Influential Entrepreneurs with Mike Saunders, MBA - Interview with Jeremy Lach, President of Empire Marketing Partners-Why Top Annuity Producers Outgrow Big Box IMOs

Episode Date: March 10, 2026

Jeremy has spent more than 20 years in the financial services industry building, scaling, and strengthening distribution channels for independent financial professionals across the country. His career began in retail financial services in 1999, shortly after graduating from St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota. He then spent two years with John Hancock Financial, where he built a strong foundation in product knowledge, advisor support, and client strategy.In 2001, Jeremy transitioned into the wholesale channel with American Financial in Minneapolis; a move that shaped the trajectory of my career. Since then, He has dedicated myself to helping independent insurance reps, Advisor Representatives (IARs), RIAs, and Registered Representatives grow their businesses with intention and discipline.In today’s IMO world, support often comes *after* they’ve already proven themselves. Empire was built to change that.Jeremy believes in identifying talent early and backing it immediately, not waiting until production numbers make the decision easy. At Empire Marketing Partners, they support advisors at launch and throughout their growth by being a stable, strategic partner from day one.He is committed to proving that through service, experience, and consistency, they bring more value than anyone else in the space. This isn’t transactional. They operate like family, and their actions reflect that commitment every step of the way.Today, Jeremy focused not only on supporting advisors operationally, but also on strengthening his brand and influence within the industry—aligning with like-minded professionals and firms who are committed to growth, excellence, and long-term impact.Learn more: http://www.empiremps.com/Jeremy Lach is the Founder of Empire Marketing Partners, an independent marketing organization (IMO) that supports licensed insurance professionals. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast/interview are for informational and educational purposes only and should not be construed as individualized investment, tax, or legal advice. Empire Marketing Partners does not provide direct financial planning or investment advisory services to the public. Insurance and annuity products are offered through properly licensed insurance professionals and are subject to state availability, carrier underwriting guidelines, and suitability requirements. Guarantees referenced, if any, are backed solely by the financial strength and claims-paying ability of the issuing insurance carrier. Financial professionals and consumers should consult their own qualified advisors regarding their specific situation before making any financial decisions.Influential Entrepreneurs with Mike Saundershttps://businessinnovatorsradio.com/influential-entrepreneurs-with-mike-saunders/Source: https://businessinnovatorsradio.com/interview-with-jeremy-lach-president-of-empire-marketing-partners-why-top-annuity-producers-outgrow-big-box-imos

Welcome to influential entrepreneurs, bringing you interviews with elite business leaders and experts, sharing tips and strategies for elevating your business to the next level. Here's your host, Mike Saunders. Hello and welcome to this episode of Influential Entrepreneurs. This is Mike Saunders, the authority positioning coach. Today we have with us, Jeremy Latch, who's the president of Empire Marketing Partners, and we'll be talking about why top annuity producers outgrow, big box IMOs. Jeremy, welcome to the program. Thank you, Mike. Appreciate you having me.

Hey, you are welcome. I think this is an interesting topic because I think that sometimes people get with an organization and go, oh, this is going to be great for a 30 year relationship. And invariably, something maybe kind of stagnates or gets a little old. So maybe that outgrow aspect is pretty important. And just like the frog in the water, maybe we don't notice what's happening around us. So I'm excited to hear about. your work with advisors and what this could look like. But before we dive into this topic here, give us a little bit of your background and story. And how did you get into the industry? Yeah, absolutely. Happy to. I got into the industry actually after failing miserably on the retail side,

Mike. So out of college, I jumped into the retail world. And I struggled mightily as do a lot of people at 22 years old and got introduced to the industry that way. And I guess I could, I do say, I failed miserably. It was a it was a it's a difficult business. Uh, you're out on an island. You're out by yourself. You need some support. You need some infrastructure. You need all that stuff. Not that I didn't have it. I just didn't understand how I had it at the time. And, uh, I happened to, uh, fall into wholesaling after about 18 months, um, you know, where, where I saw some information on what we're doing today, what I'm doing now, uh, from a, from a local firm that, that I've done, had a long relationship with, a 20 plus years had a long relationship with. I started working there.

And it became, you know, one of the best decisions I've ever made in my life, stuck to the wholesaling side of the industry. And I've been doing that now for 25 plus years, Mike. So that said, you know, after being with the same organization for many, many years, I wanted to do something kind of on my own. As with anything, I've got children and I've got kids that I'd love to have them have an opportunity to come into something when they're done. And they get older and they grow and they go through college.

