When Trent Richmond bought a small-town Kansas insurance agencyfrom a family friend in 1999, it's safe to say he didn't know whathe was getting into. “I wasn't an insurance agent or a collegegraduate; I worked for years at a rural electric company,” Richmondsaid. “I went home and told my wife I thought I was getting intothe insurance business. And when I bought the agency, I quit my jobbefore I was even licensed to sell insurance. How dumb wasthat?”

As it turns out, the agency's original owner, who saw inRichmond solid people skills and first-hand knowledge of the ruralinsureds they served, was right on the money.

Bridges Agency Inc., founded in 1894, is still one of the oldestbusinesses in rural Norton, Kan.–”a small independent agency on adowntown street corner,” as Richmond describes it–and stillproviding protection to the region's second- and third-generationfarmers.

But in the 10 years since Richmond and partner Dave Lamb tookover, the agency, now Bridges Group Insurance, has grown from 3employees and written premiums of $1.5 million, to a business withwritten premiums of $12 million. With operations in 4 rural Kansastowns (each with average populations of less than 3,000), Bridgesnow has a staff of 12 (including 3 producers, 2 account managers, 4CSRs and a full-time life-health producer).

And the agency's recent affiliation with Combined Agents ofAmerica (CAA), a national network of independent agencies based inTexas, has provided Bridges with access insurance markets thatwould have been impossible before.

True to its roots

Bridges is founded on agriculture. With an 80-20 percent splitbetween commercial and personal lines business, the agency providescoverage for the region's huge agricultural base, specializing infarm and ranch, commercial agriculture, trucking, livestockconfinement, and small commercial business.

“There are a ton of commodities around us; 60 to 70 percent ofall the feed lots in America are in the Texas, Oklahoma and Kansasregion, and they all need insurance,” Richmond said.

And while Bridges is struggling through the recession likeeveryone else, the Midwest's agricultural base has escaped many ofthe economic problems seen on the West and East Coasts.“Agriculture is pretty healthy now; you can say it'srecession-proof,” Richmond said. “The weak dollar really helps inthe export market and the low interest rates we've been seeing inthe recession are good for farmers because it helps to keep theiroperating expense down.”

Not your grandpa's farm

When it comes to risk, Richmond isn't insuring your grandpa'sfarm. A typical Bridges customer's property might not lookimpressive–to a city insurance agent's eye, just a modest home andsome metal outbuildings–but beneath the surface is a wealth ofrisk. Today's tractors and combines, which are valued at $150,000to $250,000, typically come with GPS, computer equipment and data,all of which must be insured. The average farmer has 2,000 acres tocultivate and harvest, and most are diversified with livestock suchas cows and calves. To keep things running, the typical farmer alsohas 1 or 2 full-time employees.

All of this translates to high-liability umbrella coverage for aplethora of farm-related risks, including driving farm machinery onroads, coverage against livestock getting loose and doing damage,chemical application, and accidents involving the all-terrainvehicles that have replaced the horse when farmers roam theirfields.

And on the property side, there are those high-priced tractors,onsite grain storage, irrigation pivots, and the regular home andoutbuilding coverage. Add workers' compensation, crop insurance,and life-health (to be able to meet of all the farmers' insuranceneeds), and the average annual premium can run as high as$40,000.

And agriculture is a changing industry with a future that's tiedto energy production. With the federal government investing inalternative energy production such as wind farms and biomethane(which converts animal manure to a renewable fuel), farms stand tomake big gains in this area–and face a whole new range ofrisks.

Expertise is essential

Knowing the needs of these customers is what sets Bridges apartfrom the competition. A big part of providing that expertise isthrough hiring experts. Bridges vice president and secretary DaveLamb used to own a grocery store; the agency's trucking insuranceproducer also owns a trucking company; and the farm and ranchproducer was once a feed dealer.

“Many agents have gotten away from one-on-one renewals andpolicy reviews, but we try to personally contact our customers atevery renewal,” Richmond said. This personal contact results inBridges' retention rates of more than 91 percent since Richmondbought the agency.

Although this focus on service and expertise sets Bridges apartfrom its local competitors, things get tougher when they're goinghead to head with larger agencies in more urban locations. Whathelps is the agency's affiliation with CAA, which provides accessto major national insurance markets.

“We've always done business with regional insurers like AlliedInsurance, United Fire Group and Continental Western Group, but nowwe also work with Nationwide Ag, Great American, The Hartford,Travelers and NAU Country Insurance,” he said.

The tech connection

Probably the biggest change over the years is technology.Bridges uses AMS's Instar agency automation system, and scans,downloads and uploads data.

Richmond also knows how important it is to find, hire and retaingood employees. The agency has stock restrictions in place for itsyoung leadership team, which seems to make them feel comfortable bylimiting stock sale to inside
our group.

Another strategy for growth is through acquisition. Bridgesbought the majority interest in a local agency 4 years ago and iscurrently in the process of folding its operations into Bridges bythe end of the year. Because almost 80 percent of Kansas'sindependent agencies have annual premiums of $1 million or less andare owned by principals facing retirement, Bridges is working withReagan Consulting and others to set up a perpetuation plan to offerthese agencies a buyout for future acquisitions.

The agency also is poised to diversify into other commercialbusiness. Over the past 2 years, Bridges has hired producers whoare experienced in other commercial specialties such as oilfieldbusiness to spread beyond agriculture.

When asked what advice he'd give to a new agent, Richmondstressed the importance of finding mentors and joining an agencynetwork to help them succeed.

“I had 3 or 4 really strong insurance mentors who have reallyhelped and coached me through the last 10 years, and I couldn'thave done it without them,” he said.

“Someone once told me that being a leader doesn't mean you'rethe smartest person in the room; you need to rely on experts, andsometimes those experts are within your own agency. That challengedme to listen and to learn from others.”