September 3, 2024 • 30 mins
Are you choosing the right broker for your business? In this episode, we sit down with Glenn Ammarell of Yurconic Agency, who has been in the industry for over ten years. Glenn talks about the hard vs. soft market conditions, the role of AI in insurance, and why building strong business connections is so important. Tune in to learn how these factors are influencing the future of commercial insurance and what it means for your business.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Dane Shoemaker (00:00):
Hi, everyone. This is Dane Schumacher. Welcome
to the Schumacher Films podcast.I'm here with Glenn Amaril,
Glenn, of, your Connick Agency.Glenn,
Glenn Ammarell (00:08):
how are
Dane Shoemaker (00:08):
you today?
Glenn Ammarell (00:08):
I'm doing great, Dane. Thanks for having me. I
appreciate it. And, you know,here at the Willows, who can,
you know Yeah. Pass this up forsure?
Dane Shoemaker (00:15):
Willows Park Reserve, Willows Mansion in
Radnor. It's beautiful.
Glenn Ammarell (00:19):
Awesome.
Dane Shoemaker (00:19):
Yeah. So, you know, we're, we've been trying
to get this on the books for along time. I know. Absolutely.
I'm coming out of here rightnow.
Glenn Ammarell (00:27):
Yeah. Fantastic.
Dane Shoemaker (00:28):
This is great. So thanks for thanks for
joining. So excited to diveinto, the world of commercial
insurance, learn a little bitmore. It's definitely an area
that I need to brush up on. Iknow a lot of people typically,
it's one of those things thatmaybe they're not too excited to
jump into.
Glenn Ammarell (00:43):
Yeah. It's not too exciting Yeah. But
Dane Shoemaker (00:45):
it's for,
Glenn Ammarell (00:46):
people like me, I guess.
Dane Shoemaker (00:48):
But it's, it's critical, obviously. Oh,
absolutely. It's required and,it can really save your save
your business.
Glenn Ammarell (00:53):
So Absolutely. I mean, that's your biggest
investment.
Dane Shoemaker (00:56):
So why don't you tell us tell us just a little
bit about yourself.
Glenn Ammarell (00:59):
Okay. Tell
Dane Shoemaker (01:00):
us about your iconic agency.
Glenn Ammarell (01:02):
Well, I'm with the your iconic agency, which
is, part of the Keystone, AgencyPartners
Dane Shoemaker (01:08):
Okay.
Glenn Ammarell (01:08):
Which essentially what that does is,
that gives us bigger buyingpower. Right? So, you know, it
gets us to more markets. We'reable to do, you know, captive
insurance for larger businesses.You know, it just gives you a a
larger infrastructure.
So but we still have the, youknow, the small feel, which is
(01:30):
great. You know, sometimes Ihave to, you know, remember that
I have those resources, whichare awesome. So, I've been with
the agency about 10 years.
Dane Shoemaker (01:39):
Okay.
Glenn Ammarell (01:40):
It's a a great company. And if you're in the
Lehigh Valley, you know theYirconic Agency. So I'm trying
to help develop that a littlebit more out here in the
mainline.
Dane Shoemaker (01:49):
Okay.
Glenn Ammarell (01:51):
You know, that's where I met you in the mainline
chamber, which has been afantastic resource for me to get
to to know the community and thebusinesses and the people. You
know? So some greatrelationships.
Dane Shoemaker (02:03):
Yeah. Absolutely.
Glenn Ammarell (02:04):
Yeah. That's, you know, tried to stay involved
in the community. Like I said,meeting you in the, mainline
chamber, you know, being part ofRotary and just really trying to
give back to the community.
Dane Shoemaker (02:16):
Yep. Yep.
Glenn Ammarell (02:17):
So that's it's been awesome.
Dane Shoemaker (02:19):
Yeah. I agree. And just kind of a just kind of
like a quick commercial formainline chamber Commerce.
They've been awesome. I've beena member for maybe 2 years now
coming on year and a half or so.
But, yeah, you you kinda got usto got us to join. I think we
came to a networking event. Wehad just joined, but then you
you introduced us to theChamberConnect group and, you
(02:41):
know a lot of the members there.So I've made some introductions.
So it's been really great.
Glenn Ammarell (02:44):
Yeah. I mean, it's it's I look at it like a
bank account. In the beginning,I was just making deposits. In
other words, I was going toeverything, every meeting,
everything out there. And now Ican take the withdrawal.
So if I'm not around for a monthand I go to a meeting, I still
know people, which has beentremendous. You know? And, you
(03:04):
know, and some of therelationships, even some that
that aren't business have beenbeen great, you know, because
it's it's a balance, you know, awork life balance. So you have
to enjoy yourself along the wayas well.
Dane Shoemaker (03:15):
Yeah. Absolutely. I love that analogy
of making making deposits and,you know, it's like anything in
in business. You gotta put insome work in order to get
something out of it.
Glenn Ammarell (03:25):
You know, I'm part of the, you know,
ambassador committee, and I'lltalk to somebody and, you know,
they'll be talking ROI. Andsometimes when you're talking
ROI, it's like you have yourblinders on. Yeah. It's like,
first off, how often have yougone to meetings? The mainline
chamber, you know, BNI, nomatter what it is, is not gonna
(03:45):
work if you don't go.
Dane Shoemaker (03:46):
Right? Right. Right.
Glenn Ammarell (03:47):
So first off, you have to do that. And and
sometimes I sit sit back andrealize, like, oh my gosh. This
really great, you know, contactthat I met wasn't through the
chamber, but it was throughsomebody at the chamber. And
sometimes you really have to tothink about that and how
valuable those relationshipsare. Yep.
(04:09):
And sometimes, like, with theSociety of Professional Women
Dane Shoemaker (04:11):
Yeah.
Glenn Ammarell (04:12):
You walk out of there and it's just you know,
you're inspired to to do more.
Dane Shoemaker (04:17):
Yeah. That's a great organization.
Glenn Ammarell (04:19):
Value. So that's what I'm talking about by taking
the blinders out often, reallyrealizing everything that you
can get out of the the chamber.
Dane Shoemaker (04:28):
Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. And and just
networking is such a huge partof business, referrals, building
relationships.
Glenn Ammarell (04:34):
Absolutely. Yeah. Yes. And and just coming
up with ideas. You know,brainstorming like our Chamber
Connect group.
Right? It's it's kind of amastermind, so you don't feel
that pressure to give leads.
Dane Shoemaker (04:49):
Right. Right.
Glenn Ammarell (04:49):
You can come in there and say, hey. This last
quarter has been tough. Youknow? This is what I'm seeing,
and, you know, has anybody elseseen this, and and and what have
you done to overcome that?
Dane Shoemaker (05:00):
So Right.
Glenn Ammarell (05:00):
It's kinda like a support group. We all need
them from time to time.
Dane Shoemaker (05:04):
I agree. Yeah. And I love the, you know, David
Wyman who runs theChamberConnect Group does such a
good job at bringing people in.You know, we just kinda share
what's going on and, you know,get help with different business
issues. So I found that to be areally
Glenn Ammarell (05:16):
Oh my gosh. Yeah. He has a wealth of
knowledge in, you know, workingwith larger companies, and we
get the value of that. Yeah.Again, you know, it's like if
you're looking at yourspreadsheet, you're not seeing
dollars and cents directly.
But indirectly, I'm sure you'reseeing a lot.
Dane Shoemaker (05:33):
Yeah. Absolutely. Yep. So it went on a
little bit of a tangent there
Glenn Ammarell (05:36):
on main
Dane Shoemaker (05:37):
on mainline chamber. So hopefully welcome.
Glenn Ammarell (05:39):
Yeah. Right?
Dane Shoemaker (05:40):
But, yeah. Talk to us a little bit about what's
going on in in, insuranceindustry.
Glenn Ammarell (05:44):
Well, it it's been a a hard market, which, has
been challenging. And, you know,most of my customers, you know,
they may not call it a hardmarket, but they know that
they've been paying more inpremiums. Yeah. We've had to
move to different carriersbecause, you know, the capacity
in the market has shrunk. So inother words, you know, some of
(06:09):
these carriers are not puttingthe capital into certain market
segments.
Dane Shoemaker (06:12):
Okay.
Glenn Ammarell (06:14):
And, basically, it's caused by economic
conditions, inflation Yeah. Youknow, cost of, you know, cost of
goods, you know, increases yourproperty cost, which increases
your premium, and catastrophiclosses, you know, with, you
know, all these naturaldisasters because it's spread
across, you know Okay. You know,you're helping pay essentially
(06:39):
for other people's losses. So,you know, there every insurance
company purchases reinsurance.
Dane Shoemaker (06:46):
Right. Right.
Glenn Ammarell (06:47):
So the reinsurance market has been
getting hit a lot with thesecatastrophic losses so that in
turn, increases their premiums,and it just trickles all all the
way down to, you know, the theconsumer, which would be my, my
customers.
