By: TONY MARKS
Editor
Jeremy Ortego has been named the new manager for Evangeline Parish Farm Bureau. For him, his main job now is to continue the commitment to customer service the clients have come to expect.
“Our clients, especially the ones who have been with us for so long, just appreciate a simple phone call,” Ortego said. “There’s no secret everybody’s insurance is going up the last couple of years with inflation and whatever you want to call it.”
Ortego shared a phone call with a client who said her bill went up $200.00 a year. “She said she was happy it was only $200.00 a year,” he stated.
“She understands and appreciates the cyclical affect of insurance and storms and inflation and everything we can’t control.”
He continued, “That’s just part of it. We’re in the business that people are going to wreck. People are going to die. They’re going to break things, and things are going to happen. The cool thing is that you can actually pick up a phone, call an agent, and call an adjuster. We’re the only company left that has adjusters who work in the office. A lot of people don’t know that.”
For Ortego, this is his 14th year at Evangeline Farm Bureau. The thing is though, he never pictured himself working in the business. Prior to becoming an agent, he was co-owner of ISS (Information Systems Solutions) in Ville Platte for 10 years.
“Farm Bureau asked me to come work for them,” Ortego said. “I said no because I don’t like sales, and I don’t know a whole bunch about insurance. I said no for two years. Boy, that was crazy. Everything I do I do to the fullest of my ability regardless if it’s a hobby or a job or my faith or my family. So, when I came here, I didn’t want to be an agent the rest of my life. I wanted to go into management or district management or move up higher. I’m happy with my career. I’m glad I said yes after two years. It’s not always fun, but it’s rewarding.”
For the past 12 years, Ortego served Evangeline Farm Bureau as assistant manager. “That was nice to be able to have the transition from assistant to agency manager,” he said. “It wasn’t like I was handed the keys one day and told to go figure it out. It was a growing transition, which was really nice because not everyone has the opportunity to do that.”
Besides a dedication to customer service, Ortego remains committed to the parish he calls home. “I got asked to move to different surrounding parishes to be agency manager,” he commented, “but I never wanted to leave Evangeline Parish because my wife (Amy) is a teacher here at local schools, and my kids (Sydni, Ella, and Emeric) are in school here. I didn’t want to have to uproot them or anything. I just wanted to take my time and stay here.”
Now that he is manager, Ortego expressed his new position is rewarding and challenging at the same time. He said, “I have to sign every document. I have to answer every question. It’s fun, though, to find the answer out. In insurance, there are so many scenarios that you can’t make them all up. It’s like there’s a different scenario every day that I have to go and figure out if that’s going to be covered or not.”
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