Donna Kozik
www.DonnaKozik.com
Donna@DonnaKozik.com
619-297-1749

Article Writing Sample
Winning At Life was published in Agent Exchange magazine, 
a publication for Erie Insurance Agents

Winning At Life

Frank Spicer Jr. swore he would never become an insurance agent. 

His father is a life insurance agent, and Frank, the oldest of seven children, knew what it meant: long hours, weekend work and no time to coach little league.  “Although he was home for dinner, by a quarter to six he was gone again for evening appointments, and I was in bed by the time he got back,” said Frank. 

As many ERIE Agents will testify, the hours required for success as an insurance agent sometimes makes family members feel left out. 

Then again, you can’t fight genetics. 

Frank’s ability to sell showed itself early in life when he won a sales speech contest sponsored by a local newspaper.  His sales talk got the 10-year-old a free week at a “dude ranch,” and his father hinted it might signal a future career selling insurance.  An indignant Frank Jr. answered, “I would rather dig ditches than sell insurance!” 

Frank now chuckles at the story.  “I thought of insurance salesmen as people who hassled others to buy something they didn’t want,” he said. 

It was during Frank’s senior year at Florida State University when life took a serious turn.  He developed a very rare form of cancer and his upper lip had to be removed. 

Frank spent three weeks at the largest cancer hospital in the world, New York City’s Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.  While he was there, fellow patients told him some exceptionally moving stores that led him to think differently about insurance. 

When he first arrived, Frank roomed with a cancer victim in his 60s.  “The man had to have his tongue removed the next day,” recalled Frank.  “The night before the operation, he wanted to talk, and I paid attention knowing it would be his last spoken words.” 

The man spoke of the importance of living life to its fullest and not getting distracted by worrying about the little things.  As the man talked of the hopes and dreams he had for his family, Frank thought of his father’s career.  He hoped the man had life insurance to help his loved ones in case anything happened to him. 

Soon after, Frank met a New York City police officer having the left side of his face removed because of a melanoma.  He was anxious about his family’s future and, again, Frank thought of his father’s work and how important it was to be prepared. 

Frank’s operation was a success.  Having had cancer, however, he found it difficult to find a job.  Ironically enough, having cancer also made him practically uninsurable for six years. 

“At 22, I ran on the college track team, didn’t chew or smoke and couldn’t buy life insurance,” said Frank.  “Everybody thinks, `Oh, it won’t happen to me.’ I tell them, the word life has a big IF in the middle.  Nobody has a guarantee.  That’s what I think it takes to write life – convince others of that.” 

Because of his own unsettling experience and the insights gained from the other cancer patients, Frank learned first-hand how important insurance is to peace of mind.  His change of heart has made him one of ERIE’s outstanding Agents. 

Getting started wasn’t easy.  Eight years before joining The ERIE, Frank worked in Ohio for another insurance company and managed a test project of selling policies through a nationwide grocery store chain.  “It’s difficult to equate insurance with a loaf of bread,” he said.  “I didn’t like being so impersonal, and I wanted to treat people better.” 

Frank also wanted to return home to Virginia, but he had a tough time finding an insurance company willing to take him on as an agent.  “I tried just about everybody before being appointed by ERIE’s Steve Milne,” he said.  “It was the luckiest thing that ever happened to me. 

“When I started, all I knew was that ERIE had good rates on auto insurance,” he said.  To get the word out, he would interrupt his morning jog by sliding information request cards under people’s doors.  “I distributed between 500 and 700 reply cards a week under apartment and condo doors,” he said. 

On Saturday mornings, he would knock on doors requesting permission to give dwellers a quote on auto insurance.  “I didn’t take much of their time but asked them if I could give them a call at a later date,” he said.  “It’s much friendlier dealing with people face-to-face rather than over the phone.”  He also looked for signs that people might be interested in buying other ERIE products.  “If a woman came to the door with a baby in her arms, I thought of her as a life prospect.” 

Although he still runs, Frank doesn’t have to do much reply-card distribution these days.  New Policyholders usually provide two or three referrals, and, from those, a few more end up on his prospect list.  The names have continued to build up, and now Frank and his staff members sometime find it difficult to work all the leads. 

“Once I make the sale, I tell the new Policyholder that ERIE is the best kept secret in Virginia, and then I ask for their help,” said Frank.  “If they hesitate in giving me names of a new car owner or home owner, I assure them that I will not embarrass them.  If they person they name isn’t interested, I won’t call back.  Referrals are the best way to write new business.”

