Hey, I’m gonna shoot you straight.

I'm nervous as hell.

My pipeline's weak coming out of the holidays, and that underlying sense of dread that I’m not doing enough is creeping in.

I always feel this way this time of year.

And I know there’s only one way to dig myself out.

Smile and dial, baby.

In honor of that, I thought I’d give you my updated objection responses.

Since you too are probably pounding pavement.

My responses have evolved over 15 years in this business. They change based on what feels authentic to me in the moment, and what’s actually working for me.

So what you're about to read isn't some dusty framework from 2019. This is where I'm at right now, in 2026, after hundreds of thousands of cold calls and hundreds of closed deals.

These are the 9 most common objections you'll hear, my current responses, and the key insight behind each one.

Let's go.

1. "We already have an agent"

My response: "Really? Well actually that's kind of why I called. I figured you had an agent, everyone I call does. But I didn't know, do you guys ever take time to do any sort of due diligence or anything?"

This is 85% of the objections you'll get.

It's pure instinct on their part. They're not thinking, they're just reflexively saying no.

Your job isn't to overcome it, it's to extend the conversation past that first wall.

Get them thinking instead of reacting.

2. "We just renewed"

My response: "Really? Okay, so what do you mean by 'just'? I know some people mean like two months ago, some mean six months ago, so I'm just curious what you mean by just renewed."

Then: "How did that go for you?"

Time is a blur for these people.

"Just renewed" could mean last week or five months ago. Don't assume.

And if they say it sucked, you've got an opening.

If they say it was great, ask what made it so awesome.

Keep extending.

3. "We've been with the same guy for 20 years"

My response: "Twenty years?! Man, sounds to me like you guys are basically married. Is that the case? Do you guys ever talk to anyone else or is it like you're married basically or what?"

If they say they’ve tried quoting the incumbent before: "Yeah, so it sounds like you tried getting quotes and played that whole game and it just was a waste of time. I gotcha. Well, that's actually why I was calling you [name]. I found quoting to be a waste of time as well, but usually people still have a little bit of curiosity like, hey, am I really getting the best deal? I have just a really different approach. It helps you figure out if you're overpaying or missing anything or could be doing something better."

Long relationships don't necessarily mean good relationships.

And most people who've been with someone 20+ years haven't actually vetted them in years.

They're either truly married (in which case, move on) or they're complacent.

Find out which.

4. "What do you have that my current agent doesn't have?"

My response: "Great question. If I could tell you the answer to that, I'd probably be a lot richer. But that's why I was calling, man. I don't know what your current agent has or doesn't have. Maybe they're doing an awesome job, but maybe they're not. And there's that gap of you don't know what you don't know. I try to fill that in with my process. That's why I called you. It's due diligence. It basically helps figure out, is your agent doing everything you think they're doing? Are you getting a fair price? All those things."

This question is a trap.

They're asking you to pitch yourself against a ghost.

Don't take the bait. Redirect to uncertainty and curiosity.

Nobody actually knows if their agent is good, they just assume they are.

5. "We shop our insurance every year"

My response: "Every year? That's gotta be exhausting."

Then: "So it sounds to me like you just either love shopping insurance or you hate the price that you're paying."

If they say they hate shopping but hate their price more: "Can I say something that might absolutely sound totally asinine to you? All right, this is going to seem counterintuitive, but you shopping every year might actually be hurting your premiums, causing them to go higher."

Then explain the underwriter psychology: "It's a pretty small marketplace, man. You've probably got five underwriters that would even write what you do. The same agents have access to the same five pretty much. Just imagine you're bidding on a job. You have a GC that calls you every year to bid their excavating work. You go out there. You bid it. They don't give you the job. They stay with their current sub. Then they ask you again six months later. Same thing happens. How inclined are you going to be to give that guy a fair price if he ever comes to you? You're going to inflate it because you know you're not getting it. Underwriters are the same way."

Annual shopping is a red flag. Run!

They think competition helps, but they're actually training the market to not take them seriously.

This reframe positions you as someone who understands how the game actually works.

6. "We don't renew until April and it's January.”

My response: "That's actually why I called. I think it's perfect timing, but I understand it sounds like you're busy. Let me ask you a question. So you said it renews April, but it's too early. When would you even want to see numbers? Let's say you get an option. When would you need to see stuff on your table by?"

