Snellings Walters Insurance Agency
By Dave Willis, CPIA
The votes are in. Past cover agents and brokers have spoken. And we have a winner. Selected from the cast of amazing candidates, the 2023 Rough Notes Agency of the Year is Snellings Walters Insurance Agency—an Atlanta-area firm that, for more than 70 years, has been helping individuals and organizations protect what they value.
Deciding on the Agency of the Year is the responsibility of leaders whose firms have graced Rough Notes covers since the late 1980s. These professionals review each of the candidates—their stories, their successes, and their accomplishments—and cast a vote for which firm they believe deserves our top honor.
A common thread among voters is the challenge of choosing just one from those in the running. A past Agency of the Year winner wrote, the “choice of incredible agencies … creates a difficult task each year to narrow my selection down … . All the Agencies of the Month deserve such respect!” Another cover agent wrote, “This year was most difficult for me to choose one agency. There are so many deserving agencies.” Another added, “Many top-shelf agencies, as always.”
One principal voting for Snellings Walters wrote, “I love their process and focus on putting the right people in the right positions.” Another said, “I love their growth track record, their performance vs. peers, and their focus on culture as a competitive advantage.” Yet another wrote, “They moved through the steps that I believe readers want to emulate.”
Here’s what another agency leader said in explaining their vote: “The use of EOS resonates with me because I firmly believe in the environment of accountability and placing the right people in the right seat. Also, the fact that the agency sends employee surveys to request feedback to improve is an excellent use of their greatest assets. $20M in revenue isn’t too shabby either, LOL!”
Another went deeper: “First, it is very difficult to offer ownership to non-family members, which this group has done,” he said. “Their growth is phenomenal over the last few years.
“Our agency has used the EOS system and has done the same thing. It is very difficult and takes a lot of hard work and accountability on all associates to pull this off,” he added. “They seem to have … a ‘painted picture’ of what could be for the future, and a … ‘shared vision’ that benefits all associates.”
Another past cover agent said, “The agency’s business model, as it was described in the article, was impressive and exemplary. Specifically, the attention paid to an environment of accountability, the implementation of a culture index, and ongoing efforts to assess employee engagement.
“Like we do at our agency,” she added, “they’ve placed their focus on their people. We know having happy employees goes hand in hand with keeping our customers happy.”
And here’s what another wrote: “… I like how they are tracking what matters, including culture-related issues for their employees. As we have seen with our own agency, employees who enjoy their surroundings and are engaged in their career efforts consistently help to propel agency growth.”
Snellings Walters Insurance Agency leaders will be recognized at a dinner in their honor in Indianapolis this spring. Their cover story appears in the February 2023 issue of Rough Notes. Visit the agency website at
snellingswalters.com.
