Marketing Agency of the Month
All in the family
Al Purmort comes by his insurance knowledge honestly
By Dennis H. Pillsbury
If there is such a thing as an insurance pedigree, then Al Purmort Jr. is a thoroughbred. Five generations of Purmorts have been involved in the insurance industry dating back to 1876 when a group of farmers in Van Wert, Ohio, got together to start The Van Wert County Mutual Fire Insurance Company in order to escape high insurance rates. Minor La Doyt Purmort served as secretary of the new company. Today, that company is known as Central Mutual Insurance Co., a highly respected regional company with surplus in excess of $300 million. F. W. Purmort III serves as president, succeeding his father F. W. Purmort Jr., who succeeded his father, F. W. Purmort. Charles Meredith Purmort and La Doyt Purmort served as presidents of the company in the 1930s.
Meanwhile, Paul W. Purmort retired as secretary of Central Mutual in 1957 and showed great perspicacity by following the Snowbirds to the South. When winter rolls around in Van Wert, Sarasota looks mighty attractive.
The move to sunnier climes did not slow Paul down, however. Apparently a victim of RIS (Restless Insurance Syndrome), he first considered buying an agency and then decided to start an agency along with his two sons, Al and Wells. In 1985, Al left that agency to start Al Purmort Insurance, Inc., in Sarasota.
After its first year of operation, Al Purmort Insurance reached approximately $250,000 in revenue. Today, the agency boasts revenue of $4 million from its principal operations in Sarasota and another $1 million in revenue from its part ownership of an agency in Lakeland, Florida, that specializes in workers comp.
At 75 years of age, Al Sr., CPCU, CIC, ARM, chairman and CEO of the agency, continues to serve clients, representing about $700,000 in business. His son, Al Purmort Jr., CIC, who joined the agency in 1993, is president.
“When I joined,” Al Jr. remembers, “it was a five-person agency with about $450,000 in revenue. Dad and I could both sell and we had good people backing us up. That was fortunate, since I had the habit of coming up with ideas and then expecting the people at the agency to implement them.”
Embracing technology
“For example,” he continues, “I bought our first scanner two years after joining the agency. I came in one day, left a machine on the table telling people we were going to move to a paperless environment, and then left to go out and sell. Not everyone was thrilled with the idea,” he adds with tongue placed firmly in cheek. “However, after six months, everybody loved it.
“We believed that the key to providing superior service with fewer people was the right technology. In 1999, we went to dual monitors.” Al points out that technology has “allowed us to actually spend more face-to-face time with our clients. Technology can either be used as a barrier between agents and their clients or it can be used to help the agent be more efficient so he or she has more time for client contact. We were determined that our technology efforts would head us toward the latter.”
It certainly seems to have worked out that way. As Roy Cannon, risk manager for Morgan Electric, points out, “Service has been outstanding. Everyone I’ve dealt with has been on top of their game. They actually deliver endorsements and policy updates rather than just mailing them so we have face time with them and can discuss any of our concerns. It’s a great combination of action combined with substance.”
“The agency people really seem to understand our business,” comments John Bowen, chief financial officer for Neal Communities in Bradenton, Florida. “It’s been a real roller coaster ride for us. We’re a construction company specializing in residential land development. And, as anyone knows who has followed the news lately, that’s an interesting business in Florida these days. Our exposure can change with home sales, and that makes us a high-maintenance organization. Al Purmort Insurance has hung with us and helped us deal with the ups and downs in our business. The agency provides excellent service from a quality group of people.”
The next phase
“We are obsessed with personal service,” notes Patrick Del Medico, chief operating officer for Al Purmort Insurance.
“But we realized that we might not be able to deliver on this obsession if we continued to manage by the seat of our pants,” Al interjects. “We’ve been very fortunate to have great people working here who are committed to customer service, as well as being flexible enough to deal with the changes that seem to hit our business every day,” Al says.
“Whether it is me throwing some new internal change into the mix or the weather causing chaos into the marketplace or the vagaries of the insurance cycle, our people always come through. But, as we grew, we recognized that we needed to have some systematic underpinnings to our efforts. We now have 19 people in Sarasota and another nine in Lakeland,” Al continues. “What was missing, until early in 2007, was an operations person who would oversee what we do and make certain that it always led to better service to clients and greater efficiencies for our employees. That’s why we brought Patrick on board.”
