Headquarters: Whitby, ON
Year founded: 1948
Total number of offices: 1
Number of employees: 32
Specialty: Personal lines
Head leadership: Adam Mitchell
Website: www.mitchellwhale.com
What makes your brokerage unique?
Our focus is in personal lines insurance, however we’re not your average personal lines brokerage. We specialize in using digital technology to grow our book organically and provide our clients with a digital experience they might get with a direct writer, but with the options and benefits of using a broker. Our innovated business model mandates us to always be thinking outside the box and to challenge what has traditionally been done, with the goal of not just being the best in the insurance space, but the best in class to any other business. We endeavour to always stay on top of the latest technologies, not just within the insurance space, and apply them to our business processes whenever possible.
In addition to technology, we place huge value on the importance of our culture and building a cohesive and winning team. We work to ensure that all employees are given a chance to be heard, feel valued and grow in our fast-paced and constantly evolving environment.
In what areas of business has your brokerage experienced recent growth?
We’ve experience organic growth in our personal lines. We work tirelessly and meticulously to scrutinize every aspect of the sales process, from lead generation, to making the sale and completing documents. By doing this, we’ve lowered our acquisition to less than 25% of the industry standard, increased closing ratios to three times the industry average and provided our clients with a seamless digital buying experience.
What has been a proud accomplishment for your brokerage and why?
Our growth and our team! Our brokerage grew by 66% in 2016 and month-overmonth overmonth
continues to grow at an exceptionally rapid pace. We couldn’t do that without an awesome team. Our team has gone from nine people in April, 2015 to 32, and will continue to grow significantly in 2017. But we don’t just grow for the sake of growing; we pride ourselves on choosing team members extremely carefully, and have been able to build a family of employees. Industry recognitions, such as Innovator of the Year and Technology Leader from CSIO, and various other awards and accolades that we’ve received, serve as a very cool pat on the back for the hard work and many hours that our team puts into the company every day.
What challenges did your brokerage experience last year and how did your team overcome them?
Retention was our biggest challenge in 2016; toward the end of the year we experienced some difficulties in this area. Our sales team had grown the book exponentially in a very short time, and our corresponding service team found itself struggling to keep up the pace. With a renewed focus on retention, the implementation of improved workflows, tools and some high-level coaching on customer service, we’ve already seen an 11% improvement to our retention, and we only see this number continuing upwards.
What are your plans for 2017?
Continued growth in all areas, with a particular focus on customer-facing technology. A large area of investment will be in our in-house software development team, in order to revolutionize the online purchasing experience, also continued relationship with our customers. We strive to provide the best customer experience, not only in insurance, but the best customer experience in any industry.
What five factors have contributed to your brokerage’s success?
