“Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” And that phrase, like history, has been repeated many times. But despite the negative connotations proffered by the verb that has been chosen, repeating history is not necessarily a bad thing. United Insurance, Falmouth, Maine, is comprised of a number of agencies that have a history dating back to the 1800s and include returning Civil War veterans who established an agency to provide insurance to their neighbors. Much of that history is marked by service to the communities served by the agencies. That is not a history that one wants to deny.

In its current form, United Insurance came into being in 1976 when two agency owners decided that they could generate more revenue together than the total they would achieve apart. So they merged. It was an interesting move prompted by a long-term strategy for growth and perpetuation that has remained a hallmark of United Insurance.

Since that time, the agency has grown both organically and through mergers and acquisitions. Today, it boasts premium volume of $75 million; has 15 locations in Maine and a small office in New Hampshire; and has 125 employees. Commercial lines accounts for 55% of the volume, with 42% coming from personal lines and 3% from life, health and financial services.

Chris Condon, president and CEO, points out, “Most of the agencies that have merged with us or been purchased tended to be personal lines agencies with long histories of service to the community. They also had small commercial lines accounts and we helped them grow in that area.

“We’ve purchased approximately one agency every two years, mostly in parts of the state where the agency fit our need for geographic spread and fit into our culture,” Chris says, noting that a number have been in the northern part of Maine. “That’s where our roots are. I represent the third generation of owners of the agency and the third CEO. All the CEOs have come from the northern part of Maine and we know the people and the agencies that operate there. As we’ve looked for agencies to purchase, a number have been from that area. It’s always easier to purchase from an owner whom you know well.”

“Our offices all have strong ties to the community. In some cases, they’re the only agency in town,” Chris notes. “All told, United Insurance gave in excess of $100,000 in donations to community organizations last year, but that is only a small part of what we do. Our people have donated thousands of hours to their communities. We encourage that. Our goal is to present ourselves as someone a person in the community would want to do business with.”

The list of charities and community organizations supported by United is literally too numerous to mention. If you’d like to see the list, it’s on the agency’s Web site at www.unitedinsurance.net.

And, because many of the agencies purchased by United had a long history of support for the community and were well known and respected, most kept their names and just added “A member of the United Insurance Group” at the end.

“That worked very well for a long time,” Chris says. “However, there have been some remarkable changes lately in the ways agencies and companies market their products and services. At a meeting with one of our insurance companies, we heard that a study the company had done found that 74% of all personal auto purchases start at the Internet. Well, it’s pretty hard to develop a marketing strategy on the Internet when you’ve got more than a dozen different names. We realized that we had to make some changes to deal with the new competitive landscape.”

“When I took over as CEO five years ago, we decided to change our naming model. We brought in a marketing company to help us with the change and they advised us to make United Insurance the primary name. For the first time we were able to develop a statewide advertising campaign and a new Web site that reflects the change.

“We’re really a bunch of small agencies rolled into one group and managed by a single board and management team, and because of that we’re not that well known statewide or regionally. That is something that has to change,” Chris maintains. “We need to increase our marketing spread to reach other areas in the state and other parts of northern New England.

“We have 22,000 personal lines clients and 4,000 commercial lines clients and that’s great. But it also indicates that we have been relatively successful at saturating our marketing territories, particularly in those towns where we are the only agency. We can’t rely on history and community involvement alone. Those things are important and will always be something that sets us apart from the competition, but we also have to do more,” Chris states.

United Insurance already is on the second version of its Web site, which now allows policyholders to request basic services online. “But we realize that this is just the beginning,” Chris says. “A Web site has to be dynamic and grow with the market it serves. By the first of the year, we will have online quoting available through our rating mechanism. And we will continue to look for ways to increase value for our policyholders and prospects on our Web site and internally as well.”

Chris adds: “We’re also working to achieve search engine optimization. That’s the key today. Four or five years ago, the fact that we had a dot-net URL was a problem and we worked around that problem by putting NET in all caps in all our marketing material. But today, it’s not that important. Many major players have had to go outside the dot-com environment. What matters is that people find you when they conduct a search. We check four or five categories every month to see that we come out near the top on search engines.”

“Once they find you,” Chris continues, “you must give them a reason to do business with you. And we have a staff of individuals that is second to none so when people contact us, we not only can provide them with a quote for coverage, but information about the coverage. Price is important, but coverage matters a ton. We spend between $40,000 and $50,000 every year training our staff to think and use their insurance knowledge to help clients and prospects.

“We have considerable volume with our companies, so we can usually compete based on price, but that’s not the way to keep a client. We regularly have exercises where our people are asked to compose a letter or e-mail about a topic like property values. That doesn’t happen with the direct writers. They just write standard coverages without consideration of what an individual really needs.”

Case in point: “We’ve seen professionals with minimum liability limits on their auto and no umbrella,” Chris reports. “People will have homeowners coverage that is based on the purchase price and that can be disastrous if something serious occurs. You can get a 3,000- to 4,000-square foot farmhouse on several acres for $150,000 or $200,000. It’s a home with a lot of character. It’s also a home that might require three times the purchase price to rebuild if there’s a total loss.

“We also have developed several specialties in the commercial area where we have a credible knowledge base. We are the largest provider of insurance to the agricultural community in the state and one of the largest providers in the wood products industry.

“Farming—especially potatoes and broccoli—is a big industry in Maine. The schools here recognize that. They start in early August and then close for three weeks in September for the harvest. When I was a kid, I worked 11 hours a day in that hiatus. When I think back to that, it makes the long hours I spend here helping clients seem easy,” Chris says with a smile.

“Wood products also are extremely important to the economy. We understand that business, providing loss control to help mitigate the workers comp hazards that are inherent in that business. Acadia Insurance is our lead company and has been a great help in this area.

“We also provide a lot of long-haul trucking coverage for many of our commercial clients as a result of the size of Maine,” Chris notes. “Any company that sends product from one end of Maine to the other is a long-haul trucker by definition.

“We sit down with clients and show them the facts about coverage that they need. We don’t just offer minimum coverage that will result in the cheapest price. That will end up hurting you in the end. We want to develop clients for life.”

And that philosophy of developing long-term clients also extends to the agency itself. United Insurance has a perpetuation plan that has seen three generations of succession and already is developing the next generation of owners. “We’re only five years into the third generation of independent owners,” Chris notes, adding, “These people are not members of the founders’ families but are people who have earned ownership through performance.

“The four-member board offers producers and managers stock bonuses on a discounted basis in recognition of their contribution to the agency,” he continues. “Right now, we have 10 owners, and a number of young people from the fourth generation are starting to buy ownership. The average age of our ownership team is 46, well below the industry average. Internal perpetuation is a significant part of our success.

“Our goal is to remain independent on into the future and the perpetuation plan is set up to make certain that happens.”

United Insurance is yet another example of the resiliency and creativity of the independent agency system. It has grown and prospered in a state where a relatively small populace is spread across a vast area. So the agency responded by spreading out across the state. We are very pleased to recognize United Insurance as the Rough Notes Marketing Agency of the Month.