Dane Shoemaker (07:05):
Yeah. Do you have a, like, do you have a
specific clientele that youfocus on? Maybe the agency
overall or maybe your segmentspecifically?
Glenn Ammarell (07:14):
Or I'm kind of a generalist. You know? I like to
work with, you know,contractors. I like, you know,
every even if they're in thesame industry, every company has
different needs. And, you know,whether it's pollution and
things like that to to reallydig into their policy.
I mean, I'm not just there totransact the you know, like,
(07:34):
hey. Here's your quote. Yeah.I'm here to take a look at at,
your current policy, analyzethat, and, you know, see if
there's any gaps in coveragesand, you know, and, you know,
inform the customer of what whatthey're missing out on and, you
know, you know, putting togetherrecommendations.
Dane Shoemaker (07:53):
You know, why is it so important for a business
to pick a particular broker? Imean, I know there's a lot of
there's a lot of options outthere. I mean, why you know,
what makes brokers differentfrom each other, and and why
would they go with you?
Glenn Ammarell (08:06):
Well, broker selection, which is it took a
while. I mean Yeah. When whenyou're starting out in the
business, you're so desperate toto get business. You go into
situations where if you were tosee the red lights going in, you
would have stopped immediately.But, broker selection so if you
have a you know, everybody hasinsurance.
(08:29):
Right?
Dane Shoemaker (08:29):
Yeah.
Glenn Ammarell (08:31):
And if they're looking to, look at
alternatives, you don't wannahave 2 or 3 other agents quoting
because they're all juststepping over each other. So
what you wanna do is interviewthose agents and see what
resources can really, you know,benefit you as a customer. So
that could be, you know, claimsmanagement, risk control, and,
(08:55):
you know, helping set up asafety committee. All those
various things are are resourcesand access to the market. Right?
Yeah. So that's where I've beenfortunate with, you know, KAP
being part of the Yaconic agencythat that I have access to,
markets that, you know, othercarriers or agents may not. So
(09:16):
Okay. It's been helpful. Yeah.
But I'll tell you, it's nomatter how much you know, it's
really hard to walk away frombusiness. But, you know, when
you keep losing because itwasn't the right right situation
you learned. Yeah. Yeah. I mean,I'm not in the business of, you
know, just giving a price.
Dane Shoemaker (09:37):
Sure. Yeah. Do you have a particular, like, an
ideal client? You know, like,what would be a what would be
with the best case scenario fora client?
Glenn Ammarell (09:51):
The best ideal client would be somebody that
understands that they have theseneeds
Dane Shoemaker (09:57):
Yeah.
Glenn Ammarell (09:57):
And they don't feel that they're getting them.
Dane Shoemaker (09:59):
Okay.
Glenn Ammarell (10:00):
So there's there's a problem. Because I've
I've learned going in, you know,I've talked to people. It's
like, yeah. Sure. Yeah.
I'll take a look and see whatyou got. Right? Yeah. Yeah.
Well, that that's not a goodopportunity because you start
asking questions, and I've donethis where I say, hey.
You know, when your agent doesthis, you know, how's that
worked out for you? And you gothrough all those questions, and
(10:21):
it seems like they're doing agood job. Yeah. So at that
point, yes. It's like
Dane Shoemaker (10:27):
Yeah. You know, they probably
Glenn Ammarell (10:29):
shop you out. Yeah. And you don't need me to
do that because chances are youwouldn't move anyway.
Dane Shoemaker (10:35):
Right. Right.
Glenn Ammarell (10:36):
You're just seeing what what's out there
because Yeah. You think, like,when you're doing your deck and
it's just a different Yeah.Different situation.
Dane Shoemaker (10:43):
Right. Are there are there typical things that,
or common things, I guess, youyou you identify where where
people have gaps in theircurrent policies or, anything
like that?
Glenn Ammarell (10:56):
Yeah. I mean, it could be from pollution to cyber
coverage. And I mean Yeah. Allbusinesses are starting to
understand cyber. Yeah.
Yeah. Because a lot of thebusiness owners policy, pack
package policies have, like,data compromise.
Dane Shoemaker (11:15):
Okay.
Glenn Ammarell (11:16):
And I talked to my cyber liability expert, and
he's like, that's kinda like,you have a $600,000 house and
you insure the door. Right?Right.
Dane Shoemaker (11:26):
Right.
Glenn Ammarell (11:26):
So you need 1st party, 3rd party, and you need
somebody that that understandsthat. And the most important
thing I've learned about, like,cyber, for example Yeah. Is
that's like having a 911. Yeah.Because if you were to if I were
to get hacked right now, I'd belike, I don't know.
Yeah. I have no idea. Where theyhave the resources, they know
(11:47):
how to negotiate with the badactors, you know, and they even
know them, which is crazy. So,you just make that call and they
take care of that for you.
Dane Shoemaker (11:57):
That's that's interesting. Yeah. I'm sure
that's a a rising, you know,issue. Oh. So how does that
work?
So if I'm a business, I mean,are there's, like, the IT side
of things where you actually,you know, your your data
protection and malware, youknow, threat detection stuff,
but then you also have theinsurance side of things.
Glenn Ammarell (12:15):
That is, you know Okay. Very insightful of
you, Dan. Okay. Because, Youknow, first off, you know, I I I
like to surround myself withpeople that are, smarter in
certain areas than me, and, youknow, cybersecurity is one of
them.
Dane Shoemaker (12:30):
Yeah. Okay.
Glenn Ammarell (12:30):
So somebody doesn't have that situation
going on right now, I say, hey.You need to talk to you know,
here's somebody incybersecurity. You know, they
can, either make sure thatyou're not just putting a Band
Aid on something that needsstitches.
Dane Shoemaker (12:44):
Right. Right.
Glenn Ammarell (12:44):
But now a lot of the stand alone cyber liability
carriers are requiring that youhave certain things in place
like the multifactorauthentication Okay. And things
like that.
Dane Shoemaker (12:58):
Yeah. Okay. So I had, like, a background in
security, but, like, I'm not toofamiliar with the insurance side
of things. So the the insuranceis kind of set up in the event
that you do have a data loss ora breach or
Glenn Ammarell (13:10):
Data breach, data
Dane Shoemaker (13:11):
loss, rates, and The company might have to pay
fines or something and theninsurance. Yep. Yep. Got it.
Wow.
Glenn Ammarell (13:18):
Yeah. So I have a guy that does cyber liability
for us. So
Dane Shoemaker (13:26):
Yeah.
Glenn Ammarell (13:26):
Even if you have a stand alone policy, I'll take
it, send it to him. I'm like,tear it apart. And he'll come
back and say, it's missing this.It doesn't have the 3rd party
coverage. It has a sublimitYeah.
Where they think they're coveredfor 2,000,000, but they're only
covered for 250 Yeah. 1,000. SoI've seen that. So I rely on
(13:49):
somebody that knows does thatevery single day. Yeah.
So, yeah, you you find, youknow, even within the coverage,
you find gaps of coverage. Sure.
Dane Shoemaker (14:00):
Yeah. And I'm sure most people or a lot of
businesses are gonna have kindof the bare minimum starting
out, or at least I know that I Iknow for a fact I have, like,
the bare minimum. So I think weneed to talk at some point.
Glenn Ammarell (14:14):
But Well, yeah. You know, it's different now.
It's not as expensive as youthink. Yeah. Right.
And it's easy enough to come upwith, an idea how much it costs.
Yeah. Number of employees, youknow, your sales number, boom.
There you go. This is aroundwhere it'll be, and then we can
if you decide, yeah, I'm I'minterested, then we go deeper.
Dane Shoemaker (14:36):
Right. Right. Okay.
Glenn Ammarell (14:38):
And, you know, then you get a you know, your IT
people, they like it too. Ithelps protect them as well.
Yeah. I mean, they don't theywork together very well with,
you know, cybersecurity. Theywanna keep everything working
because it's a bread and butter.
Dane Shoemaker (14:55):
Sure. Sure. Is that usually are you working
with the IT teams on thatusually or is it more on the
legal?
Glenn Ammarell (15:03):
That would be like, if I bring in a
cybersecurity professional, theywould work with the IT IT
people. And then cyberliability, when those
applications come out, the ITpeople are gonna need to help.
Dane Shoemaker (15:16):
Yeah. Right.
Glenn Ammarell (15:16):
You know? Because it's beyond me. I mean
Yep. I'm not a cyber liabilityexpert. Again, that's why
Dane Shoemaker (15:24):
That's why you have the experts.
Glenn Ammarell (15:25):
Yeah. Right. Like, I'm not a media expert.
That's why this guy right here.Right?
I mean, truly. Yeah. Because Idon't know. You know? So I know
what I don't know and try tostick in my lane.
Dane Shoemaker (15:35):
So you had mentioned something before, a
term I've not heard before. Sohard markets versus soft
markets.
