Finding Your Niche in the Market

OUTdrive Episode 76 with Brendan Hurley

In today’s marketplace, it pays to specialize. Customers aren’t as much looking for generalists; they want specialists to fit their needs, especially when it comes to insurance, retirement and benefits packages. In this episode of OUTdrive, I sit down with Brendan Hurley, who has found his stride in the insurance industry by asking the right questions and immersing himself in the community. But, according to Brendan, the real key to landing prospective clients comes down to perseverance and grit.

Brendan is in his sixth year as a consultant at Assured Partners, specializing in employee benefits and retirement for commercial businesses. While working toward a specialization, he has also found a niche working with architectural and engineering clients. Along with several years of sales experience, Brendan has a genuine passion to help people find the best solutions for their business and employees. Originally from Sedalia, Brendan graduated from the University of Missouri with a bachelor’s in Mass Communications. After weighing his post-graduate options, Brendan saw a window of opportunity during a national insurance company acquisition and never looked back.

Tune into this episode of OUTdrive to hear our discussions on client relations, industry specialization, and business success.

SHOW NOTES

• 2:45 – Brendan talks about his background, growing up in Sedalia
• 4:00 – Brendan explains how he ended up in insurance and why he decided to stay in Central Missouri after college
• 12:30 – Cliff and Brendan talk about how industries are trending towards a more specialized approach in the marketplace
• 14:45 – How Brendan came to own a niche in the market, specializing in architecture and engineering professional liability
• 18:00 – What it takes to be successful in the insurance business
• 21:00 – Brendan and Cliff’s shared approach of connecting with prospects; recognizing when your business is a good fit for a client, and when it’s not
• 24:00 – Brendan outlines the history of IBG and AssuredPartners and how everything came together to create what exists today
• 28:15 – How AssuredPartners markets their services and the process of getting in front of potential clients
• 34:00 – The community organizations Brendan works with and how he started getting involved
• 36:15 – New legislation that Brendan feels has a positive impact on retirement benefits and the potential it has to help serve clients