A Keystone Guy from the Keystone State with Tyler Reitz, Episode #218

In this episode of The Power Producers Podcast, David Carothers and co-host Kyle Houck interview Tyler Reitz, Vice President of Commercial Lines at Bowman’s Insurance Agency. Tyler shares the perspective he gained from working in underwriting and how that has helped him find common ground with underwriters now that he is on the agency side.

Episode Highlights:

• Tyler shares his background and how he got into the insurance industry. (2:44)
• Tyler mentions that he has been able to build a relationship with underwriters that helps him in the business. (11:19)
• Tyler explains that a lot of agencies are pushing to get the business on the books while missing out on making it attractive to underwriters. (14:43) 
• Tyler mentions that Bowman’s Insurance Agency focuses on a wide variety of programs in municipalities, but the goal this year is to target larger accounts. (22:20)
• Tyler describes his experience with an underwriter and advises someone new to the industry to do research and always know what to look for upfront. (25:40)
• Tyler recalls a time when he was on the underwriting side of things in a broker record situation with five agents. (30:43)
• Tyler shares that he has learned a lot of things since moving from a producer role to a partnership role. (39:27)
• Tyler explains that anybody that wants to take over an agency wants to make changes in certain areas from the way things were done and make it better. (45:36)

Tweetable Quotes:

• “I think anybody taking over an agency would like to make definite changes in certain areas from the way things were done. I feel like that’s the reason why you tried to want to take over an agency because you wanted to improve upon it.” – Tyler Reitz
• “I’m more of a generalist. Now, do I have some industries that I do very well in? Absolutely, where it’s just kind of by association and working on referrals.” – Tyler Reitz
• “In the past, I was only focused on my book and doing what I needed to do for my clients. Now there’s a whole other aspect of, now, you got all the different things of employees, all the administrative that comes with running an agency that takes up a lot of time. There’s a lot more moving parts. So, that’s the biggest learning curve for me.” – Tyler Reitz

Resources Mentioned:

• Tyler Reitz LinkedIn
• Bowman’s Insurance Agency
• David Carothers
• Kyle Houck
• Florida Risk Partners
• The Extra 2 Minutes