IMO, The Best VE Companies Are…
2022 is the year of the virtual employee
The industry name for this workforce is VA, meaning virtual assistants. In my personal experience, they are more than assistants. They are employees and my agency could not operate as it does without them.
Therefore, in this article, we will refer to them as they are. We will refer to them as virtual employees (VE).
What is a VE?
Simple. They are employees that work remotely and are not licensed. The law mandates that you have to be a US citizen to have an insurance license.
Most are workers overseas from countries like India, the Philippines, Pakistan, and many others.
VE’s serve a vital role to the agency of today and tomorrow…but that’s another article.
This article is to expose you to the best VE companies out there.
I have used VE’s since 2014 and in that time I have used many VE companies and I have learned a lot!
While I am not here to share my experiences, I would like to tell you about four companies that I think you should look at when researching VE companies.
What is a VE Company?
A VE company is a company that leases VE’s to insurance agencies. Going this route gives the agency security and stability and the VE is compensated as if they are an employee in their country; able to secure benefits and resources their country provides.
As time goes on you will find more VE companies popping up in our industry and it only makes sense if you think about it…
There are 38,000 plus agencies in America.
If they all needed just one VE, that will be 40,000+ VE’s that will be needed in the next five years.
Many agencies like mine have multiple VE’s. We currently have four at The Insurance Alliance.
Here are the four best VE companies out there. They are in no specific order…
Savvital
Savvital (Pronounced: sav-ve-tl), comes from the unity of two powerful words.
Savvy – having the ability to make a good judgment based on practical knowledge.
Vital – being absolutely necessary and essential with a flare of energy.
They aim to become a catalyst for the growth of their clients with their savvy employees and vital solutions. They also call their workforce virtual professionals (VP), even they know the value of a VE is more than an assistant.
Savvital is owned by Monica Adwani and Troy Thompson, both are deeply rooted in the insurance industry. Troy Thompson is an agency owner of Pinnacle Insurance Agency of Minnesota and Monica has spent the last 15 years leading insurance teams and organizations in the insurance industry.
One thing that makes them, and most on this list so strong, is they own an agency and have trained many VE’s themselves. When Troy saw the power of what a VE can do in an agency he immediately knew other agencies needed to know that power.
His next move was the best one yet, he partnered with Monica and between the two of them, they have created Savvital.
They are a service you can trust. #cassapproved
Their workforce is from Pakistan.
CoverDesk
Cover Desk is the largest of VE companies in the insurance industry.
The company was founded by Andy Priesman who is an insurance industry veteran with deep operational experience. He knows what it takes to make an independent insurance agency run well because he’s done it in his own business.
Andy has run a multi-location agency Greenway Insurance and Risk Management Services out of Texas for 20 plus years. He personally trained many VE’s for his agency and he knows what agencies need.
If you ask Andy I am sure he will tell you, it’s the team he has built that has allowed Coverdesk to reach the heights it has.
Many agencies trust Coverdesk for their services and when I ask people about Coverdesk good words are always spoken. #cassapproved
Their workforce is from The Philippines.
“The industry name for this workforce is VA, meaning virtual assistants. In my personal experience, they are more than assistants. They are employees and my agency could not operate as it does without them.”
-Jason Cass
Lava Automation
Lava Automation is founded by Austin Moorhead. Lava is unique because they use VE’s as part of their overall automation process.
Austin and his team help insurance agencies build and maintain automation in the marketing, prospecting, sales, and servicing of an agency.
I personally know Austin and know many agencies who use his automation services, including my agency, The Insurance Alliance. #cassapproved
Their workforce is from The Philippines.
Virtual Intelligence
Some may say it’s shameless self-promotion, but we have learned a lot to be on this list for sure. The lessons we learned are the values we provide.
Virtual Intelligence was founded by Travis Etheridge and myself, Jason Cass.
We founded the company in late 2021 after running into frustration with the companies out there who help agencies with VE’s.
We believe that the VE has been undervalued for what they can do and what they mean to an agency.
In our opinion, a VE is just as important as any staff member that works in an agency. They provide value that licensed staff should not be providing.
We feel strongly that we separate ourselves through three different areas: Intelligence, Training, and Security. #cassapproved =)
Our workforce is from The Philippines.
Research
As you research, here are four “helpful tips” when evaluating a VE company
As you research VE companies out there make sure to:
Do business with someone who has run and managed a large brick-and-mortar agency. You have to know how to do it in real life to teach others to do it virtually.
Check their security measures. All of the above-mentioned VE companies outsource to organizations and platforms that specialize in computer security. This is a great expense so VE companies try to cut corners here.
Not make a decision based on price. High-quality talent and security require high pay and cost. You’re looking for a secure employee, not cheap labor.
Ask other agencies who have used VE’s.
The End
I hope you found this article to be useful because IMO these are the best VE companies, but then again that’s just my opinion.
PS. I only paid and accepted money from myself to write this.