Brightway Insurance Franchise
Partner with a proven leader. Join a successful and expanding insurance enterprise with this turnkey opportunity to own and manage a Brightway Insurance Associate Agency.
A Brightway Insurance Associate Agency enjoys autonomy and freedom. Working with Brightway as an Associate Agency provides insurance executives with significant advantages in:
- Marketing,
- Agency support,
- Instant brand recognition.
Overview
Given the clear opportunities for growth and profit in the insurance industry and the challenges to the consumer presented by the fractured delivery channel for quality insurance products, the insurance company that has adapted to the market will quickly rise above. That’s where Brightway Insurancecomes in.
The Brightway Insurance business model leverages the clear opportunities for growth and profit in the insurance industry. We provide solutions to the current challenges to the consumer presented by a fractured delivery channel for quality insurance products.
A History of Service
In 2003, David Miller purchased the Jennings Insurance Agency, forming Miller Insurance Group, Inc. This is now operated as Brightway Insurance.
At the time of purchasing Jennings Insurance, the agency had one office and three employees. As of June, 2009, Brightway Insurance had 45 offices throughout Florida and over 200 associates. This phenomenal growth was recently recognized by INC Magazine who listed Brightway Insurance as the fastest growing privately held P&C Insurance Agency in the country.
Brightway continues to drive innovations that add value. In 2009 Brightway University opened its doors to its first associates. Now, all new Brightway associates experience comprehensive training in a state of the art facility. Better products, better tools and the best working environment have led to Brightway’s being listed as the Best Place to Work in North Florida for two consecutive years.
Corporate Support
We’ve adapted our delivery channel, our customer service model and our technological operations to maximize service to the customer and profit margins for our agents:
Superior Acquisition Processes
We provide superior customer acquisition tools that make it easy for you to build your business. From web-based comparative raters to diverse carrier choices, we make it easier to identify, attract and win new customers. Innovative, smart and flexible, we will help you acquire customers from all ages, stages and walks of life.
Corporate Handling of Books
We handle the servicing responsibility for your entire book of business at our centralized customer support center, so you can focus on increasing revenues. Taking this ongoing service burden away from the Associate Agency makes opening and managing a successful insurance agency easier and helps you increase productivity. In our model, as your renewal business grows, your infrastructure and staffing do not need to increase — your agency’s profitability is free to grow at an exponential rate.
Paperless Office Management
Brightway Associate Agencies leverage today’s technology to dramatically increase productivity and improve customer service. We are now able to operate in a completely paperless environment by using:
- State-of-the-art high-speed scanners,
- Desktop faxing,
- Implementation of a premier agency management system.
Our management tool, Applied Systems, is used by all Brightway Insurance Associate Agencies. It allows remote offices to take advantage of well-staffed, centralized service support; eliminating all traditional filing and saving valuable time. By using a web-based system, we can access our customers’ files from anywhere in the world, thereby providing complete protection against catastrophic loss. Plus, we can proactively notify customers when changes in the marketplace present a need to make adjustments or enhancements to their policies.
Without overwhelming operational distractions, your agency will be able to produce significantly more business than other competing insurance agencies.
Customized Communication System
Eliminate phone frustration for your customers. Our customized communication system links all offices to our Centralized Support Center, where customers talk to real people without the hassle of long phone trees.
Our technology allows your local office staff to connect customers directly to real people who are able to complete the service transaction without transferring the call. The best part? The system is available to you both inside and outside the office—wherever an Internet connection is available.
Comprehensive Training and Sales Support
Why go it alone? Brightway Insurance Territory Owners provide you with training and ongoing sales support at the local level, so you can continue to leverage the best and the brightest of Brightway’s processes and operations in your agency.
Financials for Franchise
Franchise Fee: $60,000
Start-Up Costs: $40,000
Start-Up Costs: $40,000
Seller Financing
We have an option to finance $25,000 of the franchise fee – paid in monthly installments over the next 7 years.
Target Market Area
| Alabama | Florida | Georgia | Louisiana |
| Mississippi | South Carolina | Texas |
Success Stories
Jim Pihl, Brightway Insurance Associate Agent and Territory Owner
Jim Pihl knows a thing or two about working as a Brightway Insurance Associate Agent and Territory Owner. The First Coast insurance executive owns not just one but two successful and growing Brightway Associate Agency offices. He also is the Territory Owner of Northeast Florida.
Jim Pihl knows a thing or two about working as a Brightway Insurance Associate Agent and Territory Owner. The First Coast insurance executive owns not just one but two successful and growing Brightway Associate Agency offices. He also is the Territory Owner of Northeast Florida.Pihl’s no stranger to the insurance industry. He has more than a decade of experience and, before joining forces with Brightway, owned his own insurance agency, JCM Insurance, Inc. But when an opportunity arose in September 2004 to join forces with Brightway Insurance, Pihl jumped at the chance.
