Moody Insurance by North American Constructors Journal

Moody Insurance |

Moody Insurance:

Taming Risk in the Rocky Mountain Region for Half a Century Serving Colorado for over 50 years, Moody Insurance Agency supports the construction industry and its employees with a hands-on approach. Written by Amy Milshtein Produced by Stephen Marino

www.moodyins.com

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www.moodyins.com

s mergers and acquisitions swallow up more and more independent, familyowned insurance companies, Colorado-based Moody Insurance Agency stands apart. With three offices serving the Rocky Mountain region, Moody Insurance Agency provides insurance products to a variety of business sectors ranging from energy to education to real estate. But most of their work—about 60% according to company president Brad Moody—comes from construction. Tapping into their strong relationships with national agencies and brokers, Moody Insurance offers their clients a variety of products to tame risk including

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wraps, contract review services, loss control programs, regulatory and legal expertise, benchmarking and analytical services, and surety products. Moody Insurance also offers the strength and depth of a big corporation with the service and personal touch of a family-owned business. The result? Roughly $350 million in premium and $28 million in revenues. But what’s truly impressive is their 96% client retention rate. “We’re pretty proud of that,” says Moody. “A typical client cycle is between eight to 10 years, but I have a lot of 20 and 25-year relationships. My dad, who started the company, has some 50-year relationships! I think a lot of this comes from doing the right thing by the client. We don’t make short-term, compensation-driven decisions. We always try to protect the client and I think that’s served us well.”

COVID-19 Challenges Continue Even the most considered decisions can’t protect the

“We don’t make short-term, com

always try to protect the client an Brad Moody www.moodyins.com

- Brad Moody

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insurance agency’s construction clients from the same pandemicrelated challenges the rest of the industry faces. Moody confirms that labor shortages and supply chain issues continue to dog the sector. “A lot of our contractors are at an all-time high with work in hand ready to go, but they can’t get started on these projects because of the delays,” he says. “Current projects are also taking longer to get done. These issues are real, and they are still a problem.” Moody notes that his company shares one of these challenges. While the insurance industry doesn’t rely on building materials, the labor pinch definitely hits home.

who admits he found it hard to keep the company’s culture going through COVID lockdowns. “We tried but there’s only so many Zoom meetings and Zoom cocktail parties you can take. I kind of hate to say it but, if you want to work from home, you have a job. If you want to work at the office, you have a career.” That desire to buck the national work-from-home trend shifted the insurance company’s hiring practice. “As part of our interviewing process we’re really homing in on making sure we’re finding people that want to be in the office,” says Moody. He acknowledges this approach does not make it easy.

“It has become a national market for talent,” he explains. “With so many companies shifting to workfrom-home five days a week it’s changed the game. Now, you could live in Montrose, CO and work for a New York or Los Angeles firm.” Phoning it in from home doesn’t hold the same appeal to Moody,

mpensation-driven decisions. We

nd I think that’s served us well.”

y, president.

Troy Moody www.moodyins.com

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CRC Group Congratulates

MOODY INSURANCE AGENCY

50 years of “protecting business, employees, and families in the Rocky Mountains” distinguishes Moody among the best.

CRC Group is proud to partner with Moody Insurance Agency for construction, contractors casualty, environmental, and other risks.

Learn More

CRC GROUP DENVER CRCGroup.com/Denver www.moodyins.com

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“I think the challenge going forward will be attracting people who want that personal relationship you get from coming into the office. Some people have gotten to the point where they like being hermits and staying at home. We understand. We’ve seen the benefit of not having to commute and being home a couple of days a week to clear out the enormous amount of email you have to deal with. But there must be some balance.”

