Marketing Agency of the Month

Quality communication leads to excellence

TrueNorth pushes to achieve a win/win every time

By Dennis H. Pillsbury

TrueNorth executives include, from left, Pete Layden, CPCU; Duane Smith, CIC; Loren Coppock, CPCU, CLU; Larry Bergdale, CLU, ChFC; and Steve Lounsberry, CLU, ChFC.

In 2000, TrueNorth Companies, LC, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, set a goal that in 2005 it would be the company of choice for all of its constituents—employees, clients and companies. And it plans to achieve that goal and indubitably will, based on previous years of achievement, by following a solid set of goals that depend on quality communication and reaching a win-win scenario at every turn.

TrueNorth’s management team keeps the company headed in the right direction.

TrueNorth was formed through the merger of three well-known agencies: Davis Jones Lamb, a property/casualty general agency; Insurance Service Corp., an agency specializing in the transportation field; and Verhille & Associates, an employee benefits and life organization. They all shared the dream of reaching a new level of success. But at each firm, the top people were so busy working in the business, that “we didn’t have time to work on our business,” notes TrueNorth President Duane Smith. “We all saw this as an opportunity to bring together a professional management team that would allow each of us to focus on the business.”

Executives from each of the firms became the leaders of the new firm. Duane Smith and Risk Management Specialist Larry Bergdale came from Insurance Service Corp. Risk Management Specialists Loren Coppock and Pete Layden are from Davis Jones Lamb. Dave Verhille, personal and financial planning specialist, came from Verhille & Associates. And Steve Lounsberry, vice president/sales and chief operating officer, was the first member of TrueNorth’s “professional management” team.

Today, TrueNorth has $20 million in revenue and branch offices in Cedar Falls, Des Moines and Minneapolis, and remote producers located in Georgia, Illinois, Nebraska, California, Texas, Kansas, and Missouri.

Members of TrueNorth’s Marketing Communications/Business Development Center with products bearing the agency logo.

“We are a team,” Duane points out. “With the Board, Steve and I drive the direction of the firm—making sure we’re ‘doing the right things.’ The hands-on management team keeps us ‘doing the right things right.’ Our values are based on continuing every dialog to a positive outcome. That’s true for the management team and for everyone in the agency.

“This business really is about the people, and we focus on that. When we interview potential new employees, we start by matching talents with opportunities,” says Duane. “Often we do not have a particular position in mind. We talk to interviewees about their goals in life and what actions they are taking to achieve those goals. We look to see if there is talent and a cultural fit. If there is, then we decide which role in our organization would be best for this person’s talents. We have added approximately 50 people in the last 18 months and only one has left.”

Communication is key

“We’ve spent a lot of time helping our people become better communicators with our clients as well as each other,” says Steve Lounsberry. “Our goal is to achieve 100% understanding between the listener and the speaker. We also work hard at minimizing negative emotions by constantly stressing the idea that ‘perception is reality.’ It starts with a positive attitude and then people’s dominant thoughts become a reality. Our culture training is designed to create a unique teamwork model with the team working toward a common goal of success for our agency. We remind ourselves—often—that we need to have 17 good moments to compensate for one bad moment. Some bad moments are inevitable, but 17 deposits for every withdrawal will bring success.”

Steve continues, “We foster positive relationships by extending our sales training techniques to everyone in the agency and by providing everyone with ongoing information about the agency and how we all are doing. When people have the same information, it allows them to come to the same conclusions.”

The agency utilizes High Performance Teams which include a producer, producer coordinator, account manager, service manager, business development center coordinator, and executive coordinator.

This is not to say that everyone marches to the beat of one drum. Innovation is encouraged. The agency has a number of profit centers with people having different degrees of ownership. “The principals each have their own ownership and have formed different partnerships with people in the firm,” Duane points out. For example, “four principals have ownership in the small commercial and personal lines profit center and have brought people into that area who they believe will do the best job.”

“We established a system of profit centers to allow economic alignment so people share in the win or loss together,” explains Steve. “This enables a faster decision making process which is key in a firm that continues to grow rapidly (now up to 170 people—almost double the original size). We try to never put someone in a position of having to choose between doing what is right and what is best for their own pocketbook. We want everyone on the TrueNorth team to be proud of what they do. Pride in their work spills over to the manner in which they treat customers, and that’s key to our continuing success.”

Specialization

According to Duane, “The second reason our three agencies merged to form TrueNorth was that we all wanted an opportunity to specialize within our industry and develop platforms that would provide for the enhancement of the unique abilities of our people.”

