To have a good time its milestone 12 months, Higginbotham is placing the highlight again on the keys to its success: tradition and neighborhood.
“Our seventy fifth is geared round celebrating with our staff and giving again to the communities which were so beneficiant to us throughout our footprint, which right this moment spans 15 states and 87 places of work,” mentioned Higginbotham CEO Rusty Reid (pictured).
Immediately, Higginbotham is one largest impartial insurance coverage brokerages within the US, in addition to the most important in Texas by income. It was nominated to Insurance Business America’s Top Insurance Employers checklist in 2022.
The “Day Two” distinction
As soon as a family-owned enterprise, the group is now proudly owned by its greater than 2,400 staff, a majority of whom are direct shareholders. The worker possession mannequin goals to reward and incentivize Higginbotham’s workforce, in accordance with Reid.
“We started an worker possession journey again in 1989, and it is nonetheless very a lot who we’re right this moment,” mentioned Reid. “We constructed this group for the good thing about our shareholders, which coincidentally occurred to be our staff.
“It is allowed us to not solely retain great folks but additionally entice unimaginable expertise to serve our purchasers.”
Reid joined Higginbotham in 1986 from American Normal Fireplace and Casualty Firm and has since been steering the brokerage via many years of change and progress. Beneath his helm, the brokerage established a monetary companies division to supply worker advantages.
However in accordance with the CEO, what actually units Higginbotham aside in right this moment’s market is its “Day Two” companies, that are geared at supporting purchasers via danger administration, claims, profit plan companies, and administration.
“The concept is that on day one, our job is to get a shopper the best possible protection, price, and money circulate choices,” Reid mentioned.
“Then we leverage danger administration, compliance, communications, contract evaluate, know-how… all of the issues above and past delivering a coverage. We now have discovered that this resolution has improved our buyer retention fee and considerably enhanced our means to land prospects.”
Celebrating 75 years of progress and past
In 2007, Higginbotham launched an aggressive merger and acquisition technique, branching out in Texas and ultimately throughout america.
Final 12 months, the corporate continued that enlargement because it entered new states and broadened its footprint in others.
Based on Reid, progress received’t decelerate any time quickly, and it’ll proceed to be powered by Higginbotham’s values.
“We launched what we known as our ‘Greatest in Texas’ technique to be aligned with our mission and imaginative and prescient, which is to be the most effective place for workers to work, the most effective shopper advocate, the most effective service companion, and the most effective neighborhood companion, and we have stayed true to that,” Reid informed Insurance coverage Enterprise.
“We’re not out simply to purchase income for the sake of shopping for income, we actually look to search out nice companions. Ninety-eight % of our companions are a lot bigger right this moment than after they joined us. To me, that is form of test that field that it is working.”
On the similar time, Higginbotham is deeply targeted on “old style natural progress,” the CEO mentioned, which includes retaining and discovering new purchasers by bringing them worth.
“We have at all times been nice at natural progress as a corporation. However leveraging our ‘Day Two’ platform has actually been important for us,” Reid continued.
Giving again to its communities
Amidst super success within the insurance coverage trade, Higginbotham stays grounded in its communities via its Higginbotham Neighborhood Fund.
“We have been very blessed as a corporation that our progress hasn’t stopped since 1989. The by-product of that success is with the ability to give again to our communities,” mentioned Reid.
The Higginbotham Neighborhood Fund was established in 2011 to offer monetary assist to non-profits in areas the place the brokage does enterprise. Workers contribute the funds and may request grants for the organizations they wish to assist of their native communities.
The fund has raised greater than $5.2 million in contributions and pledges, and distributed grants to over 1,600 non-profits.
For Reid, Higginbotham’s core values of being household to its staff and beneficiant to its communities is the key to its longevity and continued progress.
“Transferring ahead, we’ll simply proceed to suppose innovatively about how we may be the completely greatest place for our staff to work, the best possible advocate for our purchasers, the best possible companion of our carriers,” he mentioned.
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