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The Changing Face of the Independent Agent Turning a job into a career Getting connected with other young agents and industry veterans By Elaine Tolen
Some people have jobs. Others have careers. Rowdy Nutt, vice president of Bosworth & Associates in Tyler, Texas, will tell you that his insurance career essentially began several years after he joined the industry. Rowdy’s professional journey began in 1992, when he graduated from the University of Louisiana at Monroe with a BBA degree in finance and commercial banking. “I always thought I wanted to be a commercial banker,” he says, “but there were a lot of changes in that industry, not enough stability.” Choosing another road, Rowdy took a job with a dental consulting firm in Chicago that specialized in practice acquisitions, mergers and appraisals. “Moving to Chicago was quite a culture shock for someone from a small town in Texas,” Rowdy remembers. From Chicago, he went to Minneapolis and California before ending up in Austin, Texas, with Sundee, his college sweetheart, whom he married in 1994. While the Austin area was booming economically, the dental consulting business was not. “There were many more new dentists (buyers) wanting to move to Austin than there were sellers open to transitioning their practices. So I made the decision to look for other opportunities,” he says. Encouraged by a friend who worked for New York Life Insurance Company (NYL), in 1995, Rowdy entered the insurance industry when he got a job there as a career (captive) agent. “New York Life taught me that a work ethic is necessary for success. Their mandatory phone clinics naturally helped improve my skills. If we didn’t have 10 new appointments set up by the end of the week, they required us to show up at a phone clinic from 6:30 to 9:00 on Monday nights. The NYL general office was about 30 minutes from my house, so not only was it a long night, but it was not fun to ‘cold call’ people at home,” Rowdy says. “The job was a challenge because I was only 26 years old, most of my prospective clients were within five years of my age, and many were starting businesses as well as families. It was hard to convince them that they should spend extra money on life insurance.” During this time, Dwayne Baker, one of Rowdy’s fellow NYL agent friends, joined Capitol City Insurance Agency in Austin and began telling him about the benefits and opportunities of an independent agency. In early 1998, Rowdy also joined the agency. “I immediately got licensed to sell P&C and used that as the door opener, but rounded out agency accounts by offering them life insurance and employee benefits. With a captive audience I could capitalize on relationships the agency already had,” Rowdy explains. “When I was at New York Life, I was told to ‘prospect up,’ yet I seldom could get to the decision-making business owners to sell key man life insurance. As an independent insurance agent, it was so much easier to get in the door by offering a P&C product that protected their businesses, in addition to potentially saving them thousands in premium dollars because of a more competitive offering. They knew they needed P&C coverage, and I decided that since they had to have it, they might as well buy it from me!” Rowdy continues, “In P&C insurance, I saw an opportunity to build a book of business that would build a residual income from renewals. If you sell life insurance exclusively, you are basically only as good as your last month. Renewals are all but nonexistent. Certainly, group benefit products offer residuals, but New York Life really wanted their agents to focus on life products.” Back home As Rowdy grew in his knowledge and expertise in P&C insurance, his family was also growing. By 1999, he and Sundee were proud parents of three-year-old Chandler and infant Bailey. With their families living a day’s drive from Austin in East Texas and Louisiana, Rowdy and Sundee wanted to be closer to relatives.
