Dialing for Dollars Podcast

Why does life insurance business cancel, and what can agents do to improve persistency and reduce chargebacks? Corey Mitchell welcomes Matt Ross of Whitestone Financial and Empower Life Group to the Dialing for Dollars Podcast for a practical conversation about writing business that actually sticks. Matt shares how his experience in in-home sales shaped his telesales process, why building trust ma...

How do you find better life insurance leads, maximize your marketing budget, and build a lead strategy that lasts? Corey Mitchell welcomes Oscar Gonzalez, founder of Scale My Social, to the Dialing for Dollars Podcast for a practical conversation about lead generation, digital advertising, and growing a life insurance business. Oscar shares his journey from e-commerce to insurance marketing and ex...

How do you turn personal production into a growing life insurance agency? Corey Mitchell welcomes back Jacob Otero to the Dialing for Dollars Podcast to discuss sales, recruiting, leadership, and the lessons he's learned while building his business. Jacob shares why he focused on consistent production before recruiting, how social media has helped him attract agents and opportunities, and why...

Storytelling is one of the most powerful tools a salesperson can use to build trust, communicate value, and create a genuine human connection. In this episode of the Dialing for Dollars Podcast, Corey Mitchell talks with Neal Foard, a 30-year advertising veteran and founder of StoryFire.net, about how storytelling applies to sales, social media, objection handling, personal branding, and the incre...

Social Media Strategies for Life Insurance Agents | Dialing for Dollars EP. 28 How do life insurance agents use social media to build a personal brand, attract the right audience, recruit agents, and create business opportunities without turning every post into a sales pitch? In Episode 28 of Dialing for Dollars, Corey Mitchell sits down with Whitney Denton for a practical conversation about socia...

Jessica Wright (Empower Life Group) breaks down the most overlooked topic in life insurance: managing your product mix. Discover why 75% Level / 25% GI is the healthy book formula, how poor mix destroys cash flow through chargebacks and low persistency, and the niche carriers (Citizen CICA, Ethos, Royal Neighbors) that separate top producers from struggling agents.  KEY TOPICS: • The 75/25 Level/G...

Sydney Deshotel of Empower Life Group went from outbound cold-calling $30-40K a month to running an inbound desk that produces just as much in a fraction of the time. She joins Corey to talk through the brutal first week of switching to inbound (she cried), why chasing follow-ups is emotionally draining and rarely worth it, and how her mood on the phone changes the outcome of a call. They break do...

Jack Jameson went from $300 in the bank and selling renters insurance door-to-door in Casper, Wyoming to becoming a Million Dollar Round Table producer, agency owner, and life insurance trainer. He joins Corey to share how his own family's tragedy turned life insurance from a paycheck into a moral obligation — and how that shift changed everything about how he sells. Inside this episode: building...

Episode 24: How to Add Medicare to Your Life Insurance Business What if adding Medicare could help a life insurance agent build a stickier book, create renewal income, stay in front of existing clients, and uncover new opportunities? Corey Mitchell sits down with Melissa Salinas, a life insurance agent who also sells Medicare, to discuss why she added Medicare within her first year in insurance an...

Ashley Mysza is writing $700K+ year-to-date, but getting there meant surviving a toxic captive agency, $50,000 in personal roll-up debt, and two failed attempts at building a team. In this episode, Ashley shares her almost-seven-year journey in life insurance — starting as a captive agent in Chicago during COVID, becoming a top producer through pure door-knocking, building and losing two teams und...

What does it really take to become a great life insurance agent? In Episode 22 of the Dialing for Dollars Podcast, Corey Mitchell sits down with Eric Andersen, a newer life insurance agent navigating the reality of building a career from the ground up. Eric shares the challenges of starting over, managing lead costs, getting enough reps, dealing with call reluctance, building confidence, staying c...

Corey Mitchell sits down with underwriting expert Trevor Tipton, who built an AI-powered underwriting tool used across his agency, to break down what separates agents who lose deals in underwriting from those who don't. Trevor shares his path from exiting a $10M business into insurance, the systems he's built, and the exact talk tracks he uses to get clients to disclose their full health h...

Corey Mitchell sits down for a second time with annuity expert Thal Martin to go deep into the technical side of annuities. They walk through real client scenarios covering participation rates, cap rates, taxation, underwriting, and long-term care riders, showing why annuities demand a level of expertise most agents haven't developed yet. In this episode:Why annuities aren't regulated as s...

