Teaming Up for the Greater Good; How Two Indiana-based Competitors Joined Forces to Help Their Community

For more than 50 years, two independent agencies, Gregory & Appel and MJ Insurance, have battled each other for the best insurance clients.

Indiana-based Gregory & Appel Insurance is a fifth-generation, family-owned independent agency, operating in downtown Indianapolis. Less than 15 miles away is one of Gregory & Appel’s top competitors, MJ Insurance, a 57-year-old independent agency based in Carmel, Ind. Jon Loftin, president and chief operating officer of MJ Insurance, and Andrew Appel, president and CEO of Gregory & Appel, have known each other for years as friendly competitors. But when the effects of COVID-19 began to hammer their community, Appel and Loftin decided to team up.

“When March came around, the severity of everything that was hitting us, the cancellation moratoriums and shelter in place orders, it became very clear that everyone who was able should be stepping up,” Appel told Insurance Journal.

Appel, who took the reigns as the fifth-generation leader of his family’s independent agency in January, has always held MJ Insurance in high regard. “The first thought that came to my mind was to reach out to Jon because I thought if the two of us did something together, it would make more of an impact,” Appel said. “We have always had a higher degree of respect for MJ, and Jon Loftin is somebody that I have gotten an opportunity to know personally over the years,” Appel said.

“We’ve always competed and always will compete, respectfully,” Loftin said. “But when Andrew called me and said, ‘What do you think about partnering and doing right by our community?’ I said, ‘Don’t ask again, I’m in.'”

That background of mutual trust and respect for one another’s agencies led to the launch of Together4Impact, a partnership to mutually support the local community through collaboration of both organizations.

The goal was to raise $100,000 for local communities impacted by COVID-19 in the areas of food security, economic security and family security. Both G&A and MJ donated $25,000 each and Together4Impact already has exceeded its goal.

“Several carrier partners contributed to Together4Impact and even another competing brokerage firm contributed to the fund,” Loftin said. “When you do right by the community and do right by our industry by eliminating the competitive lines for a moment, people come together to help our community. Hence, the hashtag #Together4Impact.”

Appel says despite remaining competitors on the insurance business side, he hopes the collaboration between both agencies for the greater good doesn’t stop now. “There is always need,” Appel said. “I sincerely hope that when the day comes when we no longer are wearing masks and we don’t think twice about touching a surface that we’ll continue to collaborate in ways that positively impact our community.”

“I can say with certainty that MJ is continually committed to Together4Impact, and where there’s a need and where there’s a will, I think our two firms have demonstrated our willingness to step up and help,” Loftin said. “I can’t imagine that will discontinue.”

One more hidden benefit of two insurance industry competitors joining forces to help their communities might be the positive spin on the industry’s public image, Appel added. “When you kind of say, ‘We’re doing this together and we’re doing it intentionally,’ that’s when people say, ‘That’s really cool. That’s different. How can we help?'” he said.

There are a lot of good initiatives in the insurance industry, Appel said, at the carrier level and the agency level. The industry needs to share those stories. “At the end of the day, we’re competitors,” he said, but competitors who collaborate.