Strongs Agency, originally owned by Charles Strong, has been in Brighton, Colorado, since 1975.
Now, his sons Brian and Bill Strong are in charge, and the transition in leadership has resulted in new thinking, evolving target markets, and a new network partnership.
All in the Family
Brian says that, even though he was born into insurance, his career path wasn’t always clear. In college, when he wasn’t sure what he wanted to do, his dad invited him to try insurance. “The rest is history,” Brian says.
Brian explains that the business began as a high-risk insurance agency.
“Back then, a lot of big insurance names were already established in town. So, my dad focused on the business they didn’t want to touch high-risk auto.”
New Thinking
Although the agency continues serving high-risk drivers, Brian and Bill wanted to expand into preferred markets. To do so, they needed additional carriers.
To be a full-service agency, they also realized they needed to be able to offer commercial coverage. However, their father Charles was the commercial expert. When he retired, Brian and his brother had let that side of the business drop off somewhat.
But they soon realized that focusing on personal lines meant losing out on customers who needed both commercial and personal insurance. “They can hit State Farm and get the home/auto/business/life – all of it in one stop,” Brian says.
Neglecting commercial coverage offerings meant turning down potential revenue.
Brian realized that he kept giving large policies to his competitors just because he didn’t have the connections or knowledge to take them on himself. It wasn’t an effective way to grow a business.
New Carrier Options
Brian happened to be friends with Oscar, a local territory representative for Smart Choice. His friend wanted to talk about the opportunities Smart Choice could offer, but Brian kept putting him off.
That changed when he realized his agency had become too big for just a couple of carriers to fulfill his customers’ needs. “I decided we had too many eggs in one basket, so I finally called Oscar,” he says.
Oscar recommended a carrier that could help Brian round out his portfolio, but the carrier wouldn’t give Brian a direct contract. Since Brian needed to go through Smart Choice to make it work, he started collaborating with Olga Ivchenko, a state director at Smart Choice.
“Olga’s been very good at helping us get contracts,” Brian says. “We have the Safeco contract, and we have Allstate.”
New Success in Commercial Lines
With Smart Choice on his team, Brian discovered he could sell commercial policies without having to do all of the legwork himself.
“That’s why Smart Choice was a godsend for us,” Brian says. “I didn’t have to get into the nuts and bolts of policies. Let the experts do it, you know? That’s how I look at it; that’s how my brother looks at it. We don’t have to be experts in commercial.”
The Smart Choice Smart Start program saves them a considerable amount of time. “I’ve put policies into the Smart Choice system that have been issued and done within two hours. I tell our customers they will receive a call from the carrier to work through coverage details. Other than an initial conversation with the client, we really don’t do much of anything,” he says.
Smart Choice also helped the Strongs Agency gain access to specialty markets. “Olga got us hooked up with ISC and BTIS,” he says. “They walk me through everything, so even the more complex stuff has become fairly simple. Even the secondary market is quite easy.”
Now, Brian doesn’t have to turn down commercial business or risk losing customers who want all their commercial and personal needs handled in one place. “With Smart Choice, we have an option for them,” he says.
Having options has also been helpful in hard market conditions. When some carriers are hiking rates by 30% to 40%, Brian offers quotes from more carriers, including some that would never give a contract to a smaller agency, which helps him win business and help his customers.
New Earning Opportunities
Smart Choice also has a unique commission arrangement that’s worked well for the Strongs Agency.
The initial commission split is 70/30, but it’s capped at a certain amount. Once agents reach leadership level, they receive 100% of their commissions – and there are no monthly fees or initial startup costs.
“Smart Choice has the best contract by far,” Brian says. He admits his dad was wary of the 30% commission cut. However, in the long run, the arrangement is highly beneficial. “I’d rather have 70% of something than 100% of nothing,” he says.
Since Brian quickly reached leadership level, he no longer worries about losing a chunk of his commission. In fact, he is moving more of his business to the network.
“We just moved our Bristol and Foremost business into our Smart Choice codes because we’re already at 100% commission and Smart Choice offers bonus contracts,” he says, explaining that he wouldn’t be able to access the bonuses on his own level of business. “Even if you lose a couple of pennies on the split, you’re going to make it back up,” he explains.
Preparing for Another New Chapter
Since Brian and his brother have been in the insurance business for 35 years, retirement is definitely on their radar. Smart Choice will help with that, too.
“When I look to sell, it will be very simple to just keycode my Smart Choice book over to a new agent who buys me out, compared to me trying to hunt down a buyer here locally,” he explains.