By Dennis Pillsbury
Harold W. Wells & Son executives include (left to right) James L. Roberts, Jr., TIA, account executive-sales manager; Harold W. Wells, III, president; Calvin F. Wells; and Harold (Hal) W. Wells, IV, account executive.
Harold W. Wells & Son, Inc., Wilmington, North Carolina, was founded in 1920 by Harold W. Wells, Sr., who was a bank officer at the time. His responsibilities included running an insurance program the bank offered its customers. He recognized the opportunity that insurance presented and started his own company. After Harold, Jr., joined the agency in the 1930s, the name was changed from Harold W. Wells Insurance to Harold W. Wells & Son. Then in 1966, Harold, III, joined the agency and his brother Calvin came on board in 1968. Today, the two brothers manage the company as equal partners and have a fourth generation on board. Harold IV (Hal) joined the agency about two and a half years ago as a producer in the employee benefits department after working in the Atlanta office of Travelers.
The decade of the '70s provided some real change for the agency. In November 1970, the agency moved to its current location at the corner of Market and Third Streets. Soon after the move, Harold, III, and Calvin took over agency operations, following their father's retirement from the actual running of the agency. At that time, there were seven people working at the agency, including the two brothers and their father. "Today, we have 55 employees in three locations," says Harold, III, president. "It's been a steady climb. We've had very consistent growth since the 1970s, and over the last five years we've averaged revenue growth of 15% annually." Wells has branch offices in Leland and Southport which had been the offices of an agency that was acquired in 1998. The Leland office serves as the center for smaller commercial accounts. Wells also acquired two smaller agencies in the mid-1980s, which were merged into the company. And in the mid-'70s, Wells got involved in niche marketing which allowed the agency to expand its territory into the entire eastern part of North Carolina--a move that proved to be key when nature decided to intervene.
Wilmington is located on the coast and, prior to the agency's move into niche marketing, most of its business was in coastal counties. In just four years, Wilmington sustained five direct hits from hurricanes. Bertha and Fran hit in 1996, Bonnie in 1997, and Dennis and Floyd in 1999. What had been a competitive market suddenly became problematic. And the people at Harold W. Wells & Son found themselves nearly overwhelmed with work. "Our people were worked to death," Harold says. "It was a tough time from a workload standpoint but financially, we continued to do well and grow. And we're proud of the way our people were able to help our clients in these difficult times."
Thinking outside the box
The surge of storms was unusual, but it served as another impetus to examine the agency and its future. "We were always looking for ways to work smarter," Harold says. "We wanted to make certain that our agency remained independent and continued to grow and prosper into the future. In order to accomplish that goal, we needed to constantly stay ahead of the curve. In October of 1999, we sent our sales manager, Jim Roberts, to a 'Dare To Soar' seminar, a two-day event presented by Roger Sitkins and several of his private clients, to see if that might offer us an effective way to improve our operation."
Seated in front of portraits of his great grandfather (the founder of the Wells Agency) and his grandfather, Hal Wells represents the fourth generation at the agency.
Jim came back from the meeting enthusiastic and convinced that he had been shown a better way to manage an agency. But it meant retraining the agency's producers to operate in a different way--producers who had nearly 200 years of combined experience and 200 years of operating in a certain way. "Roger made us stand outside the box and look at ourselves," Jim says. "He showed us that we were making our job harder than it needed to be. When I explained the concept to our people, they agreed that it sounded good but were still a little uncomfortable implementing the changes, but Harold and Calvin were fully committed to making the change and let me run with the ball."
Continues Jim: "Another individual who was instrumental in our change was one of Roger Sitkins' private clients. His presentation was centered around the culture of an agency and how you could achieve unlimited results if you could identify and implement some basic changes. We are diligently trying to place our staff in positions that allow them to use their unique abilities. This promotes outstanding customer service, better efficiency and great morale."
"Calvin and I are both very conservative," Harold says. "That's probably part of the reason for our consistent, steady growth. We're also very hands-on and production-minded. But conservative doesn't mean we resist change when that change means we can improve the way we do business and protect the integrity of the agency into the future."
