Declaration of Independents

Cindy Hower
Kellerman Insurance/Kellerman Real Estate
Holton, Kansas

Hower is carrying on the family business, now in its 52nd year, after joining Kellerman Insurance in 1981 to work with her dad. Her industry contributions include past president of the Kansas Association of Insurance Agents past chair of the Big “I” Virtual University committee and service on carrier agent councils. Latest volunteer gig? InVEST® board member.

WINNING THE RETENTION GAME?

It’s no longer acceptable to expect that customers will be loyal and renew each year. We may have written a very good insurance program for our clients, kept a watchful eye on personal or business needs and been proactive with underwriters. But we haven’t told our story well to our insureds. We have been sucked into the price war far too long.

YOUR TAKE ON COMPENSATION?

We list behaviors and goals necessary to the position—not a description to fit the person. This creates a team environment and has shown us how our team is dependent on each other for growth and retention. If we don’t grow and retain business, I can’t continue to keep staff and increase pay. We’ve had very little turnover in my 30+ years, and I think that speaks to how you treat people.

WHAT MOTIVATES YOU?

A good inspirational business book or going to a seminar or convention with others from the industry. I also have a designated “insurance friend”—we make it a point to call each other on Friday morning to share ideas and sometimes throw out plans where one is responsible to hold the other accountable for the goal.

PROTECT & GROW

From a technology perspective, not a day goes by that technology security doesn’t become an ever-increasing concern. That is one way protecting our business is going to be important. Our biggest challenge today is not the captive market storefronts down the street, but the Internet-driven direct sales channels that continue to put price before coverage. The average consumer thinks all insurance is alike, and agents have to start doing a better job telling our story.

We are working to grow our business by a change of processes in our agency that focuses on customer retention and specific key performance indicators assigned to each employee based on their position descriptions. This isn’t something we didn’t already know we needed to do—it was just a matter of finding a way to make it happen. We are learning to free up more time to be proactive with our insureds to make sure they have the coverage they expect at claim time.

BIGGEST SUCCESS?

Our county is about 12,000 in population and considered a ‘bedroom community.’ Kellerman only has five employees, which means we are stretched to the max every day. I’m not a numbers person, but I now identify key benchmarks to set goals. We track average premiums by line of business which focuses me on account types we want to write. None of this is new or rocket science, but having a written growth plan feels really good.

CUSTOMER BEHAVIOR

Customer loyalty behaviors have changed. No matter how good a job we think we have done for a client, sometimes it becomes all about price. On the positive side, we have also learned that when we reach out and are proactive about missing coverage or simply thank them for their business, they really do appreciate that. There are many that value what we do—those are the customers we want to do business with.

GIVING BACK

I feel so fortunate to have had the opportunity to volunteer in the insurance industry. This wouldn’t have been possible without having served on our KAIA board of directors, which resulted in the direct appointments to committees at the Big “I.” The old saying “you get more than you give” holds true. I think one of the most under-utilized member services is the Virtual University. That resource alone is worth more than the price of membership.

Serving on the InVEST® board has been an eye-opener. There is such an opportunity for InVEST to play a key role to further consumer education at the high school level and create an opportunity for students to learn about the career path opportunities in insurance. It’s a great time to be involved with InVEST.