Agency Acceleration Lab

Alex Branning

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Marketing

Agency Acceleration Lab is the podcast for insurance agents and agency owners who want to scale smarter, not harder. Hosted by Alex Branning, each episode breaks down real growth strategies, marketing systems, and client retention frameworks that help you attract better clients, increase lifetime value, and build a more predictable agency. If you're serious about building a high-performance insurance business, you're in the right place.

5d ago

He Films One Video and Gets 48 Pieces of Content — Tony Merwin's Agency Growth System

Episode 27 – He Films One Video and Gets 48 Pieces of Content — Tony Merwin's Agency Growth System Most insurance agents know they should be creating content. Very few of them have figured out how to do it consistently without it taking over their entire week. Tony Merwin built a system that solves both problems at once — and in this episode he breaks down every step of it. In this episode of the Agency Acceleration Lab, Alex Branning sits down with Tony Merwin from Austin, Texas, to talk about the two growth engines behind his agency. The first is his decision to market directly and entirely in Spanish to the fastest-growing segment of Medicare. The second is the content multiplier system he built that turns one video into forty-eight pieces of content across every major social media platform without starting from scratch. Tony also gets into how he and his wife Grace use educational video content to build trust before anyone ever picks up the phone, how they handle prospects who call in asking specifically for Grace, and why understanding that different people convert in different ways led him to build multiple entry points for every prospect. In this episode, you will learn: Why marketing in Spanish rather than just adding Se habla Español to your ads is a complete game changerHow Tony and Grace use educational video content to build trust before anyone picks up the phoneWhy the Hispanic market is the fastest-growing segment of Medicare right nowHow to handle prospects who only want to talk to the face they see in the videosThe exact content multiplier system that turns one video into forty-eight pieces of contentThe tools Tony uses including Sonix and Vidya, to transcribe and repurpose content automaticallyHow to identify the best-performing organic content and turn it into paid adsWhy you need multiple conversion points to capture every type of prospectHow to use a chatbot lead form and inbound calls together to maximize lead captureWhere to connect with Tony and access his weekly live training in the Insurance Syndicate Facebook group🔗 Resources MentionedAgency Acceleration Labhttps://agencyacceleration.ai Connect with Alex BranningInstagramhttps://www.instagram.com/alex_branningSubscribe to the PodcastWatch on YouTubehttps://youtu.be/_gVSzY6UQ9g Follow on Spotifyhttps://open.spotify.com/show/3NPFO06K9WmfOBoYmHkCnR Listen on Apple Podcastshttps://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/agency-acceleration-lab/id1882456627 If you have been trying to figure out how to show up everywhere on social media without burning yourself out or hiring a full content team, this episode is your answer.
Sep 8

How to Get a Business Owner to Say Yes Before You Ever Mention Insurance

Episode 26 – How to Get a Business Owner to Say Yes Before You Ever Mention Insurance Most insurance agents spend their days selling one policy at a time to one person at a time. Larry from Diversified Capital Benefits Group has figured out a completely different way to do it. He walks into a business, asks one question about payroll taxes, and opens a door that leads to dozens of sales from a single relationship — without anyone paying a dime out of pocket. In this episode of the Agency Acceleration Lab, Alex Branning sits down with Larry to talk about the business owner strategy that is quietly creating massive revenue opportunities for the agents who know about it — and why the ones who do not are leaving a fortune on the table. Larry breaks down the one question that gets a yes from business owners 95% of the time before insurance is ever mentioned, how the U.S. tax code legally allows employers to fund employee benefits at zero net cost to the employer and zero net cost to the employee, and exactly how agents are stacking life insurance, cancer policies, hospital indemnity plans, and more from a single business relationship. Alex also shares the story of Jerry — an agent in Austin, Texas — who walked into a small business with 21 employees and walked out with two to three sales per employee. The numbers speak for themselves. In this episode you will learn: The one question Larry asks every business owner that gets a yes 95% of the time before insurance is ever mentionedWhy leading with tax savings instead of insurance products changes everything about the conversationHow the U.S. tax code legally allows employers to fund employee benefits at zero net cost to anyoneHow agents are stacking life insurance, cancer policies, hospital indemnity plans, and more from one business relationshipWhy employees see their net take home pay actually increase when this program is implementedHow one agent walked into a business with 21 employees and walked out with dozens of salesWhy this is a blue ocean opportunity that very few agents are taking advantage of right nowHow DCBG does all the heavy lifting on the tax side so agents can focus on the insuranceThe compliance piece every agent needs to understand before entering this spaceHow to plug into the system even if you do not want to become a tax expert yourself 🔗 Resources MentionedAgency Acceleration Labhttps://agencyacceleration.ai Connect with Alex BranningInstagramhttps://www.instagram.com/alex_branningSubscribe to the PodcastWatch on YouTubehttps://youtu.be/UHmxlySVwoMFollow on Spotifyhttps://open.spotify.com/show/3NPFO06K9WmfOBoYmHkCnR Listen on Apple Podcastshttps://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/agency-acceleration-lab/id1882456627 If you have been grinding through individual sales one at a time and wondering if there is a better way to build your agency, this episode is going to open your eyes to an opportunity that most agents are completely missing right now.
Sep 3

