Hill Family Insurance Agency in Jaffrey is under new ownership, but customers can expect the same level of personal service they’ve enjoyed since the mid-1980s.
That’s because when longtime owner Dick Hill decided it was time to retire, he made sure his four children – Nick and Sam Hill, Abby Derosier and Liza Sprague – were ready to carry the family business into the future.
“It was a father’s dream,” Dick said.
The four siblings officially took over the downtown Jaffrey insurance agency on Jan. 1, and each will have a 25 percent stake in the company. Dick Hill purchased the business in 1985 from Randyl Cournoyer and ran it as Cournoyer-Hill Insurance until the early 2000s when he renamed it to reflect the family name. During his 34 years, Dick also bought out three other agencies in the area to help the business grow.
“Everything that I was doing was with the intention they’d stay and take over,” Dick said.
The initial conversations about the next generation seeing it into the future began about five years ago.
“I don’t now if it was assumed, but we were hopeful,” Sam said.
“I think he always wished that we would,” Liza said.
With Dick planning on 2019 being his last year, the discussions got a little more serious two years ago and the last year has been spent putting everything in place for the transition. But outside of the new titles, Nick, Sam, Abby and Liza expect the operation to run exactly how it has.
“Nothing really changed, except being responsible for the business,” Abby said.
Sam has spent 20 years working for the company, while Nick joined the business in 2001. Abby started working there right after college in 2004 and Liza has spent a dozen years learning the ins and outs of the insurance industry.
“They’ve got some great experience and they’re totally capable to making it a bigger success,” Dick said.
Sam, Abby and Liza have spent their entire careers in the Jaffrey office, while Nick splits his time with the company’s other agency, Lake Sunapee Insurance in Sunapee, which they also took over the 50 percent ownership stake in. The four make up the entire staff and each learned how to best serve their customers from both their dad and each other, so the transition is expected to be seamless.
“I had to be comfortable they knew the business well and all aspects of it so that’s why I assigned them each a different area,” Dick said.
When it comes to making decisions, the siblings will sit down and discuss and vote with a majority needed to approve any new endeavor or change. They took out a 15 year loan with their dad.
“It’s his retirement,” Nick said. “This will be his nest egg.”
Presented with an opportunity, Nick and Liza purchased the building at 10 Turnpike Road. It is their third location in the heart of Jaffrey.
“It gives us some security for the future,” Nick said. “It’s an ideal location right in the center of town.”
With more than 600 customers and $5 million in premiums, the business has grown into one that has proven to withstand the changing landscape in the insurance market. Hill Family is considered an independent agent with access to policies from 12 different carriers with each one located in New England.
“We’re a pretty decent size agency for not having that many agents,” Sam said.
It comes back to that personal experience that Dick instilled over his 34 years of ownership, and that’s why they still have customers that have been with the company for more than three decades.
“If we’re out at events or sports, we have people asking us questions all the time,” Abby said.
They rotate who is on call so if a customer ever needs a question answered, buys a new car or has something happen that needs immediate assistance, the policy is to be there to help – no matter the time of day.
“We’re always available and that’s what we pride ourselves on,” Nick said. “You have a relationship with your clients.”
With 11 kids between the four of them, the hope is to one day make the same transition to the next generation.
“Passing it down would be ideal,” Sam said.
For more, visit www.hillfamilyinsurance.com.