The Mark of a True Professional With Ike Trotter

Ike Trotter

Ike Trotter began his journey in the insurance world when he was 22 years old. Ike is highly skilled in analyzing long-term care insurance, Medicare supplement coverage, disability insurance, life insurance, and retirement planning. As a Financial Services Professional for Ike Trotter Agency, he provides healthcare, risk management, and "basic" estate planning solutions to families and small businesses. He is an active member and volunteer of NAIFA.

Ike holds a multitude of educational credentials including Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU), Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC), and Retirement Income Certified Professional (RICP) from The American College of Financial Services in Bryn Mawr, PA. He is also credentialed through The National Association of Estate Planning Councils as an Accredited Estate Planner. Ike is also a recipient of the NAIFA Quality Award.

Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:

Ike Trotter talks about his family’s legacy in the life insurance industry and his early beginnings
Ike’s perspective on running a small business and the challenges he’s faced
Advice for the next generation of financial advisors and leaders
Ike explains the honor of receiving the NAIFA Quality Award
Ike shares how who qualifies for the NAIFA Quality Award and its benefits
How NAIFA can benefit your career in insurance

In this episode…

If you’re selling insurance, how can you demonstrate your quality and commitment to insurance standards? Where can you turn for camaraderie in the insurance industry?

With decades of experience in the insurance industry, Ike Trotter, NAIFA Quality Award recipient, has committed himself to providing quality service to his clients. Ike knows that to give back to your community and your clients, you need to keep the focus on the consumer and their needs. Through the NAIFA Quality Award, advisors at any career stage have the opportunity to demonstrate their commitment to quality and excellence in the insurance industry.

In this episode of Advisor Today, join Suzanne Carawan and Ike Trotter, a Financial Professional at Ike Trotter Agency, to talk about appreciating insurance agents through the NAIFA Quality Award. Ike discusses the importance of community, keeping the focus on best practices for your clients, and maintaining focus and quality in your work.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Sponsor for this episode...

This episode is brought to you by the NAIFA Quality Award. The NAIFA Quality Award provides advisors at any career stage the opportunity to demonstrate a commitment to excellence. This includes:

Professionalism through education and earned designations
Production measured by performance metrics customized for each practice specialty
Adherence to the NAIFA code of ethics, and
Service to your industry association

Advisors specializing in Life & Annuities, Financial Advising & Investments, Health & Employee Benefits, Multiline Sales, or any combination of these specialties have the opportunity to demonstrate the quality that is the mark of a true professional.

Episode Transcript:

Intro 0:02

Welcome to NAIFA's Advisor Today podcast series where we focus on how financial advisors work, live and give to their local communities and our greater financial services industry. Now, let's get started with the show.

Suzanne Carawan 0:16

Hello, everybody, welcome to NAIFA's Advisor Today podcast where we like to live, work and give today I'm joined with Ike Trotter, a legend in the world of NAIFA, we're gonna hit Learn more about him. And today's podcast is actually brought to you by the “Advisor Today” magazine. And we're going to talk a little bit about that as well today with it because he knows a thing or two about our print magazine, and, and whatnot. So we're excited to have Ike here. Today, he's one of our absolutely loyal members coming out of Mississippi. So Ike

Ike Trotter 0:53

welcome. Thank you, Suzanne, so good to be with you.

Suzanne Carawan 0:57

So we have a number of topics that we can talk about i and it's hard to even know where to start with you. Because you have such a we have so many topics that we can talk about, we've worked together for what maybe like four or five years now, yes, on a number of different things. And the latest endeavor, of course, is really getting our advisor today working group kind of back in order and expanding the platform. But what we like to do on this show, in particular Ike what our what our listeners and our watchers really like to do is kind of talk about you, you know, and I know you'd like to talk about other things that NAIFA and your and we're going to talk about the quality award that you're a big fan of, but I want to start first with you. And we like to kind of get into the story of the advisors, right? So why don't we start with how did you even get into this business?