The Nine Step AEP System Every Medicare Agent Needs Before October

Episode 25 – The Nine Step AEP System Every Medicare Agent Needs Before October For the first four or five years of her Medicare career, Katie Owen wrote business during AEP but paid a brutal price for it. Eye twitches. Missed family gatherings. No Christmas preparation until days before. And more than a few seasons where she seriously considered walking away from insurance altogether. Then she decided there had to be a better way. And she built a system that changed everything. In this episode of the Agency Acceleration Lab, Alex Branning sits down with Katie Owen — a Medicare expert with 23 fourth quarters in the insurance business — to talk about the nine step AEP process she built that turned her most stressful season into her most productive one. Katie breaks down how she uses her CRM to automate client communication from start to finish, why she stopped doing plan reviews live and what she does instead, the one automation most agents forget to set up that costs them hours every single AEP, and how she generates consistent referrals through doctor relationships and strategic partnerships without ever chasing anyone down. In this episode you will learn: Why Katie almost quit insurance during AEP and what finally changed everything for herThe nine step client process she uses every AEP to stay organized and profitableHow to use tags and workflows in your CRM to automate client communication from start to finishWhy doing plan reviews live is one of the biggest time wasters in Medicare and what to do insteadThe tool she uses to collect client drug and doctor information before ever getting on the phoneHow to communicate plan review results to clients without scheduling a call for every single personThe one automation most agents forget that costs them hours every single AEP seasonWhy sending a text five minutes after every email dramatically increases response ratesHow she uses doctor relationships and strategic partnerships to generate consistent referralsHow she has woven annuities long-term care and life insurance into her Medicare agency to maximize revenue per clientIf you are a Medicare agent heading into AEP and you are still running everything manually, this episode is going to change how you think about the next ninety days.
Aug 24

What Are "Reggies"? The Revenue Secret Every Insurance Agency Owner Needs

Episode 24 – What Are "Reggies"? The Revenue Secret Every Insurance Agency Owner Needs You have probably described your day as busy, packed, full, or stressful. But when was the last time you actually sat down and looked at how you were spending it — hour by hour, task by task — and asked yourself honestly how much of it was actually making you money? In this solo episode of the Agency Acceleration Lab, Alex Branning gets real about a concept that changed everything about how he runs his agency. He calls them Reggies — revenue-generating tasks — and the difference between agency owners who are growing and the ones who are grinding almost always comes down to how many Reggies they are getting into their day. Alex walks through the time audit process that opened his own eyes to how much revenue he was leaving on the table, the math that shows you exactly what each revenue generating hour is worth, and the stories agency owners tell themselves about why certain things won't work — and what actually happened the first time he stopped listening to those stories and just tried anyway. This is one of the most honest and practical solo episodes Alex has recorded. In this episode you will learn: What Reggies are and why they are the most important metric in your agencyHow to do a time audit that gives you an honest picture of how you are really spending your dayThe math that shows you exactly what each revenue generating hour is worthWhy the things you have been putting off are probably your biggest untapped revenue opportunitiesHow delegating administrative tasks frees you up to do more ReggiesWhy most agency owners are lying to themselves about how productive they actually areThe difference between tasks you should delegate, tasks you should delete, and tasks only you should be doingHow one simple email newsletter could generate hundreds of dollars in new business every single monthWhy webinars, email campaigns, and outbound outreach are Reggies most agents are leaving on the tableHow to hold yourself accountable to spending more time on revenue generating activities every single day🔗 Resources MentionedAgency Acceleration Labhttps://agencyacceleration.ai Connect with Alex BranningInstagramhttps://www.instagram.com/alex_branningSubscribe to the PodcastWatch on YouTubehttps://youtu.be/zZQyBMwgZ2wFollow on Spotifyhttps://open.spotify.com/show/3NPFO06K9WmfOBoYmHkCnR Listen on Apple Podcastshttps://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/agency-acceleration-lab/id1882456627 If you have been telling yourself you are too busy to grow, this episode is going to show you that the problem was never time. It was where the time was going.
Aug 17

Tyler Woodall Revealed the Exact System for Hiring Your First VA and Getting Immediate Results

