1% Better · S4E1 · Released
Sergio Diaz1% better.
A Carrier Asked Justin Where the Sales Were? He Said Come Back in Three Years | Sergio Diaz
You spent this one in the other chair. You answered instead of asking, and you still gave every agent who's been burned by a carrier a reason to try again. They'll walk away with two things: the carrier you told to come back in three years, and your answer that a carrier is like someone you're dating, with good days and bad days. Next time, tell the story behind more of your advice, the way you did with that carrier.
The one thing
In the reverse chair, Sergio is asking how things work, not for the day it happened, so you hand yourself the scene. When an answer turns into a rule, say "Let me take you to the day it happened," and give the agent watching the moment they'll actually remember. You already tell stories like that: the carrier you sent away for three years, and Mrs. Jones, the client you pictured sitting down with in her own home. The rest of your advice deserves the same.
Section 2 of 4 · Keep doing this
What you did great
Start here. These are the moments that worked, and why, so you can do them on purpose again.
Sergio asked how you build trust with a carrier, and you didn't hand him a rule. You told him about the carrier that came in and asked you what it should do, and you walked it year by year, so the agent watching could feel how long trust really takes.
“Let's see how you do on year one. And then on year two, are you gonna do the same thing or are you gonna be a jerk?”
Asked for the one thing every agent should keep, you reached for something everybody has lived: a relationship with good days and bad days. It made a carrier feel human, and it set up your closing line: it's a relationship, same as any other.
“if you're dating and you have a boyfriend or a girlfriend or whatever, there's gonna be good days and bad days.”
Right after the cold open, you told the viewer Sergio would be asking the questions this time, and you closed by saying he'd turned your own trick on you. Then you asked for a share with a real person in it. Nobody watching has to wonder who to send it to: the agent who's about to sign their first contract.
“Send this to somebody who's about to sign their first contract.”
Section 3 of 4 · The 1%
1% better next time
Small moves, not a makeover. Each one shows the moment, what the person watching missed, and a line you can use on the next recording.
- 1
Give the confession its scene
The moment. Near the end, you admitted HPM used to write the long agent contracts too, and then you went straight to the fix, the one-page agreement.
“And, and we used to be that, too, like, like, guilty as charged.”
What the viewer missed. That was the moment a viewer sees you own a mistake, and owning one makes the rest of your advice easier to believe. It passed in a few sentences, so they got the fix without the story of how you got there.
When you hear yourself say "guilty," keep going with "Let me tell you the day we changed it," and say who was in the room and what was said, because watching you change teaches more than hearing that you did.
- 2
Name the client behind the stake
The moment. When Sergio brought up carriers pulling out of a market, you laid out what it costs agents, chasing clients and switching their plans, but it stayed general: no one season, no one client.
“Yeah, we all have like trauma from that.”
What the viewer missed. A client who has to switch plans when their carrier leaves is who this whole conversation is protecting. Without one real client in the room, "build the relationship" sounds like business advice instead of a way to protect someone.
Take the viewer to one season a carrier left with "The first call I made was to..." and give a first name or the kind of client and how it felt to dial, so the agent watching remembers their own call and leans in.
- 3
Tell the event, don't scold the room
The moment. Your RSVP story comes from a real frustration, and by the end of it you were talking to the viewer as if they were the one who didn't show.
“Why? Because you guys don't care.”
What the viewer missed. The agent who has skipped an event is exactly the one you want to reach, and that line gives them a reason to stop listening right when you need them most.
Tell one event from start to finish, what the team set up, who didn't come and what it did to the carrier's plans, and let the viewer arrive at "that's disrespectful" on their own, so the agent who once skipped an event hears a story instead of a verdict on them.
- 4
Say the headline first
The moment. When Sergio asked for the one thing every agent should take from the conversation, your answer started before you'd found it.
“it, it's, it, I don't know. It's, it is, it's a relationship that you have to understand, right?”
What the viewer missed. That answer is the one a short would be cut from. The clean version of the line, "The carrier isn't your enemy, and it isn't your boss," only arrives in your outro, so the short never landed in one piece.
When someone asks for the one thing, say it in one breath first, "The carrier isn't your enemy. It's a relationship," and then give the dating picture, so a clip can open on the headline and let the story carry it.
Section 4 of 4 · Bring it to the next one
The one thing
If you remember one note from this episode, make it this one.
In the reverse chair, Sergio is asking how things work, not for the day it happened, so you hand yourself the scene. When an answer turns into a rule, say "Let me take you to the day it happened," and give the agent watching the moment they'll actually remember. You already tell stories like that: the carrier you sent away for three years, and Mrs. Jones, the client you pictured sitting down with in her own home. The rest of your advice deserves the same.
- For the edit. The cold open plays the answer before the episode starts ("Well, the reason why is because you're still building trust with these agents."). Cutting on "What happened?" keeps the question open, so the viewer stays to hear the answer inside the episode.
- For prep. Before the next reverse round, give Sergio one scene question and one "what did it cost you" question. His first question asked for the process, so the interview opened on a how-to, and a scene question would have opened it on a story.