And, you know, you know how it is, Mike. I mean, I want to have an opportunity for my kids. and if I wanted to go build something, I kind of had to go make that decision. So in 21, I decided to, you know, start my own firm. And I just kind of do it on my own. And it's been fun, very entertaining and a heck of a ride so far. You know, it's interesting because that seems to be the trajectory that a lot of people in many industries have. Like you can't come out of college and go, I want to start my own whatever for them.

You got to learn the ropes. You got to learn the lingo. You got to learn the ins and the out. and that's what you did as being a wholesaler. And then you started going, ooh, here's how things really work. You know, you probably learn many lessons in the background like, oh, look, I see spread or this or that.

And you learned things. And then to your point there, it's like, okay, do I really want to work for XYZ company and be that W2 employee? Maybe I've got a little entrepreneurial itch. Maybe I want to have something of my own. I can grow and pass along to family and all that spectacular. And I think that in the financial services industry, we see that a whole lot right you start off and you work for maybe a bigger name company

and learn the ropes and then you start working for on your own supposedly but you're working through an organization where there's still a few strings and then ultimately you want to get fully fully on your own but that's where the topic of today comes in many times people get with one of the big box iMOs the insurance marketing organizations and they just think it's just spectacular and great but what are you finding in your experience what are some of those hidden growth ceilings that advisors hit when they align with one of those IMOs. And we want to identify that growth ceiling so that people aren't like the frog in the water and go, ooh, this is a red flag I need to think about.

Yeah, for sure, Mike. I mean, I think it's, you know, this is, it's a small industry, right? I mean, there's a, there's a lot of people that do what we do, but yet it's such a small industry. And there's a lot of wonderful, you know, large scale IMOs. And, you know, I've had experience with them in the past. And again, it's not that they, you know, don't have their advantages, but, you know, some of the, some of the issues that can arise during that time from my experience now is just with the

growth. I mean, the larger you get, you know, advisors, they kind of become more of a production number, Mike. You know, I mean, not really a partner, you know, so, you know, that's what, when the focus is mainly on your volume and not really your growth, it really starts to limit a lot of opportunities for the advisor, like the coaching, the brand development. things like that you have there. You know, if you need business planning support, stuff like that, the larger they get, you know,

and you become more of a number, not the partner, things struggle there, you know. So I always, when I have conversations with advisors, that's one of the first things I tell them. I don't become a number somewhere, you know, and if you feel that way, it's probably time for you to explore a different option, you know, that word. What would, what would be a red flag like to make an advisor think I might be becoming a number? Like, the first thing that comes to my mind is, you know, you're not out of a red flag like to make. appreciate it. Well, what does that look like? So talk a little bit about what that could look like. Yep. Yeah, absolutely. I think, you know, one of the, one of the, I mean, I guess red flag, we look at it from

that Stein is if everything becomes transactional, you know what I mean? When when everything you do is transactional, I mean, I've had, I've had, I'll give me examples. I had a conversation with an individual when we were talking about the difference of, of my organization here at empire versus the one he's at. And he's like, hey, look, they've got this, you know, one singular product. And it's, it's, it's proprietary to that and it's got the highest bonuses, it's got the highest compensation, it's got the highest income. You've heard it before, Mike. It's the best in the world, right? But nobody has it but my spot. And to me, I mean, imagine that, Mike. You're so enamored with just one single product in a large industry like that that you're probably missing out on other

opportunities to grow your business, you know, by ignoring all the other significant values you can get with somebody else. You know what I mean? So, you know, that's a, from a psychological standpoint, that, that could be a big red flag because if you're hyping up that one single product, but you're not really looking at the big picture of helping you grow and scale and make it be a bigger company and having a full array of products, you're wondering, what are you distracted me from? So that's a really,

really good point. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, advisors are always going to get tools and contracts, but you're not getting differentiation. You know what I mean? Like what separates you from,

you know, your other competitors and industry. but everyone can get access to, you know, the tools and the contracts and all that stuff. But when you lose out on any support like that, it can really, it can really kind of create like a growth plateau. And that's, of course, that of course is what all advisors are trying to avoid. You know, and that reminds me of kind of like in sales, like are you an order taker or do you really, you know, get in to do some consultative consultation sales. So what's the difference between real support and surface level support? You know, because it sounds kind of like, you know, oh, an order taker.

surface level is like, I need this and they send it back to you in a timely fashion. Yay. Well, that's what you'd expect from any organization. What's the next level real support that an advisor could expect that they're maybe not getting? Well, that's a great question. I think real support is, well, first of all, real support is proactive, right? You know what I mean? It's not reactive. I look at real support being proactive and I look at, you know, surface level being more reactive.

