WHEN THE GOING GETS TOUGH...

Rough Notes, Jul 2005 by Boone, Elisabeth

Agency owners Ron and Sally Rodgers build success out of adversity

When the going gets tough, it's said, the tough get going. Whoever coined that adage must have known Ron and Sally Rodgers, who, on the way to creating a successful independent agency, encountered just about every obstacle you can imagine. From disappointments to outright disasters, the couple never gave up; and today their agency, Silvermark, Inc., based in Redmond, Washington, is a testament to their persistence, determination, and plain old-fashioned guts.

Ron's involvement in the insurance business goes back to 1974, when he went to work for a general agency in Spokane for a leading northeastern mutual life insurer. Sally signed on as his policyholder service representative. The company then asked them to take over an agency in Missoula, Montana. Subsequently Ron and Sally moved back to Spokane, where Sally joined the personnel department of SAFECO. Five years later, in 1992, "Ron had pretty much talked me into selling property and casualty insurance and starting our own agency," she says. That was the beginning of Silvermark, Inc.

Sounds pretty straightforward, doesn't it? It's not. Rewind to Missoula, where the Rodgerses had agreed to take over a struggling agency. Ron found out that he had taken over an agency where the highest paid agent had made only a little over $3,500 and the manager was engaged in illegal practices. Sally worked to clean up that mess and Ron worked on the agency. He turned it around and made the Million Dollar Round Table, at which point the general agent thanked Ron for turning things around and told him he was no longer needed.

So it was back to Spokane where the sales unit in the agency that Ron set up was no longer his.

Ron had lent money to a friend and allowed his friend to use his (Ron's) name as collateral to start a business. Ron planned to go into business with that friend. Instead, he went into debt to the IRS and the state revenue department because Ron's friend hadn't been paying taxes and, because the business was in Ron's name, "Guess who the tax people came after?" he says. Ron and Sally sold their house at a loss and their car was repossessed. "We basically lost everything," he recalls.

Back in the business

Ron talked to people he knew at SAFECO, and they gave him a life-only appointment. Being without a car, he says, "For the next five months I sold life insurance from a bus in Seattle, Redmond, Bellevue, and Kirkland, and in that time I made about $35,000."

Commenting on this whole saga, Sally says, "I figure that just about covers any excuses anyone could ever think of as to why they can't be a success."

Some time later, Ron was offered a position as a company representative with a leading east coast insurer, where he would be a life rep for 29 property/casualty agencies on a commission-only basis. "I'd get a 30% override on everything each agency wrote, plus a liberal expense account." Still wary because of his experience in Missoula, Ron wasn't sure he'd take the position, good as it sounded. "Then the manager said the magic words: 'Ron, you'll also have a company car." We didn't even have a car! I said, 'John, I'm interested.' I was offered the position, I accepted it, and finally I could stop riding the bus," he says with a laugh.

In November 1991, the company Ron represented got a new CEO and let more than 4,000 employees go. "Out of that 4,000, there were more than 250 people in my position throughout the country," Ron says. "After the big layoff, there were 141 of us left. In January 1992 they flew us all to the home office and said, 'You people are the cream of the crop. Do not leave us; we will take care of you.' In August of that year, they let all of us go."

Silvermark is born

At that year's Big I convention, Ron encountered an associate from SAFECO who wanted to know what had happened with the massive layoff at Ron's former employer. After Ron explained, his friend said, "Let me know if there's anything I can do for you." Without missing a beat, Ron responded: "There is something you can do, Bob. Give us an appointment with SAFECO, and we'll start a P&C agency." Bob told Ron to come to his office the next Monday and to bring Sally.

"On Monday morning, we walked into Bob's office at eight o'clock, and he said, 'Come on in; I've got your appointment all ready for you.' Sally and I looked at each other and burst out laughing because we'd just spent three solid days developing a business plan." With the appointment in hand, they opened Silvermark.

Today Silvermark has a staff of 12, including Ron and Sally, and new Vice President Brad Johansen. In addition to its headquarters in Redmond, the agency has an office in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, that it acquired when it purchased a small agency. In less than 10 years, the Rodgers and their staff built the agency's premium volume from zero to $6 million. Currently some 80% of their P&C business is personal lines, and they're now focused on increasing their penetration of the commercial market, offering property, liability, umbrella, and workers compensation coverages. One niche market in which they've enjoyed considerable success is restaurants. They also write life insurance through New York Life. Ron says, "Being affiliated with New York Life gives us a lot of prestige because the company has such a great reputation." The New York Life operation, he says, is located in the Silvermark office but is run separately from the P&C agency.