Chris Walters is the owner of Integrity Insurance Group in Charleston, West Virginia. Since opening in 2019, Chris has built a $4 million book of business, and the network support he received from Smart Choice has played a key role.
The Search for Stability
Initially, Chris built his career in the structured settlement annuities business. Although he liked the income potential, the sales cycles were unpredictable. He needed to round out his offering to create more income stability, and P&C insurance seemed like a logical choice.
So, he hired an experienced property and casualty agent, and the two of them started an agency called Capital Insurance Group. Eventually, they parted ways and Chris formed his own agency, Integrity Insurance Group in West Virginia.
Access to Carriers
Thankfully, when Chris started his agency, he was able to keep the book that he had built with Capital. Nevertheless, he still needed support securing additional carrier access. He was actually somewhat familiar with Smart Choice from his time with Capital, when Smart Choice helped his former agency gain access to Liberty Mutual, so that seemed like a good place to start. He reached out to his State Director contact at Smart Choice, Matt Milnor, and got the conversation started.
“Matt was extremely quick in facilitating the transition, assisting me with the book roll, and really helping me get markets,” says Chris. “We had some challenges in the beginning. For example, one carrier didn't want to give us an opportunity, but Matt went out of his way to advocate for our agency and got us the appointment anyway.”
Chris wanted direct access with carriers, and Matt helped him achieve that goal. “I appreciate that once you prove yourself on their Smart Start platform, they help you get direct access,” he says.
For new agencies, this type of support is especially important. As Chris explains, “No one wants to give a startup agency the opportunity to get direct access. They want to see a minimum premium amount and a number of other things before they’ll give you a chance.”
A Two-Prong Growth Strategy
To accelerate growth, Chris focuses on increasing new business and expanding his agency employee base so he can write more business. “My strategy has been to grow agents as quickly as possible. Right now, our agency has nine employees total. I’m interviewing another candidate tomorrow, and I've got three people testing for their insurance licenses. By the end of this year, I’m hoping to be up to 15 agents/producers and growing,” he explains.
The strategy seems to be working, and Smart Choice has helped fuel this success.
“For the last three months we've hit over $200,000 of new business each month, and it's been great,” says Chris. He clarifies that not all of this is through Smart Choice, but the network has played an important role. “A significant amount of that is placed with Encompass, Safeco, Nationwide, Municipal Mutual – all companies that Smart Choice has helped us access,” Chris says.
Smart Choice continues to help Chris get new appointments. For example, Chris just recently secured an appointment with a major insurtech company specializing in commercial trucking insurance. Smart Choice brought the company to Chris, and now he’s investing heavily in commercial trucking leads.
Incentives and Insights
Chris says that Smart Choice has helped him build his agency in other ways as well, especially when it comes to incentives with carriers. For example, thanks in part to Smart Choice, Integrity was chosen to participate in a blitz with Encompass.
Chris also appreciates the bonuses that are available through Smart Choice. “If you write over a certain amount of premium, you get a bonus of 2%,” he says. “We've hit that bonus every year. It gives us goals to focus on, and it gives us a reward at the end.”
Even experienced insurance industry professionals sometimes need help understanding insurance products, and Smart Choice has helped there, as well. “The education about different carriers and their coverage options has been great,” says Chris. “I've always had easy access to regional reps since I’ve been with Smart Choice.” The knowledge of regional and state reps can be invaluable when looking for a market quickly.
Impressive Numbers
Integrity has experienced impressive growth. “We started in November of 2019, and we've got a $4 million book of insurance,” says Chris. “We're writing over $200,000.00 of business every single month. Plus, new agents are interviewing and joining our team every month.”
Of course, Smart Choice can’t take all of the credit for this, but the network has made a big impact.
“Smart Choice has been great to me,” Chris says. “They gave me the opportunity to have this agency and to be successful. In the future, I will roll business with any new carriers to Smart Choice because they’ve been so great to us,” he raves.