Extending the Family Tree

Peter Blodgett believes he’s come across a good thing having a career as an insurance broker. Now, as he prepares to take on the role of president of the Insurance Brokers Association of Ontario (IBAO), he wants nothing more than to spread the word.

Blodgett is currently the president and owner of Darling Insurance Ltd. in Peterborough, Ontario. The brokerage was founded in 1928, and his father purchased it in 1973. Like many others in this industry, Blodgett followed in his father’s footsteps, eventually taking over the business in 1997.

MOVING ON UP

Though he grew up with insurance being an integral part of the family, he admits his career path was not a brick road laid out before him. “I wasn’t really planning on any one direction to go as far as my post secondary school, so my father suggested I go to George Brown College and enroll in its business administration insurance program,” he says. Blodgett graduated with honours and landed his first gig with a major insurer.

After a year, he had enough of that side of the business and decided to join the broker side. “I guess what’s kept me in the business is that I like to deal with people,” he says. “I enjoy the interaction and the thrill of the sale. That’s kept me in the game all of these years.”

After getting his feet wet in the brokerage side of the business under the tutelage of his father, Blodgett and his soon-to-be wife, Cindy, moved to nearby Bobcaygeon, Ontario.

There, they purchased their own small brokerage. “We purchased it in March 1983, we got married in April 1983, my wife got her broker license and we did this all within a two-or three-month period,” he chuckles. “It was a quick reality shake in terms of getting our start in the insurance business.”

The pair ran the Bobcaygeon brokerage for the next 12 years. They returned to Peterborough in 1995, when Blodgett re-teamed with his father. Two years later, he bought his father out and took ownership of Darling Insurance. Today, the business has grown to three branches — the original office in Peterborough, as well as offices in Bobcaygeon and Omemee, Ontario. Also, Blodgett has just launched Beyond Insurance Brokers in Whitby, Ontario.

POSTER BOY FOR PERPETUATION

You could call Blodgett a poster boy for the importance of perpetuation and succession. As competition with direct writers increases during the current soft market, Blodgett says ownership and perpetuation of the independent broker channel will emerge as focal points of his term as IBAO president. Earlier in 2008, IBAO drew its line in the sand in terms of its view on insurers’ control over brokerages. The association has made it clear that insurers should not be allowed to own a portion of a brokerage that would give the insurer “control in fact” over the brokerage (i. e. more than 50%). “The fact remains that brokers have to take a real serious look at the companies that they are going to partner with,” says Blodgett. “I guess it boils down to asking if they want to partner with companies that are creating alternate distribution networks, which take business away from the broker, or do they want to partner up with companies who are solidly behind the independent broker distribution network?”

A second issue, one that often gets downplayed, “is not only the perpetuation of our business, but the perpetuation of our staff and finding quality people to take over from those who are retiring or who are deciding to move onto another career,” he says.

Brokers need to establish in young people’s minds the notion that being an insurance broker is an admirable career and “not just a job,” Blodgett adds.

Although he’s living proof of the all-too-common case of one generation taking over from the next, Blodgett maintains the industry cannot rely exclusively on this form of suc- cession any longer. The first step to attract new blood to the business is to begin targeting and promoting the broker career path to the next generation while they are still in school.

Blodgett says brokers need to get creative in reaching out and extending its branches beyond the family tree. At the same time, he can’t help but beam with pride that his daughter, Victoria, chose a career in insurance. She has opted to be a commercial underwriter, he notes, adding that — like father, like daughter — she did not intend to land in the business. “She came out of university and took a look at the industry and said: ‘This is something I can really see myself doing,'” Blodgett says. “It’s kind of nice to hear someone say they took a look at our industry and thought: ‘There’s a career opportunity for me there.’ I’m proud of her for that.”

Blodgett notes the Young Brokers’ Council has really gained momentum across the country. Promoting the development of this council may prove to be a good tool in both reaching out to youth as they contemplate their career choices, and fostering future brokerage principals, he says. “These aren’t just a bunch of young folks getting together to hang out,” he says about the Young Brokers Council. “They’re quite serious about the council’s role and the profession. We need to respect the fact that they are going to be the industry leaders eventually, and give them every opportunity to find their way to become leaders.”

Ultimately it’s in the broker’s hands how to perpetuate his or her own business. “However, I would like to think most brokers would like to see their brokerages perpetuated by people who have given them their all; that the broker would work with them and find a way to allow them to have some skin in the game, as it were, and allow them to perpetuate the business into which they have poured their heart and soul.”

It’s about more than just promoting brokers, says Blodgett. The entire industry needs to do a better job at promoting its positive role in society. But before insurance professionals can begin promoting their business to others, they need to do a bit of internal promotion first. That, Blodgett says, will serve to be the best form of advertisement for people contemplating a career in the business. “Our entire industry needs to be proud of what we do,” he says. “In the olden days, when you went to a party and you told the other party-goers you were in insurance, they would give you a dirty look.” Not anymore, he says. “We provide a genuine service to the consumer. I’m proud of that. We all need to be proud of what it is that we do.”

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We purchased the brokerage in March 1983, we got married in April 1983 and Cindy got her broker license within a two-or three-month period. It was a quick reality shake in terms of getting our start in the insurance business.