A Conversation With ... Cruz Devon

Not that long, actually. I passed the test … and got confirmation that I had my license from the state March 8 or March 9. We sell health and life insurance.

Tell us about your career before joining United American.

I was at the (Reliable Imports) dealership for five years, and even though you’re kind of your own boss, because you’re building your own (auto sales) business, in a sense, you have to go through all the management stuff that they require. I was just at a point in my life where I wanted to be my own boss. I wanted to be at the helm of my own occupational destiny, and I really couldn’t do that at the dealership, because it is a corporate thing, and basically they have rules and regulations that they want you to do – and that’s good. There’s nothing wrong with that. But I wanted to be able to go ahead and be in charge of myself.

How did you choose insurance as your next endeavor?

I had a lot of different job offers when I left the dealership, and I had to go through this process of, ‘What do I want to do when I grow up?’ I looked at several different sales options … and insurance seemed to me to be two things. One, I was in charge of myself, and there are residuals. Obviously, you’re going to have to keep up with your customers in order to maintain a good relationship, and that way, you can also maintain residuals. I’m very good at that, and I was very good at that at the dealership.

Why did you choose United American?

I like the product, because the product is affordable.

It’s not comprehensive. It’s not major medical, but it does cover a lot of things. Overall, I really like the policies, because we do sell about 40 different policies. There are options out there, so even if I have (clients with) previous or pre-existing conditions, there’s still a possibility of getting them insurance. Our (policies) are guaranteed renewable, and … that’s important because the company can’t drop you unless you stop paying premiums. The other thing is that it’s age-issued, which means that basically, you are always going to be rated at the age that you (were) when you originally bought the policy … . The only time (the price) rises is when they raise it for everybody.

You have mentioned being your own boss several times; so in your new job, are there no quotas? How is it different from other sales positions?

The sales quotas come from within. Basically, if you have 15 appointments a week, then you’re going to make a considerable amount of money because it’s a numbers game, just like always in sales. Basically, you can structure (sales) around other things that might be going on, like networking, or you can work in the evening, or … Saturdays or Sundays. I like the freedom of being able to network, because that’s what I excel at.

We make a lot of calls (from the office) but then also, I usually go home in the evenings and I make calls … and answer e-mails.

Are there similarities between selling cars and selling insurance?

I got lots of training in the car business. It’s kind of a bad analogy, but basically, people hate to buy cars, and people hate to buy insurance. Basically I made it as easy as possible for people to buy a car and feel comfortable with it, and know that they made a good decision, and I can do the same thing with health insurance and life insurance.

I’m calling a lot of old contacts that I networked with. I’m putting together some contacts and doing cross-networking. Being in the car business for five years, I have a wealth of people that I might be able to help.

What’s the last good book you read, and why did you like it?

Actually, there’s two of them. The first one is “The Big Moo,” edited by Seth Godin.

It talks about how you don’t have to be perfect, you just have to be remarkable, and the way that you are remarkable is if you do something so well that somebody remarks on it … and that also leads the way to great customer service. The second is “The Little Red Book of Selling” by Jeffrey Gitomer. He is so good, and so positive, and he’ll just whack you and put you back in your seat, and say, “All right, don’t get so cocky.”

What do you like to do for fun?

I haven’t decided yet, because I haven’t had a life for very long. I try to spend as much time with my dog Kai as possible. She’s part shar-pei, part hound. And I like to go out to eat.