MARKETING AGENCY OF THE MONTH
From zero to $65 million in 33 years
By Dennis H. Pillsbury
Last year, (back row from left) Keith C. Miller, CIC, and Gregory W. Havemeier, AAI, reached the required commission level and became minority owners of Gulfshore Insurance, Inc., Naples, Florida, joining the four equal partners who are the majority owners (standing far right) Brad A. Havemeier, President, (front from left) Tols Mihailoff, Vice President; Jon N. MacInnes, Chairman; and (not shown) Chris Weiland, Vice President.
When Gulfshore Insurance, Inc., Naples, Florida, was established in 1970, its founders wanted to serve the insurance needs of a sleepy little fishing village and its surroundings, part of which included areas where there were far more alligators than people. "I'm sure our founders had no idea that they were catching the beginnings of a wave of growth that has transformed this area of southwest Florida into one of the fastest growing in the country and a Mecca for wealthy retirees," Brad Havemeier, president, says.
"We've reached $65 million in premium and serve more than 10,000 clients, with 95% of our business remaining in the Naples area," observes Jack Powers, vice president, sales and marketing. "That represents about $10.5 million in commission revenue this year, up from $8.7 million in 2002. And we're ahead of our new business goal of $1.6 million in new commission revenue for 2003."
Chairman Jon MacInnes points out that the agency's growth was accomplished internally. The agency really took off after the first internal perpetuation in 1988. "With the exception of our small satellite office on Marco Island, we have not had any reason to expand geographically. Our goal is to dominate our local market, with exceptional service to our clients, before we expand into other territories."
Jon admits that part of the success can be attributed to "being in the right place at the right time. But that's only part of the story. We have continuously worked to improve marketing and management initiatives to make certain we remain ahead of the curve and provide exceptional service to our clients. As our mission statement stresses, our primary goal is 'to help our customers protect their assets' and to 'maintain a tradition of proactive service'. We do this by making a personal connection with our customers. Customers don't care how much you know until they know how much you care."
Personal lines is key
"We are unlike many agencies in that we emphasize and continue to grow our personal lines book of business," says Personal Lines Manager Jan Rauch. "About 40% of our revenue comes from personal lines. The large number of high-income households in our marketing territory makes this extremely worthwhile, despite the headaches involved in finding the necessary capacity in an area that is prone
to hurricanes."
The agency has a special high-value program for personal lines clients that, in addition to property/casualty coverages, includes estate and financial planning, annuities and long term care insurance.
Commercial is the foundation
"Most of our income is derived from commercial lines clients, many of whom have enjoyed the same dramatic growth as we have," says Commercial Lines Manager Kim Gonzalez-Ovaitte. "We were the agency of choice for many small businesses starting out in the area and they have grown along with the southwest Florida economy. Thanks to our emphasis on being an insurance advisor rather than a purveyor of insurance products, we were able to maintain ongoing relationships with most of these commercial enterprises. Throughout the years, our retention ratio has been 95% or better. At the same time, we have been successful at developing new relationships thanks in large part to our reputation for strong service which results in numerous recommendations from our current clients."
The Gulfshore management team (from left): Jack Powers, Vice President, Sales & Marketing; Michelle G. Gleeson, COO & Treasurer; Harriet S. Stuart, CPA, Controller; and Janet S. Rausch, AAI, AIS, ACSR, CPIW, DAE, Personal Lines Manager.
Kim adds, "Last year was a difficult year for our clients. We spent much of our time helping clients deal with increases. We were very fortunate to have strong relationships with our carriers so that they continued to write workers comp for our clients at a time when many companies were curtailing their comp writings in the state. We still had to put some of our smaller commercial clients in the state Joint Underwriting Authority."
"At GSI, we are continually striving to make our services more valuable to our clients," Brad notes, pointing out that Gulfshore established Gulfshore Human Capital Solutions in 2000 to help clients manage their investment in people. Gulfshore HC Solutions attempts to enhance the business performance of a company by improving its ability to attract, retain and motivate qualified employees. "In essence, we are helping companies maximize the return on their number one asset--their people," explains Brad.
