We've Struck GOLD!

That's right, there's gold in Bonita, California.  Not the shiny yellow precious metal, but something more valuable - Mercury Insurance Gold.

On Friday, February 3, 2012, after much hard work, BasePoint Insurance Services was presented with the coveted Mercury Insurance Service Excellence Gold Level Award.  Yes!  I won't bore you with all the details; just know that this means that our insurance agency has been recognized by Mercury Insurance Group as providing outstanding service to its insureds.

And what was our motivation to go for the gold?  You!  We understand that our customers are our livelihood and we are grateful that you make it possible for us to do the work that we love... protecting people.  So Thank You Very Much!

Not to brag too much, but as of today, we are 1 of only 25 Authorized Mercury Insurance Agents (out of 1,296 Mercury Agents in California) that have been awarded this honor.

Check out this cool trophy.  Yes, we quickly had some fingerprints all over that bad boy - Windex and paper towels to the insurance desk... STAT.

We really like this award, because it's not about being the biggest or selling the most insurance.  This is about quality and how well our customers are taken care of.  We think it's pretty cool of Mercury to do this.  These days many insurance companies just focus on quantity.  "How many policies were sold?"  "How much were the premiums?"  This award is all about quality.  So thank you Mercury for this honor and recognizing our agency.

Now, we all know that no man is an island.  This story would not be complete if we didn't talk about a very special person.  Before I do that I need to set the stage.  Now, some of you may not know, but I have 8 sisters and 3 brothers for a total of 12 kids in my family.  That's right - A Dozen!  Dad & Mom (both insurance agents) were busy writing a lot of insurance policies to keep us fed.  My parents beat out the Kennedys, Jacksons, Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie and even the fictional big families on TV like the Brady Bunch and the Bradford Family from Eight is Enough.

Well, this special person that I mention here is the honorary 9^th sister in our family.  Speaking of none other than Diane Nagle - Senior Marketing Representative of Mercury Insurance Group, and our marketing rep since we came into the insurance business (far left in the top photo).  Diane is always willing to help and make sure that our customers are well taken care of.  We could go on and on about how wonderful Diane is.  This year, Diane is celebrating her 25^th anniversary with Mercury Insurance Group.  Congratulations Diane and thank you for helping us achieve or goals. 

For those of you who are in the market to lower your auto insurance rates with a gold level insurance agency, give BasePoint Insurance Services a shot and get a free online Mercury Auto Insurance Quote today.

Our first video.  We're thrilled with the way it turned out and are excited to share it with everyone.  It's great, because we get to tell our insurance agency's story in 2 short minutes.

This was filmed by my big bro, Frankie McKenna.  Frankie has a gift of catching the essence of a person, and making them look good, even if they are not a model. Oh, by the way, Frankie was only paid in carne asada burritos.  Thank you for your generosity and support Frankie!

Customer Service... sure.  Customer Satisfaction... even better.

Customer Astonishment... now that's the ticket at BasePoint Insurance Services. 

This year's Thanksgiving vacation was a little different as we spent this time achieving our goal of completing the Customer Champion certification program, which we were introduced to way back in 2009.  What better time to focus on improving, and to reflect on what we are truly grateful for - our customers!

Based on the lifelong work of Darby Checketts (customer service guru) of Cornerstone Professional Development, this program puts a whole new perspective on doing business and becoming a "customer needs-driven" organization.

Rich Wolak, our friend at Mercury Insurance Group, spearheaded this "Service Excellence" initiative, so we are grateful to Mr. Wolak for bringing Cornerstone to Mercury and BasePoint to strengthen our organizations by crystallizing the principles of serving the needs of our mutual customers.

What a great experience this was going through the process of becoming certified.  We look forward to astonishing our customers!

Total sweat hog (that's me on the left) after finishing running in the annual breast cancer race on Sunday.  This 5k race (3.1 miles) was through the beatiful Balboa Park area.  We even got to run down the 163 Freeway (sorry everyone - I hate it too when runners block up the roadways).  I was super stoked as I approached the finish line and looked at the timer which read 22:06.  Coming down the stretch, I didn't know what place I was in, but I knew I had to beat the guy next to me.  I hit the turbo boost and moved from 67th to 66th position - Yes!

I dedicated this race to breast cancer survivors Gloria Trujillo (my mother-in-law), Marisella (cousin-in-law), and friend (Lynne).

Shari Anici (right), my Safeco Insurance marketing manager (and organizer of our team this year - Safeco Strides for Life) was holding down the fort.

Our team raised over $9,000 - thank you! Safeco Strides for the Cure webpage

The National Cancer Institue provides the following page on Breast Cancer Prevention that includes risk factors that may increase the risk of breast cancer, and protective factors that may decrease the risk of breast cancer.