Focusing on What’s Important
KRIS FLAMMANG
Martin, I happen to know that you’re not only a great business owner who’s helping people to have a better life, you’re also a great husband, dad, and all-around good guy. Not to mention, you have a very interesting story about how you came to be in the insurance business…and in the United States.
MARTIN VREMAN
I was born and raised in the Netherlands. When I was 10, my dad decided to immigrate to the States. He was the third of his siblings to move here. His sister is in Ohio, his brother is in California, and thankfully my dad chose Florida. We moved to Bradenton, Florida. I was a fifth grader, 10 years old and scared to death. I didn’t even know the language at first. It’s funny though, my wife Denise was in that fifth-grade class. She remembers the strange boy who didn’t speak English. We began dating in high school, then got married right after I graduated from college.
I graduated with a double major in computer information systems and math. I got a job as a computer programmer for Bealls Department Stores, but after about six months I realized that fixing a code for mainframes and things like that wasn’t for me. I needed something more social. My father-in-law had been an Allstate agent for a number of years and encouraged me to look into becoming an insurance agent. So, I went to school at night for six months and got my general lines 2-20 license. Then God was kind enough to introduce us to a franchise called Great Florida Insurance, which I'm still a part of, going on 26 years. There was a small agency in Clearwater that had just started. The owner decided she couldn’t handle that one along with her first agency, so Denise and I ended up purchasing this one from her in 1995, and the rest is history.
KRIS FLAMMANG
When you think back over all those years, is there something you know now, that you wish you knew when you started out? Is there something you would say to that younger Martin?
MARTIN VREMAN
Of course, hindsight is 20/20, but I don't know if much would change if I had a chance to do it over again. I think God is a big part of our lives and the process of pushing me outside of my boundaries, because I'm a very much a follower. Let me do my job, and I'll do a great job, but don't ask me to do something outside my comfort zone.
I didn’t want to move my young family with a year-and-a-half old baby, even just an hour north of where I used to live, into a new community, a new environment with a business I had no idea how to run. I wasn't happy about it. But God really pushed me into that, so I don't know if there's a whole lot I would've changed. Perhaps one thing is I didn't hire someone for a number of years because I kept thinking I couldn’t afford to, but if I had taken the plunge sooner, I think it would have increased my book of business faster.
KRIS FLAMMANG
I saw that in my business. If you can leverage sooner, then you can have that exponential growth. Let’s talk about insurance now. Is there a simple way you explain to people why they should have a comprehensive protection plan in place?
MARTIN VREMAN
First, let me point out I don’t sell life insurance, but having that coverage is important. I sell property and casualty…your auto, homeowners, umbrella, business coverage. It’s all about averting risk and the consequences of what that risk might entail. I would say, while insurance can be frustrating for people because you’re paying a lot of money for a piece of paper, I’ve seen plenty of cases where that piece of paper saved someone's rear end. Whether it's an auto accident, a house fire, a dog bite or any of those kinds of things, it’s having the peace of mind to be able to sleep at night, knowing that if something were to happen you wouldn’t be completely exposed.
KRIS FLAMMANG
What do you like best about your business?
MARTIN VREMAN
As a business owner, I really enjoy the autonomy. Yes, I report to my boss who is God himself, but I have the flexibility in my business to do what I want to do. I can be as productive as I want to be. Frankly, I enjoy the social aspect, the helping part of it. Maybe that sounds self-serving, but I really do enjoy helping clients, and I’d like to think that whether they’re a large or small client, I'm going to treat them the same, because in the end, I want to make sure they're well-served. I enjoy that service aspect of it very much.
KRIS FLAMMANG
There are a lot of misconceptions about the insurance industry or insurance agents. What do you think is the biggest misconception about your line of work or the industry?
MARTIN VREMAN
I get to look up from the bottom of the barrel, and push the attorneys and used car salesmen aside. I know my place. But I think in some ways the misconception is not that far off, because just like in every business, there are some that take advantage of the situation. Even within Great Florida, which is a great franchise, you can still get a bad apple occasionally. Obviously, I need to make a living, but I like to put my head on my pillow at the end of the day, knowing I did well and I served someone well. In the end, insurance companies really do take care of the client according to their policy.