Ike Trotter 1:47

Well, I got into the business because I'm a Life Insurance branch. My father was very active for years and years and the life insurance business. He coming home after World War Two, he finished his education, he started out in biking, didn't like it very well. And he found that the life insurance was much more of a creative type of business for him to go into. So he got into it. And he spent his entire career in the life insurance business. So as I was growing up, I always knew that my dad had always encouraged me to consider it. I went to college and I didn't make I didn't make bad grades. I just I just wasn't focused, but I always knew that that option would would come back. So my senior year in college dad kind of sat down with me and said, you know, looking at your grades and from what we talked about before son, I read, I really think coming back and working with me, would be a good idea. And by that time I was a senior in college not know what I was doing. So I said yesterday that's it back in Susanne. I had a wonderful day. He he was wonderful in so many ways the unlike some dads that have heard about that they were saying, you know, son or daughter, you're gonna do that do it this way another. He allowed he gave me wings. He allowed me to do it. And so I started on January the second 1975. I was all 22 years old.

Suzanne Carawan 3:29

Oh, you actually remember the date? Wow. Okay. Yeah. And

Ike Trotter 3:32

that's how I started. And I would like to say my career has kind of broken up into three parts. And but the first part shorted on January the second 1970 back.

Suzanne Carawan 3:47

Well, essentially taking us down that timeline. What's the second part?

Ike Trotter 3:50

Well, I started out, you know, but the first for the first 10 or 15 years of my career was pretty much doing life insurance. I will say that, you know, when you're 22 or 25 years old, it was the most of your friends and I came back to my hometown where I live. I'm a native Mississippian. I grew up here. I've always enjoyed it here. A lot of my friends didn't have a lot of money. Those those those early years are kind of struggling years, I help. I help subsidize my income somewhat by doing medical insurance, which is very important because a lot of my friends, maybe they weren't married but they might have a need for health insurance or disability coverage. So I'm worked out real well. And I was what I was going to say was I was working on what NAIFA was teaching at that time and that was the life underwriter platform. Now I know you've heard something about that but man I was in it. I was completely in it. And but by At the end of that first third of my career, it was starting to just not resonate very well, the the business was changing. I got in the business. Going back to my dad earlier, my dad worked from after World War Two into the very early 70s, my dad worked in what I call the golden era of life insurance. By the time I got in there, it was changing, it was changing in terms of perception, it was changing in terms of customer attitudes. So that situation was such that by around the early to mid 1990s I was doing okay, I qualified by for MDRT doing pretty well with that, but it still just seemed a little bit harder than what I've wanted. So the second phase of my career all the time being very active with NAIFA but was moved on to working with an independent broker dealer. And that really worked very comfortably for me in in with gratitude for what I had learned being a life underwriter, I kind of morphed into being more of a financial advisor, if you will. Another voice that you may have heard about before, I'm sure several of your listeners are familiar with this name. But one of the real influences to me in my career was a guy named Tom Wolf's was a past NAIFA President incredible human being. And he had a program that it came out with in the 1980s and 90s call FNA program stands for financial needs analysis. I've been in that hook, line and sinker, and the FNA program along with it, being with an independent broker dealer gave me the opportunity to expand my practice a little bit more, don't get me wrong, I always did life insurance and health insurance and what our friend Brian ash would call foundational products. But but through FNA I was able to explore more working with people with their retirement dollars, with their plans for their children with with things that they are wanting to do for their parents. So that was that was very helpful for me and that that went Suzanne from about the middle 90s until around 2017 or 18. By that time, as my as my hair was starting to get grayer and grayer, I decided that I needed to find some type of succession to my business I had a very, very pleasant experience merging my investment practice into a with Community Bank. And by that time I worked really well there was a wonderful young lady was working on me would great friend She's my advisor today and she took over from me and so the third part of my career started actually on January 1 of last year when i i no longer being securities licensed anything like that I work kind of in a more focused area of planning such as Medicare supplements and your occasional long term care so that I hope I hope I've shared with you three areas to it but I've seen a lot of things over the last 48 years

Suzanne Carawan 8:43

I was gonna say so I mean you've had a long lucrative career so I mean what what's really what stayed the same what stayed the same for you throughout all those decades of work? Or have you done it like what you know also What's kept you motivated?

