Catching up with … Martin Insurance [Lewiston Tribune, Idaho]

April 15--Siblings Mike (J) Martin Jr. and Ann Martin-Grimm of Martin Insurance in Lewiston were interviewed for Business Profile in March 2007. We exchanged emails recently to find out how their family business has evolved over the past five years.

Business Profile: When you were featured in 2007, Ann, you were listed as an account executive and personnel manager; J, you were an account executive and responsible for automation. Have your roles at Martin Insurance stayed the same? How have they changed?

J Martin: Our roles are the same as they were in 2007. Since the last article, I have expanded into more community volunteer activities, such as serving on the scholarship committee of the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Lewis Clark Valley. Ann has moved up to the position of president of the Independent Insurance Agents of Idaho.

BP: When you were interviewed five years ago, 80 percent of your business was providing insurance for other businesses. Did the economic downturn affect the ratio of individual and business policies your company sells?

JM: Our business remains approximately 80 percent business insurance and 20 percent personal insurance. The economic climate has been hard on many businesses and very good for others.

We insure a broad range of risks such as aviation, medical professional, municipalities, social services, construction and main street business. That broad spectrum of clients has allowed us to be diversified during the difficult economic times.

BP: E-commerce exposure (i.e. coverage in the event of a business inadvertently releasing personal information) was an emerging product area in 2007; have you seen that evolve much in the past five years?

Ann Martin-Grimm: When we spoke in 2007, there were only a couple of companies offering coverage for breach of computer data and e-commerce exposures.

Now, there is quite a bit of competition -- I have a huge spreadsheet comparing the various features of all of the competition in this field and it changes quickly.

Businesses understand their risks relating to the accidental release of customer information a lot better now than back then. At that time, no one thought they would ever be hacked. Now, they can see it as a possibility.

Additionally, Congress passed tougher penalties regarding the accidental or intentional release of private patient medical information so this has really opened the eyes of anyone dealing with patient medical information to the risks in this area.

BP: What other new developments do you see in the industry?

AMG: Health insurance reform is at the top of the list. Through our state and national agents associations, we are diligently working to try and have involvement in crafting a system that will work best for the consumer and deliver insurance as efficiently, accurately and cost-effectively as possible.

However, a lot of that is out of our hands. We don't know what the outcome of the Supreme Court review of the health insurance reform legislation will be so we have to assume it will remain in place.

The Idaho state Legislature failed to form a health insurance purchasing exchange this legislative session so our Idaho clients will be offered the federal version of a purchasing exchange.

JM: There are also new trends in how we reach our clients and potential clients. Like many businesses, we are using social media like Facebook to reach out to customers and provide useful information, and we will be increasing our presence substantially in these areas.

In addition we have purchased an app for smart phones for our customers so they can easily contact us with one-button convenience from the scene of an accident or at the point of purchase of a vehicle or other item.

Additionally it has features like a home inventory and useful information. If you "like" us on Facebook, we will notify you with instructions on how to get the mobile app when it's available in the next few days.

BP: It seems like every other ad on TV these days is for an insurance company, many of them direct-to-client, such as GEICO. Has competition from these sorts of companies increased? How often do you encounter clients seeking personal, local service after trying out those other options?

AMG: We have seen an increased presence from the direct-to-consumer companies such as GEICO and Allstate. Most of the time, our clients that get quotes from these companies will bring them in to us for review. Despite the tag lines that they can save you money in their advertising, we are very competitive when compared accurately against these companies.

Fortunately, many people realize that the advice of an experienced, independent insurance agent such as ourselves rather than an insurance company employee has value. We, as independent agents that access multiple insurance companies, know what pricing looks like across the various companies we represent, and when we see that one of our client's rates are increasing faster than the rest of the market, we are proactively pulling those and re-quoting them and reaching out to our customers. We also monitor all of our claims, and when there are errors we proactively intervene and get them fixed.

I would say the increased advertising by these direct-to-consumer companies is a good thing. It gets our clients and prospective clients to reach out to us and ask questions, which we always appreciate.

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Tatko may be contacted at [email protected] or (208) 848-2244.

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