KRIS FLAMMANG
Looking at the lines of insurance you generally write for people, what do you see as their biggest blind spots? We have blind spots when we’re driving, we may not see that car over there when we’re changing lanes. What do you view as the blind spots people don’t see, or don’t pay attention to, when it comes to the protection you offer?
MARTIN VREMAN
As I said earlier, life insurance is outside the scope of what I sell, but I think that’s something every working parent and every head of household should have. I’m sure everyone knows someone who passed away unexpectedly, leaving a family behind. Having insurance can make all the difference. Money does matter in that time of need.
As far as what I sell, what I come across often is people telling me, “Just give me the basics. I just want to satisfy the letter of the law." That’s a pretty low hurdle. Properly insuring your assets, making sure your coverage matches what you’re trying to protect, is so important, and it’s something people don’t see or don’t think about. They don’t see the gaps in coverage.
KRIS FLAMMANG
You make sure there are no gaps. Is there a particular client experience that was especially satisfying to you? Maybe a problem they faced, or something they were trying to accomplish, and you were able to improve their lives. It doesn’t have to involve large sums of money, just a really satisfying client experience.
MARTIN VREMAN
Since my personality tends to gear toward service, you’re right, the larger sale doesn't necessarily have as much of a satisfactory experience as just serving the person well. There have been several occasions where clients have come saying, "I've been dropped by my insurance carrier because of claims." Because insurance companies do that. Say they made a big payout for water damage in a house, they might be afraid other pipes could burst. That can leave the person pretty much stranded, because no other insurance company wants to jump on that. But as an independent agent, which is what we are here at Great Florida, we write for lots of different companies. Having the ability to shop those companies, and doing a little extra work to try to find the carrier that will write that, is definitely a satisfying experience, because I know I did my best to find that client the insurance they needed.
That type of risk, in my mind, is the most fun, because it's a challenge that not everybody is necessarily going to want to tackle. I like knowing that I’d want to, and would do a good job.
KRIS FLAMMANG
Solving that puzzle is something I also find stimulating with clients. Helping them solve those complex problems. Let’s shift gears a little bit. I’m curious, what’s your first memory of money, or just experience with it? It could be either positive or negative.
MARTIN VREMAN
I have one of each. The positive one was in high school, getting a job and going to work for Long John Silver’s for $4.25 an hour. Collecting that measly paycheck and coming home smelling like grease. Why is that positive? I realized I could go out and mow someone’s lawn for about 20 bucks an hour. I could work a couple hours to make as much as an entire shift at Long John Silver’s.
My parents were always good with their finances. My dad is an entrepreneur at heart and was until the day he died. He was generous, but we never lived above our means. We always had what we needed, but we didn't have too much, to get spoiled.
Then on the negative side, I remember going into a neighbor’s house one day as a little kid when they weren’t home. I took a $50 bill I found on the bedside table and came home and put it in my wallet. I didn’t realize how wrong that was, and that someone had worked very hard for that money. In the moment it was just the temptation.
Fortunately, my mom happened to check my wallet a day or two later. She was very cool about it. She asked me, “What’s this money?” Of course, I couldn’t answer. Then my dad made me go back to their house and knock on their door and apologize and pay the money back, plus buy flowers for the wife.
I remember praying with my dad afterward, one of the few times we prayed together. He said, “You can’t do this kind of thing,” and the consequences really sunk in. I was trained well by my parents, and I really appreciate that.
KRIS FLAMMANG
That’s a powerful story. If you were given the opportunity, and there are no restrictions on this, what do you think is something that's worth splurging on? It could be an experience; it could be something you would buy. What might Martin splurge on?
MARTIN VREMAN
Remember, I’m Dutch, so I’m still frugal. That makes it a little hard to push that button that says purchase. But making memories with my family has always been important. I’m very blessed, I have a wonderful wife and five kids, and we’re a very close family. Planning family outings has been good. We’re a boating family, so we did splurge on a boat. That’s been my material splurge. Otherwise, memories, vacations, fun stuff.
KRIS FLAMMANG
Stuff that matters. That night tie into this question. What would you consider to be your biggest life accomplishment so far? It could be personally or professionally.