Glenn Ammarell (15:40):
Mhmm.
Dane Shoemaker (15:41):
You know, to, you know, the layperson. What
what are what explain thoseterms and then what are we in
right now?
Glenn Ammarell (15:48):
We're in a hard market, but it may be coming to
the end of the hard market.Yeah. So there's been some
indicators, but that a hardmarket is the increase in
premiums, you know, the lack ofyou know, the lower capacity to
write the business. And, I mean,I've certainly had some
(16:11):
challenges, especially onproperty. Yeah.
Property has gotten verydifficult because, you know, if
it doesn't have, you know, meanto be gross, it's not a, you
know, a perfect risk. A lot ofcarriers are saying, no. I'm not
writing that.
Dane Shoemaker (16:30):
Really?
Glenn Ammarell (16:31):
You know, in the sprinkler system. So it's it's
it's a challenge.
Dane Shoemaker (16:36):
Sure. Sure. And the soft market is just when
things kinda ease up.
Glenn Ammarell (16:40):
When it eases up. Because I think some of the
hard mark you know, like, Ithink maybe in the soft market,
things are priced just to getbusiness because right now, the
workers' compensation is prettyeasy.
Dane Shoemaker (16:52):
Okay.
Glenn Ammarell (16:52):
Yeah. You know, so 8 years ago, that was the
problem. We're a cop. Rates weregoing up, and it was just, it
was a challenge.
Dane Shoemaker (17:04):
Yeah. Our insurance and this might be a
dumb question. Are insurancerates tied closely to the fed
and the interest rates?
Glenn Ammarell (17:10):
Yeah. They you know, they're they're tied to
the market. Yep.
Dane Shoemaker (17:13):
Yeah. Okay. Yep.
Glenn Ammarell (17:14):
Yeah. I mean, hopefully how that's, you know,
how their investments are areworking for sure. There's
definitely some economicindicators there that that,
drive drive a hard market.
Dane Shoemaker (17:26):
And what do you see for the next, you know,
couple years? I mean
Glenn Ammarell (17:30):
Well, what I I don't know what's gonna happen
with AI. I mean
Dane Shoemaker (17:34):
Okay.
Glenn Ammarell (17:36):
Either even from, like, now people can clone
your voice. So if your wifecalls you, I mean, you're gonna
need a safe word. Right? It'slike she says, hey. You need to
wire, you know, to such and suchmedia be for you know, pay this
bill.
And you're like, okay. Yeah. Butthat wasn't her. It was somebody
(17:56):
that cloned her voice. I mean,those are things that I'm like,
what's gonna happen?
Dane Shoemaker (18:01):
I mean, AI is touching every part of of the
business, you know, our businesstoo. I mean, you know, you're
gonna be able to
Glenn Ammarell (18:08):
Oh, yeah.
Dane Shoemaker (18:09):
You know, we're we're you and I are gonna be
able to, like, just do thisvirtually and make it look like
we're in person or something.You know?
Glenn Ammarell (18:16):
Literally, you know, I was thinking before I
came here, just went on to AIand like, hey. What Yeah. What's
going on? What are the, youknow, the hot topics right now
in in the insurance industry?You know?
So Yeah. It's so easy. It's it'sreally Right.
Dane Shoemaker (18:35):
The tools that are out there. I mean, if things
get progressively more advancedtoo, I mean, a year from now,
who knows what it's gonna looklike? It's crazy.
Glenn Ammarell (18:43):
So Oh, I've
Dane Shoemaker (18:44):
Yeah.
Glenn Ammarell (18:44):
I I can't imagine. But, you know, my that
and my biggest concern is thesecatastrophic losses. I mean, are
they gonna continue to be Yeah.Natural disasters?
Dane Shoemaker (18:54):
Okay.
Glenn Ammarell (18:55):
I can't imagine my counterparts working in
Florida Yeah. Or along the coastanywhere. I mean, it just really
depends
Dane Shoemaker (19:02):
on about climate change or, you know, weather or
Glenn Ammarell (19:05):
Climate change or Yeah. You know, whatever
Yeah. Is causing it. It'sdefinitely you know? So far,
knock on wood.
I don't know what I would aroundhere, but the hurricane season's
been kinda kinda good.
Dane Shoemaker (19:15):
This Yeah. Yeah. I would I would say it's a
little tamer than it has been in
Glenn Ammarell (19:18):
the past. A little cool waters off Africa.
Yeah. I saw that this morning inthe news.
Dane Shoemaker (19:23):
Atlantic, Nina, or something like that. Have you
seen that? Yeah. I don't know.Yeah.
I mean, what else? I mean, doyou, you know, what do you what
are your clients coming to toyou asking about? What are some
common questions?
Glenn Ammarell (19:39):
I mean, a lot of the questions are, you know,
centered around, like, I havesome renewals coming up, and I
know the current carrier is notgoing to renew them.
Dane Shoemaker (19:52):
Really?
Glenn Ammarell (19:53):
So whether it's certain aspects of their
business, they decide they don'twanna do anymore. Yeah. So now I
gotta scramble to find anothercarrier. So at a comparable
rate.
Dane Shoemaker (20:09):
So Just because they've done some kind of risk
analysis or would like?
Glenn Ammarell (20:13):
Yeah. They said, like, they'll do a risk analysis
of their whole book. Like, itcould be, carrier decide, well,
we've had a lot of losses in theHVAC, so we're not we're gonna
put a pause on it. That's theword that is
Dane Shoemaker (20:25):
Yeah. Yeah.
Glenn Ammarell (20:26):
For now.
Dane Shoemaker (20:26):
Okay.
Glenn Ammarell (20:26):
And we're not gonna write any more, heating
and air conditioning contractorsfor an example.
Dane Shoemaker (20:31):
Oh, wow. Just because it's, yeah, just because
it's not profitable for them orthere's too much risk or yeah.
Glenn Ammarell (20:38):
Yeah. Yeah. Because they look at the data.
Dane Shoemaker (20:41):
Yeah. Right.
Glenn Ammarell (20:41):
And the data says, hey. You know, we're we're
taking a beating on this. It'sall about the the loss ratio.
Mhmm. I mean, I think, you know,a lot of these carriers, if they
were to have, for every dollarthey took in Mhmm.
They put out 97. They'd behaving a party. Yeah. I mean,
that's great. You know?
(21:04):
So, you know and I know a lot ofpeople are like, ah, insurance
companies. Right? So, yeah, itcould be a challenge. I mean,
there's a lot of insurancecompanies going out of business
in Florida. You know?
It Sure. Because of whathappened, you know, the you
know, some of these disasters.So I think it's, yeah, it's
gonna be interesting interestingtimes for sure.
Dane Shoemaker (21:26):
We're we're probably lucky being up here
kind of mid Atlantic. Mhmm. Youknow, Pennsylvania. It's pretty
pretty temperate climate, Iwould say. I mean, it's not not
too hot, too cold unless I Idon't know.
Glenn Ammarell (21:37):
Right. Well, you know
Dane Shoemaker (21:38):
We haven't got a whole lot snow in the last
couple of years. So
Glenn Ammarell (21:41):
A glass half full.
Dane Shoemaker (21:44):
Okay.
Glenn Ammarell (21:45):
So
Dane Shoemaker (21:45):
Yeah.
Glenn Ammarell (21:46):
Whether it's a hard market, soft market,
whatever market, you know, wecould all complain about it. Or
we could look at it. Hey. Here'san opportunity.
Dane Shoemaker (21:54):
Sure.
Glenn Ammarell (21:55):
Right? Because everybody else is having the
same problem. So I could come inand say, hey. I can solve your
problem that you're not gettingsolved right now.
Dane Shoemaker (22:03):
Yeah.
Glenn Ammarell (22:04):
So it's about solving a problem. And why would
I wanna go if somebody's doing agood job, I don't really wanna
come in and take their businessunless, you know, their premium,
I could tell, is way out ofline.
Dane Shoemaker (22:17):
Yeah. If they're doing
Glenn Ammarell (22:18):
it, then somebody's gonna come do it to
me. So somebody's doing theirgood a good job. There's plenty
out there that aren't gettingthe service that they need.
Dane Shoemaker (22:27):
Yeah.
Glenn Ammarell (22:27):
And that's who my ideal market is.
Dane Shoemaker (22:31):
Yeah. Yeah. And I can you know? I mean, you just
have you're very personal in theway, you know.
Glenn Ammarell (22:36):
Oh, yeah. You're too kind.
Dane Shoemaker (22:38):
Yeah. Yeah. I can I can see where, like, you
know, a lot of it comes down torelationships
Glenn Ammarell (22:43):
Mhmm?
Dane Shoemaker (22:43):
And that trust. Like, delivering on what you on
what you
Glenn Ammarell (22:47):
And going back. You know? And it's like I I told
a guy in the office, I had thisepiphany. I'm like, you know,
sometimes when you, walk intothe fire, you get less burned.
