years and it's turning now. So thankfully, you know, the end of last year started turning. This year it's turning a lot more. But we've had the worst four years in history in insurance. Premium hikes were across the board. Carriers quit appointing anybody. I mean, no one could get an appointment. If you didn't have one, you couldn't get one. We had massive inflation, supply and demand issues. You know, Covid brought all kinds of other issues to the table. So you could have a person who tried in the past couple of years, they could get one appointment, but if their premiums were too high, they were out of business. They couldn't sell enough. So a lot of it is the agent, A lot of it is the timing, you know, and the market conditions. You know, stock market has bull and bear markets. It's the same with insurance. It's just not market. No one tells anybody about it.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Now let's say it's a good market. Maybe they're just not relatable. There was a guy that moved into a local hometown and he wore a suit every day. No one in that town wore a suit. I hate to keep coming back to that, but they're afraid he's going to get. They're going to get screwed by. Who's this guy trying to.

[A]

Well, he's.

[B]

What's he trying to sell me? I don't know him.

[C]

You know, so there's like knowing your audience. I think that's where.

[B]

Yeah, yeah.

[C]

I think that's where the trickiness comes in because you almost have two tension based things. And this is life. Life is always about push and pull. But you have one where it's like, what if he is a guy that actually does wear a suit and that's what he enjoys, but he can't connect to the community, so now he has to be a chameleon to change himself. But then you have the other.

[B]

He's not real. And you can sense it.

[C]

Exactly, exactly. So you go, how do, how do you win? How do you win at that point?

[B]

And it's tough.

[C]

Well, that's why I think it's like where my mind goes. I don't know what you guys think about this. My mind goes to. The universal currency that is out there is if you provide value.

[B]

Yes.

[C]

To people. If you give more than you take.

[B]

Yes.

[C]

Then it's like, I see it as like volume and value. If you look at a scale, you go, if I can stack the volume of touch points that I do for somebody with the value that I give and I can outweigh the competition, the other people in the industry that are trying to earn that same client, and I have more volume, meaning I'm in front of them more and I have more value being delivered than I'll win every time.

[B]

Yeah. And see, I do something different. I'm. I never wanted to be that insurance guy that everybody makes fun of. Right.

[C]

So I don't tell him, Josh, or I probably am. I'm just kidding.

[B]

But I mean, here's a great example. My chiropractor, he's a friend of mine. He's been to my house many times. I'm not going to tell you his name, but I'll tell you how close to a friend of mine he is. A couple of years ago on my birthday, he called me and asked me if I was home. I said, yeah. He goes, well, I got something for you. He brought me a mason jar of clear homemade moonshine.

[A]

That's awesome.

[B]

And homemade dynamite.

[A]

This will help your back.

[B]

And homemade dynamite.

[C]

Oh, my gosh. Okay. That is. I don't know if that's a friend or a frenemy.

[B]

Yeah. I mean, you know, but what happened.

[A]

With the moonshine and dynamite?

[B]

I'll let your mind go with that one. But needless to say, that's what happens. Okay.

[C]

It went boom.

[B]

It went boom. But he called me this morning, closing on a house. I have none of his insurance. Now, he's been a friend of mine for 12, 15 years. I've never once asked him about his insurance. He knows what I do. I never wanted him to say he's coming back in, he's gonna ask me again. Never done that. Now what happens is, over time, you get all those people's clients.

[C]

Absolutely.

[B]

You get them because they know who you are. They know you'll come through in a pinch for them. They know, you know, you've developed that give attitude. You've always tried to help people. And then when the situation arises again, it goes back to the reactive marketing. He's having a problem with his current provider. He needed help. He called me this morning. He says, man, I gotta have this. I said, you'll have it today. So I've got my staff working on it right now. We're working on a few things. After this call, I'm going to reconvene with them, go over some numbers and figure out the best way to make it work for him. But I think too many people that started this, they go. And they go wide open and let me write your insurance. Let me quote your insurance. When I got started, the guy that I started with had me sit down and this has been 20, 22 years ago, gave me a notebook. Write down 200 people. You know. Now this was before Facebook. This was before iPhones. So you didn't have a contact list you can scroll through. Right. Write down 200 names and then get their phone numbers. And he said, but here's what you do. Call them. Tell them what your new career is. Ask them to call you if they ever need anything. Get off the phone.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Don't sell them a thing. Yeah, that's what I did and that's what I've done.

