I just finished listening to Trey’s interview with Luke Berry on the podcast.

In case you missed it, Luke did over a million dollars in revenue last year.

Super impressive, but not what I want to talk about in today’s newsletter.

What I want to talk about is something else he shared in the pod. A framework that honestly explains more about success in insurance sales than anything I've heard in years.

Luke calls it E + R = O, which stands for:

Event + Response = Outcome

Here's what it means:

Life is constantly throwing events at us. Some are good, some are bad, and most are neutral. The reality is that we rarely have control over these events. They just happen to us, whether we like it or not.

In insurance, this is especially true.

You can't control whether prospects answer their phones. You can't control when a client gets hit with a massive rate increase. You can't control when your star Account Executive jumps ship to you competitor for an extra $10k a year.

You can ONLY control your response.

And it's your response, not the event itself, that actually determines your outcome.

Think about it like this:

Two producers experience the exact same rejection—they lose a deal. One takes it personally, complains to their team, and stops prospecting for the rest of the week.

The other shrugs it off and immediately moves on to the next opportunity.

It's the same event, but because their responses were different, they end up with completely different outcomes.

Played out enough times, over the course of time one will succeed. The other will experience far less success if not crash and burn entirely.

But, wait. There’s more:

What Makes This Framework So Powerful

You don't have to wait until the event happens to decide how you'll respond!

You can actually mentally rehearse different scenarios that might happen in your life and career, then choose your responses in advance.

This is a gamechanger.

When you've already decided how you'll respond to negative events:

• A client firing you

• A coworker acting like an idiot

• A competitor bad mouthing you

You don't have to fall victim to your emotions in the moment.

You've already done the thinking when you were calm and rational.

When the event actually happens, you just execute the response you planned. This leads to way better outcomes because you're responding from intention instead of reacting from emotion.

This framework is so powerful because it removes victimhood from your life and career.

It puts you back in the driver's seat.

"Yeah, that happened. Now here’s what I’m going to do about it.”

Now, let’s look at three common scenarios every Producer faces, play out two different responses, and see how this creates two very different outcomes.

1. The Prospecting Roller Coaster

You sit down and make fifty cold calls in a morning.

Forty-seven go straight to voicemail.

Two people tell you they're happy with their current broker.

One says they’re interested and asks you to call back after lunch, then ghosts you when you follow up.

That's the event.

The loser response: You take the rejection personally, and let it derail your day. You question if “cold calling still works” and eventually abandon the activity altogether after a dozen similar events.

The winner response: You treat it like part of the process, not a personal attack. You understand that the math only works if you keep showing up. So you keep showing up.

Both Producers experienced the same rejection, but the downstream effects couldn't be more different.

The winner will no doubt build a consistent pipeline over time, and find success.

The loser gets emotional and pivots. He stays stuck, jumping from shiny object to shiny object always wondering why he can't get ahead.

Next scenario:

2. Chaotic Clients and Renewals

Your biggest client tells you you're the best broker they've ever worked with.

Two months later, they're threatening to BOR everything back to their old guy because of an increase you didn't cause.

That's the event.

The loser response: You ride the wave emotionally. You take client frustration personally. You let the loss ruin you week. Your confidence becomes entirely dependent on external validation from clients who are dealing with their own chaos.

The winner response: You remain emotionally stable. You appreciate the wins but don't get high on them. You understand that renewals will blow up, clients will be unreasonable sometimes, and the relationship will have natural ups and downs.

Same chaos. Different responses.

Now to the likely outcomes.

One producer will likely burn out from the constant emotional whiplash.

The other Producer will build a reputation as someone clients can count on, especially when things get hard.

And finally:

3. Conflict with Competition and Colleagues

A competitor spreads nasty rumors about you and your agency in the market.

Despite being untrue, it is brought up by every client and prospect you meet with for the next 6 months.

That's the event.

The loser response: You take it personally and retaliate. You gossip back. You hold grudges and vent to insureds.

The winner response: You stay above it. You know conflict is inevitable in a competitive industry. You take the high road and protect your reputation.

Same conflict. Different response.

Again, to the most likely outcomes:

One Producer gets dragged into the mud with the other pigs. They damage their reputation even more by how they respond to the contreversy.

The other Producer builds a reputation as someone who's professional, consistent, and trustworthy even under pressure.

Every Morning, We Wake Up With One Guarantee

Today will bring us events we cannot control. The only thing we can control is our response to them.

We can't control insureds. We can't control the market. We can't control carriers, competitors, or colleagues. But we can control our responses.

And our responses determine our career.

So here's my question for you:

What's your response going to be next time SHTF?

And more importantly, have you already decided how you’ll respond?

Ok, that’s enough for now.

See you Friday bright and early.

Kick ass take names,

Micah

P.S. We just finished shooting the Producer Playbook 2.0. It should be up soon. I know I keep saying that. I promise I’m not trying to tease it out. It’s just taking Trey longer than expected.

It’s the last week to grab the 1.0 version at $195 before we bump up to premium pricing.

And yes, if you buy 1.0 now, we’ll give you access to the new 2.0 version at no addtional charge.

Here the link.