Yeah.
It's the truth because so manyof us, I don't wanna deal with
that situation. Right? Mhmm. Youknow, you just keep calling. You
(23:08):
know?
And sometimes things like, ifyou have a a disaster like a I
had an account, you know, 5years ago, and they just had a
disaster. A tornado rippedthrough, knocked down a 150
trees.
Dane Shoemaker (23:22):
Yeah.
Glenn Ammarell (23:22):
It's just they're mad.
Dane Shoemaker (23:24):
Right. Right.
Glenn Ammarell (23:24):
I didn't do anything wrong, but they're mad.
Dane Shoemaker (23:27):
Sure.
Glenn Ammarell (23:28):
Then you just have to keep going to the plate
and saying, here I am. Yeah. Iwill always answer your phone
call, and I will always go tobat for you. And, you know, it
it eases the pain a little bitbecause it's no fun, but you
know? And I think you see thatin lots of walks of life where
when when it gets tough, peoplekinda shy away.
(23:51):
I don't feel like dealing withthat.
Dane Shoemaker (23:52):
Yeah. And I especially in your business, I
mean, I feel like, you know,everyone has it, insurance.
Mhmm. But when you have anissue, that's when it really
counts. Right?
Glenn Ammarell (24:02):
Correct. Right. And you want somebody that's
gonna, you know, go to bat,advocate for you, and, you know,
do do what it takes. Yep.Sometimes it just takes
answering the phone.
Yep. Right? I've answered thephone and let somebody just talk
about it. It's like, I can'tbelieve this happened, and it's
like, you know, how can we dealwith this? And you just listen.
(24:25):
Sometimes it's just as simple aslistening. Right? I mean,
there's nothing you can do rightat that moment, but just listen.
Yep. Yep.
And if you didn't answer thatphone call, then it just starts
to So it's
Dane Shoemaker (24:39):
a bad domino effect there.
Glenn Ammarell (24:40):
Right. Right. We don't want that.
Dane Shoemaker (24:42):
Yeah. Yeah.
Glenn Ammarell (24:43):
It's like you. Like, if if you were you know,
we're supposed to deliversomething by 1 o'clock and it's
2 o'clock, somebody calls, yougotta answer the phone. Right?
And say, hey. I'm This is theissue that I'm dealing with, and
I will get to see you orwhatever.
Right. Not that that would everhappen with Dang.
Dane Shoemaker (25:00):
Yeah. It happens sometimes. Yeah.
Glenn Ammarell (25:03):
We're all humans.
Dane Shoemaker (25:04):
Sure.
Glenn Ammarell (25:04):
Every one of us and I mean, other than the AI,
if we're we're gonna havechallenges. Right?
Dane Shoemaker (25:10):
Yeah. It's
Glenn Ammarell (25:11):
just how we handle them.
Dane Shoemaker (25:12):
Yep. Yep. Last question you had spent on here
about board of advisers.
Glenn Ammarell (25:21):
I mean, board of advisers yeah. I mean, yeah. It
does
Dane Shoemaker (25:25):
Relevant to, like, a business? Or,
Glenn Ammarell (25:29):
Well, board of advisers, you know, I learned
this from, you know, another,like, very successful agent
Yeah. That said it's reallyimportant to have a board of
advisers, and he's right. Inyour in your my industry. In in
any industry.
Dane Shoemaker (25:48):
It's
Glenn Ammarell (25:48):
probably good in your industry. Right?
Dane Shoemaker (25:49):
Like Yeah.
Glenn Ammarell (25:50):
There's satellite industries that relate
to you. Right? So if, like, aboard of advisors would be if
there's anything media related,you're on my board of advisers.
Right? I'll call you.
Dane Shoemaker (26:03):
Yeah. Absolutely.
Glenn Ammarell (26:05):
If somebody needs a commercial loan, I have
somebody there that I I've kindavetted to a degree. Right? You
know, I have somebody that Iwork with that's a, you know,
fractional CFO. Yeah. So if youneed those services, I could
say, hey.
You know? Mhmm. This is yourguy.
Dane Shoemaker (26:23):
Yep. You
Glenn Ammarell (26:24):
know? Give him a call. Right? So people that do
things that I don't do Right.And, you know, can make me more
valuable.
You know, somebody can call up,say, hey, Glenn. Do you know
anybody that does this? Yep. AndI say, yes. I do.
Right? Yep. You know, I had acustomer just yesterday, h HVAC
(26:49):
customer. They they wantedsomebody who does heat
calculations through the chambermainline chamber membership. I
reached out to, you know,somebody at Barry Isaac and
said, hey.
Do you know anybody? And, youknow, Aaron gave me somebody
that they could call.
Dane Shoemaker (27:09):
Yep. You
Glenn Ammarell (27:10):
know? So it's it's important to have people
surround you that, you know, dothings that you don't do.
Dane Shoemaker (27:17):
So you had mentioned something to me,
earlier when we were talkingbefore the show about really
having a board of advisors, youknow, whether you're a business
owner or you're, you know, anindependent contractor, whatever
it is, right, having beingsurrounded by the right kinds of
people you know, to help youwith your business, it really
makes a lot of sense. And we'rewe're as a business owner, I'm
(27:40):
trying to do that now
Glenn Ammarell (27:41):
Yeah. Absolutely.
Dane Shoemaker (27:41):
As well. Right. And you've been a big help with
that, actually, with connectingpeople within the Chamber and
other other groups as well. Howdo you act as, like, an adviser
to to to business owners? Andcan you talk a little bit about
that?
Glenn Ammarell (27:53):
How I would act as an adviser to somebody? So
you came to me and you said I'mworking with ABC Company.
Dane Shoemaker (28:01):
Yeah.
Glenn Ammarell (28:01):
And, you know, they're having some issues,
would you be willing to reviewtheir policies? Absolutely.
Yeah. No strings attached. NoI'm gonna try to sell them
anything Yeah.
Because nobody wants that. Whenthey want information, they want
information. And when you giveinformation, it's like that
(28:22):
book, The Go Giver. Yeah. Atsome point, it comes back to
you.
I mean, whether it comes back toyou then or some other time, it
really doesn't matter.
Dane Shoemaker (28:30):
Mhmm.
Glenn Ammarell (28:30):
Just gotta do the right thing. You know? And,
because as as you know, salescan be come off as dirty. Right?
Dane Shoemaker (28:39):
Yeah. Yeah. That's the stigma sometimes. I
mean, a lot of times. But yeah.
Glenn Ammarell (28:44):
I just wanna be a resource, help people. And, so
that's how I would act, youknow, as somebody, you know, the
go to person in insurance.Right? Right. And people call me
up and say, hey.
My home my home auto. I'm like,let me connect you with
somebody. Because funny enough,it's like, I don't do home and
(29:08):
auto every day. I said, I don'tknow. Yeah.
You know? There might be somesome nuance that I I'm not aware
of. So here you go. Here'ssomebody in my office. Talk to
them.
They'll know better than me.Yep.
Dane Shoemaker (29:21):
So you can That's great.
Glenn Ammarell (29:22):
So yeah. So yeah. I mean, and if I have
like, I talked to you beforethis. I'm like, what if I wanted
to do a podcast? How would I goabout it?
Right? Mhmm. I you're the personto ask, right, when you have
these these relationships, andit's super valuable.
Dane Shoemaker (29:38):
Sure. Absolutely. Kinda build, like,
your own, like, kinda network ofpeople. Mhmm. Yep.
And it all comes down torelationships and, you know, so
critical for business. Yeah.
Glenn Ammarell (29:48):
You know? And good strong relationships for
sure.
Dane Shoemaker (29:52):
Yep. Well, Glenn, this is really
insightful. A lot of fun. Howcan people, you know, get in
touch with you, get in touchwith your your Conic agency? You
know?
Glenn Ammarell (30:05):
Well, anybody could email me at, g
amarell@yorkonic.com, or theycan call me at 610-952-7145.
Dane Shoemaker (30:17):
Cool. Alright. We'll put a link to the website
also.
Glenn Ammarell (30:19):
That'd be awesome. Yeah. Appreciate it.
Dane Shoemaker (30:21):
Any closing thoughts or anything?
Glenn Ammarell (30:24):
So what do you think opening day on Friday in
Brazil, Eagles versus the GreenBay Packers, who's gonna win?
Dane Shoemaker (30:32):
That's gonna be fun. Yeah. Yeah. Definitely, I
mean, I gotta I think Eagleshave a pretty good shot. I mean,
I you know?
Glenn Ammarell (30:40):
Yeah. I hope it did. We don't have the same
problem after the Phillies wentto, England there. No. Because
they went downhill after that.
Dane Shoemaker (30:47):
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Glenn Ammarell (30:48):
Yeah. So it's I can't believe it's gonna be
fall, but thank you for forhaving me. And, you know, it was
a lot of fun.