Patrick Del Medico joined the company from Stryker Corp., a company which, he says, has a similar emphasis on service: “First, be the best and then be first.” Patrick continues that a similar philosophy allowed him to get started quickly. “Excellent customer service was something that had always been insinuated at Al Purmort Insurance, but now we are monitoring service and managing it so we can stay on top of it,” he says.
Patrick and Al, Jr. questioned their growing staff on what differentiated them from other agencies, and concluded that their knowledgeable staff continually delivered on their promise to “first, be the best, and then be the first.” And, in order to progress successfully into the 21st century, Al Purmort Insurance invested in CSR24, to provide their customers with 24-hour online access to their information.
In keeping with their focus on service, the agency concentrates on risk management and works with their current and potential clients to determine if they have the right coverage and are properly mitigating risk. Both Al Sr. and Jr. have been known to walk away from prospects because they were already being well-served by their current agents. That’s incredible goodwill.
Working with the best
The emphasis on being the best spills over into the agency’s relationship with its companies and its employees. “We’ve focused on creating a partnership with our carriers for the long term,” Patrick points out. “As a result, we work with a limited number of quality carriers so we can get to know them better. We want to mesh our marketing with their market preferences. That’s been a key ingredient in the reason that we continue to be successful in a marketplace that is difficult at best.
“Our companies have stuck with our clients because they recognize that these clients represent good risks that have strong risk management programs and offer a reasonable opportunity for profit even in the current market,” he continues. “It also helps that we have strong relationships with some regional carriers that really understand the vagaries of the Florida market. Of course, we also have taken steps to increase our market reach.”
Al Jr. notes that the agency “almost couldn’t help being successful when it started out. Sarasota was growing rapidly, and we specialized in construction. We’re fortunate that that included a lot of comp, and that is a line of business that companies in Florida still want to write. In fact, our Lakeland partnership is with an agency that specializes in workers comp clients with premium of $200,000 or more.”
Al continues that the agency also is looking to expand beyond the Florida market. “Technology makes it possible for us to write business anywhere, including internationally, without sacrificing service.”
“The most important reason for our success,” Patrick notes, “is our people. More than half our people have been with the agency for at least five years. Our staff of 19 represents more than 400 years of experience. And we reward them for their efforts.
“I have worked for a Fortune 500 company and for start-ups,” Patrick continues, “and I have never seen an organization that invests more in its people. The agency has a very strong 401(k) plan. The focus is on keeping the best people and being able to recruit the best people.”
Carol Streibich, CIC, a commercial producer who has been with the agency for 10 years after working at another agency for 21 years, explains her reason for joining. “Al Purmort Insurance has always had the best reputation in town. The agency is very giving to the community and is known for customer service.
“I work primarily with small commercial risks and am proud to say that we treat all clients equally. They all get our best service,” she continues. “And the agency treats its employees well. I’m active in local agents associations and have been for years, and I constantly hear from agents at the meetings how they would like to work for Al Purmort.”
Pat Chrapowicki, AAI, a large commercial account manager who has been with the agency five years, says the management team “is concerned about all our needs. I have the highest respect for Al Jr. and it’s a pleasure working with him. I’ve been working in insurance since the ’60s and worked for several other agencies and can say that this is a great place to work.”
The agency is focusing on partnering with its clients. “We look for clients who view risk as a profit center and are working with them to provide HR services, risk management, loss control and so on,” Al concludes. “We are focusing on providing an enterprise risk management approach to all our commercial clients. We want to form an even tighter partnership with our clients.”
To which Patrick adds: “We have the right people, the right companies and the right clients. We want to build on these relationships, while expanding geographically. We’ve enjoyed double-digit growth in eight out of the last 10 years and are convinced that we can continue to do so regardless of what happens in the Florida marketplace.”
To which we add that Al Purmort Insurance appears to have all the ingredients for success in the independent agency system. We are pleased to recognize that agency as this month’s Rough Notes Marketing Agency of the Month.