To rejoice its milestone yr, Higginbotham is placing the highlight again on the keys to its success: tradition and neighborhood.
“Our seventy fifth is geared round celebrating with our workers and giving again to the communities which have been so beneficiant to us throughout our footprint, which right now spans 15 states and 87 places of work,” stated Higginbotham CEO Rusty Reid (pictured).
Immediately, Higginbotham is one largest unbiased insurance coverage brokerages within the US, in addition to the biggest in Texas by income. It was nominated to Insurance coverage Enterprise America’s Prime Insurance coverage Employers listing in 2022.
The “Day Two” distinction
As soon as a family-owned enterprise, the group is now proudly owned by its greater than 2,400 workers, a majority of whom are direct shareholders. The worker possession mannequin goals to reward and incentivize Higginbotham’s workforce, based on Reid.
“We started an worker possession journey again in 1989, and it is nonetheless very a lot who we’re right now,” stated Reid. “We constructed this group for the advantage of our shareholders, which coincidentally occurred to be our workers.
“It is allowed us to not solely retain fantastic folks but in addition appeal to unbelievable expertise to serve our shoppers.”
Reid joined Higginbotham in 1986 from American Common Fireplace and Casualty Firm and has since been steering the brokerage by way of many years of change and development. Below his helm, the brokerage established a monetary companies division to supply worker advantages.
However based on the CEO, what really units Higginbotham aside in right now’s market is its “Day Two” companies, that are geared at supporting shoppers by way of danger administration, claims, profit plan companies, and administration.
“The concept is that on day one, our job is to get a consumer the best possible protection, value, and money circulate choices,” Reid stated.
“Then we leverage danger administration, compliance, communications, contract evaluation, expertise… all of the issues above and past delivering a coverage. Now we have discovered that this resolution has improved our buyer retention fee and considerably enhanced our potential to land clients.”
Celebrating 75 years of development and past
In 2007, Higginbotham launched an aggressive merger and acquisition technique, branching out in Texas and ultimately throughout the USA.
Final yr, the corporate continued that enlargement because it entered new states and broadened its footprint in others.
Based on Reid, development gained’t decelerate any time quickly, and it’ll proceed to be powered by Higginbotham’s values.
“We launched what we referred to as our ‘Greatest in Texas’ technique to be aligned with our mission and imaginative and prescient, which is to be the very best place for workers to work, the very best consumer advocate, the very best service companion, and the very best neighborhood companion, and we have stayed true to that,” Reid informed Insurance coverage Enterprise.
“We’re not out simply to purchase income for the sake of shopping for income, we actually look to search out nice companions. Ninety-eight % of our companions are a lot bigger right now than after they joined us. To me, that is sort of examine that field that it is working.”
On the similar time, Higginbotham is deeply centered on “old school natural development,” the CEO stated, which entails retaining and discovering new shoppers by bringing them worth.
“We have all the time been nice at natural development as a company. However leveraging our ‘Day Two’ platform has actually been vital for us,” Reid continued.
Giving again to its communities
Amidst super success within the insurance coverage trade, Higginbotham stays grounded in its communities by way of its Higginbotham Neighborhood Fund.
“We have been very blessed as a company that our development hasn’t stopped since 1989. The by-product of that success is with the ability to give again to our communities,” stated Reid.
The Higginbotham Neighborhood Fund was established in 2011 to supply monetary help to non-profits in places the place the brokage does enterprise. Workers contribute the funds and may request grants for the organizations they wish to help of their native communities.
The fund has raised greater than $5.2 million in contributions and pledges, and distributed grants to over 1,600 non-profits.
For Reid, Higginbotham’s core values of being household to its workers and beneficiant to its communities is the key to its longevity and continued development.
“Shifting ahead, we’ll simply proceed to suppose innovatively about how we will be the completely greatest place for our workers to work, the best possible advocate for our shoppers, the best possible companion of our carriers,” he stated.
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