 |
 |
 |
MARKETING AGENCY OF THE MONTH
The power of partnership Internal referrals are a big part of this bank-owned agency's success
By Dennis H. Pillsbury This has been nothing less than an outstanding move for our employees." That's the way David Boyce, president & CEO of Tompkins Insurance Agencies, Inc., Batavia, New York, describes what has occurred since the acquisition of the agency by Tompkins Financial Corp., a financial services holding company, on January 1, 2001. At the time, the agency had about $3.4 million in revenue and was operating only in western New York State. David had already been with the agency 14 years at that point. He followed his father into the agency. Tompkins Insurance Agencies had an excellent reputation within its marketing footprint. It had been serving the area for more than 100 years, tracing its roots back to 1876. However, the agency was facing some perpetuation issues and started looking for a solution. David's family was friends with the CEO of a local bank holding company, which had recently been acquired by Tompkins Financial and was interested in acquiring an insurance agency. At that time, Dave's agency and a fellow member of a cluster group came together to form Tompkins Insurance Agencies. They all saw a good fit and reached an agreement that Tompkins Insurance would become part of Tompkins Financial. Since then, the agency has expanded both financially and geographically, now boasting 26 offices throughout New York State and southeastern Pennsylvania. Revenues have grown to $28 million, boosted by 12 acquisitions and strong organic growth. "About 75% of that growth has come from acquisitions, while 25% is from organic growth," David points out. Tompkins Insurance Agencies employs 170 insurance people and they are what "makes it go. Our people truly are our differentiator," David maintains.
Opportunities abound "What has made this so special is the fact that we can bring young people into our organization and give them a career path," says David. "Before the acquisition, the career paths were limited. We didn't have the plethora of opportunities available to offer our people that we now have," he continues. "We bring college graduates into our organization and usually start them out in our care center where they learn to help some of our 32,000 personal lines clients. These young professionals service our clients and, at the same time, start to get a feel for where they would like to wind up within the organization," David says. "As part of this process, we provide, on average, about 50 hours of training a year for each staff member. And this is not geared just toward meeting continuing education requirements; its primary goal is to give each person the opportunity to advance. Some of our college grads have moved into marketing or IT. In fact, they can be found in a whole lot of places—some remaining in insurance and others moving into banking opportunities." One of the most important areas is claims. "We have a dedicated claims team that includes some of our most dedicated professionals," David says proudly. "Their goal, working alongside our risk assessment and management people, is to help clients prevent claims, but when one does happen, it's all hands on deck. The service we provide takes into account that claims don't always happen during business hours, so we're available 24/7. In fact, we had a large fire last fall that occurred at 2 a.m. We had three people on site soon after we received the call. They were there from the very start, taking the lead for our customer during a very emotional time. They immediately started making contact with the insurance companies involved so the claim could be processed as quickly and efficiently as possible. Our claims people know their counterparts at the insurance companies, as well as the insurance adjusters, and have developed an important rapport with them. They know what it takes to make certain that our claims make it to the top of the pile by immediately providing the type of information the insurance company claims people want and need to properly process the claim."
A balanced revenue stream While the agency insures more than 32,000 personal lines clients, this still represents the smallest percentage of total revenue with 29%; commercial lines business accounts for 39% and benefits for 32%. So even though many new hires start out by providing service to the personal lines clients, there are plenty of opportunities to move into commercial lines or benefits. In fact, the agency provides a host of benefits services free of charge that has proven to be an attractive opportunity for some of its people. These services include HR consulting, COBRA administration and wellness consulting.
"We pride ourselves on being creative in this arena by providing clients with a complete portfolio of voluntary benefits as well as the more traditional life and health products," David points out. "We can help our clients establish flexible spending accounts or health reimbursement accounts or health savings accounts through our sister banks that will coordinate with their health insurance program. Our ultimate goal is to create a program that meets our clients' needs, while fitting into their budget, by using every possible method to control costs." In commercial lines, the agency primarily "plays in the middle market. We try to stay in areas where we belong," David says. "Along the way, we have developed an expertise in certain areas and have deep penetration in niches like contractors, municipalities and schools."
Why it works We've all seen too many examples of bank and insurance agency combinations producing less than optimal results for both parties. The hoped-for synergy just did not emerge. So what makes this combination so different that the agency has such a glowing report of its success? "One of the key ingredients in our success," David points out, "is the fact that we are affiliated with a community bank, so we really started out on the same page when it came to getting involved in the community and really giving back to the communities we serve to show how grateful we are for their support. Our banking, wealth management and insurance employees are all involved in the communities where they live and work. We're part of Brownies and Scouts and the Chambers of Commerce and so on. So the culture of each organization was certainly in synch in that regard. "Another reason," he continues, "is that we work constantly on developing relationships among all members of our Tompkins Financial family. All told, we employ around 1,100 people and we want them to all to play for the acorn and leaf (the corporation's logo) and to feel like key components in our overall success.
"To help with that process, we established a Joint Opportunities Committee that is composed of insurance, banking and wealth management people. The committee meets regularly, planning a number of social events designed to build personal relationships among the employees of all affiliates. People have to feel comfortable with each other before they can really work together well," David observes. "That committee goes door to door to educate all staff on what our sister companies do. They travel to each of our locations to bring that message to every employee. The employees learn who is best equipped to handle each type of business opportunity. "They also bring with them the message that we make referrals to our sister companies because it is in the best interest of our mutual clients. Referrals benefit our clients, which in turn, helps our organization grow and prosper. A portion of our new business comes from those referrals," David says. "The power of partnership has become a key part of the DNA of our company." The company also sponsors social events for employees to get together and learn about what each person does in a more informal setting. These range from bowling functions to beanbag tourneys to family ski days. "We have a unique blend of being the same entity in all areas," David notes, "and very local at the same time. We're Tompkins Insurance at every one of our locations and offer the same great service at each one of them—supplemented by the expertise we are able to have in-house because of our size. So we have the horsepower of a larger regional agency combined with the local staff that wants to serve its community of any size." Summing up "When I look back to what it used to be and what we are now," David concludes, "I am both amazed and pleased that we have been able to maintain our values to place clients first, while maintaining a workplace where employees are glad to come to work. Change is a constant in our business and positive change is a sign of life and invigoration. And this really has been a very positive change. "I see a lot of agencies where the average age of its employees is pretty high. Here, our average age is approximately 46 years old. We're in a different world where 24/7 is a whole lot different from what it was when my dad ran his agency. He was a 24/7 guy and was always there for his clients within a reasonable amount of time. Today, that reasonable amount of time has shrunk to the point where people expect almost instantaneous response to their requests. Thanks to the depth of staff that we have and our commitment to effective automation, we are able to respond to those expectations.
|
|||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
| ©The Rough Notes Company. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a database or retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or by other means, except as expressly permitted by the publisher. For permission contact Samuel W. Berman. |