(Above) Members of the TrustPoint Insurance & Real Estate team.
Kansas agency leaders leverage
differences to achieve a common goal
By Dave Willis, CPIA
Photography by Tim Meyers
After moving out of their parents’ homes in Burlington, Kansas, and starting to get situated as adults, Angela Trimble and Janet Payne were roommates. Not the Laverne and Shirley type of roommates where they did everything together. No, they had different backgrounds and ran in different circles.
Instead, they were the “there’s no need to overpay on housing, so let’s cut costs by sharing a place while we get into our groove” type of roommates. While their early-career lives crossed paths for just a season, that intersection laid the groundwork for their future careers together.
Partnership in the making
Janet’s life journey has generated a rather small footprint. “I’ve lived in the same county pretty much all my life,” she explains. Out of school, she started working in the family business. “My dad owned the grain elevator, and for 11 years I did his books.”
As the grain business became more corporate, dad pulled out, and Janet signed on with the local bank. “I was in banking for a couple years before getting recruited by an insurance agency in 2000.” Later, that mom-and-pop agency was acquired by a larger, multi-site firm.
A mom herself—and grandmom of three—Janet’s son joined the agency a year or so ago; his focus on oil and gas businesses is a natural tie-in to his petroleum geology degree.
A few years after Angela graduated from high school, she went away to earn a business degree. From there, she built her career at a specialty medical clinic. “It was a great experience,” she recalls. “I learned really quickly how to manage,” which led to her becoming administrator of the clinic, which had 13 physicians and 50 staff.
“During that time, Janet had called me about an opening for a manager at the insurance agency,” Angela adds. Janet’s recollection of Angela’s solid work ethic—she worked three jobs to cover expenses while they were roommates—sparked the phone call. Janet puts it this way: “When I made that call, without a doubt I knew she’d be a person I would want leading and managing our team.”
Although honored, Angela didn’t jump at the opportunity. Right away, that is. “I had no real interest in returning to a small town,” she recalls. Then things changed: Angela had a son of her own. “I didn’t want to raise him in the bigger city, so I came back” and joined Janet at the agency. Today, Angela has two sons, a daughter and three grandchildren.
In 2008, the pair had a chance to buy their local branch of the insurance and real estate agency. And they did. Today, as owners and principals, they carry roles that play to their strengths: Janet leads carrier and customer relations, finance, and business development at TrustPoint Insurance & Real Estate and Angela heads up sales, human resources, marketing and social media.
“What works best for Janet and me is that we each know our lanes,” Angela notes. “I am the person with the foot on the gas. She’s the researcher, the numbers person. She checks all the boxes for the things that help keep me grounded.”
(Right) The Administration team. From left: Hanna Colbertson, Administrative Assistant; Angela Trimble, Principal, Owner, Agent, and Realtor; Janet Payne, Principal, Owner, Agent, and Realtor; and Kristina Reiling, Agency Director.
“For us, technology must make life easier for both the agency and the
clients. But we still need to keep a
human, accessible presence behind it.”
—Angela Trimble
Principal, Owner, Agent and Realtor
TrustPoint Insurance & Real Estate
“I grew up in a local, family-owned business. Part of that local connection is building relationships with customers. Client relationships are key.”
—Janet Payne
Principal, Owner, Agent and Realtor
TrustPoint Insurance & Real Estate
In addition to insurance, Janet and Angela are both Realtors and still do real estate. “This is a great mix for both professions,” Angela explains. “They go hand in hand.”
The 22-person agency they run operates from three locations and is built around culture, customer experience, and making smart use of technology to face the future.
Focus on culture
Key to the agency culture is fun. “As employees, we’re sometimes with people we work with more than we’re with our own families,” Angela notes, “and work shouldn’t be boring.” So they go out of their way to engage employees in big and little celebrations.
“Halloween’s a big deal,” Angela explains—with costume contests with cash prizes and highly anticipated by the community. The agency goes all out for Christmas and Thanksgiving parties, as well.
They also celebrate smaller things—like National Donut Day, ugly sweater contests, hat days, and other events. They often host spirit weeks leading up to big Kansas City Chiefs football games, and they celebrate Red Fridays to show team spirit.
Another culture driver is the importance of family. “We have a very clear ‘family-first’ policy,” says Angela, of the local, woman-owned business. Staff members are encouraged—not just allowed—to leave work to attend sporting events, award ceremonies, or other kid-focused events that require time away from the office.
“You never get that time back,” she explains. When kids are sick, the same thing applies. “We have some young moms and dads, and caring for sick children isn’t treated as a disciplinary issue,” she notes.
Sustainable agency culture calls for team-building events, which the agency holds outside the office twice a year. Activities have included Topgolf outings, axe throwing, parties, pickleball events, and escape rooms.
“We’re looking to improve on what we are today,
increasing education and knowledge- expanding
staff learning opportunities so our people
become better agents.”
– Janet Payne
I“A favorite event of mine is a game show competition,” Janet explains. “We go to a place in Kansas City where employees get together and play game shows—complete with a professional host. Instead of individual competitions, they team up. That was especially fun.”
Aligned with the agency’s family-first policy, some events are family‑inclusive—things like pool parties and group outings to Kansas City Royals baseball games. Janet says team-building events sometimes serve an unintended purpose—as a cultural barometer. “People who consistently don’t show tend to be the same ones who generate internal complaints or are not strong culture fits,” she explains.
(Top) Janet with her son Jayden, who joined the agency as an agent a few
years ago.