[C]

If you think about it tactically, right? It's like the reason why we tend to ask and try to sell people that don't need to be sold is because we are not reaching enough people. Our pipeline is not full enough. You got to get a bigger top of funnel to. To where you don't have the pressure to make a deal where there doesn't need to be a deal. Right. You're a real estate agent. It's like, hey, look, it's okay if you're not looking to buy or sell. Right. Today, I just want to be there when you need somebody. And I heard it said once at a conference. I forget what conference it was at, but it's like people are living their movie, they're not living yours. And so you're trying to reach people where you're at right now, but the truth is they're in their own movie. Your goal is to just Be known, liked and trusted. So when the point of their movie comes where they have that pain point, like your friend, you're just explaining, they think of you and they come to you. But if you think of like the volume you put in of just touches and just relationship and the value that you put in, you just outweighed the current insurance agent that they had. And they had a pain point pop up with them where they couldn't service them and boom, they came to you.

[B]

In practicality, here's something I do every time I go out to eat anywhere, you know, lunch with a client or a friend or dinner, what have you. Doesn't matter.

[C]

I'm.

[B]

You all can't tell. I'm very personable. I know it's shocking, right? You have to draw it out of me, you know, but you know, I'm always joking with the waiter, the waitress. I'm always making everything fun, you know, but it forms a bond quickly, you know, because, you know, my son is a server at a restaurant. I used to be when I was in college. That's a hard life because you got, you know, some people are just.

[C]

Yeah, they're nasty, man.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Yeah. Well, I make them feel good because everybody should feel good. But if they've had a good experience serving me, I always make sure I over tip because I came from the serving industry. But I leave a business card.

[A]

Smart.

[B]

I always leave a business card. Every table I leave. And you would be surprised how many calls I've got because a server enjoyed the time with me just waiting on me. But I wasn't meant to. I always, and I hate to say this, let's go back to what you learn as a 4 year old. Always say please and thank you. You know, you do what's right. Well, they like you, they'll call you. It happens all the time.

[C]

Yeah, it's so good. Yeah. What's a good tip? What's a good tip that you, what do you tip?

[A]

You tip 20 baseline would be 20, but if it's really good. Yeah, I would do more.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. I'm usually in that 25, 30 range.

[C]

Yeah. Like barely service.

[B]

I won't go below 20 just because people need to live.

[C]

I mean. Yeah, that's literally bare minimum is 20. Yeah. But it's like normally you go over.

[B]

I usually shoot 25, 30%.

[C]

Okay.

[B]

You know, if they've done well.

[C]

I was just curious what you guys thought a good tip was. Yeah, yeah.

[B]

And if they've done well, if they've been personable too, you know, I'll. I'll 30%, give or take. I mean, I've been to, I frequent a few restaurants and usually when I do, I'll get a little bit knocked off the bill, whether they didn't charge me for that one beer, you know, and there's always something. And I mean, I've been known to go as high as 40% or whatever to help them out, you know, but that sticks with them. Then I leave my.

[C]

It does, man.

[B]

It's like this guy gave more. He was fun to deal with.

[C]

Yep.

[B]

It's again though, it builds a reactive marketing.

[C]

It is, it is crazy. Like. And notice this the next time you're out there. Cashiers, waitresses, waiters, people who serve on you, just the lack of just happiness and like bring in. And I try to tell my kids this, they're still young. It's like, hey, you gotta, you know, basically bring what you want to experience. So if you, if you want to experience joy and peace and happiness, you gotta be that in the room. Like, you've got to bring that to people and change the atmosphere, man.

[A]

It might be you. Everyone seems happy when you.

[C]

Yeah, when they're talking to you.

[B]

Yeah, I mean they see me walk in a room, it's like, you know, you know.

[C]

No, but you're probably true.

[B]

You're on to something though.

[C]

But I'm saying we went. When we were in Phoenix, we went to this sake house thing with some people after the conference and that waitress was phenomenal. She was unbelievable. She's so happy. She was just, you know, you could tell that she was professional. But it was like the difference versus. It's like average is nice. Yeah, but average is nice.

[B]

Average is nice. Well, you know, right.

[C]

The nice waiter. But, but they're not going above and beyond. They're not trying to make it seem like a great. It's like. And I'm not coming at the waitresses and waiters. I'm just saying, even for yourself, it's like you're literally doing something so simple, which is just being happy and nice and making people laugh and it makes all the difference.

