The Juengel Agency: May’s Small Biz of the Month

As a high school student, Matt Juengel never liked math. Now, as the owner and founder of The Juengel Insurance Agency, he’s still not a number enthusiast.

Instead, he prefers to focus on the human connection, facilitating an educational and quality-based approach to insurance. Taking this spirit of generosity into consideration, we have selected The Juengel Agency as May’s Small Business of the Month.

“We’re trying to give our customers the best advice possible, not be an insurance mill,” said Juengel, who opened the doors to his agency in 2004. “It’s hard to keep the client’s best interest in mind when you’re focusing on profit numbers.”

A graduate of Ohio’s Wright State University, Matt runs the independent agency with his wife, mother, and one full-time employee. Before deciding to pursue and insurance career, he lived in Ft. Myers, FL, and worked in property management.

In Florida, he spent more than four years working for “big insurance” companies that prioritized sales volume over package quality, he said. This taught him much about the industry, and also led him to develop a more people-oriented and principled philosophy towards insurance

“A lot of trust has been eroded in the industry for two reasons. There are policies that emphasize price rather than coverage. Also, clients are making decisions based on funny marketing campaigns, rather than understanding that insurance is a legal contract with a lot of really important fine print.”

After relocating to North Carolina, Juengel decided it was time to forge his own path forward.

“Insurance isn’t a commodity, but a way to protect yourself,” he said. “I felt like that was really something missing in today’s marketplace.”

Juengel has made it his goal to make insurance both accessible and educational.

“The biggest challenge was the unknown–not having a step-by-step manual of what to do,” said Juengel.

“The Chamber’s Professional Networking Group was a huge help. Real success occurs when you sit down and really get to know your community. I developed a strong word-of-mouth network when I was just starting out.”

Juengel describes his business approach as slow and steady. He draws inspiration from St. Thomas Aquinas, who says ‘to love is to will the good of the other.’ His idea of success is not financial, but the ability to put people in a better place, he said.

“It’s not the fastest way to profit,” Juengel said. “But we’re doing just fine. We are growing faster than we can keep up, and helping everyone from millennials to retirees.”

In the vast jungle of insurance options, we certainly lucked out with these folks.

Congratulations, Juengel Agency!