So, you know, if your IMO is only showing up when you need them, you know, and, hey, send me an email, you just want an illustration or you just want a product quote, that's really just surface level support, right? True partners are going to bring you ideas before you ask. You know, and so generally what we do here at Empire is, you know, we're bringing fresh ideas to your requests, right? We're not just sending you illustrations. We're understanding tax situations. Again, I'm not a CPA.

We don't get to that. We're not specialists there. We always advise our advisors to make sure they're working with their CPAs on those things. But, you know, true partners are going to bring different ideas to you and not just be, you know, send you know, surface level quotes. So, so to speak. Wouldn't you be really, really mad if you found out like, oh, my word, I could have been getting that level of support. It kind of reminds me of like, you know, are you taking your taxes to just a tax preparer that's pretty much fill in the blank? or do you want to if you're a successful business owner, don't you want someone kind of looking a little deeper through a strategic vision to go, hey, you should consider and have you ever thought about? And now all of a sudden, now you're you're finding huge opportunities. So the proactive point you made there is really, really huge and when's the best time to figure this out early? You don't want to find out that for the last five years, I've been getting surface level support, but I could have been getting this and really taking my business to the next level. Because,

isn't it true that there's some levels of support where you can, you know, like, you know, oh, I've got this client and I want to present this. You know, what kind of help can you give me? And it's like, oh, here's our corporate PDF. What is that really doing? But what kind of things could help the advisor close the sale? Yeah. I mean, I think that's where you have to ask yourself.

I mean, are they helping you just close one case? Or are they actually helping you build out a system that could help you produce those types of cases consistently, right? You know, and so can your organization help you build, you know, what we call sustainable infrastructure? You like that, that's a big difference. And that's where we see the most successful advisors out there, Mike, in the industry. They've got a repeatable process. They've got a system that's been built.

And they need a partner. People need a partner to help them implement that. And it's not a one size fits all always, right? You have to understand who you're working with. We really do deep dive with the advisors that we work, but understand, hey, what's your niche? you've got a certain niche out there that you have success with. You know, how have you really positioned yourself in this market? Like, where do you get your leads?

All that kind of stuff. I mean, what's important for them to understand is, you know, what's going to happen to your business if something happened to you? And you, you know, had to step away from your business for like the last six months or for like the next six months, Mike, if you're just a transactional organization, you know, you're going to really, really struggle. You know, so you have to have systems and stuff and infrastructure. All that stuff has to be put in place, you know, to help you turn all.

that production into a little bit more predictability. You know, we have a saying, you know, that I like to use is transactions are going to pay you today, but strategies are going to help you build your business, you know, for the next 20 years. That's huge. You know, it makes me think of something, too, like if you're out there in sales competing and it's like, oh, well, you're just a little guy. I'd rather work with the big guy. Well, there are some detriment to working with the big guy.

Larger organizations might not be treating you the way that they could be like a boutique IMO. So talk a little bit about how a boutique IMO provides really that deeper level support that the larger ones can't replicate so that they feel like, wow, I'm getting, you know, I'm getting that proactive. But I feel like when people hear the word, you know, boutique, anything, that it's like just some word. What does that mean to you, boutique IMO? Well, I think it's one of the main things is just your accessibility to the decision maker. you know, Mike, and this is what I like to really talk about with Empire is when you work with us, you get direct access to Jeremy.

You get direct access to me. I'm the decision maker. Right. So in that environment, you're not having to navigate those layers of bureaucracy. You know, so when you're speaking directly to leadership, you know, those are the decision making. Those are the decision makers, right? You know what I mean?

So how does that help? I mean, in a smaller environment like mine, you don't just submit an app and you wait three days for somebody in, you know, three different departments or three different sources in order to get back to you and respond, right? You speak directly to me or you speak directly to the leadership. And if we can't get things figured out, you can at least feel a little bit more confident that I went to the head, right? I went to the head of the company and went to the head of the organization.

