Quinn In the Community with Julie Zupko at Bieganek Insurance
Hey guys, Paula Quinn here from RE/MAX Central and we’ve got …
Julie Zupko, Bieganek Insurance.
So Julie, tell me a little bit about Bieganek Insurance.
Bieganek Insurance has been in business in Morrison County for over 50 years, and I’ve been fortunate to be part of it for over 30 now, so. We’re an independent agent and we serve Morrison County and the surrounding area. We have a branch office, also located in the downtown Randall, Minnesota.
So, what is an independent agent?
An independent agent shops the carriers for the consumer and also the consumer for the carrier. Many different things go into the factor of shopping for insurance now. So, instead of calling ten different agents for a quote, call Bieganek Insurance and we’re gonna do the search for you, to find the best coverage at the best rate, for a company that fits you and your needs.
Perfect idea. So, Julie, tell me a little bit about how you got in the business and what you enjoy about it most.
It was by mistake, which most insurance agents get in the business by mistake. I was just looking for a job that was no longer stress. I was in a managerial position 24 hours a day, seven days a week, where’d I’d get phone calls. And oh, if I could get Monday through Friday that would be bonus. And so, there was this job opening at Bieganek Insurance for a Monday through Friday job and I signed up and unbeknownst to me, I ended up finding my career and love. This job is ever changing, every week it seems like there’s something that comes up that’s a good research or that surprises me. As an independent agent, I can usually find coverage for just about anything. I think the ever changing is really something that feeds me and what I need for my career.
So what’s an example of one of those unique things that you had to go out and kind of find?
Well, I did some quoting for some military things and it was people who were coming in to do training. When they were doing the training out in the field for ambushes or you know different things like that, they have the simulation training. That was the one that was unique, lately. We’ve had to– yeah, exactly.
Certainly a perfect fit for our community.
We’ve had exotic animals. You know, we’ve had race horses that are worth a lot of money that are gonna maybe go out to California to breed and they want converge while in transit. All kinds of different things, you never know what you’re gonna find.
So that’s really interesting Julie with all the things that you cover, tell me a little bit about some of the staff that you have here at Bieganek Insurance–
Sure, sure. In our Little Falls office we have Michelle Parker and Melissa Gerads and they both have been long time agents for over ten years. I don’t know exactly how many but–
They’re probably both fine with you not telling. (laughing)
Exactly, exactly.
And then I have Becky Gaffke up in our Randall office, and again she’s been a long time agent.
And the one thing that’s unique to our office compared to maybe some other insurance offices, we are not commission based. All of my agents are on salary, so there’s no pressure for them to make the sale. Instead we wanna learn, we wanna be able to teach people about what their consumer decisions are, and let them make the decisions based on what we’ve offered them, and educated them in the coverages. So by not having commission based and salary instead that makes that possible and works really well.
Well and just low pressure for any of us who are coming in as a consumer, we can just know that at the end of the day you’re doing the right thing. Is there anything that you would want to share with anybody that is looking for insurance or things maybe in policies that people should be taking a look at.
You know I think the best thing is that you read your policy and if you don’t understand it make sure you ask your agent. Don’t wait until the time of a claim to pull our your policy and find out what those coverages are. We’d much rather have somebody give us a call and explain the coverages at the time when they’re looking at the renewal, or ready to pay the bill, rather that at the time of loss and be sorry that they never looked at it. So give us a call. Even if your paper isn’t in our office, we’d gladly sit down with you and decide what your policy has for coverages or maybe what your shortcomings are.
Thank you so much Julie for sharing with all of us, the types of things really. Hope you be seeing all of you later, thanks.
Thank you!