Meet the 2018 National Agent for the Future Award Winner: Excalibur Insurance

Award winners, Personal Lines, Small Commercial Lines, Technology

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

EXCALIBUR INSURANCE WINS SAFECO’S® 2018 AGENT FOR THE FUTURE™ AWARD

“I believe growing up in a community of dedicated farmers reinforces a culture of resilience, innovation and a help-your-neighbor attitude. There’s no question that it’s elevated our team’s ability to continuously innovate and champion people.” Jeff Roy, Excalibur Insurance CEO

London, Ontario: This year Safeco Insurance® recognized a Canadian independent agency at the top of its game when judges Tyler Asher, President of Safeco Insurance, Ryan Hanley, insurance industry influencer, and Erin Nutting, owner of Integrity Insurance, called southern Ontario’s Excalibur Insurance Group to the podium to receive the first-ever Agent for the Future award.

The Agent for the Future award is designed to showcase top insurance agencies within North America that embody what it means to be an agent for the future, an agency that continuously innovates to improve their customer experience. The process requires nominees to demonstrate unique ways they leverage technology, an ‘above and beyond’ commitment to their community – along with a proven ability to attract and keep top talent.

Having a Safeco appointment was not required to submit a nomination, in fact Excalibur Insurance Group doesn’t have appointments with any carriers who don’t have Canadian operations. The judges were struck by how Excalibur owners Jeff and Una Roy were adapting to customers’ changing needs and had developed so many initiatives that provided their clients with choice and ease.

“Safeco wants to help every agent in the channel grow and change because we believe that independent agents have more of what consumers, particularly young people, value. More people than ever before want ease, they want choice and they want advice, and that is what we think independent agents bring to the market,” said Asher.

While Southern Ontario’s Huron County (a traditional farming region) might not be where you’d expect a company to amplify digital innovation, Jeff Roy believes a large part of Excalibur’s success comes directly from growing up surrounded by farmers who understand that things don’t always come easy. With a strong farming community to draw as role models, Excalibur works tirelessly to create a winning formula using one simple question – How can we make life easier for our customers?

The theme of Self-Service, a key focus for their team, means that customers have the ability to quote, bind and issue policies online; utilize a web portal and app where they can manage their account, download and print liability cards, request policy changes, and fast track a claim. In the last 16 months they took self-service to a new level as early adopters in the development and introduction of their online insurance chatbot they call Aiden. When Excalibur invested in their chatbot technology no one knew where it might lead, but 16 months later she now serves as an important player in their customer experience platform. Her ability to help continues to evolve, and with the most recent addition of smart speaker connectivity, Aiden will soon be able to assist customers seamlessly using voice-activated technology.

As Champions of People, Excalibur Insurance spearheads a Defenders of Honour Program in partnership with a professional hockey team out of Southern Ontario called the London Knights, where they honour veterans who made the commitment to serve and protect on behalf of their country. Internally within their team they created the Defender Difference Program where staff members receive paid time off and financial resources to do volunteer work for an organization or charity that lies close to their heart.

At Excalibur, each employee is recognized as a Defender of Honour. When it comes to hiring, the management team is committed to finding people with a proven a desire to go above and beyond for people in their daily life, knowing that they will naturally want to exceed customer expectations in times of need.

As the winner of the Agent for the Future award, Safeco is making a $5,000 donation to the Clinton Hospital Foundation on behalf of Excalibur Insurance.

All that said, perhaps the most admirable quality about Excalibur Insurance isn’t found in their achievements (of which there are many), but in their unselfish desire to help.

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About Excalibur Insurance Group

Excalibur Insurance is an independent insurance brokerage with 4 branches in southwest Ontario, serving the entire province. We exist for one reason – to do the right thing. Period. In our world, insurance is about more than pumping out quotes, hitting quotas or clocking claims – anyone with a heartbeat in our industry can do that. Doing the right thing is about how we live our story with honour, and it changes the way you think, serve and act. Doing the right thing speaks to everything we do as a team when it comes to insurance, community and choosing the type of insurers we want to work with. It determines the principles that guide us, it reflects the steps we’ll take to help our customers, and it serves as the anchor for our strong belief in giving back to people.

For more information about Excalibur Insurance Group, go to www.excaliburinsurance.ca.

About Safeco Insurance

In business since 1923 and based in Boston, Mass., Safeco Insurance sells personal automobile, homeowners and specialty products through a network of more than 10,000 independent insurance agencies throughout the United States. Safeco is a Liberty Mutual Insurance company.

In business since 1912, and headquartered in Boston, Mass., Liberty Mutual Insurance is a leading global insurer with operations in 30 countries around the world. Liberty Mutual is the third largest property and casualty insurer in the U.S. based on 2017 direct written premium data as reported by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. The Company also ranks 68th on the Fortune 100 list of largest corporations in the U.S. based on 2017 revenue. As of December 31, 2017, it had $39.4 billion in annual consolidated revenue.

For more information about Safeco Insurance, go to www.Safeco.com.

Download the PDF of this press release.

Jeff Roy

CEO of Excalibur Insurance Group

Jeff Roy is the CEO of Excalibur Insurance Group, winner of the inaugural Agent for the Future Award. As a leader and motivational speaker, Jeff is passionate about championing people, investigating new technology and exploring big ideas. He has seen from experience that true innovation requires trying new things, taking risks and learning from failure when it doesn’t go as planned.

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