Discussing the Importance of Virtual Assistant and Agency Growth with CY Young
In today’s episode of the Get Savvy Podcast, Cy Young, a golf lover, smart, and successful agency owner with a mission to serve and give back to the community talks to us about how he is growing his agency profitably. Initially, after hurdling around through opportunities, Cy started off with Young Hughes Insurance in the year 2013. After getting his hands on it with the capability of connecting with other individuals, he opened another agency; Haven Insurance in 2020. Unfortunately, the timing didn’t go according to Cy’s plan and after a good progression of almost five weeks, the world hit a pandemic. Cy Young’s strength to stand forth and keep the business running is something admirable for other agency owners out there. He has been able to enlighten us with opportunities for purchasing agencies, recommendations and his game plan for the year 2022.
His successful acquisitions, even after a few glitches, are the way of his growth in the insurance business. Networking and connections have always been a priority for Cy. One of his commendable traits is staying focused and keeping in touch with the aging agencies which somehow proves to be the underlying factor of his expanding business. According to Cy, when expanding, it is better to have the know-how of the companies and agency owners, but one needs to be careful while taking advantage, as not everything needs to be considered as a shiny object that is to be achieved. Sometimes chasing directly for something might be a waste of time and energy. Cy believes in the go-getter attitude, whatever comes your way either simple or easy, just get it done with the same approach as if it’s something big you are achieving. Eventually, it creates a path to meet the wanted target.
Cy believes that insurance is a people-helping business, and you can also help your employees by awarding and recognizing their efforts, letting them know that they have their backs secured. Little appreciation gifts and certificates are motivation boosters that leads the team to work better in a team-driven environment. The relationship between employees is crucial for the advancement of the business. He emphasized greater participation, incorporating families of the younger agents, and having multiple family outings and interactive sessions.
In addition to culture, Cy Young emphasizes two-way integration between systems is extremely important to keeping the cost-effective techniques intact alongside the business, which might serve the company in the longer run. He mentioned agency zoom, CRM, and Hawksoft are in the process of getting a two-way incorporate for sales and service centers. . This user-friendly technology eventually smoothens the achievement of targeted tasks on time.
The role of social media is undeniable; the platforms and opportunities it brings along are the future. Cy believes in bringing a visual person onto the panel, which helps him and the task process itself, rather than getting indulged in paper notes and emails. He has transformed the process by submitting tickets and hiring virtual associates for documentation. For the further easiness of the business attracting customers, Cy has been aiming to formulate an integrated mobile app with Glovebox, creating a link with an online portal for customer management.
Cy also mentions the importance of virtual professionals (VA’s) working for the company. Their assistance in this fast-paced and attractive business makes the job easier for agency owners. To gain the best out of them, it is necessary to make sure they are precisely guided on what tasks they must perform. Their ways of learning must be unique and approachable in accordance with their capabilities. In order to build a trustworthy relationship with your virtual assistant, the trust element needs to be there which will obviously take a couple of days to be built. Another challenge that arises is fighting the language barrier which demands the communication lines be kept open for getting to know the assistants and forming a deeper connection with them. The aim is to start off with smaller tasks and then gradually assign them greater responsibilities that they can achieve. Virtual Assistance has been fruitful for Cy Young’s business expansion by nailing down several processes for his agency. This alignment brings more discipline and easiness to the table.
The key takeaways appear to automate tasks in the company and keep the daily check-ins intact to form a reliable and trustworthy relationship with the employees. Marketing outsourcing and hitting the targeted clients is also an attractive approach to let the business grow in this circle.