A Company Culture Worth Protecting Moody’s preference for in-person

work springs from his desire to protect the insurance agency’s strong, family-focused company culture. Many of the company’s 130 employees have been with the firm for 10 years or more, a fact that makes Moody very proud. Moody is also pleased to report that the company managed to keep their workforce intact through different economic cycles. Once again it came to balance as management didn’t want their people working 70-80 hours a week. “I think the family aspect is still very important to us. I mean, our employees feel at home,” he says,

www.moodyins.com

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acknowledging that this family focus is becoming a rare thing in the industry. “We’re seeing so much merger and acquisition activity with a lot of other independent family-owned firms. You just don’t see as much of it around these days.”

“What we find is every customer likes to do business with us differently,” Moody explains. “As our clients get younger, we noticed that a lot of them want online portals to access information on their own. This way they don’t have to call anybody.”

Moody notices other industry shifts as well. The biggest change in the last 10 years, in his opinion, is training. “We do a lot of training inhouse to develop our own talent,” he says.

An automated receptionist, however, is one piece of technology not welcome at the firm. “We do have a live receptionist,” says Moody. “We encourage our people to pick up the phone and talk to our customers.”

That’s very different from a decade ago when insurance industry carriers did most of the training and “we could pick off their talent. Now we must get a lot more aggressive and find our own employees to train,” Moody says. “It’s more expensive and time consuming but it’s just part of doing business today.”

Investing in Technology, Connecting with People While Moody Insurance values that personal, high-touch approach, the company still invests heavily in their infrastructure, priding themselves on staying on the cutting edge of Information Technology. This tech-savvy approach helps them connect with all their clients, no matter their age. www.moodyins.com

The practice reflects the company’s strong, family-focused culture. “A mantra we have at Moody is ‘smile, listen, connect, listen, and connect.’ It’s important,” Moody insists. “We want people that enjoy their jobs, that are fun to work with. We are in

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an industry where we need to listen to what our clients are doing and help solve their problems.” The way to do that, according to Moody, is connecting both in real life and on the phone. “I just think there’s too much email correspondence that goes back and forth and, at that point, people become less invested in the connection,” he says. “Sure, they have the business, but they just don’t have the personal relationship.” Moody also invests in close relationships with the construction industry at large. This is proven by the company’s a 30-year membership in the Association of Builders and Contractors. “The value, obviously, is keeping in close contact with the construction industry. The newsletters keep us informed about legislation and all the things going on in the construction industry,” he says. “I also think there is lots of value in the networking and close contacts with the contractor members.”

Moody Insurance extends this same personal touch to their insurance carrier vendors. Once vetted, these vendors are taken into the fold and treated to an exceptional degree of transparency and communication. “A lot of insurance brokers like to keep their clients separated from the carriers and we’re kind of the opposite,” he reveals. “We like to introduce our clients to the underwriters, the claims and loss control people. We do this because I think that once you have a personal relationship, they’re going to take bigger interest in your account.”

Taking the Helm Brad Moody has been at Moody Insurance for 31 years, serving as president for the last 15. As he still administers a large book of business, Moody estimates he spends half his time contacting clients and the other half managing the business. Nevertheless, that family-focused company culture manages to reach

“I think everyone is excited to get going in this business and have success early. “I’ve found that time goes by pretty quickly. I started as a salesperson, and I still am a salesperson and building trust takes time.” - Brad Moody, President www.moodyins.com

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all the way to the top. “I also don’t work 70-80 hours a week,” he says. “I could have been a national broker on a plane four days a week but that’s not something I wanted to do. Instead, I was able to be home and coach all my kids in all their sports.” Along with demanding a good work/life balance Moody has one word of advice for people starting out in the insurance business— patients. “I think everyone is excited to get going in this business and have success early,” he advises. “I’ve found that time goes by pretty quickly. I started as a salesperson, I still am a salesperson, and building trust takes time.”

“I think you always want to do what’s in the best interest of the client and that takes patients. Sometimes it takes three to five to 10 years to gain trust and get that opportunity to pick up a new client. That’s the one thing I tell a lot of my salespeople. We can tell if they’re working hard and if they’re doing the right things on a daily basis. But some of the best customers are loyal and it takes time to disrupt that. And so, I advise just being patient and gain your client’s trust over time.”