Hey everyone, it’s Jeremy from Ochsner Insurance, and welcome to this week’s Jeremy’s Journal—the one-take update for mid-week 7/18/2024. Last week, we were privileged to be on vacation, but now we’re back in the office, and I’m excited to share some big news with you.
Big News: Hiring a Virtual Employee
Today is a significant day for Ochsner Insurance. We signed the contract for our first virtual employee! We couldn’t be more excited about this step forward. I want to give a huge shoutout to Agency VA, Virtual Intelligence, and InsBoss for the quality people we met during this discovery journey process. Thanks to everyone involved—you were and are fantastic!
The Journey to This Decision
Several podcasts and industry experts have influenced this decision, and I want to acknowledge them. Shoutout to the Power Producers Podcast by David Carothers, the Scratch Agency Podcast by Sean and Stephen, and the Insurance Guys Podcast by Bradley and Scott. Your insights have been invaluable. A special thanks to agency principals Nikki & Dawn for your time at Producer’s in Paradise on the topic of virtual employees. Your feedback and support was simply invaluable.
Why Hire a Virtual Employee?
My passion lies in serving clients with a high level of excellence. However, being stuck in the office handling service work limits my ability to meet new clients and grow the business. Inspired by Dan Sullivan’s books “10X” and “Who Not How,” I’ve realized the importance of investing in people who can handle the tasks that are bottlenecking my productivity. Hiring a virtual employee is about finding the “who” to take care of the “how.”
The Journey Begins
Today marks the start of interviewing candidates for our virtual employee position. This process began months ago, but now it’s becoming a reality. I’m committed to investing time each day to ensure our new team member succeeds. Communication will be key, and we’ll work together to build out processes and serve our clients with excellence.
Tasks for the Virtual Employee
Here’s a glimpse of the tasks our virtual employee will handle:
- Answering the phones: Providing immediate help to clients.
- Managing the inbox: Implementing efficiency as per Dan Martell’s “Buy Back Your Time.”
- Info gathering: For both commercial and personal lines.
- Mortgagee changes: Handling various policy adjustments.
- Billing questions: Assisting clients with their billing inquiries.
- Vehicle changes: Adding, removing, or replacing vehicles on policies.
- Driver changes: Adding, removing, or replacing drivers on policies.
- E&S submissions: Managing both new business and renewals.
- Creating marketing lists: Gathering accurate data for prospecting our ideal prospects.
- Keeper of the calendar: Managing my schedule to ensure accountability and efficiency.
Looking Ahead
This is just the beginning. We may expand our team further or even hire a CSR in the office. The goal is to invest in myself and the business, allowing me to focus on serving clients better.
Final Thoughts
To serve is to sell, and to sell is to serve. I need to be doing more serving out in the “big bad world”, as Scott Howell would say at the end of each IGP! We’re excited about integrating our new virtual employee into Ochsner Insurance. Thank you to everyone who has supported us and will continue to support us on this journey, and feel free to reach out if we can assist you in any way.
Thanks for reading Jeremy’s Journal. Here’s to your success!
Best regards, Jeremy Ochsner