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October 21, 2024
KAUKAUNA – Insurance agents are a dime a dozen, so it’s important to stand out – or as Jocelyn Bowen says, “to be that purple cow in the room,” or pasture, as it were.
Bowen – a relatively new agent for COUNTRY Financial, with just one year under her belt – recently had a grand opening at her new office, the Jocelyn Bowen Agency at 233 Dodge St. in Kaukauna, having moved there after the building in Appleton where she’d been leasing space was listed for sale.
“I’d been there for a few months and really liked it,” she said.
Bowen said the Kaukauna office she moved to in June is closer to where she lives, and the rent is less than she was paying in Appleton.
“It has two offices, kind of like an office suite,” she said. “I have everything to myself and don’t share the space with anyone. There’s a nice little waiting area, two offices and a bathroom. It’s spacious compared to other ones I looked at (in other communities). That’s another reason I leaned toward the Kaukauna space. It’s in a nice spot and has high traffic, so it also gives me a lot of visibility.”
Another advantage of her new office location, Bowen said, is that there’s plenty of on-site parking for clients.
“Fortunately, the move did not affect my client base,” she said. “Insureds often want their agent to be located in the same city or at least relatively close by, but for my clients, it doesn’t seem to matter. I have clients in Green Bay, Oshkosh, Neenah-Menasha, you name it. I told every one of them about the move, and everyone was okay with it.“
Bowen said she’s always willing to meet with people at their place if they don’t want to come to her office.
“Otherwise, we can do it over the phone or virtually,” she said. “I’m always accommodating to my clients. Plus, I treat my clients well, and I think that comes back to me because they appreciate me always going out of my way for them.”
That includes handling things for clients when she’s been on vacation, Bowen said.
“If it’s a priority and needs to get done, I’m going to get it done for them,” she said.
Separating herself from the pack
Bowen said she is always trying to stand out from other agents – consistently tapping into her key traits of empathy, dependability, deep understanding, great communication, critical thinking, problem-solving skills, a positive attitude and discipline –all of which she said come in handy in the insurance industry.
“Beyond that, I like to go the extra mile,” she said. “Taking great care of people is a top priority of mine. To make people want to work with you, you have to stand out; you have to be that purple cow.”
Bowen said her approach of getting “down to the nitty-gritty of what people need” helps her stand out.
”Catastrophic things happen, so I always like to make sure my clients have too much coverage rather than too little – I don’t know that you can ever really have too much,” she said. “I always try to give my clients multiple options as well. I’ll show them what they want, as well as other options they can choose from if they wish. I’ll give them my insights as to why they may want to consider the other options. Then I let them choose what to get.”
Beyond that, Bowen said she tries to educate her clients while giving them other things to consider they may not have thought about or even known about.
“For example, I’ll show them what life insurance can do for them, what an umbrella policy can do for them and so forth,” she said. “It’s offering them or giving them information about something that goes above and beyond what they asked for.”
More than just insurance
Through her agency, Bowen said she specializes in auto, home, life and business insurance, as well as retirement services.
She said she is an independent contractor who has her own insurance agency and sells COUNTRY Financial insurance products about 90% of the time.
“Sometimes, I will utilize a brokerage firm and use other companies’ products, but for the most part, I use COUNTRY Financial,” Bowen said. “That’s why they’re on my door – business cards, things like that. They’re a company I’m proud to work with, and they take good care of their clients, especially when they have claims. That’s the route I decided to go, and there’s a lot of benefits to utilizing their products and services.”
Besides offering a lot of different products and services, Bowen said the way COUNTRY takes care of its clients and the speed with which it settles claims set it apart from other companies.
“No one wants a claim to happen, but if or when one happens, you want a company that’s going to take care of you,” she said. “That’s the most important part of insurance, in my opinion. It’s to protect you on bad days or when bad things happen.”
Bowen said she recalls someone she knew whose company dropped her after two claims, neither of which were her fault and were natural occurrences.
“That’s super unfortunate, but there are so many things that happen and a lot of companies don’t want to take care of them,” she said. “I met a woman whose homeowner’s company wouldn’t take care of replacing her roof because she only had six dings (from hail) and she needed eight dings from hail to get her roof replaced. Things like that make no sense at all.”
Bowen said she acknowledges there are some situations where speaking to an attorney, even to get satisfaction from your own insurance company, may be important.
“But I haven’t heard one bad thing about COUNTRY, and I see how quick and exceptional it is,” she said. “That makes me feel safe, too, because obviously, I’ve insured myself with them. It’s peace of mind. They have a very good reputation for a reason.”
Not a traditional way
Bowen said her journey to selling insurance came in a roundabout, rather unorthodox way.
Before becoming an insurance agent, Bowen said she attended school and got her certificate of completion from the National Academy of Sports Medicine, which enabled her to work as a personal trainer, something she did for four years.
“I’ve always loved personal physical fitness and working out,” she said. “So, it made sense early on to do something professionally related to fitness.”
Bowen said she simultaneously began getting more involved in mixed martial arts, having started when she was in her early 20s.
“I’ve always loved sports,” she said. “It has always been a passion of mine to do extreme sports. I also think the thrill of it is fun. I watched Ninja Warrior as a kid growing up… I tried (Ninja Warrior) out and was very good at it right away. It was just like a natural thing for me. It’s a little safer than mixed martial arts, too. So, I decided to change routes and pursue Ninja Warrior – it was still kind of extreme but also not quite as hard on my body.”
At one point, Bowen said her Ninja Warrior training made it onto the cover of the Wisconsin State Journal – which was “a very exciting moment.”
“I enjoyed being a personal trainer, but my career suffered when COVID-19 hit,” she said.
As fate would have it, around that same time, Bowen said she met someone who introduced her to an executive at COUNTRY Financial.
“After speaking with him, he told me I’d be wonderful at selling their insurance and financial products,” she said. “They offered me some great incentives, and said if I could get all of my state licenses within two months, they’d give me an opportunity. I did just that.”
Making good use of transferable skills
Bowen said many of the traits needed for Ninja Warrior competitions are 100% transferable to her work as an insurance agent and business owner.
“With Ninja Warrior training and as a sport, you have to be disciplined and dedicated to what you eat, how much you work out and things like that,” she said. “So many things align with (running) my business. Being my own boss, I have to be dedicated, disciplined and independent. I get out of it what I put into it – with Ninja Warrior and running my own business.”
Bowen said both can be intimidating.
“You have to not only be strong enough to do it but also have to trust yourself and have the courage to do it,” she said. “You can do anything you set your mind to doing. A lot of things are mind over matter. You have to be driven and have discipline.”
Bowen said she has met a lot of interesting people through Ninja Warrior and recently found a Ninja Warrior gym in Green Bay.
“While it will always be a part of my life, my biggest focus these days is developing my insurance business, building relationships with my clients and being there for them before – and after – accidents or tragedies, should they occur,” she said. “One of the most selfless things we can do in this world is give back. I enjoy being able to do that through my work.”