Dane Shoemaker (30:54):
Yeah. Absolutely. Thanks, Glenn.
Appreciate it.
Glenn Ammarell (30:56):
Appreciate it. Take care.
Hi, everyone. This is Dane Schumacher. Welcome
to the Schumacher Films podcast.I'm here with Glenn Amaril,
Glenn, of, your Connick Agency.Glenn,
Glenn Ammarell (00:08):
how are
Dane Shoemaker (00:08):
you today?
Glenn Ammarell (00:08):
I'm doing great, Dane. Thanks for having me. I
appreciate it. And, you know,here at the Willows, who can,
you know Yeah. Pass this up forsure?
Dane Shoemaker (00:15):
Willows Park Reserve, Willows Mansion in
Radnor. It's beautiful.
Glenn Ammarell (00:19):
Awesome.
Dane Shoemaker (00:19):
Yeah. So, you know, we're, we've been trying
to get this on the books for along time. I know. Absolutely.
I'm coming out of here rightnow.
Glenn Ammarell (00:27):
Yeah. Fantastic.
Dane Shoemaker (00:28):
This is great. So thanks for thanks for
joining. So excited to diveinto, the world of commercial
insurance, learn a little bitmore. It's definitely an area
that I need to brush up on. Iknow a lot of people typically,
it's one of those things thatmaybe they're not too excited to
jump into.
Glenn Ammarell (00:43):
Yeah. It's not too exciting Yeah. But
Dane Shoemaker (00:45):
it's for,
Glenn Ammarell (00:46):
people like me, I guess.
Dane Shoemaker (00:48):
But it's, it's critical, obviously. Oh,
absolutely. It's required and,it can really save your save
your business.
Glenn Ammarell (00:53):
So Absolutely. I mean, that's your biggest
investment.
Dane Shoemaker (00:56):
So why don't you tell us tell us just a little
bit about yourself.
Glenn Ammarell (00:59):
Okay. Tell
Dane Shoemaker (01:00):
us about your iconic agency.
Glenn Ammarell (01:02):
Well, I'm with the your iconic agency, which
is, part of the Keystone, AgencyPartners
Dane Shoemaker (01:08):
Okay.
Glenn Ammarell (01:08):
Which essentially what that does is,
that gives us bigger buyingpower. Right? So, you know, it
gets us to more markets. We'reable to do, you know, captive
insurance for larger businesses.You know, it just gives you a a
larger infrastructure.
So but we still have the, youknow, the small feel, which is
(01:30):
great. You know, sometimes Ihave to, you know, remember that
I have those resources, whichare awesome. So, I've been with
the agency about 10 years.
Dane Shoemaker (01:39):
Okay.
Glenn Ammarell (01:40):
It's a a great company. And if you're in the
Lehigh Valley, you know theYirconic Agency. So I'm trying
to help develop that a littlebit more out here in the
mainline.
Dane Shoemaker (01:49):
Okay.
Glenn Ammarell (01:51):
You know, that's where I met you in the mainline
chamber, which has been afantastic resource for me to get
to to know the community and thebusinesses and the people. You
know? So some greatrelationships.
Dane Shoemaker (02:03):
Yeah. Absolutely.
Glenn Ammarell (02:04):
Yeah. That's, you know, tried to stay involved
in the community. Like I said,meeting you in the, mainline
chamber, you know, being part ofRotary and just really trying to
give back to the community.
Dane Shoemaker (02:16):
Yep. Yep.
Glenn Ammarell (02:17):
So that's it's been awesome.
Dane Shoemaker (02:19):
Yeah. I agree. And just kind of a just kind of
like a quick commercial formainline chamber Commerce.
They've been awesome. I've beena member for maybe 2 years now
coming on year and a half or so.
But, yeah, you you kinda got usto got us to join. I think we
came to a networking event. Wehad just joined, but then you
you introduced us to theChamberConnect group and, you
(02:41):
know a lot of the members there.So I've made some introductions.
So it's been really great.
Glenn Ammarell (02:44):
Yeah. I mean, it's it's I look at it like a
bank account. In the beginning,I was just making deposits. In
other words, I was going toeverything, every meeting,
everything out there. And now Ican take the withdrawal.
So if I'm not around for a monthand I go to a meeting, I still
know people, which has beentremendous. You know? And, you
(03:04):
know, and some of therelationships, even some that
that aren't business have beenbeen great, you know, because
it's it's a balance, you know, awork life balance. So you have
to enjoy yourself along the wayas well.
Dane Shoemaker (03:15):
Yeah. Absolutely. I love that analogy
of making making deposits and,you know, it's like anything in
in business. You gotta put insome work in order to get
something out of it.
Glenn Ammarell (03:25):
You know, I'm part of the, you know,
ambassador committee, and I'lltalk to somebody and, you know,
they'll be talking ROI. Andsometimes when you're talking
ROI, it's like you have yourblinders on. Yeah. It's like,
first off, how often have yougone to meetings? The mainline
chamber, you know, BNI, nomatter what it is, is not gonna
(03:45):
work if you don't go.
Dane Shoemaker (03:46):
Right? Right. Right.
Glenn Ammarell (03:47):
So first off, you have to do that. And and
sometimes I sit sit back andrealize, like, oh my gosh. This
really great, you know, contactthat I met wasn't through the
chamber, but it was throughsomebody at the chamber. And
sometimes you really have to tothink about that and how
valuable those relationshipsare. Yep.
(04:09):
And sometimes, like, with theSociety of Professional Women
Dane Shoemaker (04:11):
Yeah.
Glenn Ammarell (04:12):
You walk out of there and it's just you know,
you're inspired to to do more.
Dane Shoemaker (04:17):
Yeah. That's a great organization.
Glenn Ammarell (04:19):
Value. So that's what I'm talking about by taking
the blinders out often, reallyrealizing everything that you
can get out of the the chamber.
Dane Shoemaker (04:28):
Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. And and just
networking is such a huge partof business, referrals, building
relationships.
Glenn Ammarell (04:34):
Absolutely. Yeah. Yes. And and just coming
up with ideas. You know,brainstorming like our Chamber
Connect group.
Right? It's it's kind of amastermind, so you don't feel
that pressure to give leads.
Dane Shoemaker (04:49):
Right. Right.
Glenn Ammarell (04:49):
You can come in there and say, hey. This last
quarter has been tough. Youknow? This is what I'm seeing,
and, you know, has anybody elseseen this, and and and what have
you done to overcome that?
Dane Shoemaker (05:00):
So Right.
Glenn Ammarell (05:00):
It's kinda like a support group. We all need
them from time to time.
Dane Shoemaker (05:04):
I agree. Yeah. And I love the, you know, David
Wyman who runs theChamberConnect Group does such a
good job at bringing people in.You know, we just kinda share
what's going on and, you know,get help with different business
issues. So I found that to be areally
Glenn Ammarell (05:16):
Oh my gosh. Yeah. He has a wealth of
knowledge in, you know, workingwith larger companies, and we
get the value of that. Yeah.Again, you know, it's like if
you're looking at yourspreadsheet, you're not seeing
dollars and cents directly.
But indirectly, I'm sure you'reseeing a lot.
Dane Shoemaker (05:33):
Yeah. Absolutely. Yep. So it went on a
little bit of a tangent there
Glenn Ammarell (05:36):
on main
Dane Shoemaker (05:37):
on mainline chamber. So hopefully welcome.
Glenn Ammarell (05:39):
Yeah. Right?
Dane Shoemaker (05:40):
But, yeah. Talk to us a little bit about what's
going on in in, insuranceindustry.
Glenn Ammarell (05:44):
Well, it it's been a a hard market, which, has
been challenging. And, you know,most of my customers, you know,
they may not call it a hardmarket, but they know that
they've been paying more inpremiums. Yeah. We've had to
move to different carriersbecause, you know, the capacity
in the market has shrunk. So inother words, you know, some of
(06:09):
these carriers are not puttingthe capital into certain market
segments.
Dane Shoemaker (06:12):
Okay.
Glenn Ammarell (06:14):
And, basically, it's caused by economic
conditions, inflation Yeah. Youknow, cost of, you know, cost of
goods, you know, increases yourproperty cost, which increases
your premium, and catastrophiclosses, you know, with, you
know, all these naturaldisasters because it's spread
across, you know Okay. You know,you're helping pay essentially
(06:39):
for other people's losses. So,you know, there every insurance
company purchases reinsurance.
Dane Shoemaker (06:46):
Right. Right.
Glenn Ammarell (06:47):
So the reinsurance market has been
getting hit a lot with thesecatastrophic losses so that in
turn, increases their premiums,and it just trickles all all the
way down to, you know, the theconsumer, which would be my, my
customers.
Dane Shoemaker (07:05):
Yeah. Do you have a, like, do you have a
specific clientele that youfocus on? Maybe the agency
overall or maybe your segmentspecifically?
