Portland insurance co. seeks to grow
Jarrod Maxfield is blessed with a great opportunity accompanied by a very difficult challenge. His insurance business, Your Coverage Matters in Portland and Saco, has experienced dramatic growth during the last two years with sales that increased from $500,000 in 2008 to $2 million in 2009 as his core national insurance clients doubled from six to 12.
He projects sales of $5 million in 2010. Now he just needs to hire 50 people who he can train as licensed life and health insurance agents so he can meet his clients' needs.
"Our problem, which is a good problem to have, is we can't keep up with the growth," says Maxfield, the firm's president and CEO.
Maxfield says the company wants to hire 50 people by Aug. 1 who are willing to train in house before they seek additional training to obtain their required state insurance licenses. Some of their clients include insurance giants such as All-State, Chartis, and Fairmount, Maxfield says.
His hope is that Your Coverage Matters will sell affordable health and dental insurance plans in addition to the regular life insurance products its 20 licensed agents already sell to customers in 30 states.
He says that once the 50 people are hired and trained, his company will have as many as 70 licensed insurance agents who will make anywhere from $12 to $24 per hour based on combination of base salary and commission.
Maxfield, 31, says he grew up in Portland and graduated from Deering High School in 1997. He moved to New York City and founded Necessary Technology in 2002. He later formed Verileads, a company that specialized in developing sales leads for the insurance industry when it dawned on Maxfield that he could sell the plans as well. He says he recently changed the company's name to Your Coverage Matters.
He says his roots made him want to return to Maine and create jobs here. "It's basically important to bring those jobs back home."
The company currently sells supplemental, indemnity plans, short-term medical plans, life plans and discount network plans insurance. Soon health and dental insurance will be among its offerings.
Maxfield says his company is willing to hire anyone between the ages of 18 and 70 who has a basic education and who the company feels can be successfully trained.
Initial paid training for new employees takes three to five days. Paid training to obtain a Maine license takes another three to five classroom days, plus license test prep and test taking.
But finding the right people is no easy task, which is why Maxfield is doing as much as he can to get the word out about his company's openings. "We have taken lots of people with no sales or insurance experience and made them very successful within our system," he says. "We are offering quality jobs for good wages, and I believe this will help keep Maine's young people here."
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