MARTIN VREMAN
That’s a great question, Kris. First of all, and this is not to be falsely humble, but knowing that everything good in my life comes from God, so I recognize that I am not able in my own strength to do anything worth anything, frankly. Having said that, I would say our biggest accomplishment is to be able to look back and see that my kids are walking with the Lord. That, and building my marriage, so I would say the personal aspects definitely exceed, by an exponential form, my business. The relationships with my wife and kids are what matter.
But having my own business is pretty exciting. As I mentioned earlier, my personality is definitely not that of a leader. I'm not that Type A, push-it person. I have lots of struggles, but it’s been 26 years in the business, I have my own agency and it’s successful, so that’s pretty neat.
KRIS FLAMMANG
So, the business is the conduit that drives those other things, that are much more important. That’s kind of what we do with clients. The financial planning is just the conduit to get to what’s most important in their lives.
MARTIN VREMAN
It’s like the saying, “You work to live, you don't live to work.” I don't consider myself a workaholic. I've put plenty of hours in, but my favorite part of my day is locking the door and going home.
KRIS FLAMMANG
In your industry, things change all the time. Regulations change, the laws change, carriers change what they’re doing. How do you stay on the cutting edge of what’s going on?
MARTIN VREMAN
It’s easy to get into the minutia of things, and lose sight of the forest for the trees. So, there are several avenues. The state requires us to have a certain number of continuing education hours to maintain our insurance license. Some of that goes into changes, and some of it digs deeper into the nuts and bolts of coverage in general. Also, our insurance companies send out email blasts updating us on what’s happening. They’ll say, “Expect this in the next 60 or 90 days, and here’s what you need to know to be prepared for that." Companies as a whole typically provide lots of good platforms to get informed on what changes are coming down the pike. There are also insurance agent associations we can be part of. Plus, there are times you just see something in the news and say, “Wow, look what’s happening!”
KRIS FLAMMANG
What do you consider to be the biggest challenge you’re facing right now in your business?
MARTIN VREMAN
I would say one of the biggest challenges right now is the volatility of the market, primarily the homeowners market. Our agency is primarily a personal lines agency. The homeowners market has a lot of challenges because of claims and the reinsurance costs. That would be a global response, because of tsunamis and fires in the West and things like that. The reinsurance market, which is the insurance that insurance companies buy to protect against catastrophic losses, has gone dramatically through the roof, and that trickles down to the insured.
Fraud is an issue. If 10 of your neighbors get a free roof even though there was no roof damage, then we have to explain to our clients that even though they didn't file the claim, it’s an aggregator if their neighbors did, and they’re going to pay because they’re in that zip code. Probably the hardest thing is having to explain to clients why the rates are what they are, or explain it in a way that doesn’t look like you’re trying to hide something or make an excuse. You're just trying to say, “This is how it is.”
KRIS FLAMMANG
Because the concept of spreading out the risk is foreign to people. The insurance company is making those decisions based on the number of claims that are going on and what's current.
MARTIN VREMAN
That’s right. We live in our small little bubble. They have to see the big picture. For example, we’re in Florida and we’re coastal. A major hurricane hasn’t directly hit us in years, but there’s always that potential.
KRIS FLAMMANG
Is there a question you think I should have asked you, or would you like to expand on something you talked about earlier?
MARTIN VREMAN
I alluded to this earlier, which is the satisfaction of helping the client. Last week an older gentleman who’s been a client for more than 10 years came in to see me. He kind of shuffled in and just began weeping. He said, "She's gone. She's gone." His wife had passed away just that past week. The great thing in this business, particularly being my own boss, is I have no restrictions to speak to these individuals and what their current need is. Who gives a flip if he makes a payment if right now he is just broken over his wife's passing?
Being able to give him a hug, to talk with him, to pray with him, encourage him, calling him and following up…there’s no greater joy than being able to have that type of relationship with clients. Just being able to be there for them at a time like that.
KRIS FLAMMANG
And you don’t know, he might not have any family around. He could be alone. I get calls from clients telling me I was the only person who sent them a birthday card. You don’t expect that, but then you realize the kind of impact you can have, and it’s very satisfying.
Thank you for doing business that way, and thank you for the information you shared today.