On this episode of Finding Your Frequency, your host, Mike White, sits down and tunes in to conversations with some of the best and brightest creators, influencers, and entrepreneurs that Jacksonville has to offer. Today, Mike brings back Larry Adkins of ACBS Insurance Services.
MIKE WHITE: Welcome back to Finding Your Frequency on Daily News Network. I’m Mike white and joining me today is an expert in the insurance industry Larry Adkins with ACBS Insurance Services. Welcome back to the program.
LARRY ADKINS: Thanks, Mike. So glad to be here.
MIKE WHITE: So tell me a little bit about as the industry keeps changing. What are the things the consumer needs to watch out for when choosing an insurance company?
LARRY ADKINS: Well, I think the industry has evolved. You know, if you go back to the 80s and 90s, they were all career agencies. in the 90s, we started to see the introduction of a lot of more independent brokerage type operations. and now about 90% of the entire industry is independent agencies that are out there. And not all agencies are built alike. Different ones have different expertise. We happened to specialize in Medicare and providing health insurance coverage for seniors. but there’s a lot of things that consumers need to watch out for. There’s misinformation on the internet. There’s a lot of, actors or ex actors or sports athletes that are doing commercials and people think that they’re going to be their agents and they’re the experts in the field.
And in fact, they’re not they’re calling call centers all over the world. that really may not understand their individual needs.
MIKE WHITE: So you mentioned you specialize in Medicare. What’s it actually mean to be a specialist or to be a specialist?
LARRY ADKINS: A. You got to have the expertise, the designations, the years of experience. you’ve got to understand all the nuances and changes that happen in the industry on a regular basis. I mean, every time that the CMS group makes a change, it dramatically affects all of the, people that live here in the US. And to really be an expert, you have to have the education, the training knowledge, but you have to be continually educating yourself because things evolve quickly in this space. And if you make the wrong choice, it could cost your family millions.
MIKE WHITE: So the type of customer that is perfect for ACBS identify those customers.
LARRY ADKINS: So the type of person that’s perfect for us are people that are turning 65 in the next three months and really taking on the daunting task of deciding what is the right coverage for me. You know, what things do I need to consider? Whether it’s our our current health situation, whether it’s, you know, medicines I’m on, whether it’s family history, where do I live, do I want to travel, do I not want to travel?
Because all those things are going to dramatically affect the, types of policies you choose. And then after you’ve chosen a policy on an annual basis, we have what’s called the annual enrollment period, which starts October 1st. You can make a change. So maybe you chose a plan or an advisor that’s no longer there or a plan that’s made changes.
And so we’re here to assist you in showing and comparing your existing plan to what you may or may not need, given your your current health situation.
MIKE WHITE: You have a lot of reviews out there from current clients, but the typical client that works with you, how would they describe the experience with your firm?
LARRY ADKINS: Yeah, I think the typical client that would tell you about their experience with ACBS insurance would really be it’s more like a family relationship. Most all of our clients stay with us for more than eight, you know, ten years. so it’s more of a family environment. And because we’re in the Medicare space, it’s not like other forms of insurance where you never talk to your agent or your advisor. we talk to our clients all the time. because there’s things that happen where maybe a claim didn’t get paid.
And we’re there. Advocate between the insurance company and themselves to help make sure that their claims are paid to the maximum.
MIKE WHITE: And you’ve been in this industry 35 years. Your company has a ton of team members. But as you continue to grow and you guys continue to grow rapidly, how do you maintain the family approach through all of the growth and client acquisition that your firm has been doing?
LARRY ADKINS: Yeah, and I think that’s an important thing because as you continue to grow an organization to make sure you have the right culture. So number one, choosing the right people, the right expertise. number two, really caring about the most important part of your business, which is really your customers and being an advocate for them and being someone that that cares about the things they care about.
And if you think about, the aging population here in the United States, you know, there’s a lot of times they don’t have any other conversation in a day or a month or no one calls to wish them happy birthday. And we do, because we really treat all of our customers as if they’re family.
MIKE WHITE: That’s excellent. Well, Larry, again, thank you for coming on the program. We love always speaking with you, and I look forward to seeing you again real soon.
LARRY ADKINS: Thanks a lot for having me.
MIKE WHITE: To find out more about ACBS and all the amazing things they could do for you personally with your insurance needs, visit us at Daily News network.com. We’ll see you next time on BeTeal.