Episode 23 - Tyler Woodall Revealed the Exact System for Hiring Your First VA and Getting Immediate Results Most agency owners know they need help. The work is piling up, the revenue-generating hours are disappearing, and the idea of bringing someone on feels more overwhelming than the problem it is supposed to solve. In this episode of the Agency Acceleration Lab, Alex Branning sits down with Tyler Woodall from Scale My Ops to cut through all of that and give agency owners the exact system they need to hire their first VA, onboard them correctly, and start seeing results almost immediately. Tyler breaks down how to figure out which tasks to hand off first, how to protect your agency's sensitive client data when working with a remote team member, how to create SOPs in minutes without spending hours on documentation, and how to know within the first few days whether your new VA is going to work out or not.} He also gets into how to bring a VA into the sales process to help with lead generation and appointment setting — and why delegating the tasks you hate is one of the fastest ways to grow your revenue. In this episode you will learn: How to identify which tasks to hand off to your first VA using a simple time tracking exerciseHow to protect your agency's sensitive client data when working with a remote team memberThe password management system Tyler recommends to give VAs secure access without compromising complianceThe order of operations system that tells your VA exactly what to work on and in what priorityHow to build SOPs in minutes using Loom and AI without spending hours on documentationThe key performance indicators Tyler uses to grade VA performance from day oneHow to tell the difference between a skill problem and a character problem and what to do about eachHow to bring a VA into the sales process to help set appointments and generate more leadsWhy delegating twelve dollar an hour tasks frees you up to work on fifty dollar an hour activitiesHow to overcome the limiting belief that you are not capable of leading a team🔗 Resources MentionedAgency Acceleration Labhttps://agencyacceleration.ai Connect with Alex BranningInstagramhttps://www.instagram.com/alex_branningSubscribe to the PodcastWatch on YouTubehttps://youtu.be/FlALDvG3LA4Follow on Spotifyhttps://open.spotify.com/show/3NPFO06K9WmfOBoYmHkCnR Listen on Apple Podcastshttps://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/agency-acceleration-lab/id1882456627 If you have been running everything yourself and wondering how to start building a team without it costing you more time than it saves, this episode is your starting point.
Aug 10

How to Turn a Struggling Agent Into a Closer Without Micromanaging Them

Episode 22 – How to Turn a Struggling Agent Into a Closer Without Micromanaging Them| Every agency owner has been here. An agent who showed up with real energy, real work ethic, and real belief in what they were building — and somewhere along the way stopped producing. And you are standing there wondering what happened and what to do about it. In this episode of the Agency Acceleration Lab, Alex Branning sits down with Adam from Enrolify — a sales veteran who led a team of five thousand people at AFLAC for twenty five years — to have the conversation most agency owners need but rarely get. The one about what is actually going on when a good agent stops closing and what you can do to get them back without turning into a micromanager. Adam breaks down the effort and ability matrix that tells you exactly how to approach every person on your team, why the most dangerous thing an agency owner can do is prevent an agent from failing in front of them, and the simple yes, no, or second appointment rule that creates real accountability without killing morale. He also introduces Enrolify — the first gig economy platform built specifically for licensed insurance agents — and how it is helping agents stay in the game long enough for everything to click. In this episode you will learn: Why Elon Musk's pain tolerance principle explains more about agent failure than any sales metricThe effort and ability matrix that tells you exactly how to coach every person on your teamWhy managing people is almost always the wrong move and when it actually makes senseWhy letting an agent fail spectacularly in front of you is one of the most powerful coaching tools you haveHow to go back and recover a lead after a struggling agent fumbles the meetingThe yes, no, or second appointment rule that gives you real accountability without micromanagementWhy a blank calendar is the enemy of every salesperson on your teamHow Enrolify helps licensed agents monetize their license while they continue building their businessWhere to go to become an Enrolify benefit guru and start earning today🔗 Resources MentionedAgency Acceleration Labhttps://agencyacceleration.ai Connect with Alex BranningInstagramhttps://www.instagram.com/alex_branningSubscribe to the PodcastWatch on YouTubehttps://youtu.be/SYSl34i0TMIFollow on Spotifyhttps://open.spotify.com/show/3NPFO06K9WmfOBoYmHkCnR Listen on Apple Podcastshttps://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/agency-acceleration-lab/id1882456627 If you have ever watched a promising agent slip away and felt helpless about it, this episode is going to give you a real plan.
Aug 3

Jason Mickool Went From His Kitchen Table to $600 Million — Here Is the System Behind It

