Case Study Four

A Self Selecting Process

The nicest thing about having good clients

Every business says that they love their clients, but we really do.  Really!  It sounds cliché but when we think about it, we literally do not have a single client we don’t like.  Some are more challenging than others but that is natural and also what makes our job interesting.

I say this not to just gratuitously share a feel good message but because it is testament to the way we operate and how we are able to form tight relationships with our clients, something both sides benefit from.

Not every agent operates this way.  The industry has become increasingly commodified and transaction oriented and building relationships is expensive.  The result has been that many insureds get thrown into the mosh pit when they need help.  We have always resisted this approach but it has taken us years to build a system that works and it is not easily replicated.

Through Sickness and Health

My experience has been that our relationships with clients get better with time.  Health insurance is a high-trust business and people come to us to help them protect the most important things in their world; the health of their family and their livelihoods and it is only over time that these commitments are tested.  It is not easy.  We deal with people’s health and money so there are always complications, but it is also why our work is so deeply satisfying.

By being there through ‘sickness and health’ and for ‘better or worse’ means that we experience the full panoply of our client’s lives.  We are there when they grow their business, hire their employees, and hopefully make their first million.  But we are also there with them when they have children, become sick or hurt, and sometimes even when they pass on.  And because we share this with our clients it touches us in a way that is very gratifying but hard to put into words.

It works in the other direction as well. We can provide personal service because we have real people working for us.  But real people have real lives and we sometimes share those with you as well.

Self-Selecting Process  

Having a diversified long term client base is what agents would kill for and it helps us enormously because we have a stable business that allows us to continuously reinvest and grow.  By having built these strong relationships we benefit from excellent persistency, repeat business, and A-list referrals.  In turn, that allows us to hire and keep good employees who can spend the necessary time with you which strengthens the virtuous cycle.  It took us a very long time to evolve and get to where we are but it is why we now have such a competitive advantage and dominate our niche.

It’s not about the money

But it is the intrinsic benefits that we cherish the most.  This self-selecting process means that we only work with people who want to work with us and vice versa.  We don’t make every sale (thankfully) and occasionally we lose a client but it is this process that means we are always compatible with the people we serve.  Our goals and mission are parallel with yours and we don’t serve two masters.

Having clients we like means that all of us enjoy coming to work each day to face the challenges of which there are many.  Nothing burns out a staff quicker than work that is not congruent with their beliefs or values.  We know our job is to just take care of you and we do it well.  And it is this belief in what we do and whom we serve that allows us to go home every night feeling good about what we have accomplished.

Good for you too 

So the million dollar question is why does any of this matter to you? It matters because choosing a broker that is a good fit means you are far more likely to get what you need out of the relationship.  There are probably a hundred brokers in the East Bay that all do kind of the same thing, but do they really? Do they have a business model that is compatible with yours?  Are you getting good advice and the right products?  Do they have a staff that can handle your needs and works well with you?  Do you like them?  Do they like you?  If not, you have the wrong broker.