“Taking care of our clients as quickly and efficiently as possible is just embedded into the service we all provide here.” —Robb Daer
George Petersen may have passed away many years ago, but the insurance agency that bears his name is alive and well and only a couple of anniversaries away from celebrating its 80th year in business. “Taking care of our clients as quickly and efficiently as possible is just embedded into the service we all provide here,” says Robb Daer, CAO and partner of George Petersen Insurance Agency (GP), this year’s winner for Best Company to Do Business With in Sonoma County.
There are many choices in the marketplace––locally, nationally and even through online resources––for finding and buying insurance, says Daer. “We completely understand that if we don’t have clients, we don’t have a company. So when it comes to our employees, we don’t micromanage. We tell them, ‘You know what your job is. Do what you have to do to get it done.’ Because of that, they have a vested interest in managing their client relationships and their business books.”
That may explain why many of the agency’s employees––170 companywide in 10 Northern California offices (and one in Bend, Ore.)––have been with the company for 10 or more years, and several for 20 years and up. “And a lot of our employees have worked with the same clients for a really long time. We’ve gotten bigger over the past three to four years, but we very much have a family-type atmosphere in our company, and our clients appreciate that,” says Daer.
Getting “bigger” included the agency’s acquisition of NorthWest Insurance in 2010, which added 32 professionals to the Santa Rosa office, bringing the total there to 73 employees. The blending of the two agencies necessitated larger quarters in Santa Rosa, so in early 2012, the agency moved approximately 10 blocks straight west from its old location to 175 West College Avenue. It now occupies the entire two-story, 19,000-square-foot building near the intersection of North Dutton Avenue.
GP is an “across the board” independent agency, says Daer, meaning it’s affiliated with multiple insurance companies so that individuals and businesses have numerous choices in coverage and price. “About 20 percent of our business is home, auto and renter’s insurance, while employee benefits accounts for another 15 to 20 percent. The balance is business insurance, and that runs the gamut from one person working from home to a company with 1,000 or more employees.” Individual health and life insurance can also be arranged.
With the NorthWest acquisition, GP now operates an office in Ukiah, which gives it a stronger presence in agriculture. “We’ve always worked with wineries and the wine business, but the acquisition has deepened our experience and involvement in the agriculture industry in Mendocino and Lake counties,” says Daer.
Stressing again that the agency’s employees account for its success, he says, “Honestly, I think it’s all about the people here. We treat our staff fairly, how we’d want to be treated ourselves. It’s not just 170 employees to us––it’s 170 families depending on us to not screw up our business. That’s why they want to do a really good job, and why we’re all committed to giving back to the community. Without our clients and our community, we wouldn’t be in the lucky position we’re in to help.”
And help they do. The agency maintains a charitable contributions committee that reviews the many requests for donations it receives. “We personally insure a lot of nonprofits, such as the Children’s Village, United Way and the YWCA, so we assist those groups and many others. We try to support a lot of organizations, because their members come back to support us.”
Daer says the company’s community support can also start with an employee who’s passionate about a certain cause, “and then a whole bunch of us get involved, too,” such as when the agency formed a skating team for the recent Skate-A-Thon for Health sponsored by the Northern California Center for Well-Being. The agency also actively participates in the Human Race every year and takes on Salvation Army bell-ringing duties during the holidays.
With the agency’s namesake no longer alive, has it ever considered changing its moniker? “We’ve kicked around the idea, but it would be a huge undertaking,” says Daer. “Besides, people know us by the George Petersen name and we don’t want to mess with that. It works for us.”
