By Bill Rusteberg
In 1982, after nine years of corporate servitude, I left the inner sanctums of a large health insurance company and the comfort of receiving a corporate paycheck every two weeks whether I earned it or not.
It was time to move on to something new and exciting. The independent brokerage world seemed to be a promising opportunity where one earns exactly what their worth, no more and no less.
With what meager savings I had at the time, I opened my employee benefits brokerage firm. I was confident I would be in the Big Bucks faster than a melting raspa in deep South Texas on an August afternoon.
Cold calling is my strength. I like meeting new and interesting people. What better way than to drop in unannounced 8 to 10 time a day. Fear of rejection was not a consideration as I conquered that in my previous life as a door-to-door salesman while attending college (that’s a story for another day!)
Selling is a numbers game. Cold call ten prospects and you will get 4 to bite and one will eventually buy. “Yes, sure, please give us a quote” and off I would go with the information to send to the insurance carrier world for quotes.
I was a NEWBY. None of the insurance carriers knew who I was. “Now, who are you? I’ve never heard of you, do you have an office or do you work out of your home? Do you work with an agency? What can I do for you? was a common reaction.
So I would send in requests for quotes to all the carriers I knew to be in the market. That was back in the day before fax machines and cell phones were invented and no one knew what the internet was.
I eagerly waited for proposals, checking my mailbox every morning for yesterday’s mail. The first response in letter form went something like this: “Thanks for sending us ABC Fence Company for a quotation. Unfortunately we have received a request from another broker. We only honor requests for proposals on a first come , first served basis. Please continue to think of us on future prospects.”
I received similar rejection letters from most of the carriers except a few. I received no proposals on one particular employer group so I visited with the owner and gave him my sad story – “Sir, unfortunately I am not able to get any proposals for you. Apparently there are other brokers vying for your business that got ahead of me. How do their quotes look” I asked.
“Interesting you said that” replied the owner. “We have been inundated with unsolicited offers to help us on our group health plan since you called on us.
It was apparent my proposals were being doled out to favored brokers. “Hey John, we just got a request to quote on ABC Fence Company! You should call on them ASAP”
“How on earth am I going to address this” I thought. So I called various carrier reps. I suspected were working against me and confronted them. “I know what you did on ABC Fence Company and I don’t appreciate it! This better not happen ever again” I warned.
That seemed to end the shenanigans for the most part. I began to write business, although the going was slow. But I suspected the practice was still going on and I had to think of something else in order to become a trusted and valued broker among insurance company reps. I wanted to be on the “fed” side of the dinner table, rather than the “starving” side.
So I took a bold decision to invest $4,000 in a week-end retreat on South Padre Island and invited every insurance company rep. I knew. I rented a block of condos and a refurbished minesweeper named the Thunderbird refitted for deep sea fishing.
I called each individually and said “I would like to invite you and your spouse to join me for a deep-sea fishing trip down at South Padre Island. I’m paying for your condo and all expenses, all you have to do is show up on Friday next at 5:00. I didn’t tell any of the reps. that I was inviting others too.
So on the appointed day about 12 reps. and their spouses show up at South Padre Island at a local bar I had selected. Surprise was followed by laughter when all realized what I had done. We had a great time visiting as beer flowed easily and friendships flourished and grew. And the sharing of “War Stories” began.
Over the next two days I listened to the chatter. It was fascinating. They compared notes on brokers they collectively worked with. I learned valuable competitive information about my competitors. One for example was a broker out of Corpus Christi. All the carrier reps. hated him as he was demanding and arrogant. Yet he produced one hell of a lot of business. I learned who his main clients were and took note of that.
I learned that another key broker was wanting to sell his block of business as he was near retirement age. And I learned which brokers put the most business with each of the carrier reps. “John places all his business with Blue Cross, Gary places all his with Humana”, etc.
Was my $4,000 investment worth it? The answer is YES. I started getting calls that went something like this: “Hey Bill, we just got a request to quote on ABC Fence Company! You should call on them ASAP.”
And the Big Bucks began to roll in………………….