I am accessible. I work with all of our advisors right now. Being a small boutique IMO, that's the advantage we have, Mike, is I'm able to have those conversations with all of our advisors. I don't just pass them off to the next guy in my office. I operate with all of our advisors until I can no longer do that. And guess what, I find another, Jeremy. But at the same time, you know, being that small boutique IMO, that make, being able to get, you know, faster decisions, quicker communication.

That's real accountability, you know. So if you're, if you have issues on cases, you're not just getting the same scripted home office answer, bureaucratic answer. You know, you're getting somebody that can actually fix it or telling you, hey, look, I did all I can. Yeah, and I would venture to say also that your industry experience and the experience you mentioned being with a wholesaler for that period of time gives you some number one perspective and number two connections so that if that app gets submitted and maybe there's some headwinds that it faces, they come, your advisor comes working with you and you're like, okay, seeing this before, I'm going to reach out and I'm going to. to call my guy over at whatever we're going to make this happen because oh i'm going to clarify this with talk a little bit about that industry knowledge rather than just some you know uh um you know customer service rep kind of a feel where it's like oh yeah didn't get approved um you know better luck next time yeah absolutely i mean you know working on the small boutique side again we we use that term small

boutique. You know, first of all, I mean, customization, like, you know, being different, branding, all that kind of stuff is a huge advantage to an advisor, as you know more than anybody. Yeah. So, you know, we don't force people into our playbook, right? We tailor everything we do, our case design, our marketing, our growth strategies. Everything is around our advisor's strengths. And like I said earlier, it's not a one-size-fits-all outfit. Like, we are adaptable, if that's even a word. Like we, we are, if you're strong with business owners, you know, we want to help you build campaigns and designs around that. You know, if you're, if you're really good and you're awesome on stage, we want to help you with educational workshops.

You know, if you're somebody that's referral driven, you're just super likable and you get a lot of referrals. We want to really help you build, you know, that referral ecosystem. So, you know, ultimately, you know, we're going to connect you with other great referral systems too within our empire family. The advantage of working with the small boutique. IMO like Empire is everybody here is close. Everybody here is willing to share what makes them successful. I ask that of our advisors. Are you willing to talk to others about what makes you successful today?

And, you know, I have not brought anybody on that says no, Mike. So, you know, and again, we're not trying to just turn somebody into a replica of our top guy. That's not at all what we're trying to do. But what we're saying is, you know, Empire can help build a model around who you are. And then we just kind of refine it. I mean, that's how we're, that's how we're creating. alignment with the advisors that we work with today. So I think the interesting thing that you're saying there makes me think about like a top, top, top producer might go, I'm good to go.

I'm where I'm at. But let's take a look at it because maybe there's some leakage. There's some opportunity costs. Maybe there's some ways you could be making a little bit more or not losing whatever by working with a boutique IMO. And it makes me think of this. You know, you talk about that environment you just described. when someone comes into contact with something that's very different than what they're used to, it's apparent right out of the gate.

So it makes me wonder like most people, most people would want to grow their business. You know, it's rare that someone's like, I can't handle one more thing. I need to figure out how to, you know, scale back. But most people wants to increase the business. So talk a little bit about this environment you just described and the impact that that has to help an advisor double production in maybe the next 12 to 24 months because it's not just here's this tool or this proprietary product or here's this package program tactic to double. You've got to have something more than that.

It's got to be a proven system and it's got to be that environment. For sure, you have got to have a growth focused ecosystem, right? And ultimately, whether that's advanced case design or any, marketing support and stuff like that, it's, it's also accountability and all the planning that goes around it. It's not just access to product. If you really want to be able to build and grow your business, you want to double your production in the next, you know, 12 to 24 months, you've got to be able to trust what you need to be done, you know, and then you've got to be able to trust that everything that you have, uh, that you've communicated to your IMO. Like,

hey, this is what I need. My, my results and expectations, once you've set those expectations, you've got to trust that that that's being done. You've got to know that you've got a partner that is doing this for you and they're communicating with you and give me examples like if i'm submitting you know in an annuity application i want to make sure that hey they're processing it properly and quickly you know i mean once it gets processed does it what's the next process where does it go well it sits in underwriting and it sits at the insurance carrier at the carrier level as they review the apps you know who's following up on that business right you know here at empire we're following up every 48 hours on all of the advisors we work with we follow up every 48 hours on all of their business

