Tennis was Marcio Pepe’s lead into insurance coverage – and to success within the enterprise – and it was a path laid years in the past earlier than he was an grownup when he headed to the U.S. from Brazil to pursue the sport on the highest degree he might.
Pepe was born and raised in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and he took up tennis at a younger age. His mom’s greatest good friend lived in La Jolla, Calif., so she despatched him to the U.S. in 1996 and the lady turned his guardian.
Pepe discovered a small condo near her in La Jolla, and he attended La Jolla Excessive College from 1996 to 1998, enjoying tennis yearly.
“I used to be top-of-the-line junior tennis gamers in Brazil and California was the place to be within the 90s for junior tennis,” he stated. “I educated day-after-day for 5 hours a day and have become top-of-the-line gamers within the U.S. in my age division.”
After receiving quite a few gives for full scholarships, he selected the College of California, Santa Barbara, the place he performed for 4 years from 1998 to 2002, whereas majoring in economics with an emphasis on accounting.
Tennis had been good to him, however Pepe was additionally a realist.
“By the top of my school tennis profession, I noticed my dream of profitable a grand slam and turning into a profitable tennis professional have been very small, so I made a decision to stop aggressive tennis when school was over so I might give attention to my profession,” he stated. “I needed to use all of the self-discipline, arduous work and dedication I leaned from tennis to enterprise. I needed to achieve success, and I used to be very hungry for cash. Tennis gave me every little thing. I met most of my greatest pals, together with my spouse, by means of tennis. I traveled the entire world by means of tennis, and I nonetheless play tennis day-after-day. Tennis was a very powerful affect in my life.”
That call led him to State Farm, which gave him his first foray into the world of enterprise. He labored there from 2002 to 2004.
“I beloved the thought of residual earnings that insurance coverage gives,” he stated. “Additionally, totally different than tennis, with gross sales in the event you work arduous sufficient and make sufficient calls, you should have assured success. In tennis, nothing is assured, however gross sales is all about numbers, so I utilized my work ethic to insurance coverage gross sales and achieved success in a short time.”
He parlayed that success into his personal brokerage agency, Adurakane Insurance coverage, which he launched with a associate in 2004. The main target was on a promising progress space: group well being and business insurance coverage.
After a while, he was led by that have into the world of leads.
“I used to knock on doorways and community all day,” he stated. “In 2011, I discovered about net leads and cut up from my associate and shifted focus.”
He known as studying about leads and what they might do for his enterprise “life altering.”
“It was simple arithmetic as a result of the metrics don’t lie,” he stated. “Should you order 100 leads, will you get 20 legit alternatives on the cellphone and shut half or on the very least 1 / 4 of these. So, you’ll shut between 5% to 10%. All it’s good to do nicely with leads is desperation for fulfillment, self-discipline and consistency.”
In 2011 he began Aliso Viejo, Calif.-based MPX Insurance coverage, which centered on shopping for owners insurance coverage leads, a transfer that he stated took him from “zero private strains premium” to $23 million by June of this 12 months.
“I really feel that if we did $23 million in nine-and-a-half years with no assets, no crew and unstable leads, we must be over $100 million within the subsequent 9 years,” he stated.
His love for leads led him in February to launch GetAQuote.com, which is now the main focus of his enterprise endeavors. GetAQuote.com is a lead technology firm that gives “stay, excessive intent leads,” together with shared or unique dwelling, auto, life and well being leads. They promote unique insurance coverage leads in all 50 states.
“We’re keen to take a position a while with the company earlier than they go stay to verify they’re setup for fulfillment,” Pepe stated of the enterprise mannequin. “In the event that they solely purchase leads for a month and don’t have a optimistic ROI, they won’t purchase leads once more and that will have been a waste of time for everybody round. So, we spend time nice tuning the filters, demographics of the marketing campaign and we wish to be certain they’ve the instruments they must be profitable.”
He stated the corporate strives to distance itself from lead firms centered on quantity, or “flip and burn kind of operations,” as he calls them.
Pepe described a flawed thought course of that’s frequent in insurance coverage lead shopping for, during which firms pay a number of thousand {dollars} for leads and don’t proceed. Nonetheless, a enterprise might pay two occasions income or extra for a e book of enterprise.
“Why wouldn’t you try this with leads? You need to preserve going. It’s the price of doing enterprise,” he stated. “You simply preserve buying, preserve buying. It’s a mannequin that works.”
The web site’s portal prompts customers to “take a easy quiz,” which asks whether or not the quiz-taker is an agent, resulting in questions on the kind of leads being sought, and get in touch with info. Shoppers are directed to insurance coverage buying choices.
GetAQuote.com’s income in 2021 is projected to achieve $10 million, with what Pepe describes as “exponential progress” on the fast horizon.
“This firm will change into a unicorn ultimately and can compete head-to-head with different multi-billion-dollar firms akin to Bankrate, Zebra, EverQuote,” he stated.
The plan is for GetAQuote.com to ultimately change into a portal the place customers can get a quote for items and companies past insurance coverage: auto insurance coverage, a canine walker, a brand new roof, photo voltaic panels, a private coach.
MPX has continued to develop, and now has 23 workers, with plans to develop to 50 workers a 12 months from now. GetAQuote.com is ran individually from MPX Insurance coverage, although MPX solely orders leads from Getquote.com.
When Pepe’s dad and mom (Marcio and Lilian), who have been each physicians, divorced, his mother married an American citizen from Saratoga, Calif., and he and his mom turned American Residents.
Being within the U.S., and the teachings he discovered from tennis, are two issues that Pepe credit for main him to his success and to constructing his profitable enterprise fashions.
“I really feel very lucky to be an American citizen and stay in probably the most unbelievable nation on this planet,” he stated.
