Riley Garner shares his progression from high-volume call center sales to independent production and agency ownership. Dan and Mike explore building a personal book of business, managing agents, and creating opportunities for local and virtual producers. The episode connects customer service experience with the practical transition from employee-style telesales work to running an insurance business.

In this episode

  • Call center career transition
  • Independent agency ownership
  • Book of business development
  • Agent management
  • Customer service

Show notes

On Episode 128 of the Agent Boost Podcast, Mike sits down with longtime agent and agency owner Riley Garner for a conversation that starts personal and ends up being a masterclass in why experience, both lived and professional, is what actually builds trust in healthcare.

Riley opens up about his son's sudden health crisis: a routine day swimming in the Virgin River turned into E. coli, then Shiga toxin, then HUS, then dialysis at Primary Children's Hospital. As a licensed agent himself, Riley walks through what it's actually like to be on the other side of the desk, dealing with ACA coverage through Molina, life flight bills, a denied ambulance claim, and the appeals process, and how even industry veterans get surprised by their own EOBs.

It's a real time case study in why insurance gets a bad rap until the day you actually need it, and why agents who've lived through a claim fight understand something no training manual can teach.

From there, the episode traces Riley's full arc in the business: Chick fil A to personal trainer to a last minute Medicare license earned three days before the deadline, into Connection Point, then Go Health during the 700 enrollments a season era, through the Covid era collapse of the big box telesales shops, and into the hybrid field and digital model that Dan and Mike built out of that chaos. Riley became a team lead, grew the WellCare book, moved to Tampa to build out that market, and has now come full circle, opening his own agency, Health Plan Assistance, in St. George, Utah, combining phone, virtual, and face to face enrollment under one roof.

Mike and Riley make the case that this hybrid, trust first model is exactly where the industry is headed, and Riley's path is a live example of what building it the right way looks like.

If you're an agent thinking about going independent, opening a physical office, or just want a real story about what insurance means when it's your own family on the line, this episode is essential listening.

Chapters

  • 0:00 Welcome & Introducing Riley Garner
  • 2:15 Riley's Son's Health Crisis: E. coli, HUS & Primary Children's Hospital
  • 5:11 Riley's Own ACA Coverage and the Molina Bills
  • 10:21 Why Even Agents Struggle to Understand Their Own EOBs
  • 12:40 Chick fil A, Meeting His Wife & Getting Licensed in 3 Days
  • 16:04 Utah as a Medicare Call Center Hub & the Old War Hero Era
  • 19:34 How Big Box Telesales Went Off the Rails
  • 24:13 The Two Types of Telesales Agents & Becoming a Team Lead
  • 26:55 Growing the WellCare Team & Moving to Tampa
  • 30:14 Building Health Plan Assistance in St. George
  • 33:08 Why Face to Face Is Making a Comeback
  • 36:42 Riley's 5 Year Vision & How to Reach Him
  • 40:34 Wrap Up