Winning Best Of this year is especially gratifying for George Petersen Insurance Agency. After all, 2007 was tough on the insurance industry. Businesses and consumers alike have been dropping coverage to cope with the lagging economy.
“It was a good year for us,” says Robert Daer, a principal at George Petersen. “But it was a difficult year for insurance agencies in general. Rates were down, revenue was down. Fortunately, we wrote enough new business to stay ahead of the declining revenue on existing business.”
Daer attributes the agency’s success to a combination of competitive rates and good service. By providing customers with a wide variety of personal and business insurance options and services, the agency can help offer lower rates by better positioning clients to insurance carriers. In addition, the agency has a knowledgeable staff, some with decades of experience (and offers in-house continuing education for all employees). It’s no wonder the agency’s client retention rate is 95 percent—far above the industry standard, according to Daer.
In addition to that, George Petersen is one of the largest independent insurance agencies in Northern California. It’s named after the agent who founded the company in Eureka in 1935. Now, 73 years later, the company has branched out to include offices in Santa Rosa, Sebastopol, Redding, Auburn, Rancho Cordova and Bend, Oregon. Although the company maintains its headquarters in Eureka, Daer says the Santa Rosa office is the largest of the company.
“The Santa Rosa office is the more active office,” he says. “We’ve invested in young sales and support staff that’s really helped the office grow.”
GPIA’s longevity is even more remarkable considering how often the insurance landscape changes in the North Bay as agents split off to become independent or are acquired by larger groups. Despite the changes, however, the competition has basically remained the same.
“It’s really the same people,” says Daer. “Just the names [of the companies] and Web addresses are different.”
Part of George Petersen’s success is also due to its size. As a mid-sized insurance agency, it maintains the personal touch and quick response of a smaller agency and can offer the expertise and access to top-rated insurance carriers of a larger agency.
All that translates into competitive pricing, which is especially attractive in today’s economy. “Everybody in the insurance industry is hungry for business right now,” says Daer. “We have insurance carriers calling us saying, ‘We want to come to see you and see what new business you have for us.’ But our expectation is for rates to stay fairly stable for clients in the year ahead.”
