When Jody Brown approached the carriers he represented through his North Carolina independent agency about crafting an insurance policy for Christmas tree farms, he wasn’t expecting the windfall he saw in all his insurance lines. However, it turned out the move helped Boone, N.C.-based LifeStore Insurance grow its client base not only in the niche Christmas tree market, but in more traditional lines like homeowners and auto policies.
Christmas tree farms boast a wide variety of insurance needs, according to National Christmas Tree Association spokesman Rick Dungey. Those include traditional business policies such as general liability, workers compensation and commercial auto, but also some heavy equipment-related products like inland marine.
By taking on these insurance lines and tailoring them to Christmas tree farms—or any other unique sector—producers could learn the same lesson Brown did: specializing in one product leads to increased sales in all others, as well as better relationships and increased appointments with carriers.
“As we were looking at our products, we approached our insurance companies and asked if they would be interested in doing a general liability policy for Christmas trees, whether that’s wholesale, retail or a Christmas tree lot,” Brown said. “We got a couple of core companies to agree to do it, and then from there, we’ve been contacted by other carriers and have been able to take on a couple of other companies.”
Today, Brown represents five insurers, all of whom have insurance packages specifically tailored to the needs of Christmas tree farms, lots and U-Cut retailers. And it’s not just the niche business LifeStore appreciates—although that represents occasional premiums of tens of thousands of dollars—it’s the effect it has had on other areas of LifeStore’s business.
After establishing itself as the “Christmas tree insurer,” LifeStore partnered with the North Carolina Christmas Tree Growers Association to sponsor events and offer discounts to members. From there, Brown said word-of-mouth helped grow his agency’s client base and proliferate further sales from tree growers.
“[The tree growers] obviously have personal assets, like homes and automobiles, and a lot of the time, we’ll end up doing their personal insurance as well,” he said. “So we’re able to go off that account and do some different things for those customers. Somebody’s got to insure these people, and with our expertise, we can be sure they’re covered in addition to the [Christmas tree farm] accounts.”
Brown’s experience dovetails neatly with results from the Big “I”’s 2013 Best Practices Study, which found that specializing in niche markets facilitates targeted leads and referrals for all manner of insurance lines, as well improves retention and helps an agency develop a competitive edge.
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