“It call it the `gentle nudge,’” he said.  “You can’t be hesitant in asking people to buy.  As ERIE founder H.O. Hirt said, `Know your stuff, believe your stuff, do your stuff.’  We know ERIE is the best.”

Robert Heare, assistant vice president and Richmond branch manager, said Frank is a strong supporter of The ERIE.

“He consistently ranks as the top for life and property/casualty production and has qualified for all incentive trips, including the recent `SELLebrating 70’ promotion,” said Robert.  At a past Agent Education Exchange program, Frank spoke about selling life insurance, and he was also a guest speaker at the Warrendale Branch kick-off meeting.

Frank was the Richmond Branch’s first F.W. Hirt Quality Agent Award winner in 1988 and has been a branch award winner every year at the annual dinner meetings.

“He’s probably one of the best producers ERIE has for an agency his size,” said Leonard Teagle, Richmond branch sales manager.  “Frank’s a person of integrity, a person of strength and one of the most positive people you’ll ever meet.”

Frank didn’t become an outstanding Agent easily, especially when it came to selling life insurance.

When he appointed Frank, then-branch manager Steve Milne told him he was expected not only to sell auto, home and commercial, but also life.  As Agents know, The ERIE doesn’t assign quotas, however ERIE does look for a sincere effort from Agents to sell all products.

Frank gave it his all with most ERIE products, but he wasn’t meeting the goals he set for himself in life production.  At the time, Frank represented another life company that paid higher commissions and also would advance commissions.  “I justified selling for that company because it offered a good product, and I had a wife and three young children to support,” said Frank. “I was doing really well with other ERIE products, and my district sales manager gave me nothing but high marks.”

One day, on a visit to the branch office, Frank was called in to talk to Steve.

“Steve didn’t mention a word about the sales I had made, but instead said, `I’m very disappointed in you,’” recalled Frank.  “I thought he was joking. He said, `You told me you planed to sell `x’ amount of life this year.  We appointed you with the idea that you would be a true multi-line agency.   If you were a man of your word, you would sell what you told me you’d sell, and you’d hit the mark you set by the end of the year.’”

Frank left, stunned.  At first he made excuses for not living up to Steve’s – and ERIE’s – expectations, but then his thinking turned.

“I did make that promise, and I didn’t live up to my end of the bargain,” he said.  “I really decided then and there to make my full commitment to The ERIE.”  With only two months left that year, Frank didn’t quite make his goal, however he made it the next year and hasn’t missed it since.  And Steve Milne, now president and CEO of Erie Insurance, remains a good friend.

“I remember that conversation vividly,” said Steve.  “We, as a company, have never put quotas on Agents, but at the same time, we need to grow.  We tap a limited number of Agents, and we look for across-the-board production from them.

“Frank admitted he wasn’t giving life production the attention it deserved, and then he devoted himself to fulfilling his promise to sell all our products.  He has boundless energy, and he’s held in very high esteem by all of us who know him,” said Steve.

“The people at Erie Insurance, from the top down, are honest and fair,” said Frank.  And, like any good salesman, Frank truly believes in what he sells.  “I think ERIE has the best life, auto, home and commercial products offered in insurance.”

He compares insurance sales to one of the last frontiers for self-starters.  “You make your money based on own ability to go out and sell.  I can’t think of anything else I’d rather do.”

Frank’s agency has three full-time customer service representatives; Frank is responsible for all of the life and commercial sales, as well as reunderwriting.  The staff has a weekly sales meeting to offer mutual support and advice.

“I like to compare us to a crew team,” said Frank. “We each row different oars, but we’re all going in the same direction.”

He stays involved in the community and talks to high school students about auto insurance.  He speaks at many agent association meetings and he has also dedicated time to raising money for the Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

Frank’s yearly check-ups find him cancer-free, but he hasn’t forgotten the lessons he learned from the experience.  He moved his insurance agency to Fairfax at the beginning of October, partly so he could cut down his commute and spend more time with his wife and five children.

He continues his early morning runs and even has competed in seven marathons, including the New York Marathon.  Frank believes there are parallels between running and selling insurance.

“Running is an individual sport, and if you don’t go out daily and put the mileage in, you lose,” he said.  “If you’re going to be a successful insurance Agent, you need to go out, prospect and ask people to buy.  And, if you’re going to succeed, you must have the self-discipline to do it every day.”