Small Business Finalists: PJC Insurance

Small Business Finalists

Finalists take the spotlight

Each year the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce honors a local company with the W. Curtis Strube Small Business of the Year Award. There are five finalists for the 2000 honor: Aire-Master of America Inc., Carnahan-White Inc., Environmental Works Inc., Maschino's Home Expressions and PJC Insurance.

Springfield Business Journal is profiling each of these finalists in the issues leading up to the Small Business Week luncheon and awards ceremony, which will be held May 25 at the University Plaza Hotel.

PJC reacts swiftly to insurance market challenges

The company's Midwest location is a definite asset

for the coverage it provides

by Diane Rarick

SBJ Contributing Writer

"Keep on truckin'," a popular saying years ago, may just as well be the slogan of PJC Insurance, a commercial insurer specializing in trucking operations. Despite changes in ownership and downsizing, the company has found new business opportunities and uses technology to stay competitive.

PJC's 45 employees work in a four-story office building at 1801 W. Norton Road. The 30,000-square-foot building, topped in red lights, is quite visible to trucks passing by on Interstate 44 and Highway 13.

"We're located at the crossroads of the nation, which is very conducive to the trucking and transportation industry," said Darrell Proctor, co-owner and administrative manager.

PJC specializes in insuring Midwestern truck fleets from one to 200. Proctor founded the company in 1968 as Darrell Proctor Insurance Services with his wife, Danette, who now serves as comptroller. The company grew steadily, acquiring larger office space every few years.

In 1981, the company merged with another local insurance firm, Jarvis & Associates, owned by brothers Burl and Paul Jarvis. The business was renamed Proctor-Jarvis & Associates and specialized in truck insurance. The company grew to 20 employees in 1985 and merged with another competitor, Chappell Insurance, owned by brothers Dennis and Steve Chappell.

With this merger, the company became known as PJC Insurance. In 1989, a new building was built at I-44 and Kansas Expressway to accommodate the growing staff.

In 1991, PJC Insurance had to cut its staff from 60 to 32 when the company that PJC used to write half of its insurance business pulled out. PJC had to diversify quickly and add more insurance companies to cover its existing book of business, and the partners vowed to never again become so dependent on one insurance carrier.

"We had to trim back with just those operations that were putting money in the bottom line. As much as 50 percent of our business was in jeopardy of going away, so we had to trim back areas that weren't profitable or as necessary as others," Proctor said.

"We were successful in getting several companies to contract with us and in fact this was the silver lining behind the cloud. Later on, this diversity of companies allowed us to do even more business in a much wider area than we had ever expected before," he added.

PJC Insurance also is an insurance broker for 26 other insurance agencies that send their customers' business to PJC. "That was a fall in your lap' kind of thing, which is how a lot of things occur. There was an opportunity, and we saw it could greatly enhance our business. We had to gear up and move some seasoned people from the service end to underwriting, but they've done a tremendous job," Proctor said.

This operation now generates about 25 percent of the firm's revenue. In early 1995, longtime partner Burl Jarvis died, and Paul Jarvis sold his interest in the company to the Proctors and Chappells.

The remaining four partners hired Bret McGowne, a former intern with the company, as office and personnel manager.

"We have just completed our most successful year and we know that the ground work we laid and the measures we took in the early 1990s, along with the help of Bret McGowne, has made it possible for us to survive and thrive today," Proctor said.

Although the concept of insurance hasn't changed much in 32 years, information management has leaped light years ahead.

"The information exchange flow is just so much more rapid. Each person can do so much more because of automation. Customer service people can handle many times more business and customers than they could have handled 15 years ago," Proctor said.

PJC Insurance does tailor-made payment plans for truck owner-operators that coincide with the seasonal income changes they experience.

"This approach is very well received by our trucking customers and makes it very difficult for competitors to take the account away from us," Proctor said. He calls Dennis Chappell the company dreamer. Chappell envisions a future where insured trucks use a Global Positioning System to report mileage and location on an hourly or daily basis. Although still cost-prohibitive, the system could someday reduce costs for truckers running in rural areas where fewer accidents occur.