Rowdy was referred by a fellow agent to an insurance recruiting firm. As it turned out, the recruiter was based in Tyler, Texas. After realizing that Rowdy had grown up about 45 minutes north of Tyler, in the small town of Gilmer, “he asked if I had ever considered moving back to East Texas. It was sheer coincidence that Jeff [the recruiter] knew Michael Bosworth [principal of Bosworth & Associates] personally. He told me about the agency and its strong reputation. Having grown up in the area, I didn’t have to be sold on the merits of the quality of life in Tyler.” Plus, moving to Tyler would put Rowdy and Sundee’s families within a three-hour drive. Optimistic about the job possibility, in early 2000 Rowdy met Michael Bosworth at the Independent Insurance Agents of Texas’s Joe Vincent Management Seminar in Austin. The two hit it off. Rowdy says he was impressed because in addition to having strong roots in Tyler (the agency was established in 1939), Michael enjoyed a good reputation throughout the state. Rowdy and Sundee met with Michael and his wife, Susan, several times over the next few months, then made the move to Tyler in May 2000. Rowdy found many opportunities as a P&C producer in Tyler and the surrounding area. “I kept running into people I grew up with—who are now doctors, lawyers and other professionals. Those connections have opened up doors for me,” he says. “In Austin—which has grown to be a large metroplex—competition was fierce. It was hard to make a name for yourself. There is competition in Tyler, but it is different. There are some strong agencies here with prime accounts that have long histories with those agencies, making it difficult to win their business. But the more personal, slower-paced atmosphere around Tyler makes the competition not seem so tough. And while I had a few clients left from Austin (mostly group benefits business), I pretty much had to start over.” A turning point
Even when Rowdy joined Bosworth & Associates, he had second thoughts about the insurance industry. “I still didn’t know for certain if this is what I wanted to do when I grew up,” he muses. “I wasn’t connected to the industry and didn’t have ownership in what I was doing. The insurance business was just a way for me to make a living. There was obviously something missing. “I knew there was an association for independent agents but had no idea what they did, and didn’t take the time to find out,” Rowdy continues. “Michael encouraged me to get involved in the association—both at the local and state levels—to build relationships with other agents.” The Independent Insurance Agents of Texas (IIAT) Young Agents Committee (YAC) was being revitalized through the efforts of the state association staff and other young agents. In November 2000, Rowdy attended his first Young Agents Retreat sponsored by IIAT and says this was the turning point of his career. “Getting involved with the IIAT really helped me ‘over the hump’ and helped me ‘buy into’ the industry,” he says. “Some agents take the attitude that they don’t care to spend time with their ‘competition’ and give away their ‘trade secrets.’ Or even better, they would prefer to go to a convention where they can sell something rather than wasting their time with a bunch of insurance agents. Honestly, that is how I used to think until I started seeing the benefits of having a network of friends across the state. Now, I have some great friends for life because of the young agents group. I have a network of people whom I can call and pick their brains on a marketing or prospecting idea, or just talk about our successes and failures of the week.” The first young agents retreat Rowdy attended in 2000 drew about 40 participants. Shortly after that he was asked to serve on the IIAT Young Agents Committee, and his involvement “snowballed from there.” In the fall of 2002, as the incoming 2002-2003 IIAT YAC Chairman, Rowdy attended his first national IIABA Young Agents Sales & Leadership Conference, held that year in New Orleans. “There was an awards reception [sponsored by The Rough Notes Company] where different states’ young agent groups were recognized for outstanding achievement. Texas hadn’t submitted an entry to the IIABA in years,” according to Rowdy. “Seeing all of those great accomplishments inspired us to get some of that ‘precious hardware!’ After the reception, several members of the IIAT board, along with IIAT executives David Vandelinder and Paul Martin, challenged us to come up with a young agent initiative worthy of recognition by IIABA.” “One of the challenges in Texas is that, like California, the size of the state is a problem. It’s a 14- to 15-hour drive from east to west or north to south,” Rowdy explains. “Fortunately, we have Paul, whose energy and enthusiasm to help guide our YA Committee is unmatched. With his help in assembling talented young agents from across the state, we were able to work together and coordinate projects as a team, as well as promote our annual retreat. By 2003 we had more than 150 young agents attending our YA retreat, up from 40 just a few years before.” The reinvigorated committee decided to take on the Big I Trusted Choice℠ branding campaign as a project. In 2003, with Rowdy as campaign chairman, the