Ike Trotter 8:58

Well, I obviously I would think that that my dad was wonderful information. I think in in no small factor that coming back to an area where I live and I knew people was very helpful, although one of the issues about not part of the country which I love and the reason I enjoy being here was it is it is a little bit challenged financially, we are higher the country is great, but we need more. We need we need more businesses and things like that to come in. You know, you know, believe it or not, Susanne all I ever wanted to be was quite my dad was I just wanted a small practice where I could be my own boss I used to say unmown Napoleon the biggest. The biggest problem, believe it or not, is running a small business is not easy. And there are always challenges too. You know, as I, as I kept getting more and more involved with nature, and I go, I go to meetings, and I hear about all these guys, some of these huge brands and stuff like that. But I kept thinking, Well, it's good, but how does it play back home, and we found two that wireless as my dad was say, you're welcome to go out and shoot elephants. But just make sure while you're hunting, that if you need to, you can shoot a few rabbits and squirrels along the way. So being able to run a small practice and being able to shoot rabbits and squirrels, if you may, was very helpful to me in that regard.

Suzanne Carawan 10:39

So how did you do that? Did you? Did you kind of make up that piece in volume? And you had kind of more of a volume practice? Or how did you situate your practice so that you were able to be successful? In an area?

Ike Trotter 10:51

Yeah, I was always more comfortable making a lot of sales, rather than, than my, than my friends that might get by with making 15 or 20. sales a year, I was always, it was always more than my comfort level, hitting that kicking activity?

Suzanne Carawan 11:10

And you would take those clients, right, where a lot of people turn them down? So I would think, in some ways, I mean, what did you find? If you were willing to do that? Were you able to successfully grow them? Or did you just have a better record, because you were able to, you're willing to help them,

Ike Trotter 11:27

I would say, I wish I had a better rapport with them. But But when, when you're, when you're writing, you know, 7500 125 cases a year, there's really, so far you can go there with your, your customer base. And I was always cognizant of the fact that I needed to make sure that not people, if they needed additional help, I could point them to where they needed to go, for example, you know, such as trust officers, things like that, where they can work with. So it just it worked in that it worked out my comfort level better. It really did. Doing a lot of activity, and I enjoy them.

Suzanne Carawan 12:13

Well, so I mean, that's kind of interesting. Can we kind of unpack that for a second and talk about, then you because that's you are deciding, you know, so much we talk about the industry about your why, right? And why you did it and what motivates you, but you are self aware enough to be able to say to yourself, This is my comfort level? Right? So any advice or we've got a lot of young advisors out there who are who are kind of you know, first remember back in, when you're talking about in your early your phase one of the Ike Trotter world there, and you're trying to figure it out, you know, do you have some advice for them trying to figure out like, where is that comfort level? How does one figure out their comfort level and, you know, figure out what that's going to be in their niche?

Ike Trotter 12:53

Well, every day they got to get put their pants on. And usually when you put your pants on, you put one leg in, and one side and one leg and the other, industrially, what don't, don't get, don't make it too involved. Don't try to think too much down the road. Just plan your work, work your plan, which is one of these things we heard about in ALU days, which is now nicer. And it was just that keep focused, plan your work in and I've also heard a guy say, you know, there's a reason why the good Lord gave you two ears and one mouth. reason that is, is that you should spend more time listening than you are talking. So for those people that are kind of up, as you mentioned, just kind of trying to find their way. Listen, listen, sometimes, sometimes you'll hear I've laughed about the fact Suzanne that over my career, I had this little guy right up here on my shoulder. It's just, I can do it this way. And this little guy over here said no, I need to go that way. And that was helpful for me to to make it but and I will say that that in this is this is a plug with NAIFA, because you know, I'm not going to be on your podcast. And yeah, I absolutely don't know how I would have done it without the many people I mentioned about Tom, Tom Wolfe, the many people that were were NAIFA guys, every year I go to the conferences, I'd go to the meetings, I'd go to the NA LCS, and Suzanne is like a sponge. I couldn't learn enough. And so that that's what that's what the young guys got to do. Get your plan, focus. Don't try to don't try to think too hard. Just let it flow.

