By Ben Simmons, Associate
Georgetown Insurance Service, Inc.
Silver Spring, MD
Describe your job. What do you do?
As an account executive, my job is to stay in communication with my clients and help with claims, questions, policy changes, and more. I also work closely with Janet and Edie, who are part of our commercial services team. Currently most of my clients are in the landscape and tree service industries but I also work with a lot of construction, pool contractors, and masonry companies.
Aside from daily communication with my clients, I also work hard to generate new business by cold calling and reaching out to prospects.
How/Why did you get into the insurance industry?
I started with Georgetown as an intern. My brother, Matt, is a VP here so he and Remmie offered me an internship while I was in college. This was my first taste of the insurance industry. In September 2010 I joined the team full time and have been here ever since.
What is your daily ritual? What do you do to start and end your day?
I’m sure people say this a lot but there is no such thing as typical day. My days have two versions – days with face-to-face meetings and days without (which are rare). If I don’t have meetings, I come into the office and start by sifting through emails looking for claims, policy changes, quotes and follow-up items. I enter policy information for quotes, return phone calls and make new business prospecting calls. I do the same thing in the afternoon, in a reverse order.
I usually do have at least one or two in-person meetings per day, especially in December which is one of our busiest months of the year. I attend meetings as far north as Aberdeen, MD and as far south as Hollywood, MD. Georgetown also has an office in Fairfax, VA so I sometimes visit clients in the Northern Virginia area as well.
What’s the most challenging part of your job?
I’d say balance and time management. Trying to keep my current clients happy and continually renewing their policies while finding new clients and building my book of business can be tough to balance. And managing my time while juggling in-person meetings can be a challenge. I try to use my time on the road wisely by making a lot of phone calls.
What do you like best about your job and/or working at Georgetown Insurance Service?
I really enjoy being able to help businesses get the protection they need. It’s so important. As an example, I was working with a tree company back in 2013. I had encouraged them to rewrite their insurance policy and add a new piece of coverage that wasn’t previously included. It took some convincing, but they finally agreed. The day after this change was made, the company had a claim that would have cost them $500,000—and potentially shut down their entire business—had this coverage not be added.
I also love working with the people here at Georgetown. Matt is my brother, so I enjoy getting to work with him each day. We have a lot of family members working together here at Georgetown. We’re just different than a lot of other insurance agencies, we pride ourselves on the personal service we provide our clients.
What makes Georgetown Insurance Service different than previous places you’ve worked?
Georgetown is where I’ve made my career since college. When I was younger, I worked as a pool manager and lifeguard during my summers and worked at Potomac Valley Brick doing masonry work for a short period of time.
What is the most interesting or strange insurance claim, question, or issue you’ve dealt with?
I’d say the weirdest one was with a green industry client. They were working at a house to do outdoor clean-up, mulching, etc. and decided to just drop off the crew, leaving them with no truck. One of the crew members needed to use the restroom and decided that the homeowner’s recycling bin would be the perfect place to relieve himself. Unbeknownst to him, the owners had security cameras and captured the entire incident on tape. In fact, the owners were so disgusted they filed a lawsuit claiming mental anguish.