committee’s goal was to sign up 40 agencies as Trusted Choice agents. According to the IIAT, during one day of the campaign, the young agents group signed up 61 of the nearly 200 Trusted Choice Texas agencies. The YAC took advantage of its captive audience at the annual Joe Vincent Management Seminar, setting up a booth at the two-day event. They invited IIABA’s Trusted Choice Executive Director Larry Acord to speak, and this, “along with the ‘exploitation of peer pressure,’” Rowdy chuckles, helped them sign up so many agencies. As a result of these efforts, in 2003 the Big “I” recognized the IIAT YAC’s Trusted Choice campaign with the Outstanding State Committee Project award. Also that year, Rowdy was honored by the IIAT as 2003 Committee Chair of the Year. The next year, in 2004, Rowdy was named Young Agent of the Year by the IIAT. Serving as Young Agent Committee chairman and being recognized as YA of the Year “was an honor and very humbling when I consider the quality of agents who serve this industry,” he says. Rowdy’s involvement in the industry isn’t just with agents and agency-related activities. He is also vice chairman of the Service Lloyd’s Insurance Company Advisory Council. “Being on a company advisory council has allowed me the opportunity to gain one more level of understanding of the industry, as well as develop great relationships with company executives,” Rowdy explains. “It causes you to focus on how that company can better serve all of their agent population, as opposed to just what they can do for you. When you can play a small part in helping a company grow, independent of your production with that particular company, you feel like you’ve given something back to the industry.” Career advancement
At Bosworth & Associates, Rowdy is responsible for producing business and building relationships in commercial lines. “At first, I did a little bit of everything,” he explains. “But to continue to compete, agencies have to become more specialized in their expertise and offer more value-added programs. So last year, three of the Bosworth staff—including me—became Certified WorkComp Advisors. This specialized training has allowed us to look at accounts in a much different light than we were able to before. We have always been proud of the service and relationships we have built, but now we are able to bring more value to the table, which helps us not only retain key accounts but also acquire new accounts that may have been underserved. Today’s clients expect more in the area of claim reviews and management, development of safety plans and return-to-work programs.” Rowdy also recently completed his Certified Insurance Counselor designation. Bosworth & Associates’ business breaks down into about 60% commercial, 30% personal lines and 10% employee benefits/life and health. “While commercial lines is the most significant revenue stream of the agency, I really enjoy helping clients with their personal lines ... because the business you acquire and retain is typically more relationship driven,” Rowdy comments. “It is also a profitable way for us to round out a good commercial lines account by managing the owner’s personal insurance needs.” As Rowdy builds his book and makes Bosworth more successful, his goal is “to do the right thing. I’ve tried to do business with integrity, both morally and ethically. Sometimes that means walking away from business that wouldn’t be good for the agency,” he says. “Some agents just want to write business—but we have to remember it is not necessarily all good business. It’s difficult to walk away, but you feel good about knowing you did the right thing. At Bosworth, we pride ourselves on both our client and company relationships, and we don’t want to sacrifice either of those for a short-term deal.” Life outside the office In spite of his work and association demands, Rowdy finds time to give back to the community. He has served on a variety of civic group and nonprofit boards, including the Boys & Girls Club of East Texas, the Tyler Area Chamber of Commerce and the Tyler Sunrise Rotary Club. He is also active in Green Acres Baptist Church. While in college, Rowdy received a scholarship to play baseball, and today he carries on his love of the game by coaching his son’s Little League baseball team along with a client/friend. As if that’s not enough to keep Rowdy busy outside the office, he is also an assistant coach of his older daughter’s soccer team. With three children now (Avery joined the family in July 2004), Rowdy doesn’t have a lot of free time. But he manages to squeeze in a round of golf once or twice a month, as well as a friendly game of Texas Hold ’Em. Now that he is back in East Texas, hunting has also become a favorite pastime. Rowdy has a lease (property in the country that can be used for a variety of outdoor activities) close to Tyler that he enjoys with family, friends and clients. “I mentioned before how important relationships are with other agents,” Rowdy says. “The agent who focuses solely on building his business without building any relationships along the way will be a lonely person at the end of his or her journey. Life is too short not to have good friends to share it with.” * |
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