THEY NEVER SLEEP

Rough Notes, Aug 2004 by Pillsbury, Dennis H

24/7 service and educated employees spark this New Jersey agency's growth

'We set out to redefine the insurance brokerage system," says George E. Norcross, III, chairman and chief executive officer of Commerce Insurance Services, Cherry Hill, New Jersey. George goes on to point out that the agency's parent, Commerce Bank, had, in many ways, redefined banking. It is a bank that is open seven days a week from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. In much the same way, Commerce Insurance Services offers 24/7 service where a client actually talks to a live person. The agency's branches are closed only three days a year-Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas-but "you can still talk to a real person on those days," he says.

George continues: "And the person with whom a client is speaking is not just someone hired to answer the phone. He or she will be a well-trained insurance professional whose job is to help the client. We've spent millions of dollars training our people," he adds proudly. "Commerce Bank has an extensive training facility called Commerce University that we emulated in the agency. We brought in one of the senior training people from the bank to head up the effort."

Edward P. Kiessling, president and chief operating officer, adds: "We developed a formalized apprentice program under which we train people for six to 18 months. We train them in the technical side of insurance and get them licensed. We believe that what ultimately distinguishes an agency from its competition is the quality of its people, and we want to have the smartest people and the best-trained people," Ed says. "We focus on developing people who can explain the insurance product to customers and potential customers and can help them with claims or any other situation that arises. We have five full-time people who do nothing but training. We also provide a producer training program for individuals who are headed in that direction." Between 25 and 30 Commerce Insurance employees earn the Certified Insurance Service Representative (CISR) designation annually. The National Alliance for Insurance Education & Research, which developed the CISR program, hosts a separate awards ceremony at the agency's University headquarters.

George points out: "Our greatest resource is our people and we go after the best. We recruit kids out of college. Temple University is one institution where we recruit regularly.

"We're actually recruiting lawyers right out of law school. In our claims department, we're looking for people who will be advocates for our clients. Who better than a lawyer? It's a perfect fit. This is a business that has a lot of legal needs. We can offer a person right out of law school an attractive career opportunity. We also recruit people from other industries and teach them insurance. We especially look for individuals who are working in our niche market specialty areas-health care, life science, public entity, school boards, and construction."

Ed says: "Our goal is to become the employer of choice for individuals looking for a career in the insurance industry. The brochures we distribute about our training programs include information on career pathing and emphasize that we offer a career that is nearly limitless in opportunity for the right person."

Commerce Insurance Services was started in late 1996 with the acquisition of two agencies by Commerce Bank. Two additional agencies were added in the same year. All told, there have been 16 acquisitions, primarily aimed at enhancing expertise and market penetration in the niche areas or to gain a foothold in a new geographic area. The goal of the agency is to expand into the areas covered by its parent's footprint. Thus far, the bank has branches from the New York metropolitan area down through Wilmington, Delaware, and is opening up in northern Virginia.

However, "the true reflection of our success is our organic growth," George notes. "We have averaged organic growth of 15% a year and actually exceeded that last year."

Today, Commerce Insurance Services employs more than 500 employees and is the 24th largest broker in the country with annual premium volume exceeding $800 million. It serves more than 125,000 clients in 25 states and is licensed in all 50 states.

Client focus

As mentioned above, Commerce Insurance Services views itself as an advocate for its clients. Advocacy is especially important following a claim. "We believe it is our responsibility to procure an appropriate and fair settlement for our clients," George says. "For every claim, regardless of size, we assign an individual claims person to oversee that claim. That individual works on behalf of our client with the insurance company."

Ed points out: "Individual claims people oversee personal lines claims as well as commercial lines claims. Personal lines is a very important sector for us. It accounts for 18% of our total revenues. In fact, we're the largest writer of private passenger auto in New Jersey."

The agency has five divisions: personal lines; core commercial (the middle market with premiums ranging from $10,000 to $300,000) accounts for 23% of revenues; Main Street business accounts for 4%; major commercial accounts for 10%; and benefits provides 22%). The balance comes from other services, including loss control.