“I’m not trying to beat GEICO. I’m trying to be the call they make after GEICO lets them down.”
BY MICHAEL CRUZ
Everyone keeps saying independent agencies are losing to GEICO and the direct carriers.
The data says otherwise.
The Big I’s most recent market share report has independent agencies at 39% of personal lines in 2024, up from 35.7% in 2020. On the commercial side we’re at 87.2%. The story that independents are getting wiped out doesn’t match the numbers.
This is more reason to double down on what’s working and learn from what the national carriers actually do well.
I run Foresight Insurance, an independent insurance agency in North Bethesda, Maryland. We were founded in 2015 and launched in 2016. We run a 14-person team across the U.S. and Colombia supporting clients in Maryland, Virginia, and DC. Here’s what’s working for us.
Run like a big company. Feel like a small one.
Think about Chick-fil-A. You can walk into almost any location in the country and get a consistent experience. That doesn’t happen by accident. It happens through process and documentation.
We do the same thing at Foresight Insurance. We have standard operating procedures for almost everything we do at the agency. This helps us deliver the same client experience, every time. We also document everything we do so the next person picks up where the last one left off. Clients never have to repeat themselves. We also focus on relationships. If you tell us you bought a new car, we’re not just adding it to the policy. We’re saying congratulations on the new car first.
We decided on a shared model. One phone number. One email address.
Look at how most agencies onboard a client. They hand out a list. This number and email for sales. A different one for service. A different one for COIs. A different one for billing. The client has to figure out which lane to use for which request.
Then look at how those same agencies distribute work internally. A lot of them still assign clients to one CSR based on last name. If that CSR is on the phone, out sick, or on vacation, the client waits. That’s not how we beat the big guys.
We do it differently. One phone number. One email address. Work distributed by department, not by individual. Clients might speak with different team members, but it’s always our team, and the next person can pick up right where the last one left off.
It also fixes a hidden problem in most agencies. The one-CSR-per-client model overloads some people while others stay underutilized. Our model creates better workload balance, better collaboration, and better client experience. We have client reviews to prove it later on this page.
Fix the turnaround problem.
This is where the national carriers actually have us beat. They answer the phone. The independent channel has a response-time issue: missed calls, emails that sit for days, promises that slip.
Our rule at Foresight Insurance: every email gets personally acknowledged within two hours, not an automatic message. We also aim to close the request within 24 business hours. If we can’t, we tell the client why and when to expect an update. Over-communication beats under-communication every single time.
Compete where the big carriers can’t.
Will GEICO answer the phone? Yes. So, answering isn’t the differentiator.
What happens after you answer is.
Last week a client called us from the side of the road. He’d requested a tow through his carrier but couldn’t reach anyone to confirm it would be a flatbed. He called us instead. Our agent figured out which tow company the carrier had dispatched, called them directly, and confirmed the flatbed before the truck arrived. That’s going the extra mile and deciding the client’s problem is your problem. Same thing happens with claims adjusters who don’t call back in a timely manner, or insureds who aren’t clear on what comes next. We pick up the phone and chase it down.
Every agency claims service is their differentiator. Then you read their Google reviews and see a different story. Missed calls. Slow responses. Promises made but not kept.
This is why we placed a rating link in every email signature. Clients can rate us: Great, Okay, or Not Good, and they can add comments. Year-to-date through April 2026, we’ve collected 51 ratings: 90% Great, 2% Okay, 8% Not Good. Net happiness score: 82.
Every piece of feedback gets addressed. Sometimes we dropped the ball. Sometimes there’s a process to fix. Sometimes it’s out of our control and we explain why. The loop is the only honest way to know if you’re actually delivering what you claim.
Build the capacity to actually deliver.
None of this works if your team is buried.
We built a virtual staff support team in Colombia that helps us compete with the big guys.
We miss fewer calls because we have more qualified hands on the phone. Our back office turns around quotes, COIs, and service requests faster and more efficiently. That frees our licensed agents to do what they do best, which is sell insurance and give personal insurance advice to clients.
We also leaned hard into technology. One of our virtual employees became our internal automation and systems specialist, and we’ve built dozens of automations that save our agents hours every week. I finally got a virtual executive assistant last year, and I can honestly do more now than I ever could on my own. Both team members are based in Colombia. We’ve been able to build roles and capacity that would have been difficult for a small agency to support otherwise.
People keep saying AI is going to replace virtual employees or virtual assistants. My experience has been the opposite. We need them more than ever, and AI is helping us do more with them, not less.
The takeaway.
Independents don’t win by outspending the big carriers.
We win by combining their speed and consistency with something they still struggle to scale: real relationships.
That means documented processes. Shared inboxes. Fast response times. Feedback loops. Enough operational capacity to deliver on the promises we make.
Ready to run your agency like a bigger shop?
The team at Virtual Intelligence works exclusively with independent insurance agencies who are serious about scaling smarter, with the right virtual talent, the right systems, and the operational know-how to make it work from day one. If what I’ve laid out here resonates, they’re the people I’d point you to.