Past Winner Stories
Rocchio-Kiley Insurance
"I learned more about cash flow from my wife at 3 in the morning than I did in four years of graduate school."
In the summer of 1999, an arsonist leveled the offices of Rocchio-Kiley Insurance. By noon on the day of the fire, the entire operation moved, leaving 10 employees to work in a cramped 1,800 square-foot temporary office during the hottest week of the summer. When the air conditioner gave up the good fight, one employee quit on the spot.
For David Rocchio, it was just another day at the office. Since buying the Westfield-based business in 1996, he'd faced the loss of his two biggest accounts, 50 percent of his employees defecting to competing agencies, a serious cash-flow problem, and problems due to his own lack of management experience. He kept slogging through it all because of just one thing: He'd always wanted to own his own business to emulate his role models-his father and grandfather, who had both been business owners.
Rocchio developed a strategy centered on the fundamentals of the sales process. Commercial accounts were aggressively pursued, employees were educated on the industries they served, and a competitive compensation package was developed to attract and retain good people. New automation equipment sped up the servicing process, requiring fewer employees. A good thing, too, because commercial insurance rates had dropped 40 percent since 1996, and the agency had to sell twice as much to generate the same revenue.
Operating income was up 22 percent in 1999, and Rocchio believes the agency has come a long way. Says Rocchio, "While good times don't last forever, neither do bad times."
In the summer of 1999, an arsonist leveled the offices of Rocchio-Kiley Insurance. By noon on the day of the fire, the entire operation moved, leaving 10 employees to work in a cramped 1,800 square-foot temporary office during the hottest week of the summer. When the air conditioner gave up the good fight, one employee quit on the spot.
For David Rocchio, it was just another day at the office. Since buying the Westfield-based business in 1996, he'd faced the loss of his two biggest accounts, 50 percent of his employees defecting to competing agencies, a serious cash-flow problem, and problems due to his own lack of management experience. He kept slogging through it all because of just one thing: He'd always wanted to own his own business to emulate his role models-his father and grandfather, who had both been business owners.
Rocchio developed a strategy centered on the fundamentals of the sales process. Commercial accounts were aggressively pursued, employees were educated on the industries they served, and a competitive compensation package was developed to attract and retain good people. New automation equipment sped up the servicing process, requiring fewer employees. A good thing, too, because commercial insurance rates had dropped 40 percent since 1996, and the agency had to sell twice as much to generate the same revenue.
Operating income was up 22 percent in 1999, and Rocchio believes the agency has come a long way. Says Rocchio, "While good times don't last forever, neither do bad times."