Glenn Ammarell (07:14):
Or I'm kind of a generalist. You know? I like to
work with, you know,contractors. I like, you know,
every even if they're in thesame industry, every company has
different needs. And, you know,whether it's pollution and
things like that to to reallydig into their policy.
I mean, I'm not just there totransact the you know, like,
(07:34):
hey. Here's your quote. Yeah.I'm here to take a look at at,
your current policy, analyzethat, and, you know, see if
there's any gaps in coveragesand, you know, and, you know,
inform the customer of what whatthey're missing out on and, you
know, you know, putting togetherrecommendations.
Dane Shoemaker (07:53):
You know, why is it so important for a business
to pick a particular broker? Imean, I know there's a lot of
there's a lot of options outthere. I mean, why you know,
what makes brokers differentfrom each other, and and why
would they go with you?
Glenn Ammarell (08:06):
Well, broker selection, which is it took a
while. I mean Yeah. When whenyou're starting out in the
business, you're so desperate toto get business. You go into
situations where if you were tosee the red lights going in, you
would have stopped immediately.But, broker selection so if you
have a you know, everybody hasinsurance.
(08:29):
Right?
Dane Shoemaker (08:29):
Yeah.
Glenn Ammarell (08:31):
And if they're looking to, look at
alternatives, you don't wannahave 2 or 3 other agents quoting
because they're all juststepping over each other. So
what you wanna do is interviewthose agents and see what
resources can really, you know,benefit you as a customer. So
that could be, you know, claimsmanagement, risk control, and,
(08:55):
you know, helping set up asafety committee. All those
various things are are resourcesand access to the market. Right?
Yeah. So that's where I've beenfortunate with, you know, KAP
being part of the Yaconic agencythat that I have access to,
markets that, you know, othercarriers or agents may not. So
(09:16):
Okay. It's been helpful. Yeah.
But I'll tell you, it's nomatter how much you know, it's
really hard to walk away frombusiness. But, you know, when
you keep losing because itwasn't the right right situation
you learned. Yeah. Yeah. I mean,I'm not in the business of, you
know, just giving a price.
Dane Shoemaker (09:37):
Sure. Yeah. Do you have a particular, like, an
ideal client? You know, like,what would be a what would be
with the best case scenario fora client?
Glenn Ammarell (09:51):
The best ideal client would be somebody that
understands that they have theseneeds
Dane Shoemaker (09:57):
Yeah.
Glenn Ammarell (09:57):
And they don't feel that they're getting them.
Dane Shoemaker (09:59):
Okay.
Glenn Ammarell (10:00):
So there's there's a problem. Because I've
I've learned going in, you know,I've talked to people. It's
like, yeah. Sure. Yeah.
I'll take a look and see whatyou got. Right? Yeah. Yeah.
Well, that that's not a goodopportunity because you start
asking questions, and I've donethis where I say, hey.
You know, when your agent doesthis, you know, how's that
worked out for you? And you gothrough all those questions, and
(10:21):
it seems like they're doing agood job. Yeah. So at that
point, yes. It's like
Dane Shoemaker (10:27):
Yeah. You know, they probably
Glenn Ammarell (10:29):
shop you out. Yeah. And you don't need me to
do that because chances are youwouldn't move anyway.
Dane Shoemaker (10:35):
Right. Right.
Glenn Ammarell (10:36):
You're just seeing what what's out there
because Yeah. You think, like,when you're doing your deck and
it's just a different Yeah.Different situation.
Dane Shoemaker (10:43):
Right. Are there are there typical things that,
or common things, I guess, youyou you identify where where
people have gaps in theircurrent policies or, anything
like that?
Glenn Ammarell (10:56):
Yeah. I mean, it could be from pollution to cyber
coverage. And I mean Yeah. Allbusinesses are starting to
understand cyber. Yeah.
Yeah. Because a lot of thebusiness owners policy, pack
package policies have, like,data compromise.
Dane Shoemaker (11:15):
Okay.
Glenn Ammarell (11:16):
And I talked to my cyber liability expert, and
he's like, that's kinda like,you have a $600,000 house and
you insure the door. Right?Right.
Dane Shoemaker (11:26):
Right.
Glenn Ammarell (11:26):
So you need 1st party, 3rd party, and you need
somebody that that understandsthat. And the most important
thing I've learned about, like,cyber, for example Yeah. Is
that's like having a 911. Yeah.Because if you were to if I were
to get hacked right now, I'd belike, I don't know.
Yeah. I have no idea. Where theyhave the resources, they know
(11:47):
how to negotiate with the badactors, you know, and they even
know them, which is crazy. So,you just make that call and they
take care of that for you.
Dane Shoemaker (11:57):
That's that's interesting. Yeah. I'm sure
that's a a rising, you know,issue. Oh. So how does that
work?
So if I'm a business, I mean,are there's, like, the IT side
of things where you actually,you know, your your data
protection and malware, youknow, threat detection stuff,
but then you also have theinsurance side of things.
Glenn Ammarell (12:15):
That is, you know Okay. Very insightful of
you, Dan. Okay. Because, Youknow, first off, you know, I I I
like to surround myself withpeople that are, smarter in
certain areas than me, and, youknow, cybersecurity is one of
them.
Dane Shoemaker (12:30):
Yeah. Okay.
Glenn Ammarell (12:30):
So somebody doesn't have that situation
going on right now, I say, hey.You need to talk to you know,
here's somebody incybersecurity. You know, they
can, either make sure thatyou're not just putting a Band
Aid on something that needsstitches.
Dane Shoemaker (12:44):
Right. Right.
Glenn Ammarell (12:44):
But now a lot of the stand alone cyber liability
carriers are requiring that youhave certain things in place
like the multifactorauthentication Okay. And things
like that.
Dane Shoemaker (12:58):
Yeah. Okay. So I had, like, a background in
security, but, like, I'm not toofamiliar with the insurance side
of things. So the the insuranceis kind of set up in the event
that you do have a data loss ora breach or
Glenn Ammarell (13:10):
Data breach, data
Dane Shoemaker (13:11):
loss, rates, and The company might have to pay
fines or something and theninsurance. Yep. Yep. Got it.
Wow.
Glenn Ammarell (13:18):
Yeah. So I have a guy that does cyber liability
for us. So
Dane Shoemaker (13:26):
Yeah.
Glenn Ammarell (13:26):
Even if you have a stand alone policy, I'll take
it, send it to him. I'm like,tear it apart. And he'll come
back and say, it's missing this.It doesn't have the 3rd party
coverage. It has a sublimitYeah.
Where they think they're coveredfor 2,000,000, but they're only
covered for 250 Yeah. 1,000. SoI've seen that. So I rely on
(13:49):
somebody that knows does thatevery single day. Yeah.
So, yeah, you you find, youknow, even within the coverage,
you find gaps of coverage. Sure.
Dane Shoemaker (14:00):
Yeah. And I'm sure most people or a lot of
businesses are gonna have kindof the bare minimum starting
out, or at least I know that I Iknow for a fact I have, like,
the bare minimum. So I think weneed to talk at some point.
Glenn Ammarell (14:14):
But Well, yeah. You know, it's different now.
It's not as expensive as youthink. Yeah. Right.
And it's easy enough to come upwith, an idea how much it costs.
Yeah. Number of employees, youknow, your sales number, boom.
There you go. This is aroundwhere it'll be, and then we can
if you decide, yeah, I'm I'minterested, then we go deeper.
Dane Shoemaker (14:36):
Right. Right. Okay.
Glenn Ammarell (14:38):
And, you know, then you get a you know, your IT
people, they like it too. Ithelps protect them as well.
Yeah. I mean, they don't theywork together very well with,
you know, cybersecurity. Theywanna keep everything working
because it's a bread and butter.
Dane Shoemaker (14:55):
Sure. Sure. Is that usually are you working
with the IT teams on thatusually or is it more on the
legal?
Glenn Ammarell (15:03):
That would be like, if I bring in a
cybersecurity professional, theywould work with the IT IT
people. And then cyberliability, when those
applications come out, the ITpeople are gonna need to help.
Dane Shoemaker (15:16):
Yeah. Right.
Glenn Ammarell (15:16):
You know? Because it's beyond me. I mean
Yep. I'm not a cyber liabilityexpert. Again, that's why
Dane Shoemaker (15:24):
That's why you have the experts.
Glenn Ammarell (15:25):
Yeah. Right. Like, I'm not a media expert.
That's why this guy right here.Right?
I mean, truly. Yeah. Because Idon't know. You know? So I know
what I don't know and try tostick in my lane.
Dane Shoemaker (15:35):
So you had mentioned something before, a
term I've not heard before. Sohard markets versus soft
markets.
Glenn Ammarell (15:40):
Mhmm.
Dane Shoemaker (15:41):
You know, to, you know, the layperson. What
what are what explain thoseterms and then what are we in
right now?
