Most agencies are burning out their team to protect their bottom line.

More remarketing. More manual quoting. More inefficiencies.
All while margins get tighter — and expectations get higher.

This week on Getting Past the Premium, Elliot sits down with Chris Peabody from Ascend to unpack what the most forward-thinking agencies are doing differently:

✅ Automating the right processes
✅ Embedding AI in invisible, high-impact ways
✅ Standardizing workflows without losing trust
✅ And actually measuring ROI before adopting new tools

This episode isn’t about “using AI” — it’s about building a more scalable, sustainable firm in today’s reality.

👉 Connect and follow us:
Elliot Bassett, President & Partner at Ellerbrock-Norris | Co-Founder of LAUNCH | Host of Getting Past the Premium Podcast
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elliot-bassett-aip-cpcu-84499515/
Website: https://getlaunch.io/

👉 Connect with our guest:
Chris Peabody, Director of Partnerships, Acsend
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-peabody-9b686541/
Website: https://www.useascend.com/
_____________________

🎙️ Sponsored by LAUNCH
This episode is powered by LAUNCH — the only risk platform that helps producers sell advice, not just insurance.

With LAUNCH, you map real business risks in minutes, prove your value before quoting, and win the account by thinking like a CFO.

Stop selling price. Start selling insight.
👉 Visit https://getlaunch.io/ and get past the premium.
_____________________

Chapters:
00:00 – Intro: Chris Peabody Returns
01:30 – What Ascend Actually Solves for Agencies
02:30 – Why Direct Bill and Agency Bill Reconciliation Are Broken
04:15 – Automation Isn’t Just About Efficiency — It’s About Client Experience
06:20 – Standardization: Why It Matters More Than Ever
08:30 – The Case for Workflow-Driven Technology
09:45 – AI-Powered Invoicing: Real-World Examples
12:10 – Human Mistakes vs. System Capacity Limits
13:55 – The Hidden Cost of Remarketing in a Hard Market
15:30 – Tech That Creates ROI vs. Tech That Creates Noise
17:00 – What Agencies Get Wrong About AI
19:10 – Ascend’s Approach to Embedded AI (And Why It Works)
21:00 – Real Use Cases That Actually Save Time
23:30 – Why Tech ROI Starts with Process Clarity
25:15 – Stop Mimicking Bigger Agencies — Find What Works for You
28:30 – The Real Value of Peer Learning in Insurance
31:00 – How to Vet Tech Vendors the Right Way
34:00 – Launch, Ascend, and the Power of Listening to Your Clients

🎙 Getting Past the Premium is powered by Launch — the only platform helping producers sell insight, not just insurance.

This episode is sponsored by LAUNCH.

In the world of insurance, independent agencies fight to survive. Brokers are forced to compete by blocking markets and bid for the lowest price. Worse yet, the industry is fragmented.

Agencies find it difficult to collaborate across division on the same client. Millions of dollars in potential revenue are left on the table. And agency owners lie awake at night wondering how to scale.

THAT’S WHERE LAUNCH COMES IN.
Access the full-revenue potential in your existing book of business. See opportunities other agencies can’t. Offer more value. Gain a competitive advantage in a commoditized market.

Visit https://getlaunch.io/ to learn more.

Most insurance producers think they need more leads.
What they actually need is more clarity.

Clarity on:
→ Who they serve
→ Why they’re different
→ How they want to grow
→ And who should be referring them business

In this episode of Getting Past the Premium, Elliot Bassett sits down with Abby Arcishewsky, founder of Archway Strategy, to break down how producers can build intentional, strategic, revenue-driving sales systems — starting with their value proposition and referral process.

If you’re relying on COIs, but don’t have a plan…
If your value prop is vague or generic…
Or if your business development is ad hoc instead of engineered…

This episode is a masterclass in fixing all of it.

You’ll learn:
✅ How to define your Ideal Client Persona (ICP) — and why generalists get referred junk
✅ The 3 rules for qualifying great COIs (most people miss the last one)
✅ How to reframe your intro to avoid the “I already have someone” objection
✅ Why your value prop isn’t working — and how to build one that pulls prospects in
✅ How curated micro-events can 10X trust and drive high-conversion referrals
✅ The COI referral scripting strategy that gives you control over your positioning

👉 Connect and follow us:
Elliot Bassett, President & Partner at Ellerbrock-Norris | Co-Founder of LAUNCH | Host of Getting Past the Premium Podcast
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elliot-bassett-aip-cpcu-84499515/
Website: https://getlaunch.io/

👉 Connect with our guest:
Abby Arcishewsky, Founder of Archway Strategy & Consulting
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abby-arcishewsky-cexp%C2%AE-cap%C2%AE-968a5276/
Website: http://www.archway.consulting/
_____________________

🎙️ Sponsored by LAUNCH
This episode is powered by LAUNCH — the only risk platform that helps producers sell advice, not just insurance.