Suzanne Carawan 14:56

So so let's talk about and if I mean you are somebody who has always been an avid, you know, you're talking about the participant, you've gone you, you show up you volunteer. You know, a lot of people say, I don't know, like, what's my We hear it all the time, you know, what's my immediate return on investment? Right? What's in it for me? Right? And maybe that was great. Back in the day, I said, How is this relevant for me today? Time is money, right? Why should I be part of this professional association?

Ike Trotter 15:26

Well, let me let me go back for two years to start with, there was a lot of change going on in the business. When I got to you. First Company, I started with very active with it, I was the national Rookie of the Year in 1976. That company got bought out. And then I was working with some other companies. The Fit wasn't right. And then I was with another company that I sort of liked in my team in 1990s. And they got bought out. So So NAIFA was always the place that I came back to. It was it took them a life not only as a professional association, me, but a lot of ways it was like a company. Because I knew every year that when I went to naifa, I would be meeting people from across the fruited plain. Everybody that's, and I saw that they were just like me, they had same issues. They had the same concerns. They, they needed that help but going these these meetings and listening to the speakers, and seeing and thinking how you know, they're doing it, I can do it too. Suzanne, I, I enjoy here in my area. I've always loved doing community theater, it's a lot of fun. It's a nice kind of passion for me. And there's a great saying and in the theater business, and that is will it play in Peoria years ago that when when Broadway companies were not sure if that play that they'd spent a lot of money on probably tuck their house to do to get the play going. They would play it over in period Peoria. Would it work? So when I went to NAIFA meetings, and I was listening all these guys, I was thinking, well, will this play in my Peoria? Peoria was small town, Mississippi, it was Greenville it was those areas like that. And once again, being around these guys, and I can go from Tom Mike alone back, you just tell me how many I can talk about, and I can talk about them all but but their their, their influence was just legendary. It just it it was it was it was more than a professional association. It is more than a professional association.

Suzanne Carawan 18:01

Well, you bring up a really good point. That's it's nuanced. But I want to touch on a second, this is just my own small little, you know, five year view and NAIFA, which is that a lot of times I've seen that maybe in good times everybody's making money there. They're feeling like they've got all the education they need, et cetera. They're like, I don't know if I really need this. Right. But what I saw is when COVID hit, and that crisis hit, and then previous, you know, saying like, there was a fiduciary standard that might have gotten enforced and really affected commission based agents and whatnot, that the next thing you know, everybody needs an alpha. Right? And sometimes maybe you forget, but you bring up a really consistent point that regardless of any of the upheaval that was happening in, you know, in your business career, NAIFA was at one consistent, right, NAIFA has been through multiple pandemics. They've been through the wars, right? They've been they've seen it all. So that kind of long tear that history, that other type of insurance, if you will, right, and having that peace of mind that you can find somebody in NAIFA That's a really nuanced point. But it's it's a really interesting one.

Ike Trotter 19:07

Can I expand on that just for a second to Salt Lake City on September the 11th 2001 at a NAIFA conference, and

Suzanne Carawan 19:18

you're one of those this is like history I've heard I've heard these stories you are actually there.

Ike Trotter 19:22

And and I will tell you what, that at a time when we all needed to be together. Going to be holding hands and just praying about things. Yeah, the NAIFA family came together. I can I can take people like Bob Nelson. Randy Kilgore, people like that those guys killed our group together at a time when people were scared to death about what will happen so NAIFA has not just only affected my career, it's it's it's affected my life. I feel that better person because of what dissociation? Yes. And oh, Suzanne, I could go on and on?

