IBA: Tell us a little about Sacca Insurance Agency. How did you transition from being an agent for a big insurer to being independent?
Will Sacca: I started back in 2005 underneath my dad. We were
Nationwide agents, and I was an associate agent under him. I credit everything I’ve learned to him – he had 40 years in the insurance industry.
I was there with Nationwide for about seven years. It just got to the point, four or five years ago, where we were just unable to write any new business. The rates were going through the roof. We were having homeowner’s policies – and this is literally no joke – we were having them go from $700 or $800 per year to $3,000, $4,000 or even $5,000 a year in premium. So it just got impossible, and I made a huge decision to change over and be an independent agent.
IBA: How was that transition?
WS: I wish I’d done it from the beginning. It was a little bit tough for the first few months, but we had a lot of loyal and faithful customers who stuck by me. I’ve been in the same location from day one. When my dad and I bought the office I’m now in, it was an independent agency. We bought it out and converted it from an independent to Nationwide. And once I made that decision seven or eight years later, we went from Nationwide back to inde pendent. Now I wish we’d never changed it and just stuck to independent.
IBA: But it must have been a bit nerve-wracking at first.
WS: I was a nervous wreck. It was just one of those things that I felt had to be done. We just weren’t moving forward. We’d been constantly going backward for the past few years, and I was just tired of it. I was tired of somebody breathing down my neck: “You’ve got to hit this number; you’ve got to write life insurance.” Now that I’m independent, it’s like the reins have been let go. I’m free to do what I want, how much I want – or as little as I want, although that’s not in my vocabulary. No one’s pushing me – I guess you could say I’m self-motivated. I couldn’t be happier than the way I’m set up now.
IBA: How has your association with Smart Choice helped the transition?
WS: When I left Nationwide, I couldn’t use any of my production, because I had to leave them cold turkey. I had to start over, so I had to go through somebody like that in order to get in the door with some of the bigger, more reputable carriers. But when you get appointed with them, you get your own code – and you only use them when you want to use them. And they’re constantly trying to find new markets. We just got appointed with another big carrier a month ago. They’re constantly trying to make it work for everybody. So my experience with them from day one has been great.
IBA: Munfordville’s population was just over 1,600 in the 2010 census. What’s it like being a small-town agent?
WS: My dad had his own office in
Lexington, and I worked a few months up there – six months or a year or so. I’ve dealt with both the bigger city and the smaller town, and I would much rather have an office in a smaller town.
You could say there’s not as much business, but there’s not near as much competition. And to me, it’s a different breed of people. The people up there [in the city] need everything l aid out perfectly. People down here are just a lot more laid-back, easier to deal with – and to me, the word of mouth for doing somebody right spreads a lot faster, and to more people, in a tight-knit community than it would in a bigger city. Obviously, it works for some people, but I’d much rather be in a small town.
