Family-owned businesses are a core pillar of OMS and our local community. They are also the backbone of the U.S. economy. Today, there are over 32 million family-owned businesses, making up 60% of the U.S. workforce. These businesses play a significant role, contributing substantially to job creation, economic growth, and community stability. Although they generate $5.9 trillion in revenue annually, when it comes to succession planning, a family business falls under different rules as compared to a non-family-owned business.

Often Property & Casualty (P&C) agents think of Professional Employer Organizations (PEO) as their competition and rightfully so. A PEO, like OMS, provides small-to-medium-sized businesses with bundled services including HR, Payroll, Employee Benefits, and Workers’ Compensation Insurance, but partnering with the right PEO can provide several benefits for P&C agents and their clients:

What happens to a business when the owner is suddenly incapacitated or dies? An event of this magnitude could mean trouble for your business, family, and employees. Partners and family members become stretched to solve problems during a crisis and could face significant financial burdens. A Buy-Sell Agreement is a written contract between two or more business owners that allows the business to continue without interruption during a life-altering event.

If you want to improve your customer service experience and save your organization a lot of time, it’s important to understand the difference between, who will make a good client and who won’t. OMS operates in the B2B space, we know which customers will be a good fit for us and we know who won’t. After years of observing entrepreneurs, we know which ones will sign on and love our services. Since 1997, our team has endured the best and worst of every kind of customer. Over time, we’ve learned a lot about the people who value our services the most. What do they want? What do they need? And why? At your business, you can know this too. Start by making a list of every quality you can think of that describes your current database of clients. What do they have in common? Also, make another list of customer fails. What do these personalities have in common?

Customers want to know one thing…do you really care or are you just trying to sell me something? Caring is not overrated. It’s the basis of building long-lasting relationships with customers who trust you. Providing a product or service is great, you’re meeting their need, but are you looking out for their best interest? And can you prove it? It’s great that you created something or started your own business, but if you want to really succeed you have to care about those who spend their hard-earned money to purchase your product or service.

We get it. You want the best deal and you don’t want to leave anything on the table. What if you could get better service at a better price? Or more features for the same price? When one of our clients approaches us with the dream pitch from another company promising the moon, determined to leave us, we humbly comply. No drama. No burned bridges. It’s disappointing to think our customer doesn’t see the value in what we do. Or maybe they don’t believe that we are giving them our best. We try to convince them that the right thing to do is stay, but if they have their mind set on switching, then we help them make the move. We leave the door open and the friendship intact.