We recently connected with Tracy Stowell and have shared our conversation below.

Tracy, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Have you ever experienced an industry-wide U-Turn? Tell us about it?

I’ve been a licensed insurance agent in the state of Georgia since 2004. After 20 years, I felt like I’d seen and heard it all… And then, 2023 came around and the industry began to take a big turn.

Up until 2023, my team would shop for my customers at every renewal to be sure they were still getting the best rate possible. Now, the state of Georgia is in a desperate situation when it comes to insurance. The state has consistently lost billions of dollars year after year because of policy abuse (using your home insurance as a home maintenance product versus what it was actually designed to be used for) and rising litigation costs. Many carriers have removed themselves from the state of Georgia altogether and others are just refusing to write any new business until they can “right the ship”. It’s now becoming dangerous to switch carriers just to save a little money because you are highly likely to get dropped if you file a claim during the first year with a carrier and then it becomes extremely difficult to find another insurer that will take you. We’re seeing an average of 25-40% rate increases this year across the state and it’s a gut punch to have to suggest to our customers to try and stick it out. That is so far from how we’re used to operating and we hate the direction the industry is going but it’s where we are currently.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I worked as a veterinary surgical technician for 6 years prior to coming into the insurance field. I thought that was what I wanted to do forever but as I got older and my bills got bigger, the pay just didn’t cut it.

I took a “temporary” job at a local State Farm agency until I figured out what I was going to do next. I knew absolutely nothing about insurance at the time. It didn’t take me long to catch on and I loved that the same people called in routinely and I got to know their stories. Within a year I was licensed and diving right in. I loved that every time the phone rang, I had no clue what was coming at me from the other side. Certain aspects of the job are routine but there’s at least one surprise each and every day so that keeps things interesting. The best part of the job is the building of relationships. I loved hearing about my customers getting married, having babies, getting new pets, buying new homes, etc. Sometimes, the calls were about something tragic (car accident, home fire, etc.) but I was grateful that I was the person my customers reached out to during their time of need and I was able to offer comfort in letting them know they were more than adequately covered and to take that stress off of their minds.

After many years of working for direct carriers, I knew I needed to make a switch. I wanted to focus on the individuals. I wanted my customers to have my cell phone number and to be able to reach me any time for advice. I didn’t want to be a 9-5 weekday insurance agent. I cared way too much about my customers to have them call a 1-800 number when I could’ve assisted myself. I will gladly take calls during the evenings, weekends or holidays. I wasn’t able to do that where I was currently employed. So, I became an independent agent in 2016 (versus working for a one company carrier such as State Farm, Allstate, American Family, etc.). I wanted a platform in which I could shop multiple A+ rated carriers for my customers and make sure they had the best policy tailored to them versus trying to make the customer fit into a specific mold.

I actually met my current boss, Clayton Rhoads, while out in the bible ministry. He was an independent agent representing multiple carriers so I would send business to him when I couldn’t write it at the company I worked for. After doing this for about a year, I asked Clayton if we could meet for coffee. He obliged and after an in depth discussion, we both realized I was a better candidate for the independent agent route versus working for just one company. I came on board with Clayton in 2016 as a single mom with a 2 year old and immediately began pounding the pavement because I had too much at stake to fail.

I enhanced my networking and went to weekly events as well as started my own successful networking group. My client base quickly grew and I felt like a bird that had finally been released from captivity. I had the freedom to work when I wanted and how I wanted. I was able to service my customers the way I wanted to and still have the time freedom to be the mom I needed to be for my daughter.

A few years in, I partnered up with a teammate, Rob Barbine, and he assisted me in growing my book of business and freeing up more of my time for my daughter. A year later, my then 8 year old asked him, “When are you going to ask my mom on a date?”. I hadn’t dated in over 6 years because I was terrified to bring the wrong man into her life. But, since she asked, I figured I had her approval. A year after that, she asked him, “When are you going to ask my mom to marry you?”. He did, and we’ve now been happily married for over 5 years. We seamlessly run our household together and take care of our 800+ households as a team, Team TraBert (Tracy+Robert), get it? My daughter, Lana, couldn’t be happier and neither could I.

We moved to Senoia, GA (where they filmed the Walking Dead series) in 2022 so that we could buy land to build ourselves a home and a home next to us for my aging parents. We have no regrets! We love the country life! We get to work from our beautiful home while still writing insurance for the entire state of GA.

We also have 3 wonderful pets, Patron (a Doberman), Mochi (a Maltese) and Falcon (a very sophisticated tuxedo cat).

How did you build your audience on social media?

I receive at least 50% of my referrals from Facebook. I made it a practice early on to “friend” my new customers. This helps because I get to learn even more about their personal lives. If I see someone is having a baby, I’ll send them a gift. If I see someone is having a hard time, I’ll send them a care package. This also helps my customers to get a glimpse into my world and see that I’m a real person dealing with the same ups and downs they are. I’m not just a robot employee on the other end of a 1-800 number. It really helps to strengthen that personal bond.

This also helps when I want to run promotions for something such as a referral promotion. I can put a message out on my personal Facebook page and the majority of my customers see it and jump in right away. They’ll share my info on their personal pages with all of their friends and the phone immediately starts ringing.

The local Facebook pages (for different cities and counties) are great pages to be on as well. My customers voluntarily blow me up on those pages and people call me daily saying I was highly recommended on one page or another. If you treat your customers the way they deserve to be treated, they will voluntarily share your info on social media without even being asked. You just have to be observant and let them know that you see it and appreciate it.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

Coming from a captive agency (one that only represents on carrier), I had been taught that you should do anything possible to earn the business. If you’re close to beating their current rate, raise the deductible, delete a coverage that you feel they probably don’t need, force them to drink the kool-aid, do whatever you need to do to get the sale.

As an independent agent, I typically have a “good fit” with one of my carriers for most prospects. However, it is completely “OK” to tell them they need to stay where they are. I now have the ability to refuse to lower standards to get the sale. If I can’t help someone save money while maintaining or increasing their coverages, I will let them know (of course, I’ll save their info and with their permission, I’ll keep trying year after year until I can get the business the right way). I’ll also let them know if I see any coverage gaps in their current policy that could lead to a potential problem for them and I’ll give them line items to ask their current agent for pricing on. I have no problem spending time explaining someone’s current policy to them because sometimes they just asked for the “cheapest” policy but truly have no idea what they’ve actually purchased (especially now with the ability to bind your own coverage online…. that’s a terrible idea). Insurance is so important and should be purchased through someone that has a vast knowledge of the industry and can give appropriate recommendations to avoid financial ruin. I still treat every prospect as I would a current customer because you never know when they might become one.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://rhoads-group.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tracy.stowell.33