The Farmers Insurance Group is tired of being a minor player in Ohio, one of the most lucrative insurance markets in the country.
The nation’s No. 3 property and casualty insurer, part of global giant Zurich Financial Services, ranks only 10th in Ohio. So it’s putting $40 million into a five-year plan to recruit and train 600 new agents — more than doubling its presence in the state — and then to blitz Ohio with an ad campaign.
“We see Ohio as a gigantic insurance market for us,” Stan Bergstrom, senior marketing manager for Los Angeles-based Farmers, said Monday. “Ohio is one of the most competitive states in the country, and we look at it as an extremely good market with a very good business climate to work in.”
So do most insurers.
Ohio has more companies writing private passenger car insurance than every state but Illinois, and more homeowner insurance writers than every state but Illinois and Pennsylvania, said Mary Bonelli, spokeswoman for the Ohio Insurance Institute, a trade association with offices in Columbus.
“That’s because Ohio has a very stable regulatory environment that promotes competition among insurers,” Bonelli said. “That helps keep premiums affordable. We’ve actually had reductions in the cost of auto insurance in 2005 and 2006, and also reductions in the average premium for homeowners.”
Ohio has more than 84,000 resident licensed insurance agents, and nearly 150,000 nonresident licensed agents, Bonelli said. The Farmers group expects most of its new agents to operate their own offices.
Mary Jo Hudson, director of the Ohio Department of Insurance, welcomed the concept of Farmers’ training centers in Independence, near Cleveland, and Mason, near Cincinnati.
“Assuring agents are well trained promotes better protection for Ohio’s consumers,” Hudson said. “And, as always, competition in the Ohio market benefits Ohio Consumers.”
Farmers and its affiliated companies have a nearly 6 percent market share nationwide. Their share is half that in Ohio, where industry leader State Farm, based in Bloomington, Ill., is No. 1, and Nationwide, based in Columbus, and Progressive, of Mayfield Village, are second and third.
“We decided we needed to make a major foray into Ohio and go all out,” Bergstrom said. “We’re making a major competitive play here.”
Most candidates who are accepted for Farmers’ training program would attend 90 days of classes, during which they would not be paid, and then receive continuing education for about two years when they join the company sales staff, Bergstrom said.
“These centers offer superior training opportunities for men and women looking to own a small business with tremendous growth potential,” said Gary Gibson, manager of the center that opened Friday in Mason.
The northern Ohio center opened in April and has processed about 175 candidates.
“This is a tremendous investment in Ohio,” said Scott Stice, senior vice president of field operations for the Farmers group. “We are making a strong and lasting commitment to growing our business and providing career opportunities for hundreds of people in Ohio.”
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On the Net:
Farmers Insurance Group: http://www.farmers.com
Ohio Insurance Institute: http://www.ohioinsurance.org
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