Standing in front of Zeller Insurance with his teammates, Nate West (third from left)
is well known in Columbus, Indiana, for his ’75 Ford pickup truck.
Indiana agent wins PIA National Young
Insurance Professional of the Year award
By Christopher W. Cook
Photography by Melanie Maganias Nashan
The late author and motivational speaker Zig Ziglar is well known for his motivational quotes. When I hear the phrase, “you get what you give,” I instantly start hearing the late ’90s hit by the New Radicals in my head. But I already made this reference in an article years ago.
So, to quote Ziglar: “Life is an echo. What you send out comes back. What you sow, you reap. What you give, you get. What you see in others, exists in you.”
These are words to live by, and for Nate West, an agent at Zeller Insurance in Columbus, Indiana, it became a mantra leading to recognition.
West keeps busy in his local community. “My parents and my brother engrained in me that we should always be willing to help others and that we should never be scared to put in the work,” he says. “One of my weaknesses is always saying, ‘yes.’”
West believes that attending an organization’s meeting isn’t enough. “If I’m going to a meeting and a volunteer opportunity comes up, I might as well roll up my sleeves and do a little work,” he says.
Involvement with local organizations also gives West an opportunity to be seen and met by members of the community and potential future clients. “I’m fortunate to be in a small community; everybody knows me as the insurance guy,” he says with a laugh. “I don’t really get a direct, ‘hey, I saw you at the football game selling concessions, I’m going to buy insurance from you,’ but six months down the road when that person needs to buy insurance, they’re like, ‘oh yeah, I met that one guy that one time,’ and they’ll track me down.”
Some of West’s involvement includes:
- Vice-chair of the Bartholomew County Soil & Water Conservation District, which helps promote water quality and sustainable farming practices, and works to rid the area of invasive species.
- Chapter president of the BNI South Central Indiana chapter of Morning Movers, a business professionals’ organization for networking and career growth.
- Columbus Area Chamber Ambassador, where he “hardly misses a ribbon cutting or networking event.”
- Volunteer mental health coach with Community Downtown, which West does through his church to help young men deal with issues that are affecting their mental health.
- Board member of the IU Alumni Association, which puts on events and supports scholarship programs for local college students.
- Regular volunteer for the Columbus East High School Choir Boosters and for the local Financial Literacy Coalition.
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“You put in the work and people acknowledge and appreciate that and it comes back. If you give a little, you’ll gain a lot more,” he says.
“Everybody grumbles about insurance, but when you get the nasty phone call and you get to be the hero, that’s where it’s at for me—being that little bit of hope and telling people it’s going to be okay. It’s probably the whole reason why I do this.”
—Nate West
Agent
Zeller Insurance
Career
While he’s known as the “insurance guy” in his community, how did his insurance journey begin?
After earning a bachelor’s degree from the Indiana University Columbus campus in 2004, West found himself in various sales and account manager roles after graduation.
“In 2014, I was working at a family-owned machine shop that built automation equipment,” he says. “It was a really cool job; every day was like the TV show How It’s Made.
“Bob Hendershot, my family’s long-time Farm Bureau agent, calls me and says, ‘One of our guys is retiring; you’ve got to take his spot.’ I was like, ‘No, I’m good.’ He called me a couple more times and asked me to send in my résumé.
“I’ve always thought of Bob as a mentor, so if he said I needed to do this, I needed to do this.”
West put his résumé together and was hired, starting his insurance career in June 2014.
“I had never done sales to consumers before; all my previous jobs were to businesses,” West says.
At Farm Bureau, West learned the ropes. “Working for a captive agency was great training, learning the processes and how policies work, but there was a saturated market,” he says. “I performed well, but it always seemed like I wasn’t selling enough. I was always checking my rank in the company, which made things a little more stressful.
“I mentioned this to one of my friends who recommended that I check out Zeller Insurance. I had no idea what an independent agency was about; Farm Bureau was all that I had sold as well as purchased.
“I had a good meeting with them,” he continues. “The business model was more of a holistic approach and less of a sales-driven approach; it was a better fit for me.”
West joined Zeller Insurance in June 2019 and now works in personal lines, commercial lines and life insurance.
“Everybody grumbles about insurance, but when you get the nasty phone call and you get to be the hero, that’s where it’s at for me—being that little bit of hope and telling people it’s going to be okay. It’s probably the whole reason why I do this,” West says.
West credits Zeller Insurance Principals Tim Zeller and Lori Rowan for giving him the freedom and authority to serve his clients. “They have been instrumental to my career,” he says. “Our core values really align.”
PIA award
West first learned about the Professional Insurance Agents (PIA) from his co-worker, Larry Mayfield, who is a former president of the PIA of Indiana and has a “long history with the group,” West says. “He’s still active because he cares about agents and knows it’s important that someone’s out there advocating for us. I credit him for getting me engaged with them.
“From the PIA, I get that little bit of knowledge that puts me over the edge to where I know a smidge more than a lot of the other guys; when it comes down to it, that’s what the client is looking for.
“The people on the PIA of Indiana staff are great. They stay on top of things; when they put together an event, they know what’s going on. You feel special when you show up.”
West serves as a Board member of the YPIA—the PIA of Indiana’s Young Professional Insurance Agents committee. “The young agents’ networking events are my favorite. It’s great to be able to bounce ideas around with other agents who aren’t in my local market and who are dealing with similar obstacles that I come across,” he says.
This year, West was named the PIA National Young Insurance Professional of the Year, an award he humbly accepted. “None of my clients really care that they have an award-winning insurance agent,” he explains. “However, winning is a reminder that the effort we put into the industry and the more educated we are, the better equipped we are to deal with our clients.
“Clients want to work with agents who know what’s going on, even if they don’t acknowledge it,” West adds.
Family and cars
Outside of work—and volunteer activities—West and his wife of 23 years are kept busy by their two children, although he sometimes includes them in his volunteer work. “I’ll be like, ‘I’m selling concessions at the football game, and you’re coming with me,’” he says with a laugh. “My daughter, Ruthie, is 16 and is the dance captain of the high school show choir. My son, Theo, is 12 and loves all sports; basketball is his focus right now. Hiking is our family activity of choice.”
West also is a self-proclaimed “fixer.”
“I enjoy breathing new life into things that other people have given up on, whether it be a car, a lawn mower, or real estate,” he says. “There is usually financial gain involved, but there is nothing better than accomplishing a task that seemed impossible. It’s therapy
for me.”
In the community, West is known for his collection of classic cars.
“I’m best known for my ’75 Ford pickup truck,” he says. “It can be seen down the streets of Columbus any given day; it’s old, beat up and everybody knows it’s me.
“I also have a ’66 Ford Galaxy that I’ve had for like 25 years; I drove it through high school and have a very long-term relationship with that car. It means a lot to me. My dad gave me a ’65 Mustang a long time ago. It was a piece of junk and I got it running, and it will be something I just keep forever.”
The collection is rounded out by a ’74 Bronco. “It’s a total piece of junk that I’ve been working on for about seven or eight years. Maybe one of these days I’ll get it done and be able to drive it,” he concludes.