Suzanne Carawan 20:05

Well, we call it you know, we call it part of that that aspect that NAIFA family and there's a lot of truth to that, right. I mean, we, we really do come together well, when it's whether it's natural disaster, somebody like you were just saying I just lost my father and you know the amount of people that reach out and you know, just understand, of course, that death process on top of it. It's incredible right. And so I think that because there are so many people within the community that work in both health insurance and also life insurance. I my theory and watching all of you for these years is there's also an exuberance for life, right? So there's like a zest for life. And you really, really appreciate it. And you don't take a lot of stuff for granted. And there's a lot of positive, yes. Very positive attitude. Yes. But I do want to come back to one thing. So are you actually saying because I didn't know this about you? I knew that you were at a community and a theater bus. But you're saying, Are you actually performing in community theater to?

Ike Trotter 21:01

I've done over the years,

Suzanne Carawan 21:03

I did not know that I did.

Ike Trotter 21:06

Well, I never was very good at basketball season. Like Chris, ah, yeah, I enjoyed, I enjoy that we have a very active community theater here. So nice album, and I like it very much.

Suzanne Carawan 21:20

So give me some performance tips you can give to other advisors that maybe you've learned on stage, or you've learned through your long term career and are in been working with clients to help with that building rapport and building the trust, maybe getting them to listen and putting them into a posture where they're talking and you're not.

Ike Trotter 21:41

You got to get on the wavelength you got, you got to get to be able to kind of peel the engine back a little bit and say, Listen, I'm here to help you, oh, yes, I do make a commission, if you buy this product from me, but that's really not what the discussion is today, the discussion today is about you, where you're going what you want to do for those that you care about. And so, always keeping the focus on the consumer is, is is the way to go. Now, when, on the other hand, when you're on a stage, your job is you're also peeling back the onion to you're sitting there, you're trying to project yourself to the audience that you are really that person that you're pretending to be. And it's it's, it's, it's great when you get that camaraderie going. And you you you have the people

Suzanne Carawan 22:43

was a thrill right, you know it, you know, when you've got them, like you know it, you can feel it and you go okay, you can

Ike Trotter 22:49

now you know, you know, with all the gray hair I have and the advancing age that I have i i don't think i've got any major parts rose coming up. But frankly, in my older age, I love to do the character roles. So

Suzanne Carawan 23:04

yeah, I was gonna say it, it just changes over over time, just from one thing to another. So did you know this? Were you aware that Roger Sims in North Carolina did you know he did compete a theater too? There you go. See, that's an NAIFA family for you connect those two right off the bat? Because the thing about NAIFA people is everybody's like a renaissance person, right? They're all all of all of you have these other you know, everybody has like another skill or talent or something they do. And it's I think it's part of the the verb for life. So since you're talking about though, putting the making all of your interactions about the client with the consumer, right, and making the consumer focus, let's talk about your passion for the NAIFA quality awards. Okay, because you've been talking about this one for a while. So what what do you think? Do we have it we got some time we got some we got a vet. So yeah, so I mean, a lot of people still, like don't know what the NAIFA quality awards are. So you want to just kind of give us a level set on to what these things are?

Ike Trotter 24:05

Well, there there continues to this day to be a perception problem about it. But in our industry, there are a lot of awards. Most of those awards, whether they're done by other industry associations, or by particularly companies are production focused. And, and that's good. That's cool. I want to come out here and say, first of all, I'm a very proud member of MDRT with 23 years of qualification. I think it's great, but the NAIFA Quality Award was was started in 1947 and by NLU and when they started it, it was called the National Quality Award and some people still call it that way. Frankly, I just normally call it the NQA just to make it simpler, but frankly it is more of an award that That looks beyond volume, it looks at the quality of of work you're doing the kind of business, this business that you're writing that stand on the books it's about, it's about that person that qualifies for that Ward is one who's got, who's got a code of conduct on how he's going to do. And I just think I think it's an a wonderful award of up Suzanne, you guys, you guys have done an incredible marketing campaign about Anita. And that being NAIFA is Main Street. And I'd like to link it up by saying that the NAIFA Quality Award works very well on Main Street, because it is about being service being of service to the customer, being there in the community, doing the right kind of things at the right time. So that's that's what that that's what that award about it, it, it does recognize meaningful production. But it's, it's it's much more than just another one of those production awards.

