Today we’d like to introduce you to Luke Gelineau.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Luke. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I started about ten years ago at an insurance agency called United Agencies, Inc. in Burbank, CA. I was given a few small clients to service, and I was told that I needed to carve out a “niche” market to start selling insurance. Most of my small clients were in the entertainment field, so I started to sell short-term insurance policies to people who were producing films, TV shows, commercials, or other small productions in the Los Angeles area. This was such a small and untapped market that many of my colleagues didn’t really think that my sales would amount to much. I started out small, but in the last few years my client base started to grow.
My customers would refer their friends, those friends would refer more friends, and so on. Now I’m entering my tenth year of being an insurance agent and my sales have passed over $3,000,000 in premium. I’ve had more sales this year than anybody else in my agency.
Most of my recent success has been because we started using Google advertising to target filmmakers and producers in the Los Angeles area who were looking for short-term insurance. This has proved incredibly successful, and I’ve been busy enough that I’ve had to hire a full-time assistant to help me handle all of our calls. It’s been a wild ride, and it doesn’t seem to be slowing down any time soon! It really shows you how successful you can be if you find something you’re good at, work as hard as you can, and don’t take no for an answer!
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
It hasn’t always been easy. When I first started, I obviously wasn’t as knowledgeable, so I lost a few clients due to my inexperience. It was also tough because some people in my agency didn’t see the point in me pursuing these smaller clients. Why should I try to sell a policy for $100 in commission when I could try for a client for thousands in commission? After a few years I started to learn that those clients with thousands in commission are few and far between, but hundreds of people were willing to buy policies for $100 in commission. Those smaller sales added up and I’d end up outselling other agents in my agency.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Entertainment & Production Insurance – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
My company is called Entertainment & Production Insurance, and that is a division of United Agencies. I sell insurance, and I specialize in selling entertainment insurance and short-term production insurance. I’m most proud as a company that we are able to sell this niche product in such a high volume that I’m able to not only provide for myself, my wife, and three small children, but that I was able to hire somebody else full-time to work for me as well. I think what sets me apart from others is that nobody else has tried to live almost exclusively off of short-term production insurance sales. Nobody thought there was enough money in this, but I really deeply believe in the product and what we do.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
My plans for the future is to keep expanding and growing and maybe hire even more employees if our demand continues to increase. I do hope to work more closely with the rental houses and other entertainment companies in the area and try to be the “go to” insurance guy for anybody looking for insurance for themselves or for their clients.
Pricing:
- $100k of Rented Equipment and $1M of General Liability for a 12 day shoot – $923
- Everything from above plus FULL coverage for hired/rented autos – $1,630
- Everything from above two plus Workers Comp – $2,660
Contact Info:
- Address: 100 N. 1st St., Ste. 301
Burbank, CA 91502 - Website: www.insuredproduction.com
- Phone: 818-295-2266
- Email: [email protected]
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Equipmentandproductioninsurance/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/InsuredLuke
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/equipment-and-production-insurance-burbank?osq=entertainment+insurance
Image Credit:
Intouch
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