The importance of building a positive culture also is reflected in the firm’s “Katalyst Program.” This program involves a series of eight lunch-and-learn discussions involving the six core values of TrueNorth Companies. The firm also uses a “Katalyst” approach for their producers. Two coaches work with producers who pay $50 a month to belong to the program. Discussions emphasize the need for each producer to work on their business rather than in their business. “The goal is for our producers to stay focused on goals,” Duane explains. “A quote we use often in our culture is: ‘The sun has more energy but a laser can drill a hole in a diamond.’ In the same way, a producer who is focused can enjoy greater success.”

Steve Lounsberry, standing, coaches producers during a sales meeting, reminding them to work on their business, rather than in their business.

Producer incentives

And with that success comes rewards. The firm’s “Gambler Program” creates incentives for producers who generate more than $100,000 of annualized new business in a year. This incentive is a bonus; however, it is not paid in cash. “It funds something that the producer wants done,” Duane says. “For example, we might help fund building a new deck on the producer’s home, or other projects the producer puts on the ‘Gambler List.’ We believe those things will be more memorable for the producer than receiving additional money. Whenever that producer looks at the new deck or other tangible, he or she will remember that TrueNorth and their superior efforts made it possible.”

“We also believe that the highest paid producers are those who bring new relationships to the firm,” Steve adds. “Even if the producer is not the person who will be handling the business. We call this producer the ‘originator.’ Each client has an originator but in many cases, the business relationship is transferred to another specialist, with the originator still receiving a significant part of the compensation. The return on time is rewarding to the person who initiates the new business as well as the producer who manages the account. This system also benefits the client because they have a technical specialist working on their behalf.”

Company of choice

Okay, back to the beginning. This is the year to become the Company of Choice. It follows the Year of Excellence in 2004, the Year of Achievement in 2003, the Year of Acceleration in 2002, the Year of Implementation in 2001, and the initial Year of Planning in 2000. “These labels were chosen to give a strategic focus to the effort,” Duane explains. “This year’s focus continues the emphasis on the quality of life for employees, excellence in service, and added value for clients.

	“The movie ‘Field of Dreams’ was filmed about 50 miles from here and we’re building a structure that is designed to bring people here—as they said in the movie, ‘If you build it, they will come.’” —Duane Smith, President

“We also offer leadership training to all our people so they can grow beyond their current positions if they want to,” Duane adds. “Additionally, we provide massages, on-site yoga, and other programs that are designed to make this a great place to work, while at the same time enhancing the employees’ quality of life.”

He continues, “Another key factor in providing a secure place to work is succession. We are in the process of positioning our company for succession at every level. We’ve communicated to everyone that we are not building this company just to sell out to the highest bidder. We’re actively building succession from within and it is a succession plan that emphasizes talent and ability.

“We take a sincere interest in the individual growth of our people,” Duane says. “The results are almost magic if you focus on that. Success follows, thanks to the individual efforts of all the people.

“The movie ‘Field of Dreams’ was filmed about 50 miles from here,” he notes, “and we’re building a structure that is designed to bring people here—as was said in the movie, ‘If you build it, they will come.’ We recently hired a person who had been a senior executive with a major brokerage firm. We were competing against more than a dozen larger firms, but he decided to come here.”

Adding value to the relationship

“Our long-term goal for our agency and our employees is to develop a business plan that provides a platform for all to grow but is not so inflexible that we can’t react to opportunities,” Duane continues. “We emphasize ‘permanent white water,’ in other words, constant change, where there is ‘co-opetition’ among employees—positive activity that emphasizes growth as a team. Our goal is progress, not perfection. We know that we need to win more than we lose, and keep moving forward.

“We also recognize the need to provide significant value to our clients. That starts with the way we treat our employees. But we also recognize the need to have specific knowledge and expertise to best serve our clients.”

Steve adds, “Our insurance company relationships are very valuable to us. We look at it as a partnership and meet with them regularly to make certain that we are responding to their underwriting appetite and fitting within their growth strategies.”

Duane concludes, “I’m very optimistic about the industry’s and our future. I am concerned, though, by the lack of young people attracted to our industry, but we are doing our part to help turn that around. The University of Iowa is developing insurance emphasis programs which we are happy to help underwrite.”

Coming into this year, one of TrueNorth’s goals was to achieve “25 in ’05.” That meant $25 million in revenue in 2005. They’re on target to exceed that. The next goal is “48 in ’08” and, based on their record thus far, it’s a safe bet they’ll make it. *