The Insurance Guys Podcast

A guest no-showed, so Scott Howell brought two stories instead. The first is an auto claim he calls the craziest he has ever heard. A customer buys a $17,000 Mazda from a dealership Scott also insures, puts liability only on it because he was in a hurry, then drops it back off for a check engine light. The next morning the dealership's technician gets T-boned at a green light, and the driver who h...

Scott Howell opens the books on air: I Protect Insurance has been losing money month over month for most of the year, and he says the quiet part out loud, that everybody else's agency is apparently perfect and only his is in a soft market. Clint Orr, now a partner and owner after thirteen years together and a buy sell agreement that finally got signed over lunch at Taco Mama, joins Scott and Bradl...

Ron Shroyer puts a number on the biggest decision an agency owner will ever make: one hour on Zoom and maybe a three hour dinner. That is how long most sellers spend vetting the firm that is buying the largest asset they will ever own, and it is the thread running through this entire conversation. Shroyer, Vice President of M&A Business Development at Alliant Insurance Services, returns to the sho...

Scott and Bradley record from their new podcast studio, a real upgrade they plan to keep fully equipped and open to other local business owners. Bradley admits the weekly grind can start to feel like a job instead of a joy, then they get a lift from a call Scott made to a listener who is just launching his own agency. Bradley tells the full story of his new Samsung Frame TV landing in a dumpster b...

On this The Insurance Guys episode, Scott and Bradley skip the guest chair and open the mailbag. They talk through who actually carries the show, why M&A multiples are still high while rates soften and a Hub International IPO looms, which carriers besides Progressive make quoting less painful (QuoteWell, Novella, Liberty Mutual, Nationwide, Travelers), why post-bind inspections keep adding work af...

In this episode of The Insurance Guys Podcast, Scott Howell and Bradley Flowers welcome Chris Ball, chairman of WING and the man Scott calls the coolest guy in insurance, for a conversation on how independent agents can compete on a global stage. Chris walks through a career that began reluctantly in his dad’s office and later took him to aviation and aerospace work in New York, including high pro...

In this episode of The Insurance Guys Podcast, host Scott Howell kicks things off by introducing co-host Bradley Flowers and sharing news of their new real estate venture in Mobile before the conversation turns to Bradley’s frustration with the bureaucratic delays and inefficiencies involved in securing a simple permit to build three interior walls. Scott then formally introduces the episode’s spe...

Johnny Gwin, the podcast’s original and current producer, joins Scott Howell and Bradley Flowers to look back on the show’s early days, the discipline of reaching fifty episodes, and the technical challenges of those first recordings.   He shares career advice, walks through David Ogilvy’s core advertising principles, and traces his own creativity to television, music, and formal training at...

Scott Howell and Bradley Flowers welcome Garrette Droege to discuss the major technological shifts reshaping insurance. Garrette shares how his theater background strengthens client work through improvisation, then explains why blockchain remains actively developed by financial institutions and how crypto is maturing into institutional digital assets and stablecoins. The conversation explores AI a...

In this episode of The Insurance Guys Podcast, host Scott Howell joins co-hosts Vishal Sankhla and Bradley Flowers to welcome special guest Andy Barker, CEO of Houchens Insurance Group. Scott opens by sharing a recent meeting with Auto Owners about securing a contract for his agency before the conversation turns to Andy’s impressive career path, which began with a transition from Cingular Wireless...

In this episode of The Insurance Guys Podcast, Scott Howell and Bradley Flowers dig into practical agency management wins, starting with Bradley’s most profitable month happening while he was on paternity leave and the KPI-based monthly/quarterly bonus structure that replaced pure commission for account managers. They stress account rounding and a smarter cross-sell process (account managers start...

In this episode of The Insurance Guys Podcast, hosts Scott Howell and Bradley Flowers welcome Ben Walker of Custom Insurance Solutions and CIS Private Client. Ben shares his remarkable journey from owning a KFC franchise and managing movie theaters to building a thriving high net worth personal lines agency. He opens up about the early churn and burn days of writing any business possible before ni...

In this episode, Scott Howell and Bradley Flowers welcome fractional sales leader Patrick McClure to share proven strategies for doubling insurance agency revenue. After a light-hearted introduction featuring Bradley’s humorous “Insurance Soup” story, Patrick discusses his journey from Clemson football to building a successful career in insurance. He outlines his effective onboarding process, emph...