"By offering human capital management, we have added another service enhancement designed to hold us accountable to our clients by providing guaranteed, measurable results," says Tom Wyss, manager of Gulfshore HC Solutions.
Representing Gulfshore's specialty divisions are (from left): Kelly C. Tyson, Employee Benefits Specialist; Tom Wyss, Sales Manager; and Dennis B. Slabaugh, ARM, LHRM, Senior Risk Management Consultant.
Among the products and services provided by Gulfshore Human Capital Solutions are:
* Employee benefits, including group life and health
* Workers compensation
* Claims management for workers comp and unemployment insurance
* Payroll processing
* Human resource services including employee handbooks, forms, policies and procedures.
Brad notes, "Another key factor in obtaining workers comp and other coverages at a reasonable price is effective risk management. Carriers are looking for clients that have strong risk management programs and a loss profile that is above average. We set up Gulfshore Risk Solutions last year to offer professional risk management services that include:
* Claims management
* Risk financing and insurance alternatives
* Self-insurance programs
* Loss control
* Dispute resolution
* Training and safety
* Evaluation of the total cost
of risk."
The agency hired a seasoned risk manager, Dennis Slabaugh, from the local hospital system to head up the new company. Services are provided to Gulfshore clients as a value-added benefit and to non-Gulfshore clients on a fee basis. "In addition to helping our clients control their overall cost for risk transfer, Gulfshore Risk Solutions has allowed us to attract larger, more sophisticated commercial accounts," Dennis points out.
A quality staff
"In the final analysis, our success depends on and is the result of the quality of our staff," says COO Michelle Gleeson. "We are fortunate that we've been able to attract and keep an outstanding staff. We spend a lot of time recruiting talented people and, once we've got them, we do our best to keep them. We know that we can be more competitive and profitable if we have great employees.
"We believe that you create great employees by building stronger, long-term relationships with them, through management that cares and coaches the team through their professional careers. At GSI, that's both an investment and a commitment that we make. If they succeed, we succeed," concludes Michelle.
Jack adds, "In addition to competitive salaries, we offer an Employee Incentive Plan for our service and support staff that is tied in with our agency goals. Each year we develop goals for three key areas: 1) commission revenue growth; 2) renewal retention; and 3) productivity. Bonus payouts are made when our goals are achieved. This helps to focus everyone in our agency on our primary objectives. Last year, each of our employees received an extra six weeks of salary as a bonus for reaching
our objectives."
The agency also recognizes individual achievements with its "You Make A Difference" program that recognizes an employee who has done something special for a customer or a fellow employee. Individuals are nominated by other employees and are recognized once a month at a 15-minute meeting in front of their peers, the management team and the owners. They each receive a small award. In addition, one of the nominees is chosen by the management team to receive a more substantial award chosen from the agency's treasure chest. These awards include additional vacation time, restaurant gift certificates and other prizes.
As part of the agency perpetuation plan, producers who reach a certain commission level receive ownership in the agency. Last year, two younger producers, Greg Havemeier and Keith Miller, reached the commission level and became minority owners, joining the four equal partners who are the majority owners.
Measuring up against the best
Gulfshore has been a regular subscriber to the Marsh-Berry PHP (Perspectives for High Performance) report that allows the agency to benchmark against its peers. "We strive to be in the top 25% of agencies in our tier in all measured categories," Brad says. This effort resulted in Gulfshore being recognized at the Agency Peak Performance Exchange (APPEX) 1999 Executive Symposium for Performance as one of the best. The agency received the APPEX PINnacle, a biannual award given to agencies with the best overall performance as measured by the Marsh-Berry PHP.
Last year, the agency received the Agency Peak Performance Award and a master's degree in agency management, which is given to agencies that performed in the upper 10% of all agencies when measured for internal operational performance, financial stability and responsibility and quality customer management services.
And this year, Rough Notes is proud to recognize the agency's efforts by naming it this month's Marketing Agency of the Month. *
"In the final analysis, our success depends on and is the result of the quality of our staff. We spend a lot of time recruiting talented people and, once we've got them, we do our best to keep them. We know that we can be more competitive and profitable if we have great employees."
--Michelle Gleeson, COO