Elevating an Insurance Powerhouse: How Houchens Insurance Group Scales and Thrives with Outmarket AI

Houchens Insurance Group (HIG) has long been recognized as a powerhouse in the industry, including earning the distinction of being a Top 100 agency according to the Insurance Journal. 

HIG has always had a forward-thinking approach to technology, but they struggled with the slow, manual process of dealing with massive policy documents. By partnering with Outmarket AI to accelerate their workflows, HIG was able to scale their agency without adding stress. Through the perspectives of three key leaders, we can see exactly how Outmarket is helping this top-tier agency elevate their business. 

The Technological Vision: Caleb Guisewite, Solutions Architect 

For Caleb Guisewite, a Solutions Architect at HIG, adopting new software comes down to three crucial questions: does the product have an effect today, will it grow with the agency's needs, and will the industry grow to continue needing it? Caleb found that Outmarket easily checks all three boxes. Because the insurance space is incredibly text-heavy, Caleb saw that large language models are perfectly primed to analyze these massive amounts of data. He views Outmarket as an orchestration layer that forces integrity into workflows and ensures data is modeled correctly within their systems. Beyond the technical architecture, Caleb witnessed a profound human impact, noting that account managers have personally expressed gratitude because they can finally rest on the weekends. By making employees' jobs easier and reducing the amount of errors per policy, Outmarket is helping HIG significantly improve its operations.

The People-First Philosophy: Brian Woodward, Solutions Team 

Brian Woodward, a member of the Solutions Team, experienced the pain points of manual document checking firsthand. He noted that when a human is forced to check document after document, the quality of their work inevitably declines over time. While HIG had tried other AI tools in the past, those platforms lacked the crucial insurance background and knowledge required to be accurate. Outmarket changed the game by offering an insurance-specific, customizable platform that keeps a "human in the loop". Brian highlights that the implementation was a true collaboration, with the Outmarket team flying out from California to spend days intentionally listening to the specific needs of HIG's producers, marketers, and service managers. The result of this tailored rollout was unprecedented peace of mind. Thanks to Outmarket, Brian noted that for the first time, account managers could enjoy their Christmas dinner and look "their family in the eyes and not have insurance on the back of their mind".

The Bottom-Line Focus: Scott Robinson, CFO 

From a financial and operational standpoint, CFO Scott Robinson has seen Outmarket deliver staggering results. By embedding the AI deeply into marketing, customer service, and accounting, HIG achieved the following:

• Massive Reduction in Errors: The agency's E&O exposure dropped dramatically from 40% down to roughly 17%.

• Unprecedented Efficiency Gains: HIG experienced a staggering 50% year-over-year increase in its tracked efficiency ratio in March alone.

• Faster Task Execution: An employee used Outmarket to process 61 Certificates of Insurance (COIs) in just 3 hours. Doing this manually previously took four to four-and-a-half days, representing a 90% reduction in time.

• Winning Back Business: Outmarket enabled HIG to analyze a competitor's winning bid, identify coverage gaps, and draft a targeted proposal in a matter of hours. This efficiency helped them win the client back two weeks later. To date, HIG attributes the acquisition of at least three to five new clients directly to insights produced by Outmarket.

• Scaling Without Adding Headcount: The immense time savings have allowed the agency to absorb growth and handle departing staff without needing to hire replacements.

A True Partnership for the Future 

The success at Houchens Insurance Group isn't just about powerful software; it is fundamentally about a strong, collaborative relationship. Caleb emphasized that the Outmarket team was not just looking to make a quick sale, but genuinely wanted to drive change and increase ROI for the agency. 

Outmarket's team was so confident in their product that they came on-site to build and implement custom solutions tailored exactly to HIG's workflows. Brian echoes this sentiment, stating that in his 15 years of software evaluations, no vendor had ever wanted to understand their business's perspective as deeply as Outmarket did.

As Brian summarized, companies that refuse to look forward will undoubtedly be left behind. HIG is setting the standard for the industry's future, and Outmarket is the critical partner helping them get there.

Are you ready to transform your agency's workflows, drastically reduce costly errors, and give your team their weekends and holidays back? Get in touch with us today to book a demo and see how Outmarket AI can scale your business!