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MY EXPERIENCE AT AVERY HALL INSURANCE AGENCY

Communication Insights: My Experience at Avery Hall Insurance

CMAT-495: Summer 2022 Internship

Stephanie Mason

Salisbury University
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MY EXPERIENCE AT AVERY HALL INSURANCE AGENCY

When we first decide on a career, we think of all the possibilities, classes we will have to

take, every step, and the dedication it will take for us to complete. As time goes on it’s time for

us to search for an internship and learn the role of our soon-to-be career. After searching for

many internships, I came across Avery Hall Insurance, where they helped me gain confidence

within the workforce and taught me many ways how to market a business. Not just with

insurance but through many ways to get clients engaged and interact with the agents at Avery

Hall. Several examples of this would be keeping up to date on social media trends to engage

followers or clients so they can connect with agents. Also, promoting other graphics besides

insurance, such as daily motivations, life tips as well as graphic polls, such as comments down

below your favorite chip flavor, breakfast food, favorite place to travel, or movie. I enjoyed this

concept of creating a variety of graphics for clients other than insurance because I think it helps

our agents gain more clients and shows them, that we care about their insurance and personal life

or interests. Avery Hall doesn’t just show how much they care for their clients they also show

how much they appreciate their employees by providing many giveaway opportunities, and

rewards. An example of this would be when Avery Hall Insurance in Salisbury created a

software program that allows agents to put any client’s policies, quotes, or any attachments of a

client is placed in a file. This program is called EPIC which is a helpful system for all

employees. For instance, if another client needs to have access to a specific client and the agent

that was originally navigating them through an insurance plan, putting the client in the EPIC

program gives others in the office access when needed. Avery Hall Insurance dedicated a lot of

their time to creating this program and once they were successful to show they appreciate

employees they provided a free lunch and chances to win gift cards and raffles. This took place

during my first week of interning at Avery Hall, so walking into a celebration for employees’
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success was very welcoming and a weight off my shoulders knowing that the company cares and

is proud of its employees. Witnessing this helped me feel less nervous during the internship and

focus on any task I was given to perform with confidence. I will admit that gaining confidence

took some time but by the end of my internship, I gained a lot of information and confidence in

my work ethic as well as myself.

First, my experience as an intern taught me how to feel more confident with

communication skills and work ethic in a professional work environment. In a professional work

environment like Avery Hall, we are all given one task to complete. No matter how small the

task may be, that simple task has helped the rest of the team get the job done. Throughout my

internship, I helped many agents by writing referral notes to clients letting them know how much

we appreciate their time and referrals to others. Doing this simple task shows clients that we

care and when they see that, those individuals may pass the word along which then leads to more

clients for Avery Hall. I also had the opportunity of helping agents at Avery Hall promote new

ways they are navigating clients in the right directions for insurance plans such as Medicare. I

created a graphic and radio script encouraging clients to contact Avery Hall for their insurance

and support from our agents. Some specific communication skills I noticed, were how an

insurance company markets from a different perspective. Avery Hall Insurance communicates to

other agencies and clients through word of mouth and the media to get their information out. As

well as clientele. For instance, I created multiple graphics promoting the company, client

reviews, and engaging graphics to grab our audience’s attention. This shows that Avery Hall

Insurance marketing for any company is the key to communication. Mainly because it allows so

many people to have access to company information and gain more just through the media while

at home on their couch. As an intern, I gain more knowledge about ways to communicate with
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people through marketing and more about Insurance plans in general. The number of insurance

plans we can have and the number of things that can be ensured are overwhelming. Through the

variety of ways to communicate with marketing, clients will have a better understanding of

where to go next. As I continued to move forward in my internship with Avery Hall, I learned

that connecting with clients is just as important as promoting insurance to them and navigating

them through the process. This showed me the importance of marketing and how to continue to

build a strong clientele through media communications. One task I learned how to create was a

press release. During my time at Avery Hall, I completed a couple of Press releases. The first

one was regarding lunch and learn, which allowed Avery Hall experienced agents to navigate

Medicare with confidence as well as discuss Medicare Supplement and Prescriptions Drug Plans

for those that need the coverage. The other Press release introduced two new agents that recently

joined the Avery Hall team. The announcement was for Alex Hupke as a Group Account

Executive in the Salisbury office and Sherri Horseman as the Agency Admin department in

Salisbury as the new Human Resources and Payroll Administrator. This press release also gave

some background information on these two new agents to show our clients the education level

they are in with an understanding of insurance and how they can help guide those that need the

coverage. Both of these press releases are good examples of how the company can create a

strong clientele and relate to them on a personal level, but at the same time help, individuals save

on their insurance plans. Another example of a graphic I created to help clients have a better

understanding and be aware of medicare insurance was an E-blast. An E-blast is an email sent

out to a large group that provides new information about a business, new employee, or event that

is occurring. The two E-blast I created were for Avery Hall employees willing to guide clients

through medicare with confidence. The first E-blast was for Senior Account executive Alyssa
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Sinagra. Her goal is to navigate clients through Medicare with confidence. This blast gives some

information on how to get access to webinars with Alyssa every other month. The other E-blast I

created was for Account Executive Dakota Kellermeyer. His goal is to help his clients educate

their employees on their employer-sponsored insurance plans.