Corey sits down with mindset coach Jerry Emeka to unpack why activity alone doesn't create sales results, and why who you're being matters more than any script or call volume. Jerry explains why most affirmations fail, how your identity gets set between ages 0-7, why the top performer in your office seems to cut through resistance like a hot knife through butter while everyone else is sawing bread...

Most new insurance agents quit in their first year — not because they can't sell, but because nobody warned them how the mental side of this business actually works. Corey sits down with fellow snipers Joe Vigil and Brett Shepard to talk imposter syndrome, comparison, rejection, and what actually keeps agents in the game. TIMESTAMPS00:00 Intro – welcome Joe Vigil & Brett Shepard01:05 Brett's p...

Are leads really the problem—or are they just the latest shiny object? Corey Mitchell and Darian Spears break down the real differences between free leads, aged leads, fresh Facebook leads, live transfers, TV inbounds, AI-screened calls, and premium inbound opportunities. More importantly, they discuss the skills agents need to succeed with each lead type and why chasing the next "best lead&q...

Thinking about building an insurance agency? In this episode, Corey Mitchell sits down with Whitney Denton, Director of Operations for Sniper Insurance, to discuss recruiting agents, agency licensing, onboarding systems, compensation structures, roll-up debt, leadership responsibilities, and what it really takes to scale an insurance organization successfully. Whitney shares practical advice for a...

Retirement Planning for Insurance Agents: How to Cross-Sell Annuities Without Becoming an Expert | Thal Martin | Dialing for Dollars Podcast EP. 15 Most insurance agents never tap into the retirement planning market because they think annuities are too complicated. In this episode, Corey Mitchell sits down with retirement planning specialist Thal Martin to break down annuities, retirement income p...

Two young life insurance agents share what it's really like building a business in your 20s. Corey Mitchell sits down with Jacob Otero (21) and Seann Joseph (25) to discuss getting started in life insurance, overcoming rejection, buying leads, developing authority on sales calls, investing in yourself, and why success in sales isn't a get-rich-quick scheme. Whether you're a new agent,...

In this episode of the Dialing for Dollars Podcast, Corey Mitchell sits down with Richelle Jessey to discuss the lessons every new insurance agent should learn as early as possible. Richelle shares her journey into life insurance, how she built referral partnerships, why discovery is critical to closing sales, how to avoid shiny object syndrome, and what agents can do to stay focused when results...

In this episode of the Dialing for Dollars Podcast, Corey Mitchell and Tyiwan “Tai” Sommerville sit down with Wendy Whitson from Empower Life Group’s Bright Side team to discuss the realities of life insurance telesales, overcoming anxiety, building confidence on the phones, handling rejection, and surviving the ups and downs of the business. Wendy shares her journey through multiple insurance com...

In this episode of Dialing for Dollars, Corey Mitchell and Tai Sommerville sit down with Joe Skelley to discuss agency leadership, recruiting, IMO contracts, retention, and what it really takes to build a sustainable insurance business. Joe shares lessons from his insurance career and explains why culture, mentorship, accountability, and long-term thinking matter more than hype and fast recruiting...

Episode 10: Unlocking the Script w/ Dana Nesen & Cayden Sanchez In this episode of Dialing for Dollars, Corey Mitchell and Tai Sommerville sit down with Dana Nesen and Cayden Sanchez to discuss what actually makes a sales script effective in life insurance. The conversation covers why agents obsess over scripts, when scripts matter most, why tonality and communication matter more than most age...

Episode 9: AI for Life Insurance Agents w/ Jeremiah Cox In this episode of Dialing for Dollars, Corey Mitchell and Tai Sommerville sit down with Jeremiah Cox, founder of Profit Hexagon, to discuss how AI is changing the insurance industry. Jeremiah shares how he transitioned from top-producing life insurance agent to building an AI automation platform for insurance agents. Topics include: • AI app...

EPISODE 8: Employee Mindset vs Business Owner Mindset with w Pryor Hovis What separates top producers from agents who never make it? In Episode 8 of Dialing for Dollars, Corey Mitchell, Tai Sommerville, and special guest Pryor Hovis break down the real difference between employee thinking and business owner thinking in life insurance sales. Pryor shares his wild journey from building a successful...