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Join us here for our Summer Intern Update from Jack Quirk and Rich Chakejian! Jack and Rich will be chronicling their summer with The Safegard Group by detailing what they have learned and their experience with our insurance sales organization.
Intern Update #1: Getting Started and an Insurance Sales Meeting
My Internship with The Safegard Group began on Monday, May 8th. On my first day, our Intern director, Michael Hermansen, introduced me to all the team members at Safegard and briefly described their positions in the company. Upon meeting each employee, I felt very welcomed and felt a great sense of professionalism and work ethic within the office. Everyone I met was very outgoing and seemed like the type of staff that make a company succeed.
In my first week, I was introduced to the AMS system, a database where customer contact and account information is stored. My first project was to ensure that all address and contact information was up to date in order to ensure efficient communication with our customer base. In addition, I have scheduled orientation meetings with members of all the various departments here at Safegard. I have met with five members so far, including representatives in commercial lines, personal lines, and administration. Having not known a lot about the insurance industry when I began my internship, these meetings have been invaluable. One area that I have been intrigued by is the producer side of insurance sales. Because of this interest, I attended a sales pitch with Scott Carroll recently.
Scott brought me to a meeting with a potential customer so I could sit in on the meeting and see how he operated. I was very impressed with the way Scott communicated with the customer. He showed a clear understanding for the insurance policy, and was very honest with the customer about what they were buying in to. I learned from Scott that sales may seem easy, and sometimes it can be, but you must approach it in a way that shows your customer that you have their best interest at hand. A great man once said, “Nobody cares how much you know, until they know how much you care.” Through formal and informal meetings with Scott Carrol, Chris Missett, Andrew Pillion, Matthew Holden, Jen Ackerman, Lisa Hale, and various Safegard team members, I have seen this quote in action. I have seen through their words and actions that they care about the customer. This culture of excellent service and honesty is what makes The Safegard Group so successful and trusted. It has been a great learning experience so far, and I look forward to the upcoming weeks at Safegard, where I will be traveling to various job sites with our risk managers to see how they operate.
About Jack Quirk
Jack Quirk is joining The Safegard Group team this may as a summer intern. Jack is new to the insurance industry, but is looking forward to gaining valuable insights on the industry this summer with The Safegard Group. Jack will be a junior at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, SC. Jack is planning on being a finance major. Jack is a member of Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity at the University of South Carolina where he is on the fundraising committee.
He participates in fundraising for St. Jude through his fraternity. Jack has work experience as a caddy at Philadelphia Cricket Club as well as working in Distribution at Cregger appliance company. In his free time, Jack likes to play golf, play the guitar, or attend country music concerts with friends. Jack is looking forward to helping the Safegard team in all ways possible this summer.
Thank you for reading this week’s Summer Intern Update!