The Wedge Group

Home
United States
Bluffton, SC
The Wedge Group

Imagine having the tools to develop your Insurance Producers into champions.

Founded by Randy Schwantz -- Strategic Coach, Leading Innovator, International Best Selling Author and Engaging Motivational Speaker.

06/24/2026

Watched a grown man push away a second glass of wine last week because his ring told him to.
A ring.
Sixty-three years old. Built a company. Defeated by jewelry.
I am no better.
I own a machine that weighs me every morning.
Aged a full year over one Thanksgiving.
One pie.
It saw everything.
And I love it, because the number will not let me lie to myself.
Then it hit me.
I will track my sleep to the minute and stare at a recovery score like it owes me money.
And that same owner has no idea how many dials his best producer made last week.
Your producer has a recovery score too.
It is called his dial count.
You just have to be willing to look at the number that disappoints you.

06/22/2026

Your best producer is at his desk by 7:30.
Head down.
Busy as ever.
He has not set a new appointment in six weeks.
You think he is grinding.
He is hiding.
He got beat on a few deals, went quiet, and started writing little accounts that close easy and feed nobody's future.
Now he fills the day with service work and proposals nobody asked for.
You are calling it a slow quarter.
His belief took the hit and his activity followed it down.
Go pull his dial count from the last sixty days.
A producer sitting on a book is the most expensive quiet in your agency.

06/18/2026

"He told me later he didn't even know he was unhappy."

Eleven years with the same agent. Everything fine.

My producer asked one question we'd built before the call... specific to his industry, specific to the incumbent's weakness.

He went quiet. Pulled something out of memory he hadn't thought about in years. A problem nobody ever came back for.

The incumbent hadn't called him in four months. Had sent a holiday card in December. Stock photo of a fireplace.

By the end of the meeting he was naming who in his company needed to be involved and what the change would mean for his business.

The producer knew which question to ask. And when to be quiet after asking it.

That comes from preparation. A culture that says this is how we sell here.

Wedge producers go find the pain. Most producers wait for the prospect to volunteer it.

Those two agencies look different at the end of every year.

06/17/2026

The U.S. Open tees off Thursday.

Every player in that field has a swing coach. Top ten in the world. Twenty years on tour.

Still has someone standing behind them on the range every single week. Watching. Correcting. Calling out what they can't see themselves.

Now think about your top producer.

When did someone last watch him sell?

I've sat in on a lot of producer meetings over thirty years.

I've watched producers ask a perfect discovery question... and then answer it themselves.

One guy spent forty-five minutes presenting to a prospect who made his decision in the first eight minutes.

He thought it went great. "Randy, I think we've got a real shot at this one."

They did not have a shot at this one.

You can't see your own swing. Neither can he.

Someone has to be watching.

06/15/2026

"'He seems pretty happy with his current agent, so I just sent the quote.'"

That sentence is in your pipeline meeting every week.

He walked into a three-person meeting and only talked to one of them.

Ninety-two percent of commercial lines accounts renew with the incumbent. That number doesn't change because a producer worked harder.

It changes when the owner holds a standard.

The agencies that grow new business consistently don't have better people.

They have an owner who made the sales methodology a culture instead of a training event.

That decision belongs to you.

06/11/2026

She didn't say hello. Just: "You're not going to believe this."
Six weeks of weekly accountability sessions.
Pipeline reviewed line by line.
Activity tracked every week.
Before: three middle producers averaging $74,000 in new business each.
Two months in: one of them had $230,000 in active pipeline.
Same producer.
Different leadership style.
Different results.
The middle of your team isn't waiting on a better comp plan.
They're waiting on a leader who can actually see them.
Build the system. The talent reveals itself.
thewedge.net/bignition

06/10/2026

Every player is tracked.
GPS in training.
Sensors in the ball.
Cameras on every movement during the match.
This is the World Cup. 48 teams.
Coaches know when a midfielder loses a step in the 70th minute.
Now picture your producers.
You're pretty sure Dave is "working on a couple of things."
You have eight producers managing hundreds of millions in client premium.
The tracking system is a gut feeling and a monthly production report.
Could there be a better way? I think so.
Go USA.

06/08/2026

He handed me the production report.
Smiled.
Waited for the reaction.
Eight producers. $3.8 million in revenue.
I asked one question: "How much in new business?"
He looked at the ceiling.
He knew what his team wrote overall.
He had no idea what they were doing every day to get there.
The median producer in commercial insurance writes $74,000 in new business.
Your top 20% writes $167,000.
That gap isn't talent. It's visibility and discipline.
Build the visibility. The coaching follows. The numbers get loud.
thewedge.net/bignition

06/05/2026

The dry erase marker was still in his hand when he turned around and said it.

“I don’t think we’ve ever actually written this down.”

Thirty-one producers hired in fourteen years.
Nine still with the agency.
Never written down.

That’s the problem.

Most agency owners know something is broken, but they can’t name the specific gear.

So where does your machine break down?

1. Front end
The niche isn’t tight enough.
The database isn’t clean.
The activity isn’t consistent.

2. Middle
Producers get meetings, but they stall.
The prep doesn’t happen.
The wedge isn’t built before the call.

3. Back end
Accounts get written, then walk out two years later.
Retention is running on goodwill instead of a timeline.

4. Step zero
You pick up the marker and realize the machine was never documented to begin with.

Once you know the gear, you can start fixing the machine.

06/03/2026

I watched a man meet a TSA bin for the first time.

He picked it up.
Put it down.
Looked at the belt.
Looked at the agent.
Looked at me.

Meanwhile, Lane 3 was flying.

Shoes off.
Laptop out.
Jacket off.
Bin moving.

Same airport.
Same checkpoint.
Completely different result.

Why?

One lane had a machine.
The other had improvisation.

Sales calls work the same way.

When everything goes right, most producers are fine.
But when the buyer pushes back, the incumbent comes up early, or the conversation goes sideways…
you find out who has a process.

The prepared producer doesn’t blink.
The other one guesses.
The line moves faster when you have a machine.

Address

20 Towne Drive
Bluffton, SC
29910

Website

http://thewedge.net/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when The Wedge Group posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to The Wedge Group:

Shortcuts

Want your business to be the top-listed Business in Bluffton?