Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jeff Avery. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Alright, Jeff thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Over the course of your career, have you seen or experienced your industry completely flip-flop or change course on something?
I graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute with a bachelors in business management and a masters in supply chain management. I leveraged these degrees to begin my supply chain career at Unilever, where I quickly rose through the ranks from an entry level analyst role in customer service to an associate manager position on the supply and demand planning team. After 3 great years at this company, I left to take a job as a Global Finance Manager for Aptiv, which gave me the opportunity to manage large scape corporate projects for the global automative and technology company, These projects targeted the indirect material spend for the company’s sourcing initiatives to lower cost and drive greater reporting capabilities and revamp the sourcing process. The role was also supposed to relocate me to the global HQ in Dublin, Ireland for a two year relocation. I took this job in February of 2020, and one month later the world essentially shut down due to COVID, and I spent the next two years working in this role entirely remote from my NYC apartment. I realized after all that time in supply chain and climbing the corporate, none of it really lit me up inside. I was not passionate about the work I was doing, or being a cog in the proverbial machine. This was my U-turn moment, where I decided to switch gears entirely and pursue a career in insurance as a fully licensed insurance advisor for a high-end, risk management family office. This gave me the opportunity to do what I truly love which is build an ecosystem of strategic partners and work as a team to help business owners solve their most pressing issues so we can all win together!
Jeff, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I am a former college quarterback who has always loved working in a team environment and taking on a leadership role. When I left supply chain, I was looking for a company that had a winning culture and provided me the opportunity to do what I loved which is working with people to solve problems and deliver value. I was introduced to Bobby Hotaling, CEO of Hotaling Insurance Services, as the connector felt I had the exact skills, drive, and mentality it would take to be successful in this space. Being an insurance advisor was never on my radar before meeting Bobby, but after learning more about the firm, the capabilities we provide, and the culture he’s built over the last 20+ years, I was hooked. It felt as if this opportunity was calling me to dive in and give it my all, and that’s exactly what I’ve done.
Hotaling Insurance Services is a Risk Management Family Office serving HNW families and closely held businesses ranging from $10M-$1B in revenue across all 50 states. We offer no investments, purely insurance with 4 key verticals being: Advanced life insurance planning/audits, Employee Benefits, Commercial Property & Casualty ins. and Private Client. We find that HNW individuals/families/business owners often utilize multiple providers for their insurance needs which birthed the idea to create a firm that caters to consolidating all those services into one end to end risk management model with subject matter experts in each corresponding field. This allows busy professionals to have a trusted outlet that can handle all risk management needs with top tier service across the country.
One of the core functions of our firm is performing audits of plans in place. This is something we perform routinely with current clients and prospective clients. ~70% of the business activity we have within our firm starts with performing true due diligence on their plans in place and sharing our findings with the client. This applies to all 4 of our core verticals (Life Insurance, Personal P&C, Commercial P&C, & Employee Benefits). This is something clients routinely do with their CPA’s, legal documents, wealth management etc… but is often overlooked on the insurance side, and we consistently find opportunities to improve coverage, fix inefficiencies, and help business owners save money and retain more value through our customized solutions.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
Insurance is a cut-throat business. As a 1099, 100% commission based producer, you truly eat what you kill, and the first 2-3 years in the business can look very grim financially as you work tirelessly to build a sustainable network of referral partners and a stable book of clientele to generate earnings. When I started in the business, I put all of my savings on the table and used this as my float to get through the building phase. To add complexity to the situation, throughout the first two and a half years in the business, I moved from New York City to Miami, Fl, and then from Miami to Houston. I’ve operated in three separate markets, with costly moves and some large deals seemingly in my grasp that unfortunately did not bounce my way. As my ‘float’ started to dwindle, I was still 3-6 months away from truly reaching the level of sustainable success I needed to get past this turbulent financial time. During that time, I did what I needed to do by working three separate side hustles outside of insurance which had me working ~120 hours a week. It was brutal – but I did what I needed to do in each market to make ends meet and provide for me and my family. Thankfully, at the point where it seemed time was running out, I closed my largest deal right before transitioning from our Miami office to our Houston office. This gave me the breathing room I needed to capitalize on that deal, and from there, the flood gates started to open. I look back with pride on these years as I embodied core principal of knowing that failure only comes from quitting, and that’s something I refused to do. I showcased true resiliency during a time where nothing was guaranteed, and I’m thankful that I found it within myself to keep pushing forward and stringing days together which led me to where I am now – aa true hockey-stick moment of growth and momentum which I am excited to build on for years to come.
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
The first thing that helped me stand out and build my brand was being a super-connector. The natural network I had when I first came into the business gave me very little support or opportunities. In fact, many people who I was closest to made my career transition especially difficult, telling me I was making a huge mistake.
So, once I realized I had to build one entirely from scratch, I spent the next 2 years networking relentlessly. I went to in-person and virtual events daily, and had close to 500 1-on-1′ meetings with people I met in these rooms. All those meeting enabled me to build relationships with some incredible people, and in time I found ways to connect these people with each other. I would received amazing feedback about how these introductions I made were leading to significant business opportunities, and all this added value allowed me to accumulate a ton of relationship capital with these folks. All the giving I was doing at the start evenutally paid off as the referrals and introductions started coming back my way in no time!
Once the referrals started rolling in, I showcased my second quality which really helped me build my differentiating factor, which was going the true extra mile for every case that hit my desk. No matter how small or big they were, every time I was referred a client, the referring party reached out afterwards to express their clients oveerwhelmingly positive experience in working with me. Some of the best compliments I received were that it was the first time they worked with someone who made them feel excited about insurance, and broke down the process and presentation in such a way that made insurance seem simple and easy to understand. Taking the experience I had in corporate america of managing high-scale projects allowed me to take that model and tailor it to each and every case, which made the business owner or individual feel like they weren’t just ‘quoting their insurance’ or stepping into a bear of the world, rather, they were engaged in a true project with a scope of work and an overarching goal we were working together on to accomplish.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://hotalinginsurance.com/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffrey-avery-155906b0/