Harold points to a number of major changes that the agency has made:
Referrals only. "We worked to convert the agency to getting commercial clients through referral only," Jim notes. "But our account executives found it very difficult asking clients for referrals. It made sense because it produced prospects who were already predisposed toward us. But it just didn't sit well. We always felt that it was our job to serve our clients, not to ask them to serve us."
He continues that "once our account executives started asking, they found that our clients were happy to provide referrals and they invariably provided a number of referrals, not just one. It was a real eye opener. Our clients liked the way that we did business and felt that they were doing their colleagues a favor." The agency still does some cold calling in niche areas that it specializes in and particularly in new niche areas where it has not yet developed a client base.
"We took the same concept into the group area as well," Hal adds. "We ran a listing by account executive and had each one of them go over the accounts to target ones for our referral process."
Trading down. "Another major change involved getting all of our account executives to give up some of their business. At least that's the way they saw it. We asked them to go through their commercial accounts and prioritize them according to size and, in some cases, important leverage (e.g., small accounts that are tied to larger accounts)," Jim notes. "We explained that this would alleviate the high amount of service they were providing to small accounts and give them more time to sell. They said they understood, but still didn't like the idea of giving up commission income." In the end, more than 1,000 smaller accounts were moved into the Business Account Center in Leland.
Jim remembers that "about three years ago, we all looked at Harold like he was crazy for asking us to give up business. Then Roger [Sitkins] showed us what it was costing the account executives to service those smaller accounts and a light bulb went off. I gave up about 40 accounts representing about $7,000 in income. I quickly saw how much time I had been spending in taking care of those accounts. I had a lot more time to spend on building my relationships."
Pod people. No, this is not a reference to the sci-fi class (well, actually it is but really has nothing to do with this story). The agency set up four "pods" in the large commercial lines area. Each pod included one or more account executives, account managers and assistants. Accounts were assigned to each pod. "Before we did this, our accounts were all over the place. An account manager might be servicing accounts from a number of account executives," Harold says. "Under the pod system, account managers handle only those accounts produced by the account executive or account executives in the pod. They know the accounts, as well as the account executive's style. They all get to know the accounts better and can provide true value-added service." Each pod operates in its own separate area of the building. There is a backup procedure in the event that people in a particular pod are out of the office or busy.
Utilizing techniques he learned at a Sitkins seminar, Jim Roberts introduced management practices that have helped the Wells Agency to continue to grow and prosper.
As part of this system, the agency made it clear that there was a distinct line in the sand between sales and service. Account executives did what they were best at--selling, and account managers did what they were best at--servicing. "We realized that in order to make an immediate impact, we had to split sales and service," Jim notes. "We have an outstanding service team that is absolutely critical to the future of our agency. Without these talented individuals, we would be no different from any other agency. It is their level of commitment that gives us credibility with our clients."
Harold set up the pods according to the abilities and personalities of the individuals involved. "I actually ran production reports and knew what each account manager could handle. It really fell into place," he remembers. "It turned out to be a pretty easy process. I knew who liked to work with whom. There's been very little change in the makeup of the pods once we set them up by the numbers."
On the personal lines side, the agency has two in-house producers. It is a separate department and profit center. Accounts are sorted alphabetically and can be accessed by anyone in the division through the automation system.
Over the past 10 years the Benefits Department has seen tremendous growth through selling group life, health and related products. During the softening phase of the property/casualty market, the Benefits Department did a great job rounding out the agency's commercial client needs, according to Harold. "We have a professional staff who gets the job done." Harold also notes, "Paul Goodwin, our benefits manager, has brought a high level of expertise to our larger group clients including self-funded cases. Paul's many years with Travelers, plus the other two account executives' experience is hard to match. We expect this department to continue steady growth."
Harold adds that "the fourth generation is here and is learning quickly." Hal joined the agency in 1998. He currently serves as an account executive in the Benefits Department.
"We are making changes that ensure our success into the future." Harold continues, "And we'll continually look at ourselves to make certain that we are operating in the most effective manner for the agency and our clients. We all understand that our culture is vital to our efficiency and our growth. Our people are eager to make the right changes. The future of our agency is unlimited." *