Eric Chakirelis and Evan Collart, Co-Founders of PEO AdvisorsIn an interview with Manage HR, Evan Collart and Eric Chakirelis, co-founders of PEO Advisors, share insights on how their PEO brokerage has positioned themselves, their agency partners and clients for continued growth, and success in an ever-developing market.
As a company that specializes in serving clients that may be considered at-risk, how is your brokerage established in the PEO industry?
PEO Advisors specializes in hard-to-place workers’ compensation. In most cases we are being introduced to a client from an agency partner that is struggling to place the workers’ compensation in the standard market. This could be for a myriad of reasons, ranging from the type of risk, claim frequency or severity, being a new business, multi-state exposures or other variables.
Since focusing on the at-risk clients our agency partners cannot place directly in the standard market, we at PEO Advisors have spent years building a network of preferred PEOs, aligning ourselves with traditional blue, white and grey-collar PEO risk markets. I know it may sound cliche’ but we have tried to be the PEO brokerage that can do it all for both, our clients and agency partners, wherever our clients may be.
During your interactions with leading companies, what sense do you get of the challenges they currently face when entering the PEO space, and how is PEO Advisors effectively addressing those challenges in particular?
I would say the biggest challenge business owners face when contemplating the PEO space is simply which PEO to use and why?
Where so many go wrong in this industry is shaping PEOs as a one-size-fits-all service. That can’t be further from the truth. Our clients have needs, very specific needs. It is so important to correctly identify these needs early on in order to place them with the correct PEO.
With nearly 500 PEOs in the country this can be a tricky task. With over 50 years combined experience in the PEO and insurance industries, our dedicated team has a network of preferred PEOs to further expedite the process. It is PEO Advisors job to assist our clients, when determining what exactly will help them when navigating the business of employment. Once we have identified the core needs, PEO Advisors will align them with the PEO that fits correctly.
What are the differentiating factors that give agency partners working with you and your team, at PEO Advisors a competitive edge?
At PEO Advisors we have taken an agency partner and client first approach. To further elaborate, we currently work with over 250 agency partners throughout the country, with hopes of exceeding 300 by the end of the year. This growth is only possible due to how quickly we can secure the workers’ comp coverage and how efficiently we work with our agency partners when onboarding their clients. Additionally, by adopting newer technology over the years into the PEO brokerage space, we have significantly improved not only service, but efficiency. Most importantly, the professional courtesy we provide by keeping their books and other lines of insurance safe.
Our streamlined approach starts the moment we begin identifying our prospective clients needs, and continues all the way through the enrollment process, as coverage is placed. In the standard workers’ compensation markets this can take several days, and in some cases weeks.
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We Strive to Provide an Alternative Solution for Property and Casualty Agents to offer their Clients
At PEO Advisors, we have several PEOs that can secure coverage in 24 hours, if we’re processing the enrollment via paperless. Understanding that this approach can’t work for all, we offer pre-population of all materials prior to enrolling, and fillable forms for those companies who like to do this process on their own. PEO Advisors will undertake as much of this conversion as the business owner will allow. Having built this trust with not only our business owners, but also our agency partners oftentimes result in these conversions happening in 48 hours or less.
PEO Advisors has recognized that by guiding both parties’, step-by-step through this process, has led to long lasting, successful and equitable partnerships.
