With a dedication to customer service and strong referral business, Katrina Melnic has grown and expanded her life insurance agency, N&K Insurance Services.
Katrina earned a Master of Business Administration from Cleveland State University with the intention of working in the finance field. Once she graduated, she decided to start with insurance and expand into life, annuities, securities and financial advising from there.
Initially, Katrina sold insurance as a captive insurance agent. “For the first three years, I was comfortable with being captive and I appreciated their guidance,” she says. “However, as I became more experienced, the captive model became constraining.”
She became increasingly frustrated with having to turn away customers. In some instances, she would get three to five referrals from a single satisfied client, but because she didn’t have coverage options that would fit their needs, she couldn’t help them. It was costing her business.
At the same time, there were other complicating factors – her employer changed ownership and insurance rates were surging. Something had to give. It was time to go independent.
Restarting with A Trusted Partner
On January 3, 2024, Katrina relaunched as an independent agency. She could have gone to work for another agency that was already established with carrier appointments and clients, but the whole point of this big transition was to be independent, so she didn’t want to take that route.
However, Katrina wasn’t exactly starting from scratch. “We had 2,500 clients that were ready to move with us,” Katrina says. She had a non-compete clause that she had to follow, and that meant she couldn’t ask clients to switch carriers – but many of them took the initiative to ask her about other options, and that opened the door to new possibilities.
To serve all those clients, she needed carrier access, and she also needed the flexibility to serve her clients, as well as good commissions so she could earn a living.
Katrina started exploring her options with Matt Milnor, a state director at Smart Choice. After speaking over the phone, Katrina invited him to her agency so they could meet in person.
“Over the phone, a lot of people can promise a lot of things,” she says, explaining that she wanted to meet with Matt in person before reaching a decision. He was happy to come into the office, and it wasn’t long before she realized Smart Choice delivered everything it promised.
Planting Seeds, Offering Unique Solutions
With Katrina’s background in business and her knack for finance, she’s able to take care of her clients. However, the life insurance sales cycle can be long, so Katrina is patient, knowing that she can plant the seeds now and sow the results later.
For example, when she talks to truck drivers, she discusses the importance of long-term planning. They’re making money now, but they also have risky jobs, and they need to plan for the future. “When they're ready, they reach out to me,” Katrina says. Sometimes it’s a month later. Sometimes it’s a few months later. In one case, a client came into her office and wanted life insurance coverage right then – but that was an exception to the rule.
One of Katrina’s favorite products is a life insurance policy with a return of premium rider. If the policyholder outlives the policy, he or she can have some or all of the premium returned as a lump sum. For clients who need to secure life insurance but also want to save for the future – for example, new homeowners – it’s an attractive concept.
Unfortunately, very few life insurance companies offer the return of premium rider anymore. Katrina was extremely interested in working with a carrier that provided this option, and through Smart Choice, she can. Now she’s able to use this option to help her clients, overcome common coverage objections, and make more sales.
Speaking the Client’s Language
Purchasing life insurance can be difficult for anyone – but when there’s a language barrier, understanding coverage differences can be extremely challenging.
“Another tool that we have, and that not many agencies have, is we speak four languages,” says Katrina. “We can explain the policy terms in their language, so they understand what's going on and what's important.”
In addition to English, Katrina speaks Romanian, Russian, Ukrainian and French. As a result, she’s able to serve a diverse range of people who often have trouble finding help in their language, including those who have fled the war in Ukraine.
She also works hard to help people who have recently moved to the U.S. get the coverage they need. Little things we all take for granted, like not having a U.S. driver’s license, can become barriers, and not everyone is willing to go the extra mile to help clients overcome these types of challenges.
To Katrina, that doesn’t make any sense. “They work very hard, and they're buying houses,” she says. “These people become long-term, loyal clients. They will build your book of business.”
Looking Forward
While Katrina is quite pleased with her progress, she’s always looking for new opportunities.
Next, Katrina plans to focus on building her commercial book of business.
Commercial is where all the money is,” she says. “And those commercial leads are going to be transferred into life insurance leads, because business owners need life insurance more than anybody else.
Are you feeling constrained by the captive life?
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