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Florida insurance agents have been through the wringer in the last five years, with repeated rate increases for properties across the board, carriers pulling out of the market, and continual complaints from insureds about premiums.

But that hasn’t stopped Wiglesworth-Rindom Å˽ðÁ«´«Ã½Ó³»­ Agency, based in Stuart, Florida, from staying laser-focused on its 28 employees and executives. If anything, the challenges of the turbulent market have reinforced leadership’s commitment to the team.

Education, not sales, is the watchword at the 19-year-old agency, which was named the 2023 Gold award winner for the Southeast region in Å˽ðÁ«´«Ã½Ó³»­ Journal’s Best Agencies to Work For survey. The company received multiple, favorable comments from staff members and scored highly in the categories of working conditions and benefits.

“Your team is everything,” agency President Lee Wiglesworth said when asked what advice he might give to other agencies. “Our customers will not receive the education and assistance they’ve come to expect from us without our team. We take care of our team first.”

A little history of the company is in order: Lee Wiglesworth is from Kansas City. His father-in-law, Mike Rindom, was a Farmers Å˽ðÁ«´«Ã½Ó³»­ Agent there for 25 years. When Wiglesworth was 23 years old, Rindom asked if he would move to south Florida and start an independent agency.

“I knew nothing about insurance,” Wiglesworth said. “I never saw myself as someone who would excel in sales — I wanted to be a teacher. Instead of my father-in-law trying to make me a salesperson, he trained me to approach insurance as an educator and that has always worked for our agency.”

Besides educating home-owners on how to protect their assets, Wiglesworth said building a good atmosphere with agency employees has been key to the firm’s success.

“We believe that mistakes are learning opportunities and the only mistake that someone should be nervous to make is a repeated one. Sometimes I hear other agencies talk about how important their staff is, and then later in the conversation they start complaining about them, or the generation coming into the work force. I believe it takes consistency from leadership and time to build trust. Actions over time that reinforce your message will gain trust.”

The firm’s success is well known in South Florida. It has been voted Best Agency for Florida’s Treasure Coast twice in the last few years and was named one of the best agencies in the state this year by Florida Trend magazine.

Employees had plenty to say about it in comments sent to Å˽ðÁ«´«Ã½Ó³»­ Journal.

Although one worker argued that starting pay seems low, another pointed out that team building at the agency includes strong financial incentives.

“Agents are provided an opportunity to earn large six-figure salaries while working from home and are provided base salaries to build a career from the start, without the month-to-month worry about commissions,” the staffer said.

Said another: “What I like about our agency is that they’re always looking to improve or better themselves in whatever way is needed; no one’s perfect and seeing the agency always strive to be better makes me proud.”

“I have never left a review scared that my job is on the line or that I cannot improve,” one worker said. “It’s always the opposite. The reviews done are always truly to help stay on track and to look for ways to keep moving up.”

Topics Florida Training Development