“The benefits of working through Brightway Insurance are significant,” he says. “For one thing, I’m able to offer my customers products from a wide range of insurance companies. Broader product offerings equals a broader customer base, period.”
“In addition, I have improved my income stream through the simple fact I don’t have to service my existing customer base—Brightway handles that for me through a Centralized Support Center,” he says. “I can focus on managing a sales team, identifying and acquiring new customers, and growing my agencies.”
What’s more, says Pihl, working through Brightway as an Agency Owner offers a stronger approach to advertising, marketing and brand awareness. “As a stand-alone agent, for example, I might have considered buying a Yellow Page ad, only to discover that the cost might run $60,000 per year. That’s a huge sum for one agency. But through Brightway, I can share the cost of that ad among six or seven other agencies, which makes the cost of advertising much more affordable. The cost-sharing opportunities, not limited to advertising, are significant when working with Brightway.”
As for customer service? Hands-down, Brightway’s Associate Agency program is the winner over a traditional independent agency, says Pihl. “The convenience factor, for my customers, is huge,” he says. “I can offer my customers the convenience of stopping by any Brightway Insurance office in town to sign their paperwork or ask questions,” he says. “Add to that the fact that Brightway helps me offer better, more comprehensive training to my sales and customer service staff, and you can see why it’s really a great deal to work with Brightway as an Associate Agent. The benefits, quite simply, are extensive.”
Billy Wagner, Brightway Insurance Associate Agent and Territory Owner
Back in January 2006, Billy Wagner was a man at a crossroads. The successful health insurance agent and former restaurateur had made a conscious decision to reshape his career to produce a better quality of life and greater autonomy in his job. So he went to Brightway’s president David Miller to ask for advice about opening a property and casualty insurance business.
Back in January 2006, Billy Wagner was a man at a crossroads. The successful health insurance agent and former restaurateur had made a conscious decision to reshape his career to produce a better quality of life and greater autonomy in his job. So he went to Brightway’s president David Miller to ask for advice about opening a property and casualty insurance business.“I didn’t have experience in property or casualty insurance, so I wanted to look at all the options out there and find out the best way to do it,” Wagner remembers. “I went to Brightway to basically get some business advice. I knew David had been very successful, and I wanted to see if he had any thoughts for me on opening up my own business. As it turns out, what he offered me was so much better than anything else out there—it turned into an offer I simply couldn’t resist.”
Wagner is now an Associate Agent and Territory Owner with Brightway Insurance. He oversees offices in St. Johns, Flagler and Volusia counties, operating out of a central agency in Ponte Vedra Beach. And he couldn’t be happier with his decision to join Brightway.
“Insurance is like low-hanging fruit,” he says. “Everybody needs it, so the demand is always there, but not everybody knows how to sell it. So a company with tools and processes in place that help both the agent and the customer will win over the competition, hands-down, every time. That’s been my experience working with Brightway, and my business has been more successful than I ever dreamed possible.”
Wagner credits Brightway’s Centralized Support Center as one of the most significant reasons for his success. The Support Center, he says, allows him to focus on what’s most profitable—building his book of business—while letting Brightway handle the day-to-day operations of customer service.
“There’s unmatched value in the way it’s set up,” he says. “They take so much of the load off my shoulders, leaving me free to concentrate on signing new customers and increasing revenue. It’s a win-win situation.”
“I had no idea, starting out, that this business would be as successful as it is,” Wagner says. “But Brightway has made it happen. In addition to offering access to wider markets than I could reach on my own, the company offers technologies and tools that were unheard of three years ago—with everything designed to make my work life easier, more efficient, and more productive. That translates into a better experience for the customer, which in turn translates to a more successful venture for me. Looking back, I can honestly say that joining Brightway is the best professional decision I ever made.”
«Brightway’s execution is the deal changer. Other agency options promise similar services, but when I checked under the hood so to speak, there was no comparison. There is no way I could operate so profitably in any other system.»
– Bill Goldman
«I have been a Brightway agent for over seven years and I am still amazed with the pace of innovation and dedication to quality that Brightway maintains.»
– Mike Lublin
«The saying that poor quality costs and superior quality saves, absolutely describes my decision to link my future to Brightway as an agency owner. Every day I come into the office, I feel great about my decision to partner with the clear leader. Not choosing a lesser alternative was the best decision I ever made!»
– Rhoda Murphy
«For thirty years I served in senior management roles with three national insurance carriers. For me, Brightway was the only choice that offered the right business model along with the infrastructure to truly deliver. Brightway continually invests in improvements, and I continue reaping the rewards.»
– Steve Canty