Episode 21 – Jason Mickool Went From His Kitchen Table to $600 Million — Here Is the System Behind It Nine years ago Jason Mickool started his business from his kitchen table with his wife. Today he leads an organization of over 800 financial advisors across eighteen states and will do over a hundred million dollars in sales this year. And the system behind all of it is something most agency owners have never thought to build. In this episode of the Agency Acceleration Lab, Alex Branning sits down with Jason Mickool — a man who has built over $600 million in annuity business, to talk about the recruiting system, the personal development culture, and the leadership structure that made all of it possible. Jason breaks down why he believes Gen Z is the most coachable and hardworking generation he has worked with in twenty-five years, the daily cadences he uses to develop every single person in his organization, and the span of control principle that allowed him to scale to hundreds of advisors without ever having more than four people reporting directly to him. He also shares the one thing he would tell every agency owner who wants to stop being a solo producer and start building something that actually scales — and it starts with shifting your identity before you ever make your first hire. If you have been running your agency alone and wondering what it would take to build something bigger, this episode is going to give you the blueprint. In this episode you will learn: Why Jason believes Gen Z is the most coachable and hardworking generation he has worked with in 25 yearsThe daily personal development cadences he uses to develop every person in his organizationHow the individual development plan flips the traditional one-on-one on its headThe span of control principle that allowed him to scale without adding more hours to his dayWhy 20% of your calendar should always be on recruiting — sourcing, interviewing, offering, and onboardingHow to shift your identity from solo producer to organization builderThe titles and roles Jason created as he scaled and how each one solved a span of control problemWhat the Greatness Lab is and how agency owners can plug directly into Jason's system🔗 Resources MentionedAgency Acceleration Labhttps://agencyacceleration.ai Connect with Alex BranningInstagramhttps://www.instagram.com/alex_branningSubscribe to the PodcastWatch on YouTubehttps://youtu.be/BCCWrDdThOIFollow on Spotifyhttps://open.spotify.com/show/3NPFO06K9WmfOBoYmHkCnR Listen on Apple Podcastshttps://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/agency-acceleration-lab/id1882456627 Download the playbook for links to Jason's book Built to Lead Built to Scale and the Greatness Lab at thegreatnesslab.com
Jul 27

How to Get Insurance Leads From Facebook Without Spending a Dollar on Ads

Episode 20 – How to Get Insurance Leads From Facebook Without Spending a Dollar on Ads Most insurance agents have a Facebook profile. Almost none of them are using it to generate consistent leads. And the gap between those two groups almost always comes down to the same two problems — the profile is not set up to convert and the content has no strategy behind it. In this episode of the Agency Acceleration Lab, Alex Branning sits down with David and Elle Denning from Jumpstart Go to fix both of those problems in under fifteen minutes. David walks through the five areas every agent needs to optimize on their personal profile before posting a single piece of content — including the one setting most agents have never turned on that instantly expands their reach beyond their existing connections. Elle then breaks down the three post types that build trust, establish authority, and turn complete strangers into people who are actively raising their hand and asking for what you have. They also share how one of their clients wrote two policies from a single photo of himself cutting the grass — no pitch, no insurance talk, just a real moment that opened two conversations that turned into sales. If you have been posting on Facebook and getting nothing back, this episode is going to show you exactly what you have been missing. In this episode you will learn: The five areas every agent needs to optimize on their personal profile before posting anythingThe I help X with Y bio formula that instantly tells your target audience you are the right person for themWhy your personal profile outperforms a business page every single timeHow professional mode expands your reach beyond your existing connectionsThe three post types that generate trust, authority, and leads without spending a dollar on adsHow one agent wrote two policies from a photo of himself cutting the grassWhy dropping a link in your post kills your reach and what to do insteadThe keyword post strategy that turns lurkers into hand raisers and hand raisers into leadsHow to connect your Facebook strategy directly to Agent CRM to capture leads automaticallyWhere to find David and Elle's free community of over 36,000 insurance agents🔗 Resources MentionedAgency Acceleration Labhttps://agencyacceleration.ai Connect with Alex BranningInstagramhttps://www.instagram.com/alex_branningSubscribe to the PodcastWatch on YouTubehttps://youtu.be/oEe4Dec_oaEFollow on Spotifyhttps://open.spotify.com/show/3NPFO06K9WmfOBoYmHkCnR Listen on Apple Podcastshttps://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/agency-acceleration-lab/id1882456627

Agency Acceleration Lab is the podcast for insurance agents and agency owners who want to scale smarter, not harder. Hosted by Alex Branning, each episode breaks down real growth strategies, marketing systems, and client retention frameworks that help you attract better clients, increase lifetime value, and build a more predictable agency. If you're serious about building a high-performance insurance business, you're in the right place.

Creator

Alex Branning
Years Active

2026
Episodes

27
Rating

Clean
Copyright

© 2026 Alex Branning