Rothrock & Associates

---

For Rothrock and Associates co-owner Susan Godsey, selling insurance is a win-win situation that leaves her feeling great about her job, herself, and her clients’ peace of mind.

“I crossed over from banking to insurance, and the first thing I learned is that a policy is easy to sell as long as you believe in and trust the product completely,” said Susan. “I like to sleep at night, so my focus is on ensuring each policy we write has the highest possible value to the client.  If they come to us on the basis of premium, they’ll eventually leave for another agency on the basis of premium. My goal is to grow our agency with clients who are looking for quality over cost as their primary concern.”

The agency was founded in 2004 by Virginia Rothrock, who wanted to stay active in the industry instead of retiring completely after 28 years of service at Prudential. When Virginia decided to open her own agency, she approached Susan. “Virginia was a client of mine at the bank where I worked,” Susan remembered. “She kept saying, ‘I’m opening my own agency, come work for me.’ So I did! I worked in sales at first, and then Virginia offered me a partnership. Now I manage the office and all of our agents – we currently have a staff of 12 plus myself and Virginia, who still writes policies. We’ve assembled a great team, and are just wrapping up training our newest handful of agents. 2019 is going to be a terrific year.”

Susan, who spent 15 years in the banking world before making the move to the insurance industry, is devoted to giving back to the community, both professionally and personally. As the president of the Kiwanis Club in West Palm Beach, Susan and her colleagues are helping young Floridians fulfill their dreams. “The work we’re privileged to do is so rewarding,” she said. “This year we presented $230,000 in scholarships to students in need. It’s an amazing honor to watch these high school students go off to college and achieve their dreams – I’m in constant awe of how hard they work and how much they’ve already accomplished at such a young age. We call them “our kids,” and seeing them grow and shine is the best feeling in the world. My mouth constantly hangs open when I see what they use their knowledge and talents for… they become this driving force for good, and help others succeed. That’s what it’s all about – community!”

Rothrock and Associates serves the entire state of Florida, as well as writing the occasional policy for a snowbird with a home in another state such as New Jersey. The agency is focused on growing business in the luxury market, targeting homeowners looking for the best all-around package of coverage for their home and property. “We don’t do walk-ins, we’re 100% appointment only, and I’d say 98% of our business is referrals,” said Susan. “We’ll have someone tell us their daughter is buying a home in Florida, or their sister is moving in from New Jersey. We also get a vast amount of new business from people who tell their co-workers about us, and we have a thriving network of realtors, mortgage brokers, builders, and property managers.”

According to Susan, the real secret to gaining homeowners’ trust is being there for them and remaining calm no matter what happens. She described the agency’s in-house catastrophe plan, and said every agent has a list of all of the carriers’ phone numbers that they take home with them. “When a weather event hits, like Hurricane Michael, it’s all hands on deck,” Susan said. “Answering the phone isn’t the receptionist’s job, it’s everyone’s job. We train our team on how to best handle these events, to stay in the calm zone and focus on relieving customer anxiety as a top priority.”

Susan commented on AOB fraud as being one of the biggest challenges of being in the insurance industry. “Contractor perpetrated homeowners insurance fraud is increasing, and it costs everyone,” she said. “Trying to explain to homeowners that their premiums keep going up because of the dishonesty of contractors is something we literally have to do every day. We strive to educate each policyholder about fraud, but these are good people – they can’t wrap their head around why another person would try to defraud them. We still have policyholders who trustingly sign an AOB form because a contractor scared them into thinking it was necessary to get their house fixed, and then they end up footing the inflated bill and having to take out a home equity loan to pay for repairs. All we can do is keep disseminating information and trying to raise awareness.”

Something Susan and her agents wish all Florida homeowners knew is the value of a good policy. “After Wilma, we saw holes start appearing in policies like Swiss cheese,” she said. “Coverage just got thinner and thinner, and exclusions kept piling up. Carriers began offering these very limited policies, and people only looked at the premium cost. We have clients come in all the time and say ‘Hey, I got this quote from so and so, look how low this premium is,’ and we look at it and go ‘Yep, that’s a great premium – until you actually need the policy.’ You get what you pay for, and insurance is no exception.”

Rothrock and Associates has included Olympus as one of their carriers since the inception of the agency. “We write Olympus as a full package policy,” said Susan. “The coverage is so comprehensive, and the claims service is above and beyond. We had a client call the other day, and our agent saw it was a homeowner who had filed a claim and braced herself to hear about some sort of a problem. But the client was calling to thank us for writing her policy with Olympus! The claims team had called her back when they said they would, with the information she was waiting for, and she was so impressed.”

Susan pointed to several coverages from Olympus that make it a top seller. “The flexible hurricane deductible is a huge selling point,” she said. “A lot of carriers only offer percentage based deductibles, and the fact that Olympus offers $500 and $1,000 flat rate options is extremely attractive. The 100% replacement cost coverage on pool enclosures is another major benefit – most of our policyholders have a pool. Homeowners also love the coverage for other structures, and the broad water damage coverage.” When asked how many Olympus policyholders opt-in to Spartan Enhanced Coverage, Susan was quick to respond: “I’d say 99% of the Olympus policies we write include that – we don’t even bother to break it out anymore, because everyone wants it. The increase in premium is so tiny when you look at the massive value, it’s only a few dollars a month and you get an incredible hike in coverage.”

Susan appreciates the additional support Olympus provides for agents. “It’s not just the terrific coverage, or the incredible claims team. I can’t say enough about Brittany, she’s our product manager and she’s great – there for me if I need anything, and I do mean anything. Olympus continually sends us materials to help us communicate with and educate our clients; everything is so reader friendly. I especially love the INK Newsletter we get from Olympus every quarter – it’s absolutely exceptional. We always use references from the newsletter in our own materials, because it lays everything out bullet by bullet in clear, easy to understand language. There’s no guesswork when it comes to an Olympus policy, and no holes in coverage. ”

With the Florida insurance market in a constant state of flux, keeping homeowners educated and informed is the top priority. “Olympus really delivers when it comes to communication, and that’s why Rothrock and Associates writes so many Olympus policies,” Susan said. “From the printed materials, to the quote forms that lay everything out in a easy to understand format, to the way the claims team stays on top of homeowner needs, Olympus delivers on all fronts. When we talk to agents and vendors, they always have a “bad list” of carriers they don’t like to work with. Let me tell you, Olympus is never on the bad list!”

“At the end of the day, it’s about providing the best possible coverage to each policyholder,” Susan concluded. “My focus is on building and nurturing the strong, community-based relationships that lead to organic agency growth, and continuing to deliver superlative, personalized service. I’m really looking forward to 2019 and everything the new year will bring.”

---

---