Why Agencies Can't Scale Fast

Want to know why most agencies struggle to accelerate growth? I'm living it right now.

Early in my career, I learned from a coach who drilled into me the importance of running a systemized agency - being intentional with processes, making sure everyone follows the same approach instead of winging it, documenting everything, and being disciplined. In 2025, we doubled down on this and really did it at scale, especially with AI helping us.

We have everything you're "supposed" to have. Documented SOPs. A learning management system (LMS). AI tools and years of systematized processes.

Yet the last two weeks training my cousin Grey as a new CSR in my agency has been absolutely challenging.

I hired Grey on September 8th. She had zero insurance experience. By October 10th - 32 days later - she passed her P&C license exam. She drove down from New Jersey for two weeks of in-person training.

I trained her using our LMS course, then met with her multiple times to recap the material, quiz her understanding, and check knowledge retention. Once she had the foundation, I brought in Emi, one of my CSRs, for three days of hands-on training to show her how the work actually gets done.

Those three days covered daily workflows, system navigation, policy servicing procedures, client communication protocols, and completing routine tasks. Grey practiced real tasks under supervision, handled actual client calls, and worked through live scenarios.

That's what it really takes - even when you have the systems.

Here's the thing nobody talks

Think about what we're actually asking someone to do. They have to get licensed - that's 3-4 weeks minimum. Then learn all our tech systems. Then learn all our carriers.

Then understand how to work in their role of service or sales. Then tie it all together. Then actually answer a phone call, solve a problem, and complete a task correctly.

Having everything documented helps. The LMS helps. But it still takes a human for them to shadow and learn from. A human to spot-check their work. A human to answer the questions that don't fit neatly into any SOP. And most agencies are already running at capacity - every person is needed just to handle the current workload and keep operations running.

This is why scaling an agency is so hard. But you need to keep hiring if you want to grow. For example, if you're selling new business every year, you will eventually need more staff to service it. If you want to increase the rate of your new business, then you need more staff to increase sales. But the hiring and training process is so resource-intensive that most agencies just aren't equipped to do it consistently well.

And here's what makes it even harder. Sometimes the hiring is not even for growth. Grey is replacing one of my veteran CSRs with over 6 years of institutional knowledge who's leaving in December. When you lose someone like that, you don't just lose a body to fill a seat. You lose years of experience, client relationships, and problem-solving wisdom that can't be documented in any SOP. That's the part that crushes agencies - when key people leave, you lose more than just their ability to do the work. You lose the deep knowledge that only comes from years of experience.

The key to growing any business - insurance or otherwise - is figuring out how to systematically onboard, train, and get people productive in the shortest time possible, with the least amount of labor, while maintaining your quality standards.

I haven't figured it out myself yet. But I'm on that journey.