Seitlin's diverse services are overseen by (from left) Dr. Jack Mitchell, president, Seitlin Human Resources; Barry Ladis, CIC, CPA, executive vice president; M. Stephen Jackman, president; Carolyn Davis, president, Seitlin Benefits; and Neal Slafsky, CLU, ChFC, CFP, president, Capital Planning Group.
Seitlin, an independent agency based in Miami and Fort Lauderdale, Florida, was founded in 1945 with a client-based attitude that has transformed the agency and the services that it offers. Today, in addition to property/casualty insurance, Seitlin offers risk management consulting, alternative risk financing, credit enhancement, financial and estate planning, employee benefits, human resources outsourcing and surety bonding.
Stephen Jackman, president, explains: "We started out listening to clients and we heard different wants, needs and desires. We learned a lot about our clients and responded to their needs. Our whole strategy is driven by our effort to solve problems for our clients. That's why we've been in the benefits business for nearly 25 years and why we've added so many additional services.
"At the same time," he continues, "we are fending off the competition with each new offering. A wall starts to build around the client as we continuously solve their problems. We think we have a pretty good wall built around our clients."
This focus on increasing services offered to clients clearly has had a positive impact on Seitlin. During the recent soft market, Seitlin still managed significant growth in revenues every year. Revenues have grown from $9.7 million in 1995 to $15 million in 1999 and are on target to hit $17.5 million this year. The 1999 figure represented a nearly 20% growth from the previous year.
Entrepreneurs all around
One of the unique aspects of Seitlin is "the entrepreneurial environment that Steve has created within all areas of the agency," Dr. Jack Mitchell, president of Seitlin Human Resources, observes. "You get the feeling when you talk to anyone here that he or she feels empowered to do anything. There really are no limits, and we all support each other. We're wonderfully happy at each others' successes. There's an e-mail every Friday that celebrates each person's success. It's created a culture of cooperation and mutual respect. That's really important in an organization that is full of high-energy people. That energy all is directed toward achieving success for the individual and everyone else in the agency."
Neal Slafsky, president of Capital Planning Group, points to one example of this entrepreneurial spirit. Seitlin set up Seitlin University to handle all continuing education requirements for its staff. "Lin Cote, the director of the university, took it one step further and turned the university into a profit center," notes Slafsky. "She put together a business plan and then went out and implemented it. She's already done several CE classes for other agencies and companies. She's also designed and done classes for an engineering group. Seitlin University now is a revenue generator."
---Stephen Jackman, president
"One of the reasons for our success is our ability to listen to our clients," Mitchell points out. "We started our experiment with providing human resources outsourcing when COBRA came into being. We helped with compliance and risk management. It really started to move when EPLI claims began to hit about eight years ago. We had decent success, but clients were not really excited about spending money on this service. So I talked to a number of CEOs with whom I was working, mostly from mid-sized companies. They made it clear that they needed more than just compliance. They needed help hiring the right people and following through after they were hired, doing things like developing and coaching managers and so on. They couldn't afford to have that ability on site. So we reinvented the product and developed a program where we provided someone who was responsible for those activities. We actually place an HR professional on site once every week."
Think about what that means. Seitlin has a person on site every week with many of its clients. Who can compete with that? "It's all part of the relationship building," Mitchell continues. "We are physically there, and we know all the players."
Beyond cross-selling
The combination of entrepreneurship and cooperation has created a unique environment where cross-selling is a function of problem solving. There's never an effort to "sell" something to clients unless it solves one of their problems. "Not that we don't consider ourselves a sales organization," Jackman adds quickly. "That's what we are. We have 35 salespeople, and they're all focused on what's best for the client. Our motto says it all-- 'challenge us to find a better way.' We listen to our clients and respond. We don't try to force something that doesn't fit."
This is one reason that property/casualty is not always the lead-in to an account. One new client actually started as a client of Seitlin Human Resources. "They invited Seitlin Benefits to look at their benefit program," remembers Carolyn Davis, president of Seitlin Benefits. "It was a large company, with 900 to 1,000 employees. I brought Neal with me to look at the program from the aspect of executive compensation."
