Who Are the Best Independent Insurance Agents in Des Moines, Iowa?

Mike Downer: Hello, everybody. Welcome to Fully Covered. Do you want cheap insurance, or do you just want to be insured? I’m your host, Mike Downer. I am here once again with Jeff Eastvold, President and CEO of Absolute Insurance Agency, and his right-hand man and Vice President, Dan Bell. How are we doing today, gentlemen?

Jeff Eastvold: Good.

Dan Bell: Doing great. How are you doing?

Mike Downer: Doing great. I’m ready to talk some insurance with you.

Dan Bell: Woo-hoo!

Mike Downer: All right. Today, we’re going to be talking a lot about you guys. As soon as I ask the question, and let everybody know what we’re talking about, they’re going to understand what I mean by that.

We’re going to be talking about who the best insurance agencies in the Des Moines area are. It’s kind of a broad question. We need to know what to look for in an insurance agency and why we want to keep it local.

So, if someone asks, “Who are the best independent agents in Des Moines?” what is a fair way to answer that without just saying, “Oh, we’re the best”? If they ask, “Who are some of the best insurance agents in Des Moines?” what do you guys think is a fair answer to that question?

Jeff Eastvold: A fair answer, Mike, is that Absolute Insurance Agency in Clive is the best local independent insurance agency in the area.

Mike Downer: That’s okay. That is a fair answer.

Dan Bell: That is a fair answer.

Mike Downer: But I’m assuming we’re talking about characteristics.

Dan Bell: Yeah. So, what are the characteristics of Absolute Insurance Agency? And let’s make this general. If you’re a local insurance agent, what are the characteristics of the best independent agents in your area? For us, that’s Des Moines.

Jeff Eastvold: Gotcha. I think one characteristic of the best independent agents in the area is their carrier profile. That includes the carriers they have, the strength of those carriers, and how well those carriers handle and manage claims. That’s number one.

Then there’s ease of use. From an agency standpoint, we want to be able to reach clients how they want to be reached, whether that’s in person, over the phone, by email, by text, or however they prefer. I think that’s an important characteristic for an independent agency to have, and that’s what we have here at Absolute Insurance Agency.

Mike Downer: You bet. Why don’t you guys tell me a little bit about some of the criteria you follow on a daily basis to reach those standards and become the best?

Jeff, you started this company. As the president, what do you think the criteria are to not only reach, but maintain being considered one of the best, if not the best, independent insurance agents in an area?

Jeff Eastvold: Most of it comes down to partnering with quality insurance companies. We want carriers that are competitive. We want to make sure they have the coverage we need, but more importantly, claims service is a big thing for us.

We’re not going to sell policies for a carrier that isn’t taking care of their claims. That’s just not what we do. We added two or three carriers this year because they were competitive, had strong AM Best ratings, which means they’re financially sound, and they’re paying their claims. They also have the technology we need to quickly turn around service and sales.

Mike Downer: As far as the people you hire inside your company, Jeff, what are some of the criteria you look for in your staff?

Jeff Eastvold: They need to be hardworking and trustworthy. That’s kind of a given. Everybody here is licensed. We don’t have anybody who works in the office who doesn’t have their insurance license. Whoever answers the phone is a licensed agent, and I think that’s important.

Dan Bell: One hundred percent. We also look for attention to detail in the people we bring in. We want to make sure they understand the product, understand what the client actually needs, and do things the right way, the same way every time.

Mike Downer: I’m sure that over the years, you’ve had insurance companies you’ve represented. Jeff said you just added some, and we’re not going to name any specific companies, but I’m sure you’ve had some that you’ve dropped too.

Jeff Eastvold: Yeah. There are carriers that change over time. Iowa is a pretty volatile state for weather. People maybe don’t always understand that, but it is. Iowa has not been profitable on homeowners insurance. The last couple of years have actually been pretty good, but before that, I think 18 out of 20 years were unprofitable.