With LAUNCH, you map real business risks in minutes, prove your value before quoting, and win the account by thinking like a CFO.

Stop selling price. Start selling insight.
👉 Visit https://getlaunch.io/ and get past the premium.
_____________________

Chapters:
00:00 – Intro: Meet Abby Arcishewsky, Founder of Archway Strategy
01:10 – From Private Wealth to Building Business Development Systems
02:40 – The 5 Core Pillars of Sales Strategy
05:15 – How to Define Your Ideal Client Persona
06:50 – Why Generalists Get Bad Referrals
08:45 – “I Already Have Someone” — Fixing Your Value Proposition
11:55 – Overcoming Scarcity Mindset When Niching
13:50 – How to Phase Into a Niche Without Losing Revenue
15:00 – The Power of Intentional, Strategic Planning
16:40 – The 3 Golden Rules for COI Relationships
19:10 – Why Most COI Strategies Fail (and How to Fix It)
21:15 – The Power of Referral Scripting + Coaching Your COIs
24:00 – Why Education + Process Win the Referral Game
26:30 – Give to Get: Referral Trust is Earned, Not Assumed
28:00 – Curated Events as Referral Machines
30:15 – How to Build Trust and Create Momentum Through Events
32:50 – Event Stra

This episode is sponsored by LAUNCH.

In the world of insurance, independent agencies fight to survive. Brokers are forced to compete by blocking markets and bid for the lowest price. Worse yet, the industry is fragmented.

Agencies find it difficult to collaborate across division on the same client. Millions of dollars in potential revenue are left on the table. And agency owners lie awake at night wondering how to scale.

THAT’S WHERE LAUNCH COMES IN.
Access the full-revenue potential in your existing book of business. See opportunities other agencies can’t. Offer more value. Gain a competitive advantage in a commoditized market.

Visit https://getlaunch.io/ to learn more.

Most insurance producers cap out at $600K.

Not because they lack talent...but because the system around them is broken.

In this episode of Getting Past the Premium, I sat down with Ryan Deeds, VP of Strategy and Analytics at Alkeme, to break down the real reasons producers and agencies stall out.

Ryan’s built sales systems for 300+ producers across 57+ acquired firms...and what he’s seeing is uncomfortable, but true:

“40% of our clients were generating just 3.5% of our premium.”
That’s not growth. That’s bloat.

You’ll discover:
✅ Why most producers plateau...and how to break through
✅ How Alkeme built a Producer Portal that actually gets used
✅ The single most important metric every producer should track (average account size)
✅ How to design cross-sell and round-out into your operations
✅ The real cost of service drag (and why it caps growth)
✅ Why earnouts complicate scale—and how Alkeme is solving for it
✅ What to do when producers resist systems, tools, and change

👉 Connect and follow us:
Elliot Bassett, President & Partner at Ellerbrock-Norris | Co-Founder of LAUNCH | Host of Getting Past the Premium Podcast
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elliot-bassett-aip-cpcu-84499515/
Website: https://getlaunch.io/

👉 Connect with our guest:
Ryan Deeds, VP of Strategy and Analytics at Alkeme
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryancdeeds/
Website: https://alkemeins.com/
_____________________

🎙️ Sponsored by LAUNCH
This episode is powered by LAUNCH — the only risk platform that helps producers sell advice, not just insurance.

With LAUNCH, you map real business risks in minutes, prove your value before quoting, and win the account by thinking like a CFO.

Stop selling price. Start selling insight.
👉 Visit https://getlaunch.io/ and get past the premium.
_____________________

Chapters:
00:00 – Welcome Back: Ryan Deeds Returns
05:20 – The Producer Portal: Tracking, Tools, Transparency
10:15 – Cross-Sell and Round-Out at Scale
14:30 – Why Average Account Size Changes Everything
27:00 – Service Models, Earnouts & the Growth Bottleneck
42:00 – Chick-fil-A, ICPs, and Strategic Discipline

This episode is a masterclass in building scalable, data-driven, human-first sales systems.

If you’re a producer, agency owner, sales leader, or operator... this is required listening.

This episode is sponsored by LAUNCH.

In the world of insurance, independent agencies fight to survive. Brokers are forced to compete by blocking markets and bid for the lowest price. Worse yet, the industry is fragmented.

Agencies find it difficult to collaborate across division on the same client. Millions of dollars in potential revenue are left on the table. And agency owners lie awake at night wondering how to scale.

THAT’S WHERE LAUNCH COMES IN.
Access the full-revenue potential in your existing book of business. See opportunities other agencies can’t. Offer more value. Gain a competitive advantage in a commoditized market.

Visit https://getlaunch.io/ to learn more.