The insurance awards season is upon us, with the Insurance Brokers Association of Ontario (IBAO) recently honouring top achievers at its Awards of Excellence. Among the list of nominees were several young brokers that have made a name for themselves in the broking industry, such as Pouya Javadi, insurance broker and team leader at PrimeService Insurance, who wasn’t always certain that this career path would be the one for him.
“I started my career at PrimeService back in May 2015 as an insurance broker, but I met my principal broker in January 2015, when I wasn’t so sure if the insurance industry was going to be a good choice for me or not,” Javadi told Insurance Business. “He was so inspiring and motivated me that it’s going to be a good path for me and after then became my mentor and helped with every step of my career.”
After a couple of months working as broker, that same principal broker offered Javadi a position that was more similar to that of an account manager and included helping the accomplished broker manage his own book of business, which was the largest and most valuable book at the brokerage.
“It was a great opportunity for me to deal with many clients and different types of polices, and it was like jumping in deep water from day one,” explained Javadi. “Besides managing those clients, I worked on my own book of business and from the point of zero [dollars] in premium, achieved $2.5 million in four years, got my CAIB designation in 2017, and RIBO L2 in 2019.”
Amid all of his achievements, Javadi’s favourite part of the job is giving people a hand during tough moments in their lives, as well as supporting other new brokers coming into the industry.
“Dealing with people and helping them with one of the most complicated parts of their lives was always my motivation,” said Javadi. “Nothing can’t beat your level of satisfaction after you can help your clients with opening their new business or picking up their new cars, but these days, helping new brokers deal with their clients and reach their goals, and writing new business really motivates me.”
And despite all of the so-called threats from technology, Javadi doesn’t see anything replacing the work that brokers do in their communities, though he advises that brokers harness the tools available to them today to strengthen their client relationships.
“Technology, social media, being more digital, and artificial intelligence are having a huge role in all aspects of our lives these days as well as in the insurance industry, but I personally don’t see them as a threat and believe nothing can replace the human touch,” he explained. “If we can use technology to help our clients with better, faster, and higher quality services, [while] also using social media like Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp and others to create better and more real relationships with our clients – educate them to choose smart, not just cheap, rather than just focusing on selling insurance online or trying to use technology to replace humans at any level – we are going to be much more successful and get much better results.”
As for the nomination for the IBAO’s Young Broker of the Year Award, Javadi will direct all the positive uplift he got from the recognition back into his work.
“I got all of the positive energy I need from the nomination itself and I’m so honoured that my industry and association noticed all of my hard work and efforts during the past four years,” he said. “It’s not something I can describe and just want to say I had a really bad flu and was resting at home on the day I received the email from IBAO about my nomination. Because of all the good energy, the flu was [soon] gone and I went back to work the next day.”