Suzanne Carawan 26:13

And how can I win that? Like, what are the areas in which we can win?

Ike Trotter 26:17

Okay, well, about about 10 or 15 years ago, recognizing that there were some perception problems with NAIFA's with with the Quality Award. And there were some thoughts well as just something that you do if you're selling life insurance, and we knew of that perception problem we got together in Dallas when I was on the member benefits committee, and we our job was to try to revamp and re energize what this warriors. So we came up with a formula that it would, it would recognize quality production in four areas, which represent most of the areas that NAIFA members working in. That is either life insurance and annuities. Next is health insurance and employee benefits. The third area, which is property casualty, it's really important because, as you know, probably a third of NAIFA members are are licensed in property casualty, we didn't have really any kind of regulation, recognition for that.

Suzanne Carawan 27:24

And then that's a little known fact, it's a little known fact still, you know, NAIFA the people that that work with PNC as well, yeah,

Ike Trotter 27:32

exactly in the fourth area is, which was of interest to me, because, again, I was on the second phase of my career, and I was working with an independent broker dealer was, was investments in financial advice. And those are the four practice specialists in there, there are certain ways with each one of those areas that you can qualify. And that's, that's what the award is in, in simple language.

Suzanne Carawan 28:00

So what have we done lately? I'd like to help to get more recognition for that and NQA. Because I know you brought it up. Before we pre call today, he brought it up about some of the good work that Laurie Adams is doing in particular, it's a work in progress.

Ike Trotter 28:14

Thanks. Thanks to Suzanne Caroline. Then what Nick is doing, uh, y'all are y'all are given y'all are given more recognition to this award. I think that our, our, our NAIFA website does a tremendous job of doing but it is, it is a struggle. Let me just say a couple of things. First of all, there are companies that you and I both know about, that could do a better job of promoting the in QA award. But they don't. I've often said, for every one company, there's a real proponent of the Quality Award, you and I both know that there are four or five that we just seem to be banging our heads up against the wall, perhaps they're, they're trying to work more with promoting their own production awards, and I get that. But in the second, the secondary is, is that there is some perception by some within NAIFA. But for some reason that the NAIFA Quality Award is not the caliber of an award like MDRT. And I'd really like to shoot that down. I'm a proud MDRT member. But MDRT to me, is more about recognition among my peers, and other people in the financial services business, that I've hit the bar that I've worked hard and I've been successful. But as it has to do with the NQA award. That's an award to me, fundamentally, that I want my customers to know that that I will the people in my community to know about when I'm spending money to advertise. I want them to see NAIFA Quality Award winner just like Better Homes and Gardens, I've got a seal of approval. And if I may, real quickly, I talked to you about this. A good friend of mine. That's very active, as you will know with the Quality Award and advisory late is Laurie Adams in Illinois, Lori, and I are friends together on social media. And she put out this this long ago NQA, recognition winner for 2022. And she said, it's exciting when my work with clients is recognized by a professional association. So why don't 20 years?

