Side by Side

Committed to Making Our Agency Partners as Successful as Possible

At The Cincinnati Insurance Companies, we think we’ve put together the best insurance organization in the U.S. But that’s not the only business we’ve helped build over the past 75 years.

Founded by four independent insurance agents and dedicated to the principles of the American Agency System since 1950, we’ve helped more than 2,000 independent agencies thrive. Key to their success—and ours—are Cincinnati field associates living and working alongside our agency customers.

Supporting Sales

“We’ve always been a sales company,” former CEO Jack Schiff, Jr., said. “That’s how you get your business.” Specifically, Cincinnati earns business from independent agency partners selling our industry-leading products to their clients, since we only do business through them.

Throughout our history, we’ve offered a variety of assistance and support to help our appointed agencies sell more of our policies. We appoint only the best agents in a community, protecting and enhancing their franchise value. Our education and training programs are employed by agencies countrywide to both teach their staff the basics of insurance and cover the intricacies of our growing line of products. We also have experts on hand to answer any questions that arise when writing a policy, so that agents don’t have to be experts on the minutia of every possible coverage.

Sharing in Success

The best advertisement for Cincinnati has long been our claims teams, with adjusters assigned to each agency, allowing them to build a relationship of trust both with agents and their clients. Claims professionals aren’t the only company associates living and working in every community we serve. Our local approach is led by field marketing associates who, alongside loss control, machinery & equipment, excess & surplus and other field experts, are dedicated to helping each of our agency customers achieve their goals.

“I’m here to help you be more successful,” retired Chief Insurance Officer J.F. Scherer would tell his agency partners as a young field representative. “My role is to contribute to the agency’s success. If on certain days, changing the mulch in the flower bed contributed to the agency’s success, that’s within my job description.”

Our field team stands ready to assist in any way agents need, from joining them to meet with prospective clients to doing what it takes to close the deal. Scherer recalled clearing the deck to help one agency sign clients who had lost their coverage when a competing insurer went out of business. “I was in a position to say, ‘I’ll be in Monday morning. Let’s get all of the business that you’re interested in. I’ll spend the entire week at your office if need be. We’ll get everything taken care of.’”

Bryan Hall, president of Montana’s First West Insurance, credits his company’s longtime Cincinnati field marketing associate Angie Delaney – who now heads the company’s Sales & Marketing team – with much of its success. “We wouldn’t be the agency we are today without Cincinnati,” he said. “The support they give us helps drive us and move us forward, and it certainly helps with retention of our best clients.””

Agencies and Cincinnati—we may be distinct companies, but we think, act and achieve like a team. As we move into the future, that side-by-side approach will never change.

“We become very valuable to the agency,” Spray—himself both a former independent agent and field marketing associate—said. “We’re in the trenches with them, experiencing the thrill of victory when we’re able to help them write an account, and the agony of defeat when we’re not.”

As The Cincinnati Insurance Companies celebrates 75 years of being A Bridge to Better, we honor our legacy of putting agents first, our noble industry, and our commitment to meeting the ever-evolving needs of policyholders.