Next, something that truly amazes me about media communications would be how the

media call all work together as one team to get information. As well as store all of the same

information in one system similar to Avery Hall’s new EPIC software program. Another thing

that amazes me about media communication is how much of it is around us every day and more

than we think or the number of times we are using the media without knowing. Marketing for a

company you are constantly adverting through the media and so many other ways. A few

examples that come to mind is marketing promo like Avery Hall key chains, pens, jar openers,

tissues, coolers, plastic grocery bags, and more, all with the Avery Hall Insurance logo on them

making the company known. One day during my internship I was given the task of organizing

and counting the inventory for the marketing closet at Avery Hall. While I was completing this

task I was thinking about all the ways they market and items that are useful during our daily lives

but at the same time advertising Avery Hall Insurance. Another thing I thought about while

organizing was when I came across Avery Hall cups, on the first day I was given a cup as a

welcomed gift. I often use that cup at work or carry it around with me daily, and do not think

about that moment when I go to use it in the morning. “ I think I will use this Avery Hall cup to

help them market Insurance.” We do these types of things daily as a routine without even

knowing we are supporting their company and helping them grow each day. Another thing that

amazes me about media communications is the agents and how much they care for their clients. I
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have mentioned this a few times but now that I have worked in the office and saw for myself

after many people said Avery Hall is a great place to work. I can truly say it’s true and I think a

great review builds their marketing more and the company as a whole. Having a strong company

like Avery Hall and caring agents creates a strong trusting community for insurance.

After being an intern at Avery Hall, I think my career decisions strengthen. I have noticed

that I am more confident with how I act and notice some weaknesses I need to work on. Even

through my weaknesses, I went into work each day with a positive attitude, ready to complete

any task I was given Whether it was a task I didn’t want to complete but I was willing to obey

the task. For instance, when I was first told to do inventory on the marketing close and to

organize everything, at first, I thought it won’t be so terrible because I enjoy organizing. Then

once I saw the closet and how unorganized it was, I felt a little defeated and overwhelmed, but I

completed the task to the best of my ability. Once I had completed the inventory and organized

it, I felt proud of myself and knew I was helping the marketing team have a better understanding

of where everything is located and look more organized. Also continued to look at organizing the

closet as a positive, it gave me a break from sitting at a desk for hours staring at a screen. The

marketing closet did help me boost some more confidence each time I had to grab something,

knowing that I was the one that organized it and made it easier to locate the merchandise for

clients to receive and show appreciation, made me feel good and proud that I overcame

something I felt overwhelmed by in the beginning then accomplished that fear. Another thing I

enjoyed about Avery Hall was the referral program. Each week I was given a list of clients that

have been referred to agents than people that they referred. I would then write them a thank you

note with a gift card inside from Avery Hall showering their appreciation for the referral. The $5
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was also donated to a charity each month. During my time at Avery Hall, the two organizations

were donating to the Life Crisis Center which helps support this addicted and in need of help to

better their future. Another organization they donated to was Adkins Arboretum this

organization’s mission is to, Through its educational programs and science-based approach to

land stewardship, the Arboretum promotes the appreciation and conservation of native plants to

more than 26,000 visitors annually. Learned that the workforce shouldn’t be a fearful

atmosphere, it should be a place we enjoy and learn from each mistake, not beat ourselves up

over it. The reason for internships is to help us grow into whom we want to be and then create a

strong workforce of ourselves wants we have had the experiences and climbed all the mountains

to get to our goal.

While interning, something else that I found to be important was not just promoting

insurance and navigating clients with the right coverage plan. But I found it to be important to

interact with the clients and interact with them on a personal level. For example, I was asked

several times to create graphics for Avery Hall’s social media stories that allowed clients or

followers to interact. An example of some content I did was This or That, where I would have to

different objects and as would you rather have waffles or pancakes. I also created a couple of

posts where people could choose their favorite food, or I created different themes and they would

have to comment on the post about what their favorite was. I thought this was a great way to

keep old clients engaged and bring new clients in and allow them to feel conformable with Avery

Hall agents and not worry about any silly questions or feel comfortable with their insurance

plans. This all in away can lead back to having great media communication skills and a strong

marketing department.
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In conclusion, my internship at Avery Hall insurance was a wonderful experience and I

learned so much from it. I now have a better understanding of marketing behind the scenes and

everything that is put into creating the content and how a work environment all does its job but at

the end of the done once it’s complete, it’s a task that everyone in the office has done as a team.

At first, I was skeptical of what the workforce would be like and working in a cubical for eight

hours a day. But as the internship went on it grew on me, and I didn’t seem to mind it because I

was enjoying the tasks and realized I had found a career I am passionate about so figuring that

out gave me a boost of courage and strength each day during the internship to help keep me

going. If I had the choice again to pick an internship or a webinar, I would choose an internship

again because I have gained so much from Avery Hall, had the chance of meeting so many

wonderful people, and build new relationships. With a webinar, I don’t think I would be able to

have the same feelings about my career or learning experience as I did with an in-person, the

number of hands-on tasks, and the welcoming atmosphere I received from my internship.

Overall, this internship program has guided me down the right path and furthered me into the

career I enjoy.

Lastly, I don’t think I disappointed anyone during my time as an Intern at Avery Hall. I

do think I could have been more creative and not as careless with some media content. For

instance, I should have been better about revising for any simple mistakes. Another thing I

should have done better was more faith or trust in myself each day and not worry about making a

mistake. So, with all, I highly recommend it to anyone that is thinking of completing an

internship after graduating from college because even if you may know what career to take, after
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an internship you may have a different perspective and better understanding. Before entering

your workplace for an internship think to yourself you can do this and it’s all just a learning

experience to help guiled you to the right path to success.