Astonishing Agencies Helping Local Charities and Building Community

Our favorite stories to share about insurance agency partners are the updates involving community giving where local charities or causes are concerned. This past month, from east to west, Astonish Results’ agencies have been reaching out to help their communities.

Heffernan Insurance of California announced the 1st Annual Heffernan Foundation 5 mile Walk for Humanity taking place Saturday, September 25th in Walnut Creek, CA. The cost is $20/person and all donations will go to nonprofits that provide local services in the areas of food, shelter, education and the environment. Breakfast will be provided and a free tote bag for participating! Kids and Dogs are definitely welcome and Californians can register at: FoundationEvents@heffgroup.com

Back on the east coast Berry Insurance of Franklin, Massachusetts is having their second annual Halloween costume drive to benefit the Children’s Hospital of Boston. If you live in the area, bring your NEW Halloween costumes and accessories for kids of all ages to their Franklin or Quincy, MA locations. The costumes will be delivered at the end of October just in time for Halloween.

In Connecticut this month Paradiso Insurance of Stafford Springs has created The Paradiso Foundation for the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center. The Paradiso Foundation has partnered with Danbury-based Public Power LLC.

For all Connecticut residents who switch to Danbury Public Power, the company will donate $5 to the children’s hospital, and continue to donate a portion of your monthly bill as well. The mission is to help the children recover, recap, and reemerge from illness and disability. You can save money by switching services while helping out children in need.

On a lighter and sweeter note, Patrons Insurance in Florida has been welcoming visitors to their office with freshly baked Otis Spunkmeyer chocolate chip cookies every Friday. While baked goods don’t save lives, the services from all these agencies do help protect livelihoods.

A big thanks to all insurance agency partners taking action to help the people of their communities. If you’re an astonishing agency with a charitable story to tell, please let us know on the Astonish Results Facebook page, we’ll be glad to tell your story.

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Massachusetts History and Community Feed the Culture at Ross Insurance

Founded in 1925, Ross Insurance Agency of Holyoke, Massachusetts, has seen it all. From the early days when the local mills were top textile producers, to today where the mills will soon be housing super-computers with the historic river helping to cool and power massive servers for scientific and technological research. For over 85 years, Ross Insurance Agency has been a family-oriented agency dedicated to protecting Holyoke and surrounding residents and businesses. Consider the history and it’s easy to see how the agency has become so ingrained in the community.

From wall to wall in their Holyoke location, pictures are posted of the historic town, along with each of the four locations where Ross Insurance has set up shop throughout the years. When the local high school burned down decades ago, a claim check was made for $1.5 million dollars, the largest in Ross Agency history (to this day). Signifying the landmark occasion is a photo of the charred school building and the actual check, which can still be seen hanging on the wall.

Fast forward to current times, Ross Insurance has always and continues to be huge supporters of the local community sports scene. From baseball to soccer to football, they sponsor many local youth sports teams, and even incorporate their social media efforts into their current practices by posting updates and photos of the teams on their Facebook wall.

Granddaughter to the founding Ross and current partner at the agency, Maureen Ross O’Connell, shows Astonish Results around the office and explains how their agency culture supports a productive workplace and strong local community presence.

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Astonish Results Partner Supports New Jersey Education with Charitable Efforts

Acts of philanthropy help the entire insurance industry overcome negative perceptions while establishing individual agencies as caring, community-minded businesses on a local level. One Astonish Results agency partner leading the charge is the charity-minded team from The Tarpey Group, LLC in New Jersey, led by owner Brian Tarpey.

The Fairfield, NJ insurance and financial services firm has strong connections with local schools and non-profits. The Tarpey Group’s most recent endeavor involved awarding scholarships to seven Principals throughout the state enabling them to attend the 18th annual New Jersey Principals’ and Supervisors’ Association and the Foundation for Educational Administration conference in Princeton, NJ. A partnership with the Million Dollar Roundtable* (MDRT) organization helped Mr. Tarpey secure $5,000 in scholarship funds allowing the principals to attend.

Brian Tarpey explains the driving sentiment behind his work with the New Jersey education system:

Providing opportunities as these scholarships did, is one of the many ways we seek to give back to our communities. We believe there is no finer investment nor is there any investment with a higher rate of return than there is in education, so we are very pleased to have been able to do this.”

The conferences offered an unprecedented opportunity for those in attendance to tackle the difficult professional challenges facing educators today. The conference focused on “skills for the future,” helping attendees to effectively define, move toward, and manage the future amid the uncertainty that comes with change.

Preferring anonymity, one of the scholarship recipients said, “We were delighted to be able to take part in this important, widely regarded conference. There were opportunities to enhance our professional skills, study future trends, rediscover the joy of learning, and network with some of the nicest people around. None of this would have been possible were it not for the generosity of The Tarpey Group.”

Astonish Results is proud to recognize Brian Tarpey and The Tarpey Group for their hometown support and for repeatedly committing time and resources in the name of altruism.

*The MDRT Foundation is the philanthropic arm of the Million Dollar Round Table, The Premier Association of Financial Professionals®. MDRT is an international, independent association of more than 39,000, or less than 1 percent, of the world’s best life insurance and financial services professionals from 476 companies and 76 nations and territories. MDRT members demonstrate exceptional product knowledge, strict ethical conduct and outstanding client service. MDRT membership is recognized internationally as the standard of sales excellence in the life insurance and financial services business.

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Social Media Strategy and Insurance with The Weimer Group

Astonish Results agency partner The Weimer Group of Harleysville, Pennsylvania was interviewed by a local business man recently to gain perspective on how they are using social media to help generate insurance leads and create buzz around the agency.

Weimer Group vice president Dave Beck and administrative assistant Valerie Chrostek spoke to Chuck of Chuck Media about how they have been leveraging networks such as Facebook, Twitter, and Linked in, to help their insurance marketing efforts.

The Weimer Group has been using Facebook to post pictures, insurance tidbits, and entertaining links to get people engaged. Their partners page is connected to Facebook, which offers deals from local business to those who insure with them. Each Wednesday they also highlight a partner on their Facebook page, making them the business of the week.

Ms. Chrostek explains the strategy this way, “People are going online for all sorts of things and you want to have something to offer them that shows the agency is a little bit more geared to their interests.”

Dave and Valerie believe implementing a social media campaign has earned business and solidified existing relationships by increasing engagement with customers and giving an opportunity to respond to feedback.

Dave said one popular program they have, is giving a free t-shirt away to all people who come in for a motorcycle quote.

They post local events, non-profit events, and benefits in the area, along with giving feedback to any current or prospective customers that may have questions. As for their search results? “Using social media has also improved our search rankings,” says Dave.

You can view the interview in it’s entirety below:

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