COVERED had our third child , and we ’ d always talked about going back home to Kansas and buying a small insurance agency and raising our kids .
I called my dad , who was semi-retired in the vet business , and he was doing a special project for Iams pet food company in Abilene . He had a classmate in Abilene , Ron Holmes , who had an insurance agency in town . I called Ron and found out that he had just inherited two farms from an uncle and was thinking about retirement . We played nine holes of golf and cut a verbal deal for me to purchase the agency that day .
We went to Abilene on a Friday morning , and between Friday and Saturday , we bought a vehicle , financed the house , and moved our three kids . The kids started school on Monday morning . Abilene felt like home in two weeks , and we love it here .
Dave Hulcher : When you bought the agency , what was the agency like ?
Doug Smart : The agency was what I ’ m going to call a very typical small-town agency . There were three employees and about one million in written premium . The prior owner hadn ’ t focused on growth and new business in a long time . My biggest priority was to grow the agency because I had pushed myself to the financial limit to buy it . I went to three banks to line up a line of credit to buy the agency , and only one of them said yes , and we ’ re still doing business with that bank because of their willingness to take a chance on me .
Dave Hulcher : What do you feel the biggest challenges have been in getting your agency to where it is today ?
Doug Smart : I have been very , very blessed with a tremendous amount of quality employees . My goal has always been to hire the best employees and offer the most competitive pay to not leave . I always wanted to provide
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I have probably established half to two-thirds of my industry network through my participation with KAIA . These relationships are priceless . If I had to put a dollar figure on how much more money I make today because of connections made through the association , it would be staggering .
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the best service possible to our customers and have the appropriate staff level to do that even if it means having excess staff capacity .
The biggest challenge today is finding a company that will write all of our new business opportunities . It ’ s increasingly difficult to write what we consider traditional risks . Carriers seem to want new , owner-occupied buildings . Being in a small town with older , mixed-use buildings with residential apartments upstairs , it can be hard to find companies with that appetite . Agencies and carriers want to grow , but sometimes the risk appetites prevent us from reaching our full potential . There is no shortage of business opportunities ; finding where to write it has become the challenge .
Dave Hulcher : What are the keys for you to be able to continue to grow the agency ?
Doug Smart : Until seven years ago , I did all the selling in our agency , and as I needed more business , I sold more , and I got more support staff to help support servicing it . That works for a while , and then you get to a point where you can ’ t sell anymore . So , I hired Kyle Becker , who was a manager at the local GM dealership . He would never leave me alone as a car salesman . He was always asking me to buy another car , and in my mind , I thought he had tremendous potential because asking for the business is what it takes in any sales business to be successful . So , I hired him , and he became the agency ’ s perpetuation plan to buy me out over time . Kyle had plenty of management training , and it didn ’ t take me long to realize that overall he was a better agency manager than I am . Kyle took on a more active role in managing the agency ’ s day-to-day operation , which allowed me to focus on my strength , which was selling and new business production .
Dave Hulcher : What do you think are the keys for someone to be successful in selling in the insurance
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