CIB Rainmaker Interview: Ryan McClafferty

Introduction: Ryan McClafferty was a successful business owner before CIB placed him as a commercial producer with INSURICA (Risk Services of Arkansas) in 2013. Ryan builds his clientele in the construction industry via Broker of Record letters, i.e. business owners appoint him as their new broker.

Q: Thinking back to your transition into commercial insurance, besides the technical learning curve, what was the biggest transition challenge that you encountered?

A: How slow the sales process is between a great first meeting with somebody and a real sales opportunity. That timeframe was much slower than I anticipated. The average sales cycle is probably 2 or 3 years because you need time to differentiate yourself and have enough occasions to meet to develop a legitimate relationship.

Q: The long sales cycle was a bad surprise. What was a good surprise you encountered getting into this career?

A: I didn’t comprehend how big the backend is and just how much money can be made. It’s hard for somebody outside of this business to fathom that you can legitimately make hundreds of thousand dollars per year in commission income in addition to the opportunity for an equity position in the firm.

Q: How hard was it in the beginning and how did you get through the early challenges and frustration?

A: The key is to have no backup plan! Everyone I’ve known in this business that had a backup plan has taken it and exited. I made a commitment to this and made the objective choice that this career is what I'm going to do, no matter what. You need a 10-year view or else it becomes a terrible option as you can earn more for a few years in another sales job in another industry.

Q: What’s a typical “day in the life” look like for you now? How is it different today compared to when you started?

A: My Outlook calendar is populated and I’ve got all sorts of meetings booked throughout the week and know how I’m going to spend each hour. The difference is that it's all strategic now. I know what works. I don't put in hours just for the heck of it. It's about understanding the value behind an activity. Whereas starting out, I was lucky to have anything tangible to do and was wondering what was going to happen next. In those early years, I didn't have enough qualified opportunities to be busy in a thoughtful way. I've gotten better at qualifying, have more things going, and they are all bigger. I ask better questions and I walk away faster.

Q: You’ve focused on construction as your niche. How has that been important in your sales success? 

A:  Everyone at our company that's doing well is a specialist with zero exceptions. If a prospect is a legitimate opportunity where they are going to choose the best broker, a jack-of-all-trades broker has no chance. A generalist producer can make a good living, sure, but their best accounts will always be subject to loss to a broker who knows that client’s trade better. The key to being successful in a niche is to truly service that industry. I view myself as a member of the construction community, not the insurance community. When I say “our industry” to a prospect, I'm talking about construction. Because I go to construction conferences and spend my time and money there, when there's an opportunity, I’m seen as a guy who “gets it” and is invested in it.

Q: You use the Broker of Record sales process. Why and how does that work well for you?

A: To me, the broker of record letter is the only option because it’s congruent with my brand as a professional. If I'm not being selected to be their professional, I'm letting the insurance markets dictate who they do business with and that makes no sense. There's also a fiduciary element where I want to use my clients’ dollars – what they pay me - to serve them instead of playing low percentage games quoting for unqualified prospects. A lot of other brokers have a broker of record as a strategy but when that doesn't happen immediately, they back down and say, “well, we've got great relationships with these carriers, so we’ll go to market and get you quotes.” For those brokers, they're not setting up every question for the broker of record to be the logical outcome that benefits the client.

Q: What’s the one thing that happened in your career when you realized being a producer is what you should be doing?

A: It’s when some of my mentors asked my opinion on something for the first time. I had made the transition from being the new guy to a professional where they were asking an honest question and looking for my opinion.

Q: Looking back on your choice to become a producer, how did that decision change your career trajectory?

A: I will make exponentially more money than I ever thought I would have. And that's not because I had low expectations before, but I don't think they were as bold as they are now.

Q: What do you find most satisfying about the producer career?

A:  I view myself as a business executive who happens to be in the insurance sector. I enjoy using business acumen to help my clients. I like to connect all of these stories, experiences, and things that I've learned in new ways to help folks. Whatever problem someone's going through, and it may not be an insurance problem, I've probably seen somebody else already solve that problem and I can help.

Q: What career advice would you give to a sales person considering becoming a producer?

A: At some point, you've got to make your career move. Otherwise, if you always have a short-term view, you're going to wake up someday and be a desperate 55-year old salesman because you’re selling a commodity and you’re forced to start over every year. If you take a 10-year view, it's hard to beat the commercial insurance producer career. The first 5 years is pure investment, a major opportunity cost based on what you can make elsewhere in a different industry. The next 5 years, you're making good or great money and you're basically paid back the opportunity cost for the first 5 years. By year 8 or 10, you are so many dollars ahead that it's an over-the-top, no-brainer career move.