Margie Arrowsmith started The Holmes Organisation in Jacksonville, Florida, 10 years ago, concentrating on small business accounts.
In the world of theater, there is a group of people who are called "angels." These are the money people. While playwrights and lyricists and composers create the "world" that is to be put onto the stage, while directors wrestle with the concept and while actors cross their fingers and hold their hearts that the venture will bring them to stardom or at least keep them employed, the angels are the ones who provide the financial wherewithal to put the project forward. Very often, angels, also called backers, are investing in a dream of improbable proportions. Who would possibly imagine, for example, that anyone could successfully mount a musical about cannibalism? Yet "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" opened on Broadway in 1979 triumphantly, winning eight Tony Awards, including best musical and best actress. Miraculous things do happen and not just in the weird and wonderful world of Broadway's bright lights.
In 1989, Margie Arrowsmith was working as an independent agent in a large agency in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The agency was the Holmes Organisation, run by Burt Holmes and Kent Bogart. Arrowsmith's experience in the insurance business was extensive. After graduating from college with a degree in journalism, she accepted a job with USAA as an underwriter. But her husband's jobs in corporate America caused them to move around the country a great deal. She took a job with Allstate and entered its management-training program. She then moved into the agency business, first in personal lines and later commercial lines. Finally, she ended up in Tulsa at the Holmes Organisation.
But once again corporate America demanded that Arrowsmith's husband make a move, this time to Jacksonville, Florida. "It was with a heavy heart that I had to say goodbye to my colleagues, but it had to be done," says Arrowsmith. Here's where the "angel" part comes into the picture. Holmes, Bogart and Arrowsmith had already had a "great" working relationship, she says. "They said that they would
back me in an agency venture in Jacksonville. They would put up the money and we would be partners. That was in 1989. The Holmes Organisation of Jacksonville started with zero dollars in premiums, and in 1999 we recorded $6 million in premium volume. We started with one employee--me--and today we have a staff of eight full-time and four part-time employees. Today, we represent companies such as The Hartford, Zurich, Hanover and Fireman's Fund," says Arrowsmith.
How did she enjoy such growth, especially during a decade when the insurance industry has been undergoing such monumental changes? After all, this was a time when the property and casualty insurance industry was in the midst of a soft market with intense competition. Companies were hurting and agents were watching their market share dwindle and commission levels being cut. Even Lloyd's of London nearly toppled during the 1990s.
Did she devise some grand scheme, some master plan, some magic bullet? "No, no magic," says Arrowsmith modestly. "We simply stuck to basics. If I had to characterize the agency, I would say that we are a small business and we are about small business. Small business is our marketing focus, and we do it well. We don't believe that our success has been due to anything magical."
Says Arrowsmith: "Our agents are out in the field 80% of their time, soliciting and target marketing the niches we know to be competitive. We zero in first on our companies' special programs and what they want, and then try to solicit businesses that will fit. If our companies want to write machinists, we check the Yellow Pages to obtain the telephone numbers of machinists. We do not do a great deal of comparative rating. We attempt to determine the best market before we even solicit the account," she says. "Of course, we also keep our ears to the ground to find out what small businesses need from the insurance industry and make recommendations about new products to the companies we represent."
Arrowsmith says that many times the application and quoting are done right at the client's place of business on a laptop. "We try to use the new technologies as often as we can," she says. "All of our agents have laptops and one has wireless Internet. We upload and download whenever possible. Our view is to do it efficiently and right the first time. We have found that, if it's properly written the first time around, with good follow-up service throughout the year, the focus is redirected from the lowest price to a fair price. Our goal is to have agents' new-business focused. Renewals and day-to-day servicing are handled by the in-house staff."
One thing that Arrowsmith says she has learned--and she emphasizes that it is a learning process for her agency because it so new and, therefore, not set in its ways--is that account rounding is important to clients. "We attempt to write all of our client's insurance," she says. "Account rounding aids in retention of accounts. Not having to continually rework an account has proven to us to be critical to small business success." Hence the agency writes commercial property and liability, workers compensation, personal lines and even health insurance products.
She says that, especially in times when the managed care system appears to be in trouble and most particularly in Florida where the legislature has put into effect a law that forces health insurers to write even small businesses with only one employee, small businesses have a difficult time getting agents to service their health insurance needs.
"Finding health insurance is a major problem for small businesses and few agencies are willing to deal with it due to the low commission levels. Solving this problem for clients always creates an opportunity to write the balance of the account and ties the account to us," she says.
Arrowsmith also attributes her agency's success to date to referral business. "Small business owners talk to each other. When we do a good job for one client, invariably that client will tell another small business owner. Also, we ask for referrals. Every time we talk to a customer, we try to get at least one referral. In fact, our entire staff has plaques on their desks that say, 'Oh, by the way...' It's a natural lead-in to ask for a referral or an additional line of coverage. We believe our customers are our best advertising," says Arrowsmith.
Despite the Holmes Organisation of Jacksonville's success to date, "Arrowsmith says that she will not soon forget the difficult times when the agency first opened. "It is humbling for us to remember where we started 10 years ago, as a one-person, start-up agency, having just moved to Jacksonville, with no leads, no prospects and no clients," she says. "With no track record, it was difficult even to get a company market that we could represent. Companies kept saying it won't work, save your money, that sort of thing. I am convinced that the Holmes Organisation's name and reputation enabled us to get over that hurdle."
Well, the hurdles are now apparently gone. Arrowsmith says the agency has set a target to reach $7 million in premiums for this year and, so far, they are right on target. So, bright lights notwithstanding, it appears that "angels" can be found in the strangest places--even in the insurance industry. *