[B]

You know, we talked about this a few minutes ago. You know, when you do something nice, it changes your day. If you really want to change your day. If you go to any fast food restaurant, Walmart, CRO, you know those cashiers and people, man, they just get beat up all day long. They do, they are just beat up all day long. Don't go to the self checkout, go to where someone's checking you out. And. And look at the woman there and just say, hey, you know what? Your hair looks really nice today.

[A]

Compliments goes a long way. Yeah.

[B]

She's going to feel noticed because no one else has noticed her at all.

[A]

Yep.

[C]

Yes. Dale Carnegie right there.

[B]

Yeah, but I mean, just people. You know what? Your hair looks really nice. She's going to smile. It's going to make her day. Yeah. And yours does, too. You're talking to me.

[C]

I was.

[B]

I mean, it's. You know, the beard, the beer does it.

[C]

I mean, it's.

[B]

Yeah. I mean, you know, I can't go there. I mean, I got the Santa Claus look.

[C]

You can't have everything in life. Right. I can't grow a good beard.

[B]

I can't either.

[A]

You know, I can't grow out of hair.

[C]

And that's.

[B]

We're all behind a little. But, but, but. No, seriously, when you go do something like that and you leave whatever store you're at.

[C]

Yeah, man.

[B]

There's a feeling inside of you that, man, you are Superman. You're on top of the world. Because that person felt noticed and you made a genuine change in her. You can go out and sell 10 policies after that because your mindset has shifted. You're in a better place.

[A]

Yeah, absolutely. It's a great life lesson.

[B]

Well, it really is.

[C]

It truly is.

[B]

And that's where I said earlier, people have two identities. They have their home identity and they have their work identity. That's where they mess up. You should be the same person all the time. And if you do that, life will get easier, I promise you. Because you're not trying to be something you're guaranteed.

[C]

Yeah. And you don't have to keep track of who you were to each person and what story you spun to each person. It just gets overwhelming.

[B]

Well, it does. I mean, you can't keep track of it, for one.

[C]

It's like, that's. Yeah. Just. There's no freedom in that.

[B]

No, no.

[A]

I love it. Mike, really appreciate you coming on the show today. Close out here. Let people know how they can learn more about you. Learn more about AC companies. Whatever you want to. Whatever you want.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

So the AC [e-mail] great way to go and get connected with us there. For me. Curtly insurance.com or look me up on Facebook or Instagram. It's under the Mike Curtley because there's only one of me. So I've got to be the. You know. But yeah, hit me up. DM me if anybody's got questions. Man. Listen, I love Helping people. I love giving advice. Not saying it's the best advice, but I love giving it. So if anyone needs anything, reach out to me. I'd love to help.

[A]

Well, we've, we've had a lot of people on the show and have heard a lot of advice and yours is pretty, pretty dang good advice.

[C]

That's a line I'm going to use on my wife, though. Yeah, I'll give you advice. I'm not saying it's the best advice. Not even saying you want it exactly.

[B]

But my God, it's advice.

[C]

I love giving it.

[A]

Thank you, Mike. And thank you all so much for listening. You can get the links mentioned in this episode along with the video [e-mail] and if you like this episode and want to show your support, go to YouTube.com reminder reminder media, make sure you subscribe to the channel and give this video a thumbs up. And the best way to support the show is simply to share this episode with somebody that you know. If you want to get hold of me or Luke, you can email us@podcast remindermedia.com and of course, you can follow us on Instagram as well. We are at staypaid Podcast for this episode of Stay Paid. I'm Josh Steik.

[C]

Guys, I'm Luke Acrey. Mike, thank you so much. So many great takeaways, man. From people, you know, sponsoring and buying something at the auction at the county fair, to the chamber of commerce strategy hecto sponsor a race car, ladies and gentlemen. You gotta get around the people here in your community with the values and the things that they enjoy and appreciate. That's how you're going to make a difference. Here is my action item, though. For you guys, it's very simple but very powerful. If you listen to Mike, he wakes up every day and he sends two text messages of gratitude. And that is such an easy action item. And maybe you don't want to do the text. Maybe you just want to at your local gas station or grocery store, just say a compliment to somebody to make their day. But I would challenge you over the next week from this podcast to the next one you listen to, because you got to come back and keep subscribing and listening to Stay Paid. Send out two texts today of gratitude to somebody in your sphere, one of your friends, one of your family members, just telling them that you're thinking of them, that you appreciate that they're in, in your life. Remember, between top producers and mediocre producers, the only difference is top producers take action. Take action on that today.

[A]

Sa.