How did you get into the insurance industry?
It has been a journey. I started my sales career fresh out of college—taking a role selling kitchen appliances at Sears. One of the families I sold an appliance to offered me an opportunity at Symantec. I began taking phone calls and facilitating transactions. Eventually, I worked my way into a mid-account management role, where I learned more about developing strong, long-term relationships. Ultimately, I earned a promotion to enterprise field account manager. I frequently traveled to meet with clients, sometimes every week out of the month. Through this experience on the road, I learned that I loved being in the field.
What I love about sales is the problem-solving component. Discussing a client’s business and learning about their challenges is interesting. Finding a working solution while balancing clients’ challenges and decision-making constraints is what excites me. I have confidence in my ability to bring ideas to the table and build a partnership for the long term.
After holding several sales positions in different industries, I met the partner at Great Basin at a golf event. He spoke about the 100-year history of the firm and about the day-to-day operations. I enjoyed the idea of a new challenge, and after thinking it over for a couple of months, I approached him about joining. I began my work in March; I focus on commercial lines.
What can carriers do to help new producers in the industry?
A new producer’s job from day one is to drum up new business. Though I am very familiar with B2B sales, I am new to the industry, so any additional support is welcomed.
Carriers should be focusing on increasing the ease of doing business for new insurance producers. Tools like industry-specific questionnaires to assist with the quoting process would be very valuable. Receiving high-level process flows to understand how the pieces connect could have helped me get up to speed faster.
I am looking for carrier partnerships for the long term. Carriers that take the time to invest in building my expertise demonstrate their commitment to our partnership. Having a strong partnership impacts where I quote business.
How are you currently using technology to support your business?
When I am visiting clients, I still show up with printed materials. The agency is transitioning to a commercially available agency management system. We are looking forward to gaining some efficiency by streamlining some of the back-office processes.
Recently, I completed my training—I am looking forward to better use of the customer record functionality as well as leveraging the forecasting tools. Once this system is fully implemented, I will shift to using an iPad for visits to help educate our clients and prospects on the value of their coverages.
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