Slafsky explains that the people in his division, Capital Planning Group, consider themselves personal risk managers. "We look at the financial needs, goals and dreams of the individual. We basically have the same mentality as the property/casualty and benefits producers. We're problem solvers."
In the end, Seitlin Benefits wound up providing the employee benefits package for the company. "We put together a package that included financial planning for vice presidents and above," Davis says. "We actually hired Capital Planning Group to provide this service. So now we have an account that provides some $100,000 in revenue without any property/casualty business," notes Davis. "Yet," she adds after a pause, "Seitlin Benefits growth will come from re-enforcing the wall with services far beyond 'spread sheeting.' Each client already has a designated service team whose mission is to partner with the Human Resources staff and allow them more time to tend to other aspects of their job. In addition, we have started an e-commerce initiative to bring more services to include automated enrollment, online administration, and legal and general information updates."
"Property/casualty remains that principal breeding ground for many of our referrals," says Barry Ladis, executive vice president of Seitlin. "It still represents more than 70% of our total revenues." However, Davis predicts that benefits will equal property/casualty in 10 years. If she's correct, that won't be because of any letup in property/casualty production. Ladis continues, "Everybody needs insurance, and we plan to be there with the best solutions for their needs. That's because we not only have a strong array of product offerings, but we have hired the most talented people we can find to help our clients."
Ladis, who "seven years ago was rescued by Jackman from being a CPA," says that one of the unique things we've done is, "rather than hiring retreads, we go outside the industry to find talented people and then train them in property/casualty insurance. We use the CIC program, Dynamics of Selling, and our own university to provide them with the property/casualty background they need. So far, we've brought in another CPA and have hired two commercial lenders." He says that "we're also starting something new--a college intern program. We bring in two interns a year from Florida State University. So far, this has resulted in two successful hires in the account coordinator and producer area." Slafsky also was a successful hire who was recommended by one of the people in the benefits division. "We didn't know where he'd fit in," Jackman remembers, "but we knew he was talented. We wound up hiring him and he now leads our financial planning company."
Ladis continues that the agency has implemented a number of programs designed to increase sales and promote employee retention. "We've converted account coordinators and account executives to sales managers through our new business incentive bonus. Account coordinators get a piece of the commission. New business is an opportunity for them. We've paid out an average of $50,000 in additional compensation. They've developed a sales management mentality."
The agency also has an ESOP, so employees who remain with the agency can become owners. "We've also worked hard to provide a career path for people," he continues. "That's been a real concern. Fortunately, we're big enough to provide opportunities for movement. We've already had several people who moved from marketing to producing, as well as other career path moves in other departments."
Jackman adds that he and Ladis are the only two generalists in the agency, although Ladis now has developed a niche in the dot-com area where Seitlin is providing D&O insurance for start-ups. "Barry's taken a lot off my plate and freed me up so I can spend most of my time looking at clients' needs and decide which bricks need to be added to our wall of services. Next year," Jackman continues, "we'll be adding three more offerings that will help us fend off the competition."
Ladis adds that the marketplace requires agencies to increase their services. "Customers know more and demand more. It's not money that drives us; it's survival. You've got to stay one step ahead of the competition these days, and it's getting tougher. Everything's moving much faster. We keep trying to differentiate ourselves and to attach ourselves to more and more parts of the clients' business."
The client focus has led Seitlin to create safety programs in Spanish, provide rent-a-captive and large deductible solutions for all lines, and "do some interesting things in finite credit and loss-sensitive credit insurance," Ladis notes.
"One of the things that I'm very proud of," Ladis concludes, "is that a lot of agents and key personnel are owners outside of the ESOP. We have 12 other top associates who are owners. They think the agency is a good investment. We arranged financing to purchase the stock. It is part of our perpetuation plan. It makes it easy to live up to our professed intention to stay independent."
And that spirit of independence and successful entrepreneurship is the reason Seitlin is our choice for July's Marketing Agency of the Month. *
For further information contact:
www.seitlin.com