Inspired by Day 5 of The Entrepreneur’s Devotional: 13 Days to Kingdom Impact by David Villa
If you’ve been following along with my recent blogs from this devotional series, you know I’ve been working through the 13-day plan from David Villa. Day 5 focuses on a principle that feels simple at first — almost too simple — until you stop and realize how powerful it really is.
It’s the principle of marginal gains: the idea that one percent improvements in many different areas compound into a dramatic transformation over time.
Cycling coaches use this concept. Business leaders swear by it. And Craig Groeschel practically built his leadership framework on it when he said, “Successful people do consistently what other people do occasionally.”
And if you’re an independent insurance agent, this principle might be the difference between repeating last year’s results or building a breakthrough year in 2026.
What Paul Meant by “Running to Win”
The devotional opens with 1 Corinthians 9:24, where Paul says to “run in such a way as to get the prize.”
He’s not talking about sprinting recklessly. He’s talking about running with intention — improving consistently — staying committed to the long game.
As agencies grow, it’s rarely because of one big change. Growth comes from dozens of smaller adjustments made consistently over time.
Much like marketing, operations, or leadership, faith also tends to grow through steady, repeated steps rather than big dramatic leaps. That’s the heart of marginal gains.
What Marginal Gains Really Mean for Agents
In competitive cycling, teams aren’t ten percent better in one area. They’re one percent better in a hundred areas.
Insurance agencies grow the exact same way.
There’s no magic switch that adds 20% growth. But there are twenty small switches that can each add one percent.
If this were a movie, it wouldn’t be the training montage from Rocky. It would be more like The Karate Kid, where Daniel keeps making little improvements without even realizing how much they’re stacking up — until suddenly, they do.
Let’s talk about how these small gains show up inside a real agency.
1. Small Improvements in Customer Relationships
Imagine an agency — we’ll call it Evergreen Insurance — located on a quiet street with a squeaky front door and a loyal but modest book of business.
Once upon a time, Evergreen was… fine. Not great. Not terrible. Just fine.
Then the owner made one small change: every agent would follow up within 24 hours on every quote, no exceptions.
Nothing dramatic. Just one small standard.
A month later, they added another: every renewal conversation needed one personalized detail pulled from client notes.
Then they added a weekly handwritten thank-you note.
No expensive campaigns
No flashy rebrands
No massive changes
Just small, consistent improvements.
Over time, Evergreen became the most referred agency in its county. That’s exactly how marginal gains work.
2. Small Improvements in Your AMS and Workflow
This principle is built into the design of the JenesisNow cloud-based insurance agency management system.
Your AMS should help you:
- streamline your daily workflow
- be more consistent with follow-ups
- improve your quoting pipeline
- increase efficiency
- grow your insurance agency with software designed for agents
Small improvements inside an AMS create huge improvements in retention and new business.
A slightly cleaner pipeline
A slightly faster quoting process
A slightly better documentation habit
A slightly more consistent workflow
One percent at a time is how agencies truly scale.
3. Small Improvements in Marketing
Marketing is where marginal gains shine most visibly.
You rarely get explosive growth from one big campaign. You get it from consistent small actions:
- one new Google review each week
- one website improvement each month
- one educational video posted
- one optimized blog
- one email campaign per quarter
- one SEO tweak at a time
This is exactly why we built JenesisDigital’s marketing services — because digital marketing for insurance agents compounds over time.
Your visibility grows.
Your reputation grows.
Your leads grow.
Your brand grows.
Small steps, multiplied.
4. Small Improvements in Your Team
Culture doesn’t change because of one big meeting. It changes through small, steady steps:
A clearer daily huddle
A weekly “wins” recap
A more transparent scoreboard
A little more encouragement
A little more clarity
Patrick Lencioni said it well: “Teamwork is not a virtue. It’s a choice — and it’s strategic.”
Small, daily choices transform agency culture.
5. Small Improvements in You
Agents often ask, “How do I grow my independent insurance agency?”
My answer is simple:
Grow yourself first.
Learn one new technique each week.
Improve your time management by 10 minutes a day.
Read ten pages of The Perfect Insurance Agency.
Get one percent better at listening.
Get one percent more intentional in your planning.
As Day 5 of the devotional reminds us, even in our spiritual life, the small daily actions often create the greatest impact over time.
Faith grows through consistency — and so does business.
Why Marginal Gains Matter for Insurance Agencies
Here’s the most practical takeaway:
If you keep doing in 2026 what you did in 2025, you will get the same results.
But if you make one percent improvements in ten different areas, the compounding effect will surprise you.
Retention
Reputation
Quoting
Close rate
Marketing
Follow-ups
Team culture
Efficiency
Every one of these improves through marginal gains.
Your AMS matters.
Your marketing matters.
Your team matters.
Your habits matter.
Your consistency matters.
Improvement doesn’t need to be dramatic to be powerful.
Final Thought
Marginal gains don’t feel big in the moment. Most people overlook them because they seem too small to matter.
But those small improvements are exactly what build long-term growth — in business, in leadership, and even in faith. Small steps done faithfully over time create big results.
If you want momentum in 2026, start with the small things. They compound.
Want the Email Question to Promote This Blog?
Here’s your question to include at the end of the promotional email:
What small improvement could make the biggest difference in your agency this month?