business and we're constantly communicating this back with the advisor or his firm or whoever he has told us is going to be their main point of contact. You know, this is the communication that we strive and we live on communication. If you're not communicated with and you don't have a partner firm that every, you know, again, we do it every 48 hours, you know, through our partnerships, we've got technology that automatically does this for us. So really, it's just setting up that system where you know that you have a partner that does everything from the communication standpoint to make sure that you don't have to do nothing but focus on meeting clients and close business, right? So if you want to grow, you've got to first and foremost make sure you've got

a partner firm that's going to be there that's communicating with you. That's doing all those things that you don't want to do, Mike, the things that aren't creating the revenue for your firm, who's got my back? And do I have to constantly check in? Do I got to call Jeremy or do I got to email Jeremy and say, hey, sorry, but you haven't said this to me yet. Hey, you haven't checked on this case. I haven't gotten any updates. I don't want those emails in my office. Okay. We want to avoid those good goals. Absolutely. We want to be, that goes back to that exactly.

We want to be absolutely proactive and we are. And that's really, when you get that type of communication, that's how you get, you know, the help and the support you need to really start to scale your practice. And let's wrap up with this point. You touched on it, but I want to really drive at home because you said no one you have brought on board to your organization is stingy with their, you know, advice. Meaning everybody that is in. your firm that are advisors, they're willing to share. They've got an abundant mindset versus,

this is my best stuff. I'm not going to say, tell one of the other guys how I'm doing this. And I'm going to break them off a little piece and go, oh, you need to. But you, when you're in an environment where everyone is willing to step up, help each other share, tell the best practices, everybody wins because let's face it, there is so much business out there for everybody and any geographic or category, no one could do all the business that's out there. So be abundantly sharing. So talk a little bit about that as part of the environment. Yeah, for sure.

I mean, I'll give you an example. I mean, I partnered with a firm in the past year who's on track to double their business, Mike. And, you know, I mean, credit not just our investment in them, but definitely I got to give some credit to the technology that we have through our partners that no one else has. and through those partnerships, this is going to allow advisors to run their entire process through one platform. And, you know, instead of juggling multiple systems that they might have right now. But ultimately, I'll give you an example of this firm is, you know, they have, they're on track to double where they're at.

And their whole process, and I just literally was having a text message back and forth with the advisor today on here. This is why you have helped make us successful. This is why we are happy we made this move over, over to Empire. from our old organization. And this is what it's allowed us to do. I've asked her that. Are you willing to have conversations with other advice? Of course she is.

Of course she is because we've built the process that's referable. And guess what? When we were fortunate enough to be able to get that organization last year, that came from that direct process where they came in here to our offices and met with one of our other firms that we work with who opened up their entire book of what they do and what makes them successful. And she was blown away, absolutely blown away by the entire process, the fact that this firm

was willing to share it all, it wasn't hiding it, and all that stuff. And again, you can get this at other organizations. I'm not saying it's just only in the small boutique land, but this is the culture that we have is allowing them to have, you know, you're going to get the support from us to teach you different things. You're going to go learn from different advisors. And by the way, you're not, like I said, we're not trying to replicate the top producers. we're trying to bring certain ideas that we can bring into your brand to make that brand better than it already is, right?

And, you know, and continue to grow on what you've already put together. So I really feel like we're on the right track, and I think that's an excellent story around that. Well, let's wrap up with this. You know, we started the conversation saying there are sometimes that a top annuity producer might actually outgrow a big box IMO. And here has been some red flags, some best practices, some things to think about that might make you go, huh. So if someone is listening to this thinking, tell me a little bit more, how can they learn more about what you guys are doing and reach out and connect with you, Jeremy? Yeah, well, I think the best thing is, is we're visible. You can jump right on our website at www.

EmpireMPS. That's Matt Paulsam.com. EmpireMPS.com. And, you know, while it doesn't give you a full detailed example of what we're going to provide you, it does give you immediate access to. to get my number to contact me, to get some information or some questions. But ultimately, the best way to start is a simple phone call and have an introduction call with us. And I think in the first 10 to 15 minutes of an intro call, you'll get a good opportunity to see if we can partner together. Perfect. Well, that sounds wonderful.

Thank you so much for coming on. It's been a real pleasure chatting with you. It's been fantastic to be here, Mike. And thank you again for having me. You've been listening to influential entrepreneurs with Mike Saunders to learn more about the resources mentioned on today's show or listen to past episodes. Visit www. www.