The Insurance Dudes©
The Insurance Dudes©
The Insurance Dudes: Craig Pretzinger and Jason Feltman
The Insurance Dudes is a weekly podcast for independent and captive P&C insurance agency owners, hosted by Craig Pretzinger and Jason Feltman, covering lead generation, sales scripts, DISC-based hiring, producer training, recruiting, automation, and the KPI tracking that scales an agency past $10 million in premium.Craig and Jason ran their own agencies blind for years. No read on contact rates, quote rates, or close rates. Just grinding, and blaming the leads when production stalled. Then they started tracking the numbers that actually move revenue, and production jumped without adding a single hour to the week.That shift became this show: 800+ episodes on what actually runs an agency. Real-time vs aged lead economics, how many dials a day a producer should be making, scripts for the rate-increase objection, how to leave a captive carrier and go independent, how to run an agency on a 4-day week, and how to value and sell an agency when you're ready to exit. No theory, no motivational filler. Just the math and the systems that took two agencies to over $10 million in new annualized auto premium.If you're wearing every hat in your agency and ready to stop, this show is built for you.Website: theidudes.com Built from the show: TeleDudes for outsourced overseas dialers, TeamIQ for DISC-based hiring, LineShield for phone reputation, and Insurance Agency Trader for buying or selling an agency.New episodes every week. Subscribe, and let's sell some policies.
It’s Not the Leads. It’s You.
Shoot Us A Message! Fix your agency lead conversion by replacing random marketing tactics with a repeatable outbound system. We break down why chasing new lead sources fails without a consistent conversion process. This episode covers lead generation, outbound dialing workflows, and the metrics P&C agency owners need to track cost per acquisition accurately. Learn how to structure producer daily activity so inbound and outbound leads actually close. For agencies looking to scale outboun...
Oct 28
27 min
Giving Up Before Dial 21? You’re Leaving Sales on the Table | Nima Hakimi of Convoso
Shoot Us A Message! Improve your insurance lead contact rates by understanding contact rate math and speed-to-lead benchmarks. We sit down with Nima Hakimi, CEO and Co-Founder of Convoso, to break down the reality of outbound dialing and why reaching leads on the 21st attempt burns budget and agent morale. This episode covers outbound dialing workflows, smart cadence strategies, and how modern lead generation requires rapid, automated follow-up to convert web leads before they go cold. If ...
Oct 21
46 min
Surviving a 60% Rate Hike as a Brand-New Agent with Kathy Hitchcock
Shoot Us A Message! How to protect your P&C agency cash flow and survive sudden rate hikes when carrier underwriting guidelines tighten. Discover how to maintain agency growth, manage customer retention, and scale operations through hard market cycles. Kathy Hitchcock, agency owner of Hitchcock Insurance Group in Rome, Georgia, joins us to break down how she navigated back-to-back carrier rate increases of up to 60% as a scratch agent, scaled organic growth, and doubled her business by a...
Oct 14
1 hr 2 min
Meaningful, Customized, Unexpected: Reciprocity That Wins Clients
Shoot Us A Message! Turn insurance prospect conversations into closed business with ethical persuasion and reciprocity. This episode covers how P&C agency owners can leverage behavioral science, active listening, and relationship-driven sales to improve closing rates and client retention. Author and international influence consultant, Brian Ahearn breaks down the practical application of Robert Cialdini's influence principles and explains how meaningful, customized, unexpected outreach s...
Oct 7
51 min
Great Agencies Don’t Hire Salespeople, They Build Them
Shoot Us A Message! Hiring insurance producers who actually write premium comes down to building a repeatable training system rather than searching for a unicorn salesperson. In this episode, we break down why relying on experienced talent often leads to high turnover and bad sales habits inside your agency. Learn how to recruit for coachability, structure daily producer onboarding, and run consistent sales training to ramp new hires to full quota faster. If you need a structured framework t...
Sep 30
28 min
Why Most Agents Fail the Exam
Shoot Us A Message! How to help new insurance producers pass the licensing exam on their first attempt and reduce onboarding drop-off. Melissa, the Insurance Exam Queen joins us to break down why most candidates struggle with the insurance licensing exam and how agency owners can fix their preparation process. When bringing new talent into your agency, long study cycles and repeat test failures cost time and revenue. Structuring a clear study framework helps your new hires get licensed faste...
Sep 23
41 min
The Future of Insurance: Technology, Risk & Relationships
Shoot Us A Message! How P&C insurance agency owners can adapt to modern technology, evaluate emerging risk, and strengthen client retention to scale their business. In this episode, we discuss the changing landscape of insurance technology, managing risk profiles, and maintaining strong relationship-driven service. Learn how to implement sustainable agency growth systems and streamline your operations in a shifting market. If you are looking to scale your agency systems and processes, ch...
Sep 16
53 min
From Wild Claims to Agency Success: Michelle O'Connor's Journey
Shoot Us A Message! Scale your P&C insurance agency by building repeatable operations, handling complex claims, and tightening your client acquisition process. In this episode, we sit down with agency owner Michelle O'Connor to break down the operational shifts required to build a sustainable book of business. We walk through navigating claims handling, transitioning into agency leadership, and setting up daily processes that protect retention while driving steady agency growth. F...
Sep 9
59 min
The 15-Minute Meeting That Changes Everything
Shoot Us A Message! Meetings: the overlooked habit that keeps an agency from falling apart This episode breaks down why daily meetings are the “glue” that keeps an insurance agency running smoothly. We explain how inconsistent check-ins create hidden problems, while short, focused meetings surface roadblocks, accountability gaps, and team momentum before the numbers slip. We discuss why meetings are often avoided, why that avoidance makes problems harder to fix, and how AI tools can help tr...
Sep 2
15 min
$6 Million Non-Renewed - Then Everything Changed with Dan Kitajima
Shoot Us A Message! Struggling to stay profitable when carriers change the rules on you overnight? Dan Kitajima shares the brutal moment his captive agency lost $6 million of book in six months, right as he had just signed a $20,000-a-month office lease - and how that shock forced him to rethink everything. We pushed Dan into the numbers behind the move from captive to independent, from broker fees and comp plans to closing ratios, retention, and why hyper-specializing can beat trying...
Aug 26
46 min
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