Glenn Ammarell (15:48):
We're in a hard market, but it may be coming to
the end of the hard market.Yeah. So there's been some
indicators, but that a hardmarket is the increase in
premiums, you know, the lack ofyou know, the lower capacity to
write the business. And, I mean,I've certainly had some
(16:11):
challenges, especially onproperty. Yeah.
Property has gotten verydifficult because, you know, if
it doesn't have, you know, meanto be gross, it's not a, you
know, a perfect risk. A lot ofcarriers are saying, no. I'm not
writing that.
Dane Shoemaker (16:30):
Really?
Glenn Ammarell (16:31):
You know, in the sprinkler system. So it's it's
it's a challenge.
Dane Shoemaker (16:36):
Sure. Sure. And the soft market is just when
things kinda ease up.
Glenn Ammarell (16:40):
When it eases up. Because I think some of the
hard mark you know, like, Ithink maybe in the soft market,
things are priced just to getbusiness because right now, the
workers' compensation is prettyeasy.
Dane Shoemaker (16:52):
Okay.
Glenn Ammarell (16:52):
Yeah. You know, so 8 years ago, that was the
problem. We're a cop. Rates weregoing up, and it was just, it
was a challenge.
Dane Shoemaker (17:04):
Yeah. Our insurance and this might be a
dumb question. Are insurancerates tied closely to the fed
and the interest rates?
Glenn Ammarell (17:10):
Yeah. They you know, they're they're tied to
the market. Yep.
Dane Shoemaker (17:13):
Yeah. Okay. Yep.
Glenn Ammarell (17:14):
Yeah. I mean, hopefully how that's, you know,
how their investments are areworking for sure. There's
definitely some economicindicators there that that,
drive drive a hard market.
Dane Shoemaker (17:26):
And what do you see for the next, you know,
couple years? I mean
Glenn Ammarell (17:30):
Well, what I I don't know what's gonna happen
with AI. I mean
Dane Shoemaker (17:34):
Okay.
Glenn Ammarell (17:36):
Either even from, like, now people can clone
your voice. So if your wifecalls you, I mean, you're gonna
need a safe word. Right? It'slike she says, hey. You need to
wire, you know, to such and suchmedia be for you know, pay this
bill.
And you're like, okay. Yeah. Butthat wasn't her. It was somebody
(17:56):
that cloned her voice. I mean,those are things that I'm like,
what's gonna happen?
Dane Shoemaker (18:01):
I mean, AI is touching every part of of the
business, you know, our businesstoo. I mean, you know, you're
gonna be able to
Glenn Ammarell (18:08):
Oh, yeah.
Dane Shoemaker (18:09):
You know, we're we're you and I are gonna be
able to, like, just do thisvirtually and make it look like
we're in person or something.You know?
Glenn Ammarell (18:16):
Literally, you know, I was thinking before I
came here, just went on to AIand like, hey. What Yeah. What's
going on? What are the, youknow, the hot topics right now
in in the insurance industry?You know?
So Yeah. It's so easy. It's it'sreally Right.
Dane Shoemaker (18:35):
The tools that are out there. I mean, if things
get progressively more advancedtoo, I mean, a year from now,
who knows what it's gonna looklike? It's crazy.
Glenn Ammarell (18:43):
So Oh, I've
Dane Shoemaker (18:44):
Yeah.
Glenn Ammarell (18:44):
I I can't imagine. But, you know, my that
and my biggest concern is thesecatastrophic losses. I mean, are
they gonna continue to be Yeah.Natural disasters?
Dane Shoemaker (18:54):
Okay.
Glenn Ammarell (18:55):
I can't imagine my counterparts working in
Florida Yeah. Or along the coastanywhere. I mean, it just really
depends
Dane Shoemaker (19:02):
on about climate change or, you know, weather or
Glenn Ammarell (19:05):
Climate change or Yeah. You know, whatever
Yeah. Is causing it. It'sdefinitely you know? So far,
knock on wood.
I don't know what I would aroundhere, but the hurricane season's
been kinda kinda good.
Dane Shoemaker (19:15):
This Yeah. Yeah. I would I would say it's a
little tamer than it has been in
Glenn Ammarell (19:18):
the past. A little cool waters off Africa.
Yeah. I saw that this morning inthe news.
Dane Shoemaker (19:23):
Atlantic, Nina, or something like that. Have you
seen that? Yeah. I don't know.Yeah.
I mean, what else? I mean, doyou, you know, what do you what
are your clients coming to toyou asking about? What are some
common questions?
Glenn Ammarell (19:39):
I mean, a lot of the questions are, you know,
centered around, like, I havesome renewals coming up, and I
know the current carrier is notgoing to renew them.
Dane Shoemaker (19:52):
Really?
Glenn Ammarell (19:53):
So whether it's certain aspects of their
business, they decide they don'twanna do anymore. Yeah. So now I
gotta scramble to find anothercarrier. So at a comparable
rate.
Dane Shoemaker (20:09):
So Just because they've done some kind of risk
analysis or would like?
Glenn Ammarell (20:13):
Yeah. They said, like, they'll do a risk analysis
of their whole book. Like, itcould be, carrier decide, well,
we've had a lot of losses in theHVAC, so we're not we're gonna
put a pause on it. That's theword that is
Dane Shoemaker (20:25):
Yeah. Yeah.
Glenn Ammarell (20:26):
For now.
Dane Shoemaker (20:26):
Okay.
Glenn Ammarell (20:26):
And we're not gonna write any more, heating
and air conditioning contractorsfor an example.
Dane Shoemaker (20:31):
Oh, wow. Just because it's, yeah, just because
it's not profitable for them orthere's too much risk or yeah.
Glenn Ammarell (20:38):
Yeah. Yeah. Because they look at the data.
Dane Shoemaker (20:41):
Yeah. Right.
Glenn Ammarell (20:41):
And the data says, hey. You know, we're we're
taking a beating on this. It'sall about the the loss ratio.
Mhmm. I mean, I think, you know,a lot of these carriers, if they
were to have, for every dollarthey took in Mhmm.
They put out 97. They'd behaving a party. Yeah. I mean,
that's great. You know?
(21:04):
So, you know and I know a lot ofpeople are like, ah, insurance
companies. Right? So, yeah, itcould be a challenge. I mean,
there's a lot of insurancecompanies going out of business
in Florida. You know?
It Sure. Because of whathappened, you know, the you
know, some of these disasters.So I think it's, yeah, it's
gonna be interesting interestingtimes for sure.
Dane Shoemaker (21:26):
We're we're probably lucky being up here
kind of mid Atlantic. Mhmm. Youknow, Pennsylvania. It's pretty
pretty temperate climate, Iwould say. I mean, it's not not
too hot, too cold unless I Idon't know.
Glenn Ammarell (21:37):
Right. Well, you know
Dane Shoemaker (21:38):
We haven't got a whole lot snow in the last
couple of years. So
Glenn Ammarell (21:41):
A glass half full.
Dane Shoemaker (21:44):
Okay.
Glenn Ammarell (21:45):
So
Dane Shoemaker (21:45):
Yeah.
Glenn Ammarell (21:46):
Whether it's a hard market, soft market,
whatever market, you know, wecould all complain about it. Or
we could look at it. Hey. Here'san opportunity.
Dane Shoemaker (21:54):
Sure.
Glenn Ammarell (21:55):
Right? Because everybody else is having the
same problem. So I could come inand say, hey. I can solve your
problem that you're not gettingsolved right now.
Dane Shoemaker (22:03):
Yeah.
Glenn Ammarell (22:04):
So it's about solving a problem. And why would
I wanna go if somebody's doing agood job, I don't really wanna
come in and take their businessunless, you know, their premium,
I could tell, is way out ofline.
Dane Shoemaker (22:17):
Yeah. If they're doing
Glenn Ammarell (22:18):
it, then somebody's gonna come do it to
me. So somebody's doing theirgood a good job. There's plenty
out there that aren't gettingthe service that they need.
Dane Shoemaker (22:27):
Yeah.
Glenn Ammarell (22:27):
And that's who my ideal market is.
Dane Shoemaker (22:31):
Yeah. Yeah. And I can you know? I mean, you just
have you're very personal in theway, you know.
Glenn Ammarell (22:36):
Oh, yeah. You're too kind.
Dane Shoemaker (22:38):
Yeah. Yeah. I can I can see where, like, you
know, a lot of it comes down torelationships
Glenn Ammarell (22:43):
Mhmm?
Dane Shoemaker (22:43):
And that trust. Like, delivering on what you on
what you
Glenn Ammarell (22:47):
And going back. You know? And it's like I I told
a guy in the office, I had thisepiphany. I'm like, you know,
sometimes when you, walk intothe fire, you get less burned.
Yeah.
It's the truth because so manyof us, I don't wanna deal with
that situation. Right? Mhmm. Youknow, you just keep calling. You
(23:08):
know?
