Insurance agency finds success going against the norm

New salespeople at Atlas Insurance are given an interesting, somewhat counterintuitive, task when they start working at the Sarasota-based firm: they are told to avoid sales goals for at least their first two years. Sometimes three years.  

In the competitive insurance world, where a growing book of business is gold, it’s a patience-over-quick profits philosophy that, to some, is jarring. Atlas Vice President of Sales Tommy Kochis says the method works because the firm considers its sales force long-term relationship-driven employees, not transient producers. “We can’t hire 30 people and hope two or three make it,” says Kochis, like some insurance giants do. “And we don’t want a desperate salesperson. That’s not good for the firm, or the client.”