(Below) Team members gather for a meeting. From left: Kristina Reiling; Jayden Payne; Kimberly Skillman-Robrahn, Operations and Municipal Manager; Brett Stewart, Sales Director; Janet Payne; Angela Trimble; Shalena Rohrer, Personal Lines Account Manager and Realtor; Hanna Colbertson; Jess Birk, Personal and Farm Account Manager; and Jessi Boles, Lead Personal, Farm Lines, and Life Agent.
Agency client EMP Shield has developed the world’s first Electro Magnetic Pulse (EMP) defense technology system. From left: Bryson Goff (EMP Shield), Angela Trimble, Janet Payne, and EMP Shield’s Pete Keegan, Amber Dittrich, and Patrick Courter.
“We can bring all of the coverages local clients want and need, and we’ve identified opportunities in niches that let us grow beyond the small towns we love.”
—Angela Trimble
The family-first policy also plays out in flexible work opportunities. “We were ready before COVID,” Janet explains. Employees already worked from home once a week. VoIP systems were operational, as were Teams and at-home set ups. As a result, Janet explains, “We didn’t miss a beat.” Today, a quarter of the agency’s employees work remotely and another third have hybrid work arrangements.
Health and well-being support, including health fitness challenges, also help drive agency culture.
Human touch for clients
Agency culture extends to how team members serve customers, blending tech and personal support. “I grew up in a local, family-owned business,” Janet explains. “Part of that local connection is building relationships with customers. Client relationships are key,” and they’re something the agency excels at.
But as the agency has grown, they can’t rely solely on face or phone time. The agency has found considerable success automating processes and finding other uses for technology. “For us, technology must make life easier for both the agency and the clients,” Angela explains. “But we still need to keep a human, accessible presence behind it.”
Offerings include customer self-service options. “We provide a mobile app for things like ID cards, viewing coverages, and filing claims,” Janet notes. “Also, we provide technology that lets commercial clients print certificates of insurance.” Despite the agency’s small-town focus, 70% of the business is commercial.
Angela and her team worked with a company and created bots on their management system that streamlined its processes significantly. The agency also employs a virtual assistant. “These let our agents do insurance work instead of tasks that can be done differently,” Angela explains. “They can do their job and spend more time with customers.”
The agency also uses electronic intake forms. “We send links to clients for completion,” she adds. “This is another way technology helps agents be agents.” Agency leaders are paying close attention to alternative intelligence and ways it can strengthen the firm’s human touch by handling repetitive tasks efficiently.
Another example of technology making life easier for clients is the agency’s 24/7 live employee accessibility. “Our main line rolls the agency director’s cellphone when the office is closed,” Angela explains. “She handles after-hours emergency calls so clients don’t get a recording.”
Building the future
Janet and Angela say that when they bought the agency, they didn’t just buy a business; they undertook a mission—a mission to expand reach beyond the communities they called home, a mission to build capabilities that would allow the agency to grow in an increasingly competitive arena, and a mission to provide financial protection and health to the businesses and individuals in the communities they serve—and that includes employees.
They are making solid progress delivering on the mission. “We can bring all of the coverages local clients want and need, and we’ve identified opportunities in niches that let us grow beyond the small towns we love,” Angela explains.
The agency holds strong positions in oil and gas, trucking, construction, and municipalities. “For us, working with customers in our target segment is about more than policies,” Angela explains. “It’s about expertise and partnership.”
Insuring municipalities, for example, the agency works closely with local leaders across counties, cities, schools, libraries, museums, and rural water districts to understand their unique challenges and deliver customized coverage and guidance that helps protect public assets and the communities they serve.
Angela reads to a class at the Coffey County Elementary School Daycare, while Janet attempts to wrangle her two grandsons on her lap. The school is one of TrustPoint’s many local community engagement and support recipients.
“We don’t take this responsibility lightly, because it affects all of the residents in these areas,” Angela notes. “With elected boards and leadership that frequently change with term positions, we take seriously our role as an ongoing educator—helping new decision-makers stay informed on risks, coverage, and long-term planning.”
As it carries out its mission, the agency is continually looking for ways to further diversify product offerings and cater to different market segments. “And we have to continue marketing ourselves,” she notes.
The TrustPoint mission also includes being a better agency. “We’re looking to improve on what we are today, increasing education and knowledge—expanding staff learning opportunities so our people become better agents,” Janet adds. To drive producer growth, the agency puts new hires through a structured training regimen that combines internal education, carrier schools, and outside education providers.
Hiring is another part of the mission. “Society views banking and real estate as respectable professions,” observes Janet—the former banker. “Actually, the ability to sell real estate is what drew me to the agency.” But once she arrived, she was met with a surprising—and pleasant—reality: “I quickly recognized the financial aspects, the growth possibilities, and the opportunities of insurance, and saw what a wonderful industry this is.”
While her eyes are open to the opportunities, not everyone sees them. “It’s difficult to attract people to our business,” Janet notes. To address that, she and Angela “have spent a lot of time training and coaching, inside the agency and outside.”
For instance, Angela participates in school career days and shares industry benefits widely whenever possible. Janet works with her sister, a high school teacher, to share insurance career opportunities and to be a resource for students open to exploring the business. “It’s an amazing career,” Janet notes, “and we need to help society see it that way.”
Community involvement lets the agency showcase its DNA. The firm is intentionally visible in the community. “We highly encourage staff to join local organizations like Rotary, Jaycees, Elks, 4-H leadership and so on,” Janet explains. “When civic groups run events, staff can attend and serve—even during business hours—sometimes wearing TrustPoint shirts.” In essence, community involvement is part of the job, not an extra.
Rough Notes is proud to recognize TrustPoint as our Agency of the Month. Their exemplary focus on agency culture and their ability to leverage tools to enhance staff members’ effectiveness combine to drive their mission of being a small-town agency that delivers big benefits.
