"It's nice to have old-school relationship-building and true cold-call outreach in the agency," says independent agent Weston DeFrisco. "But with Generation Z coming in, they have all of these creative ideas on how to use social networking and artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance their efforts with building pipelines and reaching more clients."
Weston DeFrisco
Sales Enablement Manager
San Luis Obispo, California
Age: 32
Go-to drink order: Diet Coke
No. 1 item on bucket list: Take six weeks off work and travel to the South Pacific
Favorite candy: Trader Joe's frozen mango cream bars
Best thing about being an independent agent?
It allows us to be true advisers and bring the best options to the table. Being an independent agent allows you to serve your clients in a more meaningful way because you're able to shop and put together a portfolio of coverage that truly fits their needs versus being boxed into one carrier.
Role with your state association?
I'm on the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of California (IIABCal) Independent Insurance Producer Service Corporation (IIPSC) board of directors. The IIPSC board develops programs and products for IIABCal members. It involves a lot of creative thinking as independent agents come together to think about products that could serve independent agents in the state. It involves looking for gaps in what's currently available or needs to be improved. There's been a lot of great, creative brainstorming in those board meetings. It's nice to be in a room with people who are all focused on bettering our industry and expanding product availability to fix the insurance problems that we're having in our state.
Role model or mentor?
Our CEO, Brendan Morris. Ever since I started working here in 2014, he's been an amazing mentor to me. He truly cares about his clients and community involvement, and has a continued focus on the perpetuation of our agency and staying independent. I respect it a lot and I am truly bought into the vision of what our firm is trying to build.
How did you get started in insurance?
I went to Colorado State and double majored in business finance and economics. After I graduated, I moved to California and took an opportunity with a Farmers agency to get some office experience. I was a producer there for about six months, cold calling and getting my license. Then I saw an opening at Morris & Garritano, did some research, and realized that if I wanted to be in the insurance industry, I should be an independent agent.
I started on the centralized marketing team, quoting new business for our commercial lines producers and loved it. It was a great way to apply financial analysis to protect business assets and I saw that as a really cool application of what I had studied in school. From there, I transitioned into a producer role and am now in a sales leadership role, managing our producer team.
Goals for the future?
Starting a family and providing a great life for them here on the central coast. Professionally, our agency's goals are to expand geographically and hire more sales talent so we can continue our organic growth to stay independent. I'm excited to play a role in the growth of our agency and the creative thinking involved to allow us to scale while still remaining focused on the client experience.
Pros and cons of multiple generations in the workplace?
Having multiple generations in the workplace offers a lot of different perspectives and that is always valuable. In many ways, our industry is a bit old school and some tried-and-true methods still tend to prevail over more creative business development. It's nice to have old-school relationship-building and true cold-call outreach in the agency. But with Generation Z coming in, they have all of these creative ideas on how to use social networking and artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance their efforts with building pipelines and reaching more clients.
AnneMarie McPherson Spears is IA news editor.
