In the Oscar-winning 1996 film "Fargo," North Dakota is depicted as a barren, snowy wasteland that seems like the last place someone would want to sell insurance.
But the truth is far from fiction.
In fact, North Dakota has been spared much of the economic devastation that has affected many areas of the country within the last few years, and was ranked by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for highest income and job growth in the last decade. Unemployment in North Dakota in 2009 was the lowest in the nation at 4.4 percent, less than half of the national average, and in 2008, the economy grew 7.3 percent, twice as fast as any other state excluding Wyoming. Fargo was recently ranked ninth in the nation by Forbes as "best places for starting a business and career." North Dakota benefits from natural resources with abundant jobs in energy and agriculture.
Related: Read July's Agency Success story: "Employee empowerment."
Based in Fargo, Warner & Co. is poised to benefit from that trend--in fact, it has continued to succeed in North Dakota for almost 100 years.
Given the sparse population of North Dakota, Warner, one of the largest independently owned agencies in the region, has to be a generalist. If the agency can be said to have a specialty, that would be working with clients to meet their needs under a wide range of circumstances.
Within the past year, Warner has been actively soliciting oil field service companies, which is a growing niche due to an oil drilling boost in North Dakota. In this industry, the agency has added 25 to 30 new accounts within the last 18 months.
But with some exceptions, Warner prides itself on its generalist status. Splitting its business into personal (23 percent), commercial (67 percent) and life and health-related (10 percent) products, Warner has more than $30 million in premium volume, and operates four full-service agencies: three in North Dakota, including its Fargo office, and one in Minnesota. Over the past 25 years, Warner has purchased 20 agencies, and continues to look for acquisitions in its trade territory. Warner looks for agencies that fill a need in its branch locations and matches its corporate culture of strong ethics, involvement in the community, a history of writing profitable business that focuses on broad coverages and customer service rather than price.
Background
Warner was founded in 1911 by Raymond Warner and his partner, Alonzo Rupert, who later sold his interest to Warner's two brothers who joined the firm. Harry Hayer joined the agency in 1964, was soon named president and bought majority ownership in 1974.
In 2007, Brian Hayer became president and CEO of the company, with Denise Magness as executive vice president and COO, when both purchased all voting shares of the company at the time.
The agency has a long history of innovation, a focus on underwriting and well-designed insurance programs coupled with face-to-face service. These platforms have continued as Warner integrates the benefits of technology to enhance client service and meet their clients' needs.
Customer satisfaction
Service and relationships are key components to succeed in the insurance industry, and Warner is proud of its exceptional service to clients. In Warner's group life division, one of its client's employees was diagnosed with brain tumors and needed financial assistance with medical costs. Stacey Belka, customer service agent, helped the client's human resource director gather the necessary paperwork, claim forms and physicians' reports to get access to the living benefit from a life insurance policy. Shortly after, the client hired a new human resource director and Belka was able to help the client with all of the paperwork to convert the policy to an individual contract with waiver premium. Warner later assisted with the death claim.
In another situation, a client's vehicle was damaged when it was parked and hit by another vehicle. Warner producer Dean Thompson assisted his client in making a claim against the other party and later, when the insured was dissatisfied with a settlement that was offered by the competitor's adjuster, delivered documentation to the adjuster that resulted in a much larger revised settlement.
"We work hard to maintain good relationships by providing personal service that meets the needs of the client in face-to-face meetings," Brian Hayer said.
A large new commercial client, for example, needed to sort its vehicles by department rather than by garaging location to assign expenses, as well as sort identification cards by location to distribute the cards easily. The insurance company was unable to do either task for the insured. Warner's customer service representatives, however, worked together and figured out a way to use their agency management system to accomplish both of the insured's requests, which saved the insured considerable time from how it was handled by the previous agent.
Agency-client relationships are important to Warner's success. For the past 20 years, the agency has conducted a multiple-page personal lines risk survey, which is sent to personal lines clients every 3 years. The survey is updated to reflect emerging risks like identity theft, electric cars and student-developed and run home-based businesses to identify exposures and solidify the agent/client relationship. Warner has used this feedback to offer additional coverages, update home values and review schedules.
Warner conducts a similar process for its commercial lines customers. Account managers complete annual coverage review forms that identify additional exposure and secure and present quotes to the insureds. The agency recently provided premium indications for EPLI coverage for all businesses with employees. This resulted in several new EPLI policies and allowed Warner the opportunity to educate clients on the importance of the coverage, even for small employers, and its relatively low cost and availability.
Market trends
Warner has had a long history of creative market development in the industry, such as issuing the first multi-line policy in the country, with Continental Insurance Co., in 1963. It worked with Kemper Insurance Group in the 1980s to develop and sell the first personal package policy, which is still the company's leading personal lines product.
To stay ahead of the competition, Warner uses consultant MarshBerry to assist in benchmarking targets and setting targets for areas from peer analysis to annual budgeting and strategic planning. "We worked with a national consultant last year to reorganize our small commercial and personal lines area," said executive vice president and COO Denise Magness. "We are in conversation with other agencies at national meetings and conventions, using that time to discuss new ideas and compare notes with agencies across the country on a wide variety of issues, and are energized by those discussions."
Taking care of staff
To help both the agency and its employees, Warner offers its staff annual written education plans that cover personal development as well as an insurance education.
"To improve our competitiveness, we focus on education and study," Magness said. "We continually fine-tune our work flows and incorporate modifications by staff to improve internal effectiveness and service to the clients."
Warner surveys all of its employees for their ideas in eight areas including equipment needs, education, benefits, improving workflows, "going green," cost savings and ideas on marketing and client service. Each of its 35 employees receives written responses to their ideas and suggestions.
This year, employees suggested converting an unused office in the Fargo office into a workout space. The staff cleared out office furniture and added yoga mats, exercise bands and balls, weights, a weight bench and exercise posters. The office also obtained a subscription to Shape magazine for inspiration.
The Warner staff also is involved in its communities. The company offers a jeans day in exchange for a donation to local charities, collects school supplies for needy children, and solicits canned foods for an annual spring food pantry drive. In the fall, a team does household chores, including painting and yard work, for a senior citizen coordinated by United Way. Warner also sponsors an employees' bowling team that supports the Big Brother-Big Sister program.
Achievements
Warner is committed to being an independent agency, and has been a Best Practice agency for 9 years. In 1998, the company received the National Flood Agency of the Year award, and was honored in 2007 with the United Way Award of Excellence. It has received Acuity's Top North Dakota Agency Awards for the past 7 years.
In 2009, a record flood in Fargo forced thousands to evacuate and damaged about 100 homes. This year, the Red River crested at just less than 37 feet--19 feet above flood stage--whereas the last flood was nearly 4 feet higher.
During the 2009 and 2010 flooding, Warner rotated its employees to run the office and help bag sand and prepare at- risk properties and neighborhoods for the flooding. It also volunteered at Sandbag Central, where more than 1 million sandbags were stacked to keep the waters away.
Through its commitment to clients and community, Warner looks forward to seeing another 100 years of business.
