Philip B. Wise, CIC
Senior VicePresident
Insgroup Inc.
Houston

Years at company: 10.

I scream, you scream: I graduated fromthe University of Texas at Austin in 2000 with a degree in finance,and that following summer I co-founded an ice cream vendingdistribution company. When I sold our company in 2006, we had 25employees and 15 route trucks, operated distribution facilities inHouston, Dallas/Ft. Worth and San Antonio, and serviced 1,500branded Nestlé and Good Humor ice cream vending machines across thestate of Texas. My experiences running my own business have beeninvaluable when I consult with my clients today.

It runs in the family: I entered theinsurance industry the same way many other people do — throughfamily. My cousin, Brian, and his father owned most of Insgroup, anindependent agency in Houston. Brian told me that insurance is ahidden gem and I could make use of all of my connections, and thatif I did well by my clients, I shouldn't make any less each yearthan what I made the year before. On the production side, there isno cap on your potential earnings and business renews each year,unlike other sales jobs. At Insgroup, first and foremost, I am aproducer. Commercial real estate is our largest niche, andrepresents about 35% to 40% of our total book of business. With mybackground in food distribution, I also write a lot of food-relatedcompanies: restaurants, distribution and manufacturing. Second, Imanage our sales team, which includes overseeing our mentorshipprogram. We are the third-largest independent agency in Houston,ranked by revenue. Since I joined, we have tripled in size, fromabout 30 people to 100 now, with 18 producers. I'm also ashareholder at the agency.

Insurance has an image problem: It'ssad. If you talk to college graduates, those with business degreesor MBAs, they aren't calling us and saying they want to get intoinsurance. I know where they're running — commercial banking, realestate, energy, investment banking or private equity. The insuranceindustry struggles with finding men and women who want to come intoour business at a young age. I think the independent agency channeldoesn't do a great job of marketing how great our industry can befor young people to work in. It's flexible and stable — mostagencies renew at least 90% of their business. And those that don'trenew — the loss of that business typically won't requirelayoffs.

Developing a powerful salesstrategy: When I got into the business 10 yearsago, the agency didn't take as sophisticated of an approach to itssales process — and that led to us getting rolled more often thanwhat we would like. Now, we focus on total cost of risk with ourprospects and clients, not just the insurance premiums theycurrently pay. We look for ways to add value and where to eliminatecoverage gaps or duplications. Lastly, we educate our clients onalternatives to finance their risks. This approach can help drivecosts lower over the long term and can also enhance our ability tonegotiate favorable terms with underwriters.

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