Agency Profile: Buy, Buy, Baby

Kaplansky Insurance Agencies

Brookline, Massachusetts
Founded: 1974
Employees: 60

Since 2000, Kaplansky Insurance Agencies has acquired 19 agencies and increased revenue five-fold. Business is on pace to double in three to four years.

Sole owner Ely Kaplansky, 62, is a high-school dropout who sold his first 10 policies out of his bedroom in a house he rented with friends. In June, he celebrated the 40th anniversary of his 11-location business, a Big “I” Best Practices agency.

Focused equally on organic growth and acquisitions, Kaplansky acknowledges that buying other businesses is a game-changer. “It takes a while to reach big numbers strictly through organic growth,” Kaplansky explains. “I realized eventually that it’s easier to buy 3,000 policies than to sell one at a time.”

At the center of acquisitions are Patty Foley, who manages administration and technology transition, and Mike Noone, who moves in as long as necessary at each new Kaplansky agency.

PATTY FOLEY, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT & AGENCY MANAGER

We thoroughly familiarize ourselves with an agency we’re acquiring. We discuss the book of business, the insurance companies the agency represents and the clients. We use checklists that include all the items we’ll need to address and assign task owners and due dates. Then we regularly discuss progress and document the status of each task. We review automation in preparation for integrating company codes, downloads and processing issues.

ELY KAPLANSKY, PRESIDENT

You might think you should buy another agency if your business has poor loss ratios, you’re unable to grow and hire producers, you have staffing concerns and your book of business is not balanced. In fact, these are reasons to sell. You should buy when your agency is already profitable and growing—when you want to maximize economies of scale and expand your market; bring in talented employees; and increase commission percentages, bonus income and profit sharing. To acquire, you have to first be successful. Otherwise, you’re piling on problems.

MICHAEL F. NOONE, VICE PRESIDENT, AGENCY OPERATIONS

The staff in the new agency needs to know we’re there for them. It can be a stressful time as their world is turned upside down. My job is to ease their minds, answer questions and start the transition process. We also monitor and evaluate staff and make changes if necessary. My presence is also crucial for clients to know we’re there and we care about them. We’ve had very good retention with our acquisitions, which is paramount to agency success.