Mr. Perillo: We are a consumer-oriented insurance information service and brokerage. We offer articles, various calculators and other tools on our Website to help consumers learn about insurance and decide what kinds and amounts of insurance they might need. We also offer customers the ability to purchase various lines of insurance online, over the phone or from local agents.
TWST: How did the company get started? If we were speaking 12 months ago, what
were your goals and expectations? Give us your report card for that period.
Mr. Perillo: We were formed back in 1984 as Quotesmith Corporation. At that
time, the company was providing life insurance quote information to other agents
using the forerunner of the Internet, the old Hayes modem. This was a
subscription service set up by our CEO and Founder, Bob Bland. With the advent
of the Internet, Bob Bland saw an opportunity to use our database of insurance
rates to provide life insurance to consumers without the need to meet face to
face with an agent. The company changed its name to Quotesmith.com and went
public in 1999. The offerings were expanded to include health, auto and
homeowners insurance, and we continued writing business almost exclusively over
the Internet until about 2004.
At that point, we realized that we ought to be offering our customers the
opportunity to buy over the phone, knowing that some people might have questions
and want to talk to a live person. So we started offering a telephone service
for the sale of life insurance. Since then, we've been building up our telephone
sales capabilities. That has been a growing process, with the attendant expenses
of hiring agents and getting them trained and licensed.
Today, we have about 50 agents on staff, but not all of them are fully trained
and licensed yet. We are probably a quarter or two away from seeing the full
revenue capability that we think we can achieve from our call center.
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