American Family Insurance- Lyn Jurrens
Deep roots help South Dakota agent succeed
04/29/2020
Lynn Jurrens (D-386, Watertown, S.D.) says he’s an eternal optimist. Returning to his farming roots paid off during uncertain times and helped him earn agency owner of the month honors for March.
Growing up in a small town, Lynn helped family and neighbors with farm chores whenever needed.
“We stacked hay bales, picked rocks and walked bean fields to help my parents put food on the table. We treated neighbors like family. People may now understand this more during the pandemic,” says Lynn.
With a small but mighty team, Lynn focuses on building relationships. In March, customers began to get nervous about uncovered economic losses. Lynn’s team reassured them not to take chances with insurance during tough economic times.
“We’re grateful to offer products from an incredibly financially sound company,” says Lynn.
Guidance about forging strong relationships came from Lynn’s former district managers Kent Larson and Dennis Sand. Their advice stuck with Lynn.
“Business is 10% product knowledge and 90% understanding people. It will take the rest of my life to figure this out,” says Lynn, an advocate for life-long learning.
Lynn recently kept a positive outlook after losing a couple large commercial accounts. Before March 15, his team secured numerous life insurance customers, which helped his agency’s bottom line. Then, he added a couple big Commercial-Farm/Ranch accounts by March 27.
“Overcoming for us meant that, in March, we initially weren’t sure if we could make payroll. Our team did not give up, and I didn’t have to borrow $2,000 for payroll,” says Lynn.
He added: “We viewed this as another situation. Everything in life will be just fine.”
How do you get to the number one spot? Never try to be number one.
“People will feel the lack of integrity. Treat people with respect and go to work,” says Lynn.
The agency team worked hard for the success and he’s grateful, says Lynn:
- Kari Bahr, office manager
- Amanda Holt, Dakotas operations and process specialist
- Kim Lewis, agency assistant
- Paul Meyer, Dakotas sales advisor
- Hank Prien, Dakotas sales district leader
- Lois Wiarda, agency assistant
- Steph Woods, agency assistant
- Listing ID: 1690