Approaching his 25th year in the transportation brokerage business, Jeff Maconaghy has learned how developing a marketing and growth strategy can be critical to success, while simultaneously understanding that it is a dynamic and evolving effort. “The key lesson is to be true to who you are and the types of clients you intend on prospecting,” he shares. “Most of our successful relationships start from a consulting approach and hopefully evolve into a friendship over time … I generally start my calendar prospecting by asking my clients for referrals and going from there. My best successes are truly from direct referrals. I do enjoy cold-calling and meeting new people as well, so developing a strong and directed email drip campaign helps to bolster that approach. The combination of both provides enough vetted and suspect opportunities to keep several people very busy.”
In the commercial auto market, where conditions are under constant change and carriers continually lose money, Maconaghy puts efforts into finding new players while preparing clients for the reality of the marketplace. “In 2017 and 2018, that knowledge provided the opportunity for us to strengthen our loss control and risk management professionals to help guide our clients to prepare themselves internally as well as externally,” he explains.
Maconaghy’s career started in 1993 with Alexander & Alexander as an account executive in the transportation department. In 2012, he became president of Encompass Risk Solutions, which joined AssuredPartners in 2016. Last year, he led the agency to perform over $75 mullion in premiums.