Suzanne Carawan 30:51

Yeah, so I think we introduced this, I think, in 2021, we've done at least two years. So what we've done is we actually, we actually send out those badges through credibly, which is an accreditation type of site, and then the recipients can receive it, and they have to get it, you know, basically renewed each year. And then we actually put it also on the finding advisor website that we have on our consumer site. So to your point, I think it's given us a new tool to say when we're talking directly to consumers, you know, if you need like, one, all Americans should have an advisor, you deserve one. But if you're gonna go get one, for goodness sake, go get a NAIFA advisor and go get someone who has that name for Quality Award. And so we proudly put that out there. And a lot of people also know that our consumer search found at financial security, that org is our consumer brand. That also is the search engine that powers life happens. And powers alliances for lifetime income. So you get kind of like a little triple Plus, they're a little bonus in, in being able to be part of that National Quality Award. And,

Ike Trotter 31:55

and Susan, it's a steal the cost all of $50. But to me, it links so well with the hard work that you guys are doing with NAIFA. And I just hope that we can continue to beat the drums get this going. We're talking about Main Street here. And I just think it's I think it's a great award, I just

Suzanne Carawan 32:25

You remember what so I don't know if you have it, right handicaps, like but we did a full article on it. When we brought back “Advisor Today” in print. So for many years, “Advisor Today” only went to a digital version, we were able to bring that back in print for the last I think seven editions. And so we did do a big spread on that tissue. right with you, I might say, as kind of the cover spread to talk about this award when your passion of it.

Ike Trotter 32:52

They pleased by that. Yes, I have it. I have it over here somewhere. And I'm very proud of that. But yeah, you know, I'm here, Susanne bang the drums. I think it's I think it's good. It it. It's about quality. And I just I think for the younger people to see what this award can be that they're missing the ball if they don't do it. It's

Suzanne Carawan 33:19

your piece of publicity. It's another piece of promotion. Yeah. Yet to ever meet a financial advisor agent says no, no, no, no, I don't need any more clients. No more prospects too many, right? I don't need any sort of additional press on this.

Ike Trotter 33:34

And I'm also I also serve on night, this Finance Committee, and I will tell you, it's a wonderful form of non dues revenue for our association. Just imagine what it would be like, and I don't have to tell you this, that if we had four to 5000 members who could easily qualify for this award, imagine what they would net would do for what Kevin would like to see with non dues revenue. So I think it's, I think it's a great thing is great.

Suzanne Carawan 34:04

Yeah, and I do think you're right, so I'll just come back to one point you made. Real quick is that I think a lot of companies are, they're just not even aware. So I'm just gonna kind of say that for a second. So we do have companies that we partner with, and what they do is they basically buy a block of NAIFA quality awards for behalf of their on behalf of their kind of top producers or the producers that meet the criteria, and then they give us the list and they reuse that as a reward system inside the company or the agency. And that's a great way to you know, to put that out there to reward your your people. And so if you're, you know, if you're a GA etc, you might something you might want to consider

Ike Trotter 34:42

with Suzanne, they can also get out there and get their checkbook out. And they can write a check for $50 and apply themselves.

Suzanne Carawan 34:49

That's right they can you can

Ike Trotter 34:51

now point about one of the interesting things about it. And let me give you a perspective about what it's like out there in the street. When I when I moved to Dubai I'm not doing the investments through the bank, I'd say it was a great experience. The only distasteful situation I had to it was is that for some reason that the broker dealer that I had gone with, they didn't recognize the NQA. And they only they sent me a list of advisors that a list of things they would approve, and one of them was Barron's Magazine. Now, I've got to confess to you that there are not a lot of guys in Greenville, Mississippi, or in South Dakota or New Mexico or maybe even in Maryland. May, Barron's Magazine. Yeah, true, you're completely losing the point here. It is not about that elite type of award. It's simply about Lincoln and a person with a great organization where they're able to be awarded for quality work. And I fought with him about it. I never, I never, I never really won that battle. But actually, one of the years when I was with that group, I actually was able to qualify on another practice specialty, which was health insurance and employee benefits, because I also have some business going on with there. So I figured out a way to steal.

Suzanne Carawan 36:32

Well, if my co host Chris Gandy was here, we would now move to the lightning round, but I'm just gonna have to continue without him. So we're gonna go to our fun lightning round. So I pointed this is just first thing that comes to mind. Right, and there's no wrong answers. Even looking forward. So probably, you know, some of the things we're going to hit but let's go first. best mentor you've ever had.

