How Seth Zaremba Took Retention from 87 to 94% at ZINC Insurance

Callan Harrington sits down with Seth Zaremba, CEO of b atomic and ZINC Insurance, to break down how he built extreme efficiency into an insurance agency and turned it into industry-best margins. Seth is one of the most resilient entrepreneurs in the space, and he opens up about the reality of holding your breath through the hard times as a founder.Seth explains how he reduced insurance operations to their smallest processes, measured the cost per transaction, and used that data to reshape how his team worked. He shares why hiring more people was the wrong answer, how he moved retention from 87 to 94% during the pandemic, and how separating service from process freed his people to do more valuable work. He also walks through the b atomic journey, the failures that came before the breakthrough, and why service automation became the real product. This conversation is packed with practical thinking on efficiency, change management, and why relationships will matter more than ever as AI automates the rest.Listen now to learn how to build an agency that survives and wins in the years ahead.Key topics covered:[00:00] Intro [01:12] What it means to hold your breath [02:43] Why your spouse is your biggest shareholder [04:43] From 87% to 94% retention [05:39] Driving extreme efficiency into an agency [07:22] The 29 processes hidden in every agency [09:25] Measuring cost per transaction [11:13] Moving tasks to cut costs fast [14:04] Why employees earned 13.8% more [15:04] Speed and accuracy win customers [17:37] How the valuation flipped [20:01] Change fatigue and leadership mistakes [24:53] Getting teams past inertia [26:03] Why the old agency model is broken [29:52] The b atomic cookie recipe [33:49] Inside the service automation platform [38:12] Advice for top 100 agencies [42:46] Why knowledge workers are the new black [43:50] Betting big on relationshipsConnect with Seth on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/seth-zaremba-8461805Subscribe for more tactical breakdowns from marketing and growth leaders across carriers, insurtech, and top brokers.The Insurance Growth Lab is brought to you by Flashgrowth, where we go deep on the campaigns and strategies driving real results in the insurance industry.