And sometimes things like, ifyou have a a disaster like a I
had an account, you know, 5years ago, and they just had a
disaster. A tornado rippedthrough, knocked down a 150
trees.
Dane Shoemaker (23:22):
Yeah.
Glenn Ammarell (23:22):
It's just they're mad.
Dane Shoemaker (23:24):
Right. Right.
Glenn Ammarell (23:24):
I didn't do anything wrong, but they're mad.
Dane Shoemaker (23:27):
Sure.
Glenn Ammarell (23:28):
Then you just have to keep going to the plate
and saying, here I am. Yeah. Iwill always answer your phone
call, and I will always go tobat for you. And, you know, it
it eases the pain a little bitbecause it's no fun, but you
know? And I think you see thatin lots of walks of life where
when when it gets tough, peoplekinda shy away.
(23:51):
I don't feel like dealing withthat.
Dane Shoemaker (23:52):
Yeah. And I especially in your business, I
mean, I feel like, you know,everyone has it, insurance.
Mhmm. But when you have anissue, that's when it really
counts. Right?
Glenn Ammarell (24:02):
Correct. Right. And you want somebody that's
gonna, you know, go to bat,advocate for you, and, you know,
do do what it takes. Yep.Sometimes it just takes
answering the phone.
Yep. Right? I've answered thephone and let somebody just talk
about it. It's like, I can'tbelieve this happened, and it's
like, you know, how can we dealwith this? And you just listen.
(24:25):
Sometimes it's just as simple aslistening. Right? I mean,
there's nothing you can do rightat that moment, but just listen.
Yep. Yep.
And if you didn't answer thatphone call, then it just starts
to So it's
Dane Shoemaker (24:39):
a bad domino effect there.
Glenn Ammarell (24:40):
Right. Right. We don't want that.
Dane Shoemaker (24:42):
Yeah. Yeah.
Glenn Ammarell (24:43):
It's like you. Like, if if you were you know,
we're supposed to deliversomething by 1 o'clock and it's
2 o'clock, somebody calls, yougotta answer the phone. Right?
And say, hey. I'm This is theissue that I'm dealing with, and
I will get to see you orwhatever.
Right. Not that that would everhappen with Dang.
Dane Shoemaker (25:00):
Yeah. It happens sometimes. Yeah.
Glenn Ammarell (25:03):
We're all humans.
Dane Shoemaker (25:04):
Sure.
Glenn Ammarell (25:04):
Every one of us and I mean, other than the AI,
if we're we're gonna havechallenges. Right?
Dane Shoemaker (25:10):
Yeah. It's
Glenn Ammarell (25:11):
just how we handle them.
Dane Shoemaker (25:12):
Yep. Yep. Last question you had spent on here
about board of advisers.
Glenn Ammarell (25:21):
I mean, board of advisers yeah. I mean, yeah. It
does
Dane Shoemaker (25:25):
Relevant to, like, a business? Or,
Glenn Ammarell (25:29):
Well, board of advisers, you know, I learned
this from, you know, another,like, very successful agent
Yeah. That said it's reallyimportant to have a board of
advisers, and he's right. Inyour in your my industry. In in
any industry.
Dane Shoemaker (25:48):
It's
Glenn Ammarell (25:48):
probably good in your industry. Right?
Dane Shoemaker (25:49):
Like Yeah.
Glenn Ammarell (25:50):
There's satellite industries that relate
to you. Right? So if, like, aboard of advisors would be if
there's anything media related,you're on my board of advisers.
Right? I'll call you.
Dane Shoemaker (26:03):
Yeah. Absolutely.
Glenn Ammarell (26:05):
If somebody needs a commercial loan, I have
somebody there that I I've kindavetted to a degree. Right? You
know, I have somebody that Iwork with that's a, you know,
fractional CFO. Yeah. So if youneed those services, I could
say, hey.
You know? Mhmm. This is yourguy.
Dane Shoemaker (26:23):
Yep. You
Glenn Ammarell (26:24):
know? Give him a call. Right? So people that do
things that I don't do Right.And, you know, can make me more
valuable.
You know, somebody can call up,say, hey, Glenn. Do you know
anybody that does this? Yep. AndI say, yes. I do.
Right? Yep. You know, I had acustomer just yesterday, h HVAC
(26:49):
customer. They they wantedsomebody who does heat
calculations through the chambermainline chamber membership. I
reached out to, you know,somebody at Barry Isaac and
said, hey.
Do you know anybody? And, youknow, Aaron gave me somebody
that they could call.
Dane Shoemaker (27:09):
Yep. You
Glenn Ammarell (27:10):
know? So it's it's important to have people
surround you that, you know, dothings that you don't do.
Dane Shoemaker (27:17):
So you had mentioned something to me,
earlier when we were talkingbefore the show about really
having a board of advisors, youknow, whether you're a business
owner or you're, you know, anindependent contractor, whatever
it is, right, having beingsurrounded by the right kinds of
people you know, to help youwith your business, it really
makes a lot of sense. And we'rewe're as a business owner, I'm
(27:40):
trying to do that now
Glenn Ammarell (27:41):
Yeah. Absolutely.
Dane Shoemaker (27:41):
As well. Right. And you've been a big help with
that, actually, with connectingpeople within the Chamber and
other other groups as well. Howdo you act as, like, an adviser
to to to business owners? Andcan you talk a little bit about
that?
Glenn Ammarell (27:53):
How I would act as an adviser to somebody? So
you came to me and you said I'mworking with ABC Company.
Dane Shoemaker (28:01):
Yeah.
Glenn Ammarell (28:01):
And, you know, they're having some issues,
would you be willing to reviewtheir policies? Absolutely.
Yeah. No strings attached. NoI'm gonna try to sell them
anything Yeah.
Because nobody wants that. Whenthey want information, they want
information. And when you giveinformation, it's like that
(28:22):
book, The Go Giver. Yeah. Atsome point, it comes back to
you.
I mean, whether it comes back toyou then or some other time, it
really doesn't matter.
Dane Shoemaker (28:30):
Mhmm.
Glenn Ammarell (28:30):
Just gotta do the right thing. You know? And,
because as as you know, salescan be come off as dirty. Right?
Dane Shoemaker (28:39):
Yeah. Yeah. That's the stigma sometimes. I
mean, a lot of times. But yeah.
Glenn Ammarell (28:44):
I just wanna be a resource, help people. And, so
that's how I would act, youknow, as somebody, you know, the
go to person in insurance.Right? Right. And people call me
up and say, hey.
My home my home auto. I'm like,let me connect you with
somebody. Because funny enough,it's like, I don't do home and
(29:08):
auto every day. I said, I don'tknow. Yeah.
You know? There might be somesome nuance that I I'm not aware
of. So here you go. Here'ssomebody in my office. Talk to
them.
They'll know better than me.Yep.
Dane Shoemaker (29:21):
So you can That's great.
Glenn Ammarell (29:22):
So yeah. So yeah. I mean, and if I have
like, I talked to you beforethis. I'm like, what if I wanted
to do a podcast? How would I goabout it?
Right? Mhmm. I you're the personto ask, right, when you have
these these relationships, andit's super valuable.
Dane Shoemaker (29:38):
Sure. Absolutely. Kinda build, like,
your own, like, kinda network ofpeople. Mhmm. Yep.
And it all comes down torelationships and, you know, so
critical for business. Yeah.
Glenn Ammarell (29:48):
You know? And good strong relationships for
sure.
Dane Shoemaker (29:52):
Yep. Well, Glenn, this is really
insightful. A lot of fun. Howcan people, you know, get in
touch with you, get in touchwith your your Conic agency? You
know?
Glenn Ammarell (30:05):
Well, anybody could email me at, g
amarell@yorkonic.com, or theycan call me at 610-952-7145.
Dane Shoemaker (30:17):
Cool. Alright. We'll put a link to the website
also.
Glenn Ammarell (30:19):
That'd be awesome. Yeah. Appreciate it.
Dane Shoemaker (30:21):
Any closing thoughts or anything?
Glenn Ammarell (30:24):
So what do you think opening day on Friday in
Brazil, Eagles versus the GreenBay Packers, who's gonna win?
Dane Shoemaker (30:32):
That's gonna be fun. Yeah. Yeah. Definitely, I
mean, I gotta I think Eagleshave a pretty good shot. I mean,
I you know?
Glenn Ammarell (30:40):
Yeah. I hope it did. We don't have the same
problem after the Phillies wentto, England there. No. Because
they went downhill after that.
Dane Shoemaker (30:47):
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Glenn Ammarell (30:48):
Yeah. So it's I can't believe it's gonna be
fall, but thank you for forhaving me. And, you know, it was
a lot of fun.
Dane Shoemaker (30:54):
Yeah. Absolutely. Thanks, Glenn.
Appreciate it.
Glenn Ammarell (30:56):
Appreciate it. Take care.
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