If they say 30 days before: "Yeah, so underwriters want 30 to 60 days, depending on how hairy your risk is. But yeah, so what I would recommend, if you want to see stuff by March 1st, right? I know it's January 5th, but we should probably talk at least in the next week or two. Not saying you got to do anything, but let's have that initial conversation. Because if you're really serious about wanting to see something, we got to work backwards from when you actually want to see numbers, not when the actual renewal date is. And that might help you feel like you're not backed into a corner because that sucks, right? No one wants to feel that way."

They don't understand how underwriting timelines work.

They think 30 days out is plenty. It's not.

Educate them on the reality, then work backwards.

You're not being pushy, you're being practical.

7. "We just switched agents last year"

My response: "Man that sucks. Hey curious, how's that transition gone, moving from your old guy to the new guy? Is it pretty smooth or?"

Then: "When you guys did move last year, did he actually assess anything or just take over your current program?"

If they just signed a broker of record: "Gotcha. Now this might seem crazy because you guys just switched a year ago, but I don't know if you're open to this. I'm not looking to quote or bid, but what I help contractors do is figure out if they're overpaying, missing anything. And just last week I saved a guy like 50 grand by doing this. He was totally happy before we talked and evaluated his program. Does this happen all the time? No, but I see it happen about 10 to 12 times a year. And that's why I was calling you, man. I know it's only been a year with your new agent, but if you feel like you got to look at costs a little closer this year or maybe just have some unanswered questions, I'd be happy to do some due diligence for you. Is that something you'd ever be open to talking more about?"

Key insight: Recent switches don't mean they're in a good spot. Most brokers just take over the existing program and ride it. If they didn't do a deep dive, there's opportunity. And one year is long enough to know if something feels off.

8. "My brother-in-law handles it"

My response: "Hey man, I don't want to break up a happy home or make things uncomfortable at Christmas dinner. Sounds like obviously there's no hope for me here."

Family and close friends are a brick wall. Don't waste your time.

Acknowledge it with humor and move on.

There are plenty of other prospects who aren't married to their agent by blood.

9. "What do you mean by due diligence?"

My response: "Hey man, good question. So basically what I mean by that is—as you know, you tried quoting your insurance in the past, you know how that works. It's kind of a broken process. It doesn't really give you any value. It doesn't really truly answer, hey, am I potentially overpaying? Am I missing something? Could I be doing something different altogether that would actually drive down my cost? So what I mean by due diligence is just a process where I review your current policy and information and then we'll just have a quick research call with you, ask some questions and look at and then do some market research on my end. Take all your information, analyze it, compare it to the rates I see in the market because you don't have access to that information. You can't just go on Google and find it. And then have some calls with underwriters, do some research—your broker never finds out—but then I come back and share it with you. And either I think we can help you or we can't, right? And then we got to decide what's best for you at that point. Again, there's no cost. This is just my way to bring value and potentially get my foot in the door if I'm being totally transparent with you. And I'm in it for the long haul."

This is your elevator pitch for your entire methodology.

Nail this explanation.

It positions you as completely different from every other agent who's calling to "get quotes."

You're not competing on price, you're competing on insight.

The Most Powerful Phrase in Cold Calling

You probably noticed I use "That's why I called" constantly.

It's the single most powerful phrase for extending conversations. You can tack it onto almost any objection and it buys you breathing room to actually think and respond.

Try it. Right now. Take any objection and add "That's why I called" before your response.

It works.

Here's the Thing About Objections

They're not barriers. They're conversations.

Your goal isn't to memorize clever comebacks. It's to extend the conversation one more beat past their reflexive "no."

Ask one more question. Pause. Repeat what they said back to them.

Get them out of fight-or-flight mode and into thinking mode.

That's it.

And if after extending the conversation they're still a no? Fine. Next call.

Want the Full System?

These objection responses are just one piece of the puzzle.

If you want to see the complete methodology I’ve used to build a $1,000,000 book of biz, not once, but twice. We built it into the Producer Playbook.

It's everything:

• How to manage your time

• How to find leads

• Cold calling frameworks

• Our due diligence process

• How to structure meetings

• When to ask for the AOR

• Follow-up cadences

• The whole system

Check out the Producer Playbook here →

Now get back to work.

Kick ass take names,

Micah

P.S. One more thing, the best objection handling happens when you're not thinking about objection handling. It happens when you're just having a real conversation with another human who has a problem you might be able to solve. Stay human. Don't be a robot.