Tennis was Marcio Pepe’s lead into insurance coverage – and to success within the enterprise – and it was a path laid years in the past earlier than he was an grownup when he headed to the U.S. from Brazil to pursue the sport on the highest degree he might.
Pepe was born and raised in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and he took up tennis at a younger age. His mom’s greatest good friend lived in La Jolla, Calif., so she despatched him to the U.S. in 1996 and the lady turned his guardian.
Pepe discovered a small condo near her in La Jolla, and he attended La Jolla Excessive College from 1996 to 1998, enjoying tennis yearly.
“I used to be top-of-the-line junior tennis gamers in Brazil and California was the place to be within the 90s for junior tennis,” he stated. “I educated day-after-day for 5 hours a day and have become top-of-the-line gamers within the U.S. in my age division.”
After receiving quite a few gives for full scholarships, he selected the College of California, Santa Barbara, the place he performed for 4 years from 1998 to 2002, whereas majoring in economics with an emphasis on accounting.
Tennis had been good to him, however Pepe was additionally a realist.
“By the top of my school tennis profession, I noticed my dream of profitable a grand slam and turning into a profitable tennis professional have been very small, so I made a decision to stop aggressive tennis when school was over so I might give attention to my profession,” he stated. “I needed to use all of the self-discipline, arduous work and dedication I leaned from tennis to enterprise. I needed to achieve success, and I used to be very hungry for cash. Tennis gave me every little thing. I met most of my greatest pals, together with my spouse, by means of tennis. I traveled the entire world by means of tennis, and I nonetheless play tennis day-after-day. Tennis was a very powerful affect in my life.”
That call led him to State Farm, which gave him his first foray into the world of enterprise. He labored there from 2002 to 2004.
“I beloved the thought of residual earnings that insurance coverage gives,” he stated. “Additionally, totally different than tennis, with gross sales in the event you work arduous sufficient and make sufficient calls, you should have assured success. In tennis, nothing is assured, however gross sales is all about numbers, so I utilized my work ethic to insurance coverage gross sales and achieved success in a short time.”
He parlayed that success into his personal brokerage agency, Adurakane Insurance coverage, which he launched with a associate in 2004. The main target was on a promising progress space: group well being and business insurance coverage.
After a while, he was led by that have into the world of leads.
“I used to knock on doorways and community all day,” he stated. “In 2011, I discovered about net leads and cut up from my associate and shifted focus.”
He known as studying about leads and what they might do for his enterprise “life altering.”
“It was simple arithmetic as a result of the metrics don’t lie,” he stated. “Should you order 100 leads, will you get 20 legit alternatives on the cellphone and shut half or on the very least 1 / 4 of these. So, you’ll shut between 5% to 10%. All it’s good to do nicely with leads is desperation for fulfillment, self-discipline and consistency.”
In 2011 he began Aliso Viejo, Calif.-based MPX Insurance coverage, which centered on shopping for owners insurance coverage leads, a transfer that he stated took him from “zero private strains premium” to $23 million by June of this 12 months.
“I really feel that if we did $23 million in nine-and-a-half years with no assets, no crew and unstable leads, we must be over $100 million within the subsequent 9 years,” he stated.
His love for leads led him in February to launch GetAQuote.com, which is now the main focus of his enterprise endeavors. GetAQuote.com is a lead technology firm that gives “stay, excessive intent leads,” together with shared or unique dwelling, auto, life and well being leads. They promote unique insurance coverage leads in all 50 states.
“We’re keen to take a position a while with the company earlier than they go stay to verify they’re setup for fulfillment,” Pepe stated of the enterprise mannequin. “In the event that they solely purchase leads for a month and don’t have a optimistic ROI, they won’t purchase leads once more and that will have been a waste of time for everybody round. So, we spend time nice tuning the filters, demographics of the marketing campaign and we wish to be certain they’ve the instruments they must be profitable.”
He stated the corporate strives to distance itself from lead firms centered on quantity, or “flip and burn kind of operations,” as he calls them.
Pepe described a flawed thought course of that’s frequent in insurance coverage lead shopping for, during which firms pay a number of thousand {dollars} for leads and don’t proceed. Nonetheless, a enterprise might pay two occasions income or extra for a e book of enterprise.
“Why wouldn’t you try this with leads? You need to preserve going. It’s the price of doing enterprise,” he stated. “You simply preserve buying, preserve buying. It’s a mannequin that works.”
The web site’s portal prompts customers to “take a easy quiz,” which asks whether or not the quiz-taker is an agent, resulting in questions on the kind of leads being sought, and get in touch with info. Shoppers are directed to insurance coverage buying choices.
GetAQuote.com’s income in 2021 is projected to achieve $10 million, with what Pepe describes as “exponential progress” on the fast horizon.
“This firm will change into a unicorn ultimately and can compete head-to-head with different multi-billion-dollar firms akin to Bankrate, Zebra, EverQuote,” he stated.
The plan is for GetAQuote.com to ultimately change into a portal the place customers can get a quote for items and companies past insurance coverage: auto insurance coverage, a canine walker, a brand new roof, photo voltaic panels, a private coach.
MPX has continued to develop, and now has 23 workers, with plans to develop to 50 workers a 12 months from now. GetAQuote.com is ran individually from MPX Insurance coverage, although MPX solely orders leads from Getquote.com.
When Pepe’s dad and mom (Marcio and Lilian), who have been each physicians, divorced, his mother married an American citizen from Saratoga, Calif., and he and his mom turned American Residents.
Being within the U.S., and the teachings he discovered from tennis, are two issues that Pepe credit for main him to his success and to constructing his profitable enterprise fashions.
“I really feel very lucky to be an American citizen and stay in probably the most unbelievable nation on this planet,” he stated.
