When Cyrus Jaffery of Omaha walked into his future father-in-law’s home situated near the 18th hole of a golf course and looked out at the beautiful pool, he knew one thing. He had to find out what he did for a living.
At the time, Cyrus had been working for a bank selling mortgages, but he had dreams of something more. Something big. When his father-in-law told him he was an insurance agent, Cyrus decided that was it. He began a career in insurance with State Farm—but that was just the beginning.
From Corporation to Entrepreneur
After several years at State Farm soaking up everything he could learn about the insurance industry, Cyrus followed his entrepreneurial heart and left in 2019 to open his own brokerage. What started as a small brokerage with seven employees has grown to over 130 people in the organization today. When Cyrus said, “I want to do big things,” he wasn’t kidding.
For Cyrus, to grow his business into such a large organization required hiring the right people. “What I’ve done a really good job of in the last four or five years is hire the right people to basically come in and almost duplicate me.”
The other key part of his organization’s success? Non-negotiables. “These are my non-negotiables: communication, being kind, showing up on time.” Cyrus taught everyone in his organization to adopt his non-negotiables. “If you follow these three things with the client, most of the time you guys are going to be just fine.” Judging by the success that has followed for Cyrus and his company, he was right.
Hold Their Hand
Another big part of Cyrus’s success is his philosophy in taking great care of his clients when adversity hits. “God forbid, your house is on fire. Somebody holds your hand, gets you through it. You’re going to remember that person who held your hand, which is our agents and our claims experience team.”
Having a brokerage located in Nebraska with all its hail and devastating tornadoes—such as the most recent area storms—Cyrus and his organization have certainly had plenty of experience. “Our claims experience is topnotch at this point. Communication, talking to them, holding their hand, telling them what to do because we understand that if we take care of people in their worst times, they will never leave us.”
Quotamation
Along with his brokerage, Cyrus has started other businesses. Most recently is a company called Quotamation. Quotamation is a technology platform that makes it easier for agents to get quotes from several companies at once by inputting a little data such as a client’s name, address and birthdate. Sold to agents on a subscription basis, the product has made the quoting process much easier for agents and given them some of their time back. Before, Cyrus’s agents were quoting 20 different companies and it was taking them four to six hours. Now with Quotamation? “We cut that down to 30 minutes.”
3,362 Days
In addition to the non-negotiables he has for his company, Cyrus has set non-negotiables for his personal life as well. “So, for me…what’s truly important? My relationship with God, my relationship with my wife, my kids, and then my personal health. And then my work is number five.” Cyrus explained that if you put all the truly important things first, everything with work will fall into place. He looks into a mirror every night and asks himself how he did that day in each of those areas. As Cyrus said, “I need to hold myself accountable.”
Every day Cyrus crosses off how many days left he has with his daughter before she goes to college. At the time of our interview, it was 3,362 days. “So, I know how many days I have left with her and I don’t take it for granted.”
What’s the best part of being a dad to Cyrus? “To truly find the meaning of true love. When I come home it’s the best part of my day when those three run into me, give me the biggest hug…best part of my day by a long shot.”
Have any questions about insurance? Give Cyrus and his crew a call today at 402.451.2500. You’ll be a great part of his day, but you won’t be the best part—that spot is reserved for the three little people who give him hugs.
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