News Room

The Florida Times Union - March 2007

A Jacksonville-based insurance agency is mapping a statewide  expansion this year  that it hopes will nearly double its annual revenues.

JACKSONVILLE, FL. (March - 2007)  -- Miller Insurance Group Inc. expects to open 10 franchise locations in Florida this year - including three on the First Coast. This is part of a larger plan that includes adding more than 150 offices across the state. 

The expansion will allow Miller Insurance to spread its risk around the state, company President and Chief Executive David Miller said. Geographic diversification will also broaden the company's customer base, because people tend to buy insurance from agents with a local presence. 

Miller Insurance, which sells multiple lines of insurance including auto, home and life policies, has seen its client base grow from 2,000 to 15,000 in the past three years. The agency sells products from several insurers, though Nationwide Insurance Co. accounts for about a third of its business. 

"Most of our business comes from word of mouth," Miller said. "People are realizing that it's a better value to purchase insurance ... with people who have the very best tools at their disposal." 

Through technology, Miller Insurance frees its agents from back-office and noncritical tasks. For instance, instead of having to deal with customers who want to add a driver to their auto policy, or change coverage, the agents transfer the calls to the company's 6,000-square-foot headquarters, which processes those requests. 
That frees up the agents to do what they're trained to do - sell new policies. 

Miller Insurance's growth plans are ambitious. It hopes to increase annual revenues to $40 million in 2007, and boost its workforce of 50 employees, to about 80 by year-end. 

Talent is a huge issue," he said. "When we are looking to grow into an area, almost more important than the area, [is the quality of the workforce]." 

To execute the expansion effectively, the company will likely have to add layers of management, said Craig Dewhurst, a State Farm agent in Jacksonville. 

"It will be a management headache ... to handle that many offices," Dewhurst said. "[Managing workers] is the No. 1 challenge in our business."