Marketing

Bringing the best together

The key to Keystone is quality

By Dennis H. Pillsbury

When Keystone Insurers Group partners with a new independent agency and Colin Buzzard has added a few thousand miles to the odometer, neither is the result of a shotgun approach to, as Keystone terms it, "Bringing the Best Together." Colin is not looking for an agency; he looking for the right agency.

"Before we launch a new state, I've already identified the agencies that have the qualities that we look for in our partners," Colin points out. "Most of them have been recommended by our current partners. The remainder will be identified by what we call the 'pioneer' partners, those who choose to be first in a new state," adds Colin, who has headed up Keystone's expansion from its Northumberland, Pennsylvania, headquarters into six additional states over the past 10 years.

"What brought us to Keystone is the quality of the partners," notes Bruce Krammes, CIC, CWCA, The Seltzer Group, Orwigsburg, Pennsylvania. "We wanted to partner with a quality group to share ideas. Keystone is that organization. We have been a partner since 1997, and the management team and the board of directors have never lowered the bar."

Founded in 1983 in a competitive environment, Keystone created the model that offers agencies the opportunity to remain independent entrepreneurial enterprises and to participate, at their discretion, in several initiatives that can ultimately increase their agency value, such as exclusive programs, captives, financial services, sales culture development, group sales, and the like.

Keystone was created with a very simple purpose: to provide opportunities that were not available to the agencies individually. As it's grown, Keystone has continued to create value-added divisions and to staff with seasoned employees who are at the top of their games and passionate for the Keystone model.

"You won't find entry-level employees at Keystone. An average management person will have 20 to 30 years of experience, and the beautiful thing is that none of them were looking for a new position, but they were open to a new challenge," Colin notes, citing Ralph Sitterson, vice president, claims management, as an example. "Ralph has over 30 years in the industry. He was head of claims for W.R. Berkley Corporation in Richmond, Virginia. You hope you will never need his involvement, but if you do, there is no finer resource in defining coverage and serving as a claims advocate."

It always comes back to quality at Keystone. Of employees. Of partners. Of relationships.

"Our expansion into Tennessee plays like an old recording," Colin reckons. "I went out to partners like Tommy Adams, Roy Riley, Bob Seltzer, Brett Schultheis, and Carl Scholtman and asked them to give me the name of one agent in Tennessee with whom they interfaced on a carrier trip, advisory council or association function. We ended up with 25 agencies who, keeping with Keystone's model, were doing fine on their own but who recognized that there are simply things they cannot do on their own and who want to create greater agency value."

David Swimmer, CIC, president of Swimmer Insurance Agency, Charlotte, North Carolina, remembers partnering with Keystone because "it helped us achieve the size to take on some additional insurance companies to better serve our clients and grow in new areas."

Colin, who has known the former president, Harry Swimmer, since 1979, notes that "Swimmer Insurance is a large player in the Charlotte market and has always been known for quality and for humanitarian efforts such as Mitey Riders, benefiting children with challenges. Swimmer was doing great without Keystone and is doing even better as a result of the Keystone partnership."

Keystone held its annual Carrier Meeting in Indianapolis in late 2010. In addition to nearly 200 agency principals, carrier executives were given the opportunity to discuss plans for the ensuing year and to lay out mutually beneficial initiatives. Butler University basketball coach Brad Stevens, who took his team to the 2010 NCAA finals, served as keynote speaker to a crowd of 500. His message: recruiting, seizing opportunities, teamwork, passion, quality.

With Keystone, it always comes back to quality.

"We could never have imagined that Keystone would become what you see today," Colin says. "We could have hoped, but then hope is not a plan. We've brought the best agencies together just as we've brought the best employees together. If we identify an agency as our kind of cat, we will not take second best, we will never give up. We don't leverage, we don't speculate, and we don't make promises that can't be kept. We simply educate and persist. It may ultimately take a few years, but we will get you!"

Since 2000, Keystone has grown from the original founders to more than 220 agencies in six states. Agency principals like Bruce Krammes and David Swimmer call their decision to partner with Keystone "the best business decision I've ever made."

Colin says: "Nothing feels better than to hear a partner say they could not imagine life without Keystone. I always tell new employees that it's pure luck that we find so many quality agencies, but that luck is nothing more than preparation meeting opportunity."

Where will Keystone's "luck" take them in the next decade? Colin concludes: "That won't be my decision, but I would strongly encourage Keystone's next generation to consider Georgia, Illinois, Missouri, upstate New York, Alabama and, who knows, maybe California!"

For more information:

Keystone Insurers Group

Web site: www.keystoneinsgrp.com