Years at company: 4years
College: Walsh University, ‘06
Organizations: NAFIA

Read Joey's previous nGI Q&A

How can employers recruit young talent?
Ihave a saying, “Do what you do.”

If your young talent is qualified and has earned it, let themwork, how, when and why they want. The days of “staying late at theoffice” and “cold calling” are long gone. Technology has given us amagical gift to accomplish whatever we want, wherever we want,whenever we want.

Similarly, how can employers retain youngtalent?
It’s like what they say about Major LeagueBaseball, the hard part isn’t getting there, it’s staying.

There is a lot to be said for the survival of the fittestmethod, but that can lead you and your young talent to do the wrongthings for the wrong reasons.

Having a plan or system in place to help that young agent learn,grow and ultimately “produce” more is critical for retaining agentswho do things the right way for the right reasons.

Also, try listening to their ideas from time to time. A lot ofthem will be nonsense, but us young kids like to try new things andknowing we at least have the opportunity to voice those ideas goesa long way.

How does technology fit into your workstrategy?
That’s a loaded question. It’s really morelike how does technology not fit in.

I leverage as many tools and resources that I can to improve orautomate as many steps in the sales/marketing process aspossible.

We have used Brokeroffice.com as long as I have been in thebusiness to quickly and easily quote all of our health insurancecarries and provide visitors to our website the same ability.

We also use a company called Hubspot to automate and track allof our marketing efforts. Additionally, I use everything fromvideos, blogs, automated email marketing, social media, to GoogleHangouts on a weekly basis. Of course smartphones and tablets arenecessary devices as well.

Who do you look toward as a mentor in thisindustry?
With insurance and family being so closelyrelated, if I said it was anyone other than my Dad we would haveserious problems. He has taught me everything I know and put upwith a lot of crazy ideas.

What are your future goals in thisindustry?
My goal is to bring some transparency to anindustry that is deathly afraid of it. The astronomical amount ofopportunities that are missed to help, serve and educate the peoplethey are trying to insure is a little embarrassing.

What legislative issues are you interestedin?
Primarily focusing on health insurance, the eightton gorilla that is the Affordable Care Act is the only legislativeissue going for me right now.

What are your main priorities as a young agent(work/life balance, charity support, legislative issues,etc.)?
At the end of the day I want to do work thatmakes a real difference in peoples’ lives without compromising myability to make a difference in my own family life.

Work when there’s work, don’t work because you think you shouldbe working.

How do you balance work and personallife?
Being an agent who works primarily from a homeoffice, only making a handful of appearances in the actual officeeach month, it’s easy for them to blend together and even harder toseparate.

I challenge myself to commit to both equally. Every part of yourlife is connected; neglecting one in favor of another will only domore harm than good in the long run.

How does your office reflect how youwork?
When I’m working at home, it’s obviously verycasual, cargo short and t-shirts are the attire most days and thatreflects the way I talk with every client or prospect. My desk onthe other hand is completely organized, rarely having one or twoextra items on it. It is all about efficiency and maximizing everyopportunity when there's work to be done.

What do you see Gen Y/Millennials struggle with in aprofessional environment? What advice do youhave?
Again, I can only speak from personalexperience, but Gen Y/Millennials idea of “how” or “when” work isdone is not the same as most baby boomers and even some of GenXers.

Given the opportunity and flexibility, we can accomplish moreduring “non-business hours” than before those baby boomers get tothe office.

I guess the advice I would have from that is to not be afraid tovoice your opinion on how things should be done. You may not alwaysbe right or acknowledged, but you have to believe in yourself andyour ideas if you’re going to get anywhere.

Where do you hope to take your career? What directionwould you like your career to go?
Can’t say I havereally thought about this beyond constantly finding new ways tokeep my current and potential clients as informed and educated aspossible.

If one day I can be consider one of the agents who madeinsurance about more than a policy, or “put the health back inhealth insurance” as I like to say, that would be okay withme.

Have you ever experienced any "generation gap" issueswith your carriers in terms of personal interaction or the productsthey offer?
Not sure this counts, but I have beenunable to get even one health insurance company to agree toparticipate in a video interview. I host a weekly Google+ hangoutseries, and they have been unwilling to give their members aninside look at what they can expect from their insurance company inthe wake of health care reform. The generation gap in understandinghow and where people get their information today is limiting to saythe least.

Many young agents enter this industry because otherfamily members work in insurance. What advice do you have whenworking with family?
There will eventually be a timewhen family and business come to a head. Do the best you can withwhat you have. Again, I work with family but from a distance. Ifyou’re able, don’t be afraid to remove yourself from the “office”from time to time and get work done elsewhere.

Also, remember it’s a high dynamic trade off of pros and cons aswell, for every negative experience there is an equally positiveone.

What do you see young agents struggle with in theirfirst years in this industry? What advice do youhave?
To say I know enough “young” agents to identifytheir struggles would be false. What advice I can give from my ownstruggles is to get out there and to discover how you are going touniquely provide information that enhances not just the insurancebuying process, but everything surrounded and related to it. Thisgoes far beyond, price, service or convenience and to the core ofwhy you do what you do. Find the closest passion related towhatever line of insurance you sell that can help your clients andamplify it.

What sales strategies worked for you this pastyear?
The only sales strategy I know is education.Simply being the best insurance teacher I can be and always makingsure people have enough information to feel comfortable with theirdecision or my recommendation wins every time. Well, not everytime, there’s always that one person....

What was the biggest challenge you faced as a youngagent, and how did you handle it?
My biggestchallenge is twofold. First, having no “sales” experience priorjoining the industry, just becoming comfortable having thatconversation with people took time. From there the next challengebecame how to have more of those conversations.

I handle the first challenge with persistence. Practice makesperfect in this case, you do something enough and honestly evaluateyourself in the process and you will improve. The second, is onethat still remains a challenge on some levels. I focus most of mytime around “inbound” or “content” marketing tactics to start thoseconversations.

Similarly, what is your biggest weakness? How have youaddressed that weakness?
I have a tendency to leantoo heavily on digital communication, forgetting the importance ofshaking hands and meeting people face to face. I have tried to lookfor more opportunities to attend different events and bring thoseconnections and relationships offline.

What are some of your career highlights?
Ihaven’t really sat down to take a look. I will let you know whenI’m finished.

How does social marketing make you a more productiveemployee?
The term “social marketing” has a lot ofdifferent meanings. If we are talking strictly the use of socialmedia platforms like Google+, Facebook, Twitter and even YouTube,they provide you with endless opportunities to meet, discover andconnect with new people and ideas that you may have neverencountered otherwise.

I also believe, given the “boring” nature of our industry, it’svery easy for agents to get distracted by the shiny ball ofinfluence social media dangles in front of us. It’s very unlikelyour message and material will ever gain as much traction as other“sexy” industries and we need to be careful not to let it becomeunproductive by trying to make it do too much.

Joey Giangola was featured in the August 2013 Issue of AA&B. He is a brokerat Giangola Insurance Agency.