John Baizana, IBAO’s 2010 Broker of the Year, is committed to continuously learning, both from the successes and failures along the way.
BY VANESSA MARIGA
The Ontario Broker, December 2010
LEARNING LESSONS
Successes provide for great learning opportunities, but sometimes mistakes are even more valuable, says John Baizana, IBAO’s 2010 Broker of the Year.
John, the Vice President of Baizana Insurance Brokers Ltd., in Ottawa, Ont. Is a second-generation broker. When he was enrolled in Bachelor of Arts at Carleton, he spent the summers working for his dad in the family business.
Something clicked in him during that time, and he decided to pursue brokering on a full-time basis.
“Prior to working here, I had never really considered it as a career option. I really enjoyed dealing with clients and everyone is different. One homeowner and one business is always different from the next. You learn something every day,” says John.
After working for a few years, in his early 20s, John was unsatisfied with the way The Dominion General Insurance Company of Canada was handling its claims. So, he took matters into his own hands.
“I wrote The Dominion’s CEO a letter – skipping straight over all of the proper channels and going directly to the top. In this letter I explained everything that they were doing wrong and why they should do it my way,” John laughs. “I was a young kid and I thought I knew everything from working a few years.”
Well, George Cooke, the, ahem, opinionated, CEO of The Dominion replied to John. “ He wrote me a great letter. It was very polite. But the point was there, and it was: “Kid, you have a got a lot to learn.”
The letter has taken a permanent place in the side drawer of John’s desk. “Every now and again I come across it, read it and laugh to myself, thinking: “What was I thinking?’ That was a big lesson that George Cooke taught me. The two have since become friends and talk often, he continues, but never about the letter.
John has carried this lesson over into how he conducts his business, and admits that when faced with new challenges, he often tries to learn from both those who have succeeded and those who have failed in their business endeavours.
Roughly 10 years ago, he took the helm of the family business. Prior to that the business had expanded from being primarily a personal lines business to include commercial lines. The firm has grown from two brokers to a staff of nine. While the firm continues its growth, he maintains a careful balance between size and quality.
“I have no desire for our brokerage to be the biggest brokerage out there, we just have to keep striving to be the best,” he says. “We want to grow, but slowly so that we’re not giving up the personal touch with our clients. We want to get to know our clients. We want to build relationships with them. We don’t want to have them for one year as a client, we want to see them for 20.”
Growth in the current marketplace, with merger and acquisition activity on the uptick, will be challenging, he admits. But, “There was a spree of M&A activity 15 years ago. We were told small brokerages were over, a thing of the past,” he continues.
“Integrity is a very important thing to me. If you conduct yourself with integrity and put the needs of your clients first, there is room for brokerages of every size,” he maintains.
Brokers, as well as learning from one another, also need to contribute back to the industry, he says. Five years ago he joined RIBO council, and prior to that he was involved in the Ottawa Insurance Brokers Association.
“You get to see all different types of brokerages and brokers and I’ve learned from all of them. I’ve made a lot of great friends all over the province. The more you get involved the more you enjoy what you do,” he says.
“The knowledge I’ve gained has been invaluable. The different ways that people operate, I put it all together and figure out how I want to run my brokerage. When you’re involved in the councils and associations, competition doesn’t exist at those tables.”
In his community of Barrhaven, a suburb of Ottawa, John sits on different charitable organizations’ boards, and three years ago co-founded a not-for-profit organization, the Barrhaven Run. Each year the organization holds a charity run for Roger’s House. Named for former NHL coach Roger Neilson, the centre provides pediatric palliative care.
Over the years the event has grown, drawing runners from across the province – some competitive and some just wanting to support the cause – and raising more than $47,000. In 2010, John also sponsored the Kidney Research Centre Golf Tournament, three children’s minor hockey teams and soccer teams, as well as numerous community events.
“Getting involved by sponsoring or making donations to community or charitable activities not only raises the spirit of the brokerage, it also raises the community profile,” he says.