That caused a lot of turmoil in the market. Insurance companies change over time, too. Who they were 20 years ago might not be their same identity now.

Mike Downer: Yeah. Changing of the guard.

Jeff Eastvold: Yep. There are companies that had models where they maybe only sold direct or sold through a captive agent. Some have moved over to the independent side because independent agencies hold a higher market share of commercial insurance. I think something like 90-some percent of all commercial insurance is done through independent agents.

Mike Downer: Oh, wow.

Jeff Eastvold: Personal lines are still heavily handled through personal lines agents, too.

Mike Downer: This is just your opinion, but how many carriers should an independent agency represent? What’s a good round number where you can keep all those companies in check, manage them, and not have too many, but still have enough to offer pretty much everything someone would want?

Jeff Eastvold: I’d say eight to twelve.

Mike Downer: Perfect. And how many do you guys have?

Jeff Eastvold: Probably eight to twelve.

Mike Downer: There you go.

Dan Bell: It’s a hard thing to answer because there are multiple carriers that are very similar to each other in terms of how they operate with agents, how they operate with clients, and so on. Even the rating bases are very similar. Having four of those companies together in your agency doesn’t really make sense.

You want to have a carrier that can handle a more non-standard situation. You also want carriers that have all their little niches within the preferred market and operate within that zone. So eight to twelve is a good number to have within all those little niches that can occur.

Mike Downer: That makes sense because it makes it more manageable for you to keep track of all the ins and outs of those companies as well.

Dan Bell: Oh, absolutely. Each one of these carriers has different restrictions and appetites. That’s one thing about being an independent agent. You have to know the difference between XYZ and ABC, including their restrictions. You have to know what those restrictions are, even compared to what your competitor is bringing to you.

Mike Downer: That makes complete sense because, as someone who might just go online and buy it myself, I wouldn’t know any of that. Like you said, if I’m comparing XYZ company and ABC company, to an untrained eye, they’re going to look the same to me.

Dan Bell: Yeah. People are looking at price.

Mike Downer: They’re looking at price.

Dan Bell: One thing I don’t want to do is end up writing a policy for a carrier when that risk is not in their appetite in any way, shape, or form. Then you get a 45-day notice of rejection of the insurance. That’s not something we’re going to do.

Mike Downer: Tell me this, then. What separates Absolute Insurance Agency from the other independents in town?

Dan Bell: I think we are not necessarily a transactional agency. That’s not what we want to be. We want to be an agency that is your agency. We want to be your one-stop shop for auto, home, umbrella, toys, kids, business, and investment properties.

We want to fully cover our clients. You can get into transactional scenarios where someone calls in and the agency is just an order taker. “This is what you want, this is what you get.” Sometimes in those transactional scenarios, you end up with a “Would you like fries with that?” situation.

That’s not what we’re here for. We want to understand your situation, your needs, and your budget, and tailor a plan that’s appropriate for you. It should protect you without breaking the budget. I think that’s a key difference: transactional versus relationship.

Jeff Eastvold: We’re still a full agency. We do personal lines and commercial insurance under one roof. We’re not just focused on one side.

We also write in 27 different states. That’s important to us because we have a lot of clients who have second homes or family living in other states. That’s kind of how we’ve grown into the different states where we operate.

Dan Bell: There’s the snowbird situation, too, where someone has a house in Arizona but lives in Iowa. It’s kind of split, and we work through that with appointments in other states as well.

Mike Downer: And they probably have their RV to travel back and forth between those two homes.

Jeff Eastvold: Yep, absolutely.

Mike Downer: Then they’ve got their Jeep that they tow behind the RV that needs to be insured as well.

Dan Bell: That’s right.

Mike Downer: They stop out in Colorado and do some trail riding. Then, when they’re in Arizona, they’ve got their Slingshot parked in the overhang garage.

Dan Bell: It’s not covered.

Mike Downer: See, I’m helping you guys out here.

Jeff Eastvold: And all the golf carts they have out there, for sure.