In this episode of The Insurance Guys Podcast, Scott and Bradley sit down with Seth Zaremba, CEO of B Atomic, to discuss how his innovative platform is revolutionizing insurance agency operations. Seth shares the evolution of Be Atomic and its Service Center, which standardizes core processes, automates routine tasks, and dramatically boosts efficiency. The conversation explores how agencies are r...

In this unfiltered conversation with Scott Howell, Bradley unpacks the 17 things he found broken in his agency after a month away, introduces the “Client Concierge” role he borrowed from Billy Wagner that’s reshaping how Portal Insurance handles quoting and producer development. Scott brings his own takeaway from the Paradiso Mastermind — a 15-minute weekly employee check-in — and both hosts get r...

In this episode of The Insurance Guys, hosts Scott and Bradley kick things off with some lighthearted Southern banter about accents before welcoming Ryne Ring, Director of Gig Economy and Embedded Products at The Citadel, a program administrator specializing in embedded insurance solutions. The conversation explores the evolving role of AI in insurance, from its potential to cover emerging risks t...

In this episode of The Insurance Guys Podcast, Scott Howell and Bradley Flowers welcome Michael Lebor and Kayden Stephens from Momentum AMP to discuss how artificial intelligence is transforming agency management systems. The conversation traces the evolution of Momentum from its early days as NowCerts through its development into a fully integrated, conversational platform designed to be keyboard...

In this episode of The Insurance Guys, Scott Howell and Bradley Flowers dive into the greatest challenges facing high-risk insurance markets and the complexities of agent classification. Scott kicks things off with a humorous take on insuring strip clubs under a fictional Death Machine Insurance agency built for high-hazard risks, sharing an insightful anecdote about the Las Vegas strip club busin...

In this insightful episode of The Insurance Guys Podcast, Scott Howell and Bradley Flowers sit down with Kasey D’Amato to explore how emotional intelligence (EQ) is becoming a game-changing leadership skill in the insurance industry. Rather than focusing solely on traditional sales tactics, this conversation dives deep into building scalable businesses, leading with emotional intelligence, navigat...

Scott Howell and Bradley Flowers welcome Ty Robben, a seasoned casualty insurance expert with roots at Great American and Palomar Specialty, for a warm and insightful conversation that mixes engaging personal stories with forward thinking industry analysis. Ty shares his memorable White House internship blunder of spilling toner across the East Wing carpet and his love for Pepperdine's stunning Pa...

In this episode of the Insurance Guys podcast, host Scott Howell is joined by Kabir Syed and Bradley Flowers to explore how artificial intelligence is reshaping the insurance industry. They discuss AI's impact on agency management systems, workflow automation, and evolving employee roles. Through real-world examples, the guests highlight efficiency gains while cautioning against blind reliance on...

In this episode of the Insurance Guys podcast, hosts Scott Howell and Bradley Flowers welcome Anshu Jain and Vishal Sankhla, co-founders of Outmarket AI. Drawing on their experience at Meta, Uber, and IBM, the duo built an AI platform helping insurance agents analyze policies, compare quotes, and appeal claim denials. Scott and Bradley share real-world success stories from using the tool in their...

In this episode of the Insurance Guys Podcast, Scott Howell and Bradley Flowers dive into the rapid evolution of artificial intelligence in the insurance industry, joined by recurring guest CJ Hutsenpiller. The trio discuss how AI, specifically tools like Claude and ChatGPT, are transforming agency operations, from streamlining workflows to integrating with agency management systems. They highligh...

In this episode of the Insurance Guys podcast, host Scott Howell and co-host Bradley Flowers sit down with Kevin Panter, a 37-year insurance industry veteran and president of Kevin Panter Insurance. Kevin shares insights on transitioning from captive to independent agencies, emphasizing ethics and proper preparation. He discusses building community involvement as a volunteer firefighter and EMT, g...

In this episode of The Insurance Guys Podcast, hosts Scott Howell and Bradley Flowers welcome Max from Novella to discuss trends and challenges in the insurance industry. The conversation covers wholesaler processes, the evolving role of brokers, and the impact of technology and surplus lines on the market. Max shares insights from his time at Lemonade and his journey founding Novella. The episode...