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Sahouri Insurance, McLean, VA

Gold Stevie Award Winner 2012, Click to Enter The 2014 American Business Awards

Company: Sahouri Insurance, McLean, VA
Company Description: 2014's Best Place to Work, Sahouri Insurance & Financial is a privately owned insurance agency. Sahouri's reputation for providing an unparalleled customer experience allowed it to become the largest insurer of Embassies and diplomatic missions in the country. Known for their white-glove service, Sahouri has been brokering insurance internationally and domestically with success for over 45 years.
Nomination Category: Customer Service Awards Department Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Customer Service Department of the Year - Financial Services

Nomination Title: Sahouri Insurance and Financial

Tell the story about what this nominated department achieved since the beginning of July 2013 (up to 650 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes:

SAHOURI INSURANCE is an independent all lines insurance agency specializing in Commercial Insurance, Employee Benefits, and Risk Management Solutions. Headquartered near Washington D.C., SAHOURI has been serving domestic and international industries since 1970. The agency has built a service and business model that is 100% client focused, allowing them to secure a 96% client-retention rate since 2007.

Our objective is to maintain a healthy balance between new business growth, a higher than average client retention rate, and a first class customer service standard. One of our largest obstacles is recruiting and transitioning the next generation of millennials into the risk management and insurance industry. Fortunately, we have found and retained the necessary human capital to effectively carry out our business and service objectives.

We created the SAHOURI ADVANTAGE to provide a customer service experience that is 100 percent proactive and unmatched in the Insurance industry. For example:

• All call are answered by a professional
• Less than 30 second on hold time wait
• 60-minute turn around on all Certificates of Insurance
• 24-hour response time for all claims
• Shop client’s renewals 90 days prior to their renewal date
• Complete Billing and Claims Management
• Concierge Service

We designed a proprietary real estate insurance program, the Community Underwriter’s Specialty Program (CUSP). CUSP was created to help our policy holders improve coverage and reward them with savings for low loss ratios. Since 2011, CUSP has bucked the industry trend of increasing renewals and saved our clients 27% on average.

Another one of SAHOURI’s proud innovations is the creation of Back Office Brokers (BOB). Back office Brokers is a partnership between SAHOURI and select independent insurance brokers around the United States. BOB provides its partners with the necessary resources, services, technology and access to top rated insurance carriers. These resources provide partners the competitive edge needed to grow their business in today’s marketplace.

In 2014 we designed, built, and relocated our headquarters to Tysons Corner in order to provide our employees with state-of-the-art technology and a first-class workplace environment. In addition, we use our office space to host monthly events for our clients, employees, and community to learn more about industry trends and each other.

Since 2013, we have organically grown 35% and have become the largest insurance provider for embassies and diplomatic missions in the United States.

In 2013, we decided to build our social media presence and network to be ranked amongst the top in the world. Our Facebook followers grew from just under 920 to over 6800 between 2013-14. In fact, we have more social media followers than the top five insurance brokers worldwide.

At Sahouri, we attribute all our awards to everyone working at Sahouri Insurance. As a family owned business, we strive to make our employees feel at home in order to promote a family-like environment and a positive work atmosphere.

In 2014 alone, Sahouri received numerous awards such as Insurance & Financial Advisor of the Year, Business Insurance Magazine’s Best Places to Work; Business Insurance Top 40 Under 40 Brokers Award, Insurance & Reinsurance Magazine Best Agency in the United States and Best Directors’ and Officers’ Insurance Award.

We recognize STEVIE AWARDS as the premier global organization that identifies and recognizes companies with a true commitment to provide excellence service. The SAHOURI INSURANCE family would be greatly honored if your organization provided us with the stamp of approval to be ranked amongst the industries leaders for customer service.

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