Nick Christenson started as a team member in 2015. Four years later, he opened his agency in the small town of Detroit Lakes, MN. Just two years into agency, Nick earned himself a spot on President's Club list, making him one of the top one hundred agents in State Farm. He recently trusted On the Grid LLC to handle his PPC and SEO and we couldn't pass up the opportunity to feature him in our blog about his journey to becoming a President's Club and MOA agent.
Q: Tell me about your journey from team member to president's club
A: I'm such a relationship seeker and as an aspirant at Chuck Swenson’s office I was able to form relationships with a lot of people. Leading into agency, a lot of people asked, “Why would you choose Detroit Lakes?” Simple, it's a relationship seeker market and that's been a big part of my success. I get my energy from people, from being successful, and people wanting my help. If they're smiling, and their families have changed. I feel fulfilled.
From a logistical standpoint, I invest in people's relationships with my time and energy, but I also invest in my team and my community with my time and money as well. I take a “Tell them quick, tell them often” approach to marketing. I want people to see one of my eight billboards, my name at the top of Google, our 5 of 5-star rating with 115 reviews. That's part of telling them quick, telling them often. And so not only do we invest in the people, we invest in the platforms to reach more people too.
Q: What’s a challenge you’ve faced and how you overcame it
A: When you get a certain size and you have your face everywhere, people tend to think that you're in it just for the money and they don't give you a chance to show your heart. To that I say, “Well, then, you just don't know me then ” and I just smile through that.
Q: You grew over 1 million in P&C premium last year in a town of 12K people. Some people say that working in a rural market is challenging. What do you say to that?
A: When I started here we were consistently told, “There's no money here like Prior Lake.” What we’ve found is that it's just different money. They work with their bodies for the money. So if you want people to spend their money with you then you need to build that relationship: they need to feel loved by you, and they need to trust you. And so it comes down to once again relationships; they're going to be wary of giving you their money if you don't have that relationship.
Q: What advice would you give to agents looking to build their agency?
A: Give to your team until it hurts and then give some more. $100 that you don't have to them is a $1 million when you're first starting. One lead that comes from a source that you're putting money into like Google ads may change their life and in turn, change yours. Every dollar I spend is all to make sure that my team can take home $60,000 or feel like they're accomplishing something. So that's a question you have to continually ask yourself, “are they doing it for you, or are you doing it for them?” And if you ever push something through doing it for you, they'll quickly run away.
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