Darryl Fawcett, CLU, ChFC, President of The Fawcett Group, has always had unwavering faith in his Houston, Texas-based employee benefits firm, but was resigned to believing that his small agency lacked the manpower and resources to compete with the bigger firms.

Those gaps narrowed, if not entirely closed, earlier this year when The Fawcett Group contracted with Zywave. Now, he’s convinced that his David-like agency can go toe to toe with the Goliaths of the industry for large accounts.

“We have very competent people, but there are only six of us,” said Fawcett, who credits Zywave for helping his firm unseat an entrenched agency and subsequently gain a book of business worth $150,000. “Last year, we quoted a 400-employee group and didn’t get the account. This year, after buying Broker Briefcase®, we tried again and became their broker of record.

“During the proposal phase, Zywave gave us such high-quality material to use in our sales pitch. We knew with that information, we could win them over. Now, we give them HSA information and also compute their rates so they don’t have to go back to their carrier to get them.”

The Fawcett Group waded through a host of other insurance software providers before tapping into Zywave. The partnership signified a giant leap forward in the agency’s fortunes.

“We probably called 15 other insurance software providers prior to turning to Zywave,” said Fawcett, whose group recently purchased BrokerageBuilder™ Standard. “None of them were the right fit. One, in fact, cut us off five minutes into the demo and never called us back. The people at Zywave, though, are so professional and knowledgeable. With Zywave behind us, we feel like we can now walk and talk like a big agency.”

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