Dan Bell: Some of those golf carts definitely need to be insured.

Mike Downer: Some of those golf carts are worth more than my car.

Dan Bell: Absolutely. They definitely have a lot of custom parts and equipment, and they need coverage for liability when they’re on the road.

Mike Downer: Oh, yeah. “Hey, I’ve had a couple cocktails. We’ll take the golf cart instead.”

Dan Bell: Yep.

Mike Downer: Oh, boy. That’s getting into a whole separate thing.

It sounds like you guys take that into account. If somebody calls you, let’s say I switch all my insurance over to you, and I call you, you’re going to say, “Hi, Mike,” not, “Hi, dude, do you have a policy through us?”

I can tell you that, back in the day, 27 years ago, there was an independent insurance agency—and I’ll change the names to protect the innocent—but I got in an accident, and their response was, “You have a policy through us?”

Jeff Eastvold: Oh, geez.

Dan Bell: That always makes you feel warm and fuzzy, doesn’t it?

Mike Downer: “Let me look that up for you, sir.” I’m like, “Oh, boy.” I had just been there three days earlier paying my premium. That was back when you still had to go in and write a check. I’m thinking, “Yeah, I’m not feeling the love here.”

Jeff Eastvold: That’s from way back when.

Mike Downer: It was. It was 27 years ago, but I still remember it clear as day. “You have a policy through us?” I was just in there two days ago. You knew my name when you took my check.

That’s good that you guys have that personal touch. Let’s wind this one up today. For anybody out there looking at getting an independent agent because they’ve done all the convenient computer work themselves, or they’re looking at switching agents because the person answering the phone didn’t know their name, what should someone ask before signing with any agency?

Guys, I want both of your opinions on this one. Jeff, take it away.

Jeff Eastvold: I think we do try to build relationships with our clients. One difference is that the agent who sells the policy is still mostly doing a lot of the service work and re-rating. It’s not just, “Buy a policy and see you later,” and then somebody else takes care of making all the changes. We’re still involved in all of that.

One thing about our staff is that we have low turnover. We’re not hiring people just to fill a job who can’t do the job or who aren’t going to like it. We try to keep people who are in it for the long haul, which I think is important for building relationships with people.

Mike Downer: Perfect.

Dan Bell: Building off that, we have a lot of family in the agency. For instance, my wife is one of the customer service representatives.

Jeff Eastvold: She just got destroyed in fantasy football by someone.

Dan Bell: She apparently got destroyed in fantasy football, but I’m still the top dog, so whatever. Chase me down.

When someone is coming in to sign up for a policy, there are some questions they need to ask. Who do we contact if we need to change vehicles or get an ID card? What happens at the time of a claim? Who do we reach out to?

Every company has a slightly different way they want those things handled. We have to know the carrier mix we have for them and what the appropriate response is. That’s an important thing for a client to understand at the time of a loss: Who do I call?

Now, you can always call the agent, and we can direct you 100 percent. But a lot of times, that stuff happens after hours. Clients should also ask what kind of apps the carriers have that they can use on their phones for self-servicing.

They should also ask us what type of self-servicing would be appropriate for them. I don’t necessarily want clients adding their own vehicles. I want to be able to do that with them so they get the coverage they need, including coverage they might not know they need.

Mike Downer: One hundred percent. Well, gentlemen, you’ve expressed what makes a great agent and what makes a good independent agent. I think, after all this, everyone knows they should just call Absolute Insurance Agency, the one-stop shop for almost all of your insurance needs.

There’s really not a lot that you guys don’t do, and I appreciate the fact that you still treat your clientele like family. That’s a hard thing to find nowadays.

Guys, thanks for joining me on Fully Covered, and I look forward to the next time we talk.

Jeff Eastvold: Sounds good.

Dan Bell: Thank you, man. Appreciate it.

Mike Downer: All right, gentlemen. Have a great afternoon.

Jeff Eastvold: You too.

Mike Downer: All right. Take care.