Future Leaders Spotlight: Chad Wolford
The Tennessee Insuror Magazine, interview with industry professional, May/June 2021
The Insuror: Please tell us a little about your personal background (i.e. hometown, family, interests, etc.):
Chad: I was born and raised in Chattanooga, only leaving for 5 years to go to college at Montana State University in Bozeman, MT where I was on the College Rodeo Team. I was fortunate enough to convince my now wife to move back to Tennessee with me after college and we have two beautiful daughters aged 7 and 9. I love coaching both of their soccer teams and spending time on the golf course or having fun in the water somewhere with my family. Getting my girls out hunting and fishing more with me now that they are big enough is something I’m really looking forward too!
The Insuror: Can you tell us a little about your current job title and responsibilities?
Chad: I am the Founder and Principal of my agency, RISE Insurance so obviously the buck stops with me. I oversee all aspects of the agency and make sure everyone in the agency has the resources they need to be successful.
One of my favorite things about this job is that while we are helping protect our clients in their time of need, I am also personally getting to help my staff grow in their own professional career. Its tremendously rewarding to watch someone take the craft you have helped them learn and successfully use it to help others.
The Insuror: What can you tell us about your educational background?
Chad: I attended Baylor School here in Chattanooga growing up and then went on to earn a degree in both Business Marketing as well as Small Business and Entrepreneurship from Montana State University.
The Insuror: How and why did you get your career in the insurance industry started?
Chad: I have a very diverse background in business having been a part of a starting and operating a number of different businesses. A few years ago, I decided I wanted to get into a business that involved recurring revenue and helping others in some way while also complementing my background and experience. I decided Insurance was a great option but that there was no chance that I would ever be captive. I partnered briefly with another existing independent agent hoping to jumpstart the learning curve. That turned out to not be the best situation so my wife and I left to create RISE Insurance and haven’t looked back since.
The Insuror: Do you have any influences/role models in the industry?
Chad: Yes, I do. I have a couple of large agency owners in Florida, one in Texas, and one in Arizona that I have met over the last few years who have really taken me under their wing and given me a ton of value. I do have some local friends I talk to occasionally but I find that I get much more cooperation and insider information when I leverage technology and my network to connect with people not competing with me directly in my market. For example, one of the agency owners in Florida is someone whom I was introduced too through an Insurors mentorship program.
The Insuror: Is there any advice you could offer Young Agents or others in the industry to achieve success in their careers?
Chad: Be creative in leveraging your resources and your network. Try to be of value to everyone you interact with and not just when it comes to Insurance. It may seem like someone may have absolutely no value to you or the exact opposite; you may think there is no way possible that you could ever possibly be able to provide value that person. At the end of the day, if you never make the effort to provide them value up front, you’ll walk right by great opportunities every day and never even know it. Another thing that will change your life is becoming a great planner. I know it doesn’t sound fun or exciting but if you start every week and every day off doing just a little bit of planning, productivity skyrockets. Set bigger picture goals like say 1,3 & 5 year goals then back those goals all the way down into the daily goals it will take for you to get there. Then stick with the plan.
The Insuror: As an independent agent, you have many partners in this industry, including carriers, MGAs and many more. How do you determine which ones are the right relationships?
Chad: There is not a great answer for this when you are just getting started. Early on, this was the single greatest struggle I faced in opening my own agency. I personally picked a few niches that I wanted to start with and then started trying to find ways to write business in those industries. Once I started to figure out who was consistently winning business over me, I started contacting those carriers and tried to develop a relationship. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t but back to what I mentioned earlier, you will never know if you don’t try. Once I had a little more traction, I was able to then start focusing on more of the details about exactly who the best partners for various scenarios were. Now I’m able to get a lot more thoughtful about who we are writing for and we place tremendous value on relationship items like claims handling and customer service. We also place a high value on the quality of the digital platform of a partner. We are a technology savvy agency and try to encourage our clients to use the technological resources we have put in place for their convenience so we want to make sure that our partners have a similar mentality.
The Insuror: Thank you for giving us your time, Chad, we appreciate it and wish you continued success.
Chad: My pleasure. Thanks for all you do for the Independent Agents of Tennessee!
To view orginally printed article: https://issuu.com/insurors/docs
