What can a veteran and former police officer teach us about running a successful business? Quite a lot, as Ryan Smith’s story shows.
Ryan Smith is the founder of Omega Palms Insurance Solutions and Omega Palms Business Solutions, and before any of that, he was an Army National Guard soldier who deployed to Iraq at 18, and then a K9 police officer for over a decade
With such a rich history in the force, you could wonder how he has managed to hold down a successful business while building a successful family, and the one recurring theme across his story isn’t something you likely imagined.
Honesty! Yes, that’s it! The consistent strategy that has helped Ryan build a successful business is Honesty.
Have you ever sat across from someone in a sales conversation and just known, before they even finished their pitch, that they were more interested in closing a deal than solving your problem?
Most of us have been there, and most of us walked away from that experience with our guard up, less trusting, and more convinced than ever that finding a business who genuinely has your best interest at heart is harder than it should be. You believed that since they were more interested in selling their product than solving your problems, their words held little worth, and couldn’t be fully trusted.
Now, Ryan comes in with a lesson for business owners on the subject of Honesty and its strategic use for business growth. Let’s get into it.
Honesty May Require you to Turn Down a Client
As a business owner looking for clients everyday, imagine you come across a client who you know you may not be able to help as much as they desire, but then they’re still willing to spend some money if you convince the well enough it’s worth it.
Ryan tells us that that’s not a strategy for growth and success. Honesty requires you to be transparent with your client and let them know that, at the moment, you’re unable to provide what they need.
Ryan described situations where a potential client’s current coverage or setup is already working well for them, and rather than find a way to squeeze a sale out of the conversation, he simply tells them the truth and sends them on their way.
Now, on the surface, that might sound like bad business. You walked through the door; why wouldn’t he take your money?
But here is what Ryan understands that a lot of business owners learn the hard way: Trust compounds. Every time you tell a client the truth at the expense of a short-term sale, you build a reputation that no advertising budget can buy. People talk. They remember the person who was truthful with them when they didn’t have to be, and they’ll come back, they’ll refer their friends, and they’ll give you their business for the long haul.
So, honesty isn’t bad for business. Quite the opposite, it’s a business strategy that helps you build the kind of trust with your customers that builds loyalty.
Client Education vs a Sales Pitch
Ryan specialises in insurance products that most people find confusing; group health insurance for 1099 workers, life insurance structured for infinite banking, tax-free retirement planning; these are not simple topics, and he knows it.
This means the tendency to have customers who know nothing about the products they want to purchase is high, and the temptation can be to either educate them properly on your products and how it affects them or simply offer them a sales pitch, convincing them to buy products just for the sake of it
Ryan’s response to that complexity is not to simplify the pitch, it is to educate the client.
He is very clear that a client who does not understand why they are buying something is not a client who will stay. They will cancel when money gets tight because they have no idea what they are actually protecting. They will feel misled even if everything was disclosed, because they never really understood it, and they will not refer anyone, because they cannot explain to someone else what the product does for them.
When you take the time to make sure your clients understand what they are investing in, you are not slowing down the sale. You are making the relationship durable and giving your clients ownership of the decision.
Building a team is as important as making Sales
Ryan has successfully built a team of agents around him which has also contributed to the success of his business. He considers team building a worthy responsibility for any business owner to take seriously because growth in business cannot be achieved in isolation.
His military background gives him a particular lens on this: in the Army, and later in law enforcement, the success or failure of a mission depended entirely on whether the people around you knew their role, trusted each other, and felt genuinely supported. You cannot lead from a distance in those environments, you just have to be invested in the people with you.
Ryan carries that same mindset into his business, and described the importance of making sure his agents do not feel lost or unsupported, because an agent who feels unsupported does not perform well, and more importantly, they leave, leading to turnover for your business which you then get het to deal with..
There is a difference between managing people and developing them,and many business owners prefer to manage people because it’s cheaper and less cumbersome. Managing keeps people in their line of duty. Developing people though requires you to invest in their growth and makes them feel like they are part of something bigger than their daily task list. A business owner who successfully figures out how to develop their team will build teams who will stay, grow and take ownership of the business.
Every expansion should solve a real problem.
By now, you already have a picture of Ryan in your head, and you can definitely imagine saying that your desire for business growth must be linked to solving customers’ problems, not just increasing profits.
When Ryan moved into merchant services through his partnership with Oval Business Solutions, it was not just because he saw a revenue opportunity. It was because he kept seeing business owners get quietly bled by hidden backend fees in their payment processing arrangements. Fees buried in the fine print that most people never noticed until they sat down with someone who knew where to look.
His expansion into that space was not just for the money; it followed the same principle as everything else he does: find a real problem, be honest about it, and offer something better.
This is a good reminder for any business owner thinking about diversifying or expanding. What problems will your business expansion solve and what capacity have you developed in order to solve them easily?
This conversation with Ryan was so good, and I know you think so too. His unconventional way of thinking and business growth strategy is one every business owner should embrace.
Get comfortable with telling your clients what they need to hear, even when it costs you a sale. Choose to educate a confused client until they truly understand. Always remember to treat your team with growth and development in mind, and lastly, ensure your business growth and expansion is still focused on solving people’s problems.
If you would like to watch the full conversation with Ryan Smith, click on this link and you’ll be taken right to the podcast on YouTube and if this resonated with you, please share it with a fellow business owner who could use the reminder.
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