Ike Trotter 36:58

This one? Mentor?

Suzanne Carawan 37:02

My dad, I love you. Ah, that's a wonderful, wonderful. Um, but but but

Ike Trotter 37:09

there were a lot in NAIFA. Like I said, you can go from Tom Michael and go back that way. Tom Wolfe. David Woods, who was a NAIFA CEO. Gosh. Wonderful, wonderful guest. You had. I was thinking about you've heard. You've heard Paul Doherty. Yep, he's the he's the gentleman of nature. Yes.

Suzanne Carawan 37:33

Yeah, gosh, I

Ike Trotter 37:34

wish I could be like Brian ash.

Suzanne Carawan 37:37

You say that all the time.

Ike Trotter 37:40

I'm telling him is here even looks pretty.

Suzanne Carawan 37:43

He does. He's got you've got great hair to it. But he also has great hair. He's got some great hair. You know, as that's kind of one of the things about being part of NAIFA to all y'all have great hair all have great clothes. Take care of yourselves, right? Always. onpoint always always fresh. Everybody's always All right. Got up Trotter favorite food,

Ike Trotter 38:08

baby food. I love at least I love seafood gumbo.

Suzanne Carawan 38:15

seafood gumbo. Nice. Okay,

Ike Trotter 38:17

I'm a southern boy. We're not far from the coast. So yeah, I love seafood gumbo. And I've already I've already instructed Beverly that my last meal like when Jesus you know had his last meal when was my last meal will be a plate of open oatmeal raisin cookies. So that that's Oh meal raisin

Suzanne Carawan 38:42

cookies or is that sounds for you? Is it a raisin cookie? With you like a cinnamon when they have it in there or no cinnamon? Oh yeah, that's a good, good. You know, I'm gonna ask this one favorite sports team.

Ike Trotter 38:59

Oh, Miss. Die Hard. Hottie tottie I'm an Ole Miss Rebel, and I love them. They're great. We, by the way, I've had several NAIFA people down to Ole Miss games. Carrie Headley was with me in 2014 when we beat Alabama, Oh, wow. And we were sitting there and I was I was just about to die, you know, game was like this and you're playing Alabama, and Headley was poking me said, you're gonna you're gonna win this thing. You're gonna win this time. So, Ole Miss Rebels. Our theme there. It may be true. Maybe it Maryland you went to Tulane. I know that Ole Miss. We don't win every game. But we never lose a party.

Suzanne Carawan 39:49

That's probably where we should add right or then because that sounds like NAIFA too. Don't ever win every fight but we win in the long run. That's great. Last things you want to say Ike for the good of everybody listening today. Any last words you want to say?

Ike Trotter 40:05

I just want to say, Suzanne, I'm honored to be on this. There are a lot a lot of the folks I want to talk to you about that need to be on this. But I'm not a guy that that was a big producer. I'm not a guy that that did any great types of things. I never wanted to get past the committee process with my neighbor work, but I just want to say that, that that NAIFA has given back so much more to me than I could I could ever get to NAIFA I'm a I feel like I'm a walking talking testimony to the positive influences of what NAIFA membership can do on one life in this man so I've enjoyed that. It's been been great with you. God bless you, you guys. You guys do an awesome job. You know some people look at the glass as half empty. I look at it as half full we got work to do but blinds we've got people like Suzanne and Kevin mayo and other folks we're in great shape and I hope that I can have the energy and the good health to watch naifa continue on for many more years. And I'm see I'm a lot younger and people like Brian Ashe and there's a lot more there's a lot more gas in the tank there.

Suzanne Carawan 41:33

Excellent. That's great. And keep sending the referrals you know we're for all this and I mean that's the best way we we like to do in a NAIFA world. So we Yeah, thank you so much. Ike always a pleasure. And we look forward to talking to you soon. Everybody take care

Outro 41:51

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