Sellman Insurance successor keeps service tradition Caldwell Boulevard. Here, Peggy, who as a youth helped in the agency, joined as a Farmers recruit, sharing the office with her father and other agents. On Jan. 1, 2001, Hal retired, and individual Farmers agencies carrying his and Peggy’s names, respectively, merged to form Peggy Sellman Farmers Insurance dba Sellman Insurance. In 2013, Peggy left Farmers and became an independent insurance agent representing multiple companies. After Thanksgiving 2015 she moved Sellman Insurance from 912 12th Ave. S. to the remodeled current location on Second Street South. Hal set up, and then scrapped, one of the first electronically voiced, automatic-dial phone systems for setting appointments. “I had as much trouble with it as I had good things from it,” he said. “I gained some good clients that stayed with me many, many years. But I ruffled a few feathers, too." Peggy took the office in an internet-driven, paperless direction. Regardless of who was running the business, its success stemmed partly from the owners’ belief in the community they served. “I can’t imagine a better place to work or
Hal Sellman at an award banquet.
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Cavalcade | Saturday, March 25, 2017
a better place to work for yourself,” Hal said of Nampa, where he was born. Starting in the mid-1960s, after spending five years as a naval aviator — he served in the Cuban Missile Crisis blockade – he and two brothers owned several Treasure Valley A&W fast-food restaurants. Hal in 1980 sold his restaurant interests and worked as a real estate agent, in a housing market challenged by high interest rates, before starting his insurance business in late ’81. He felt his insurance agency turn a corner toward long-term success about two years later. Peggy started slowly in the insurance business, she said, working to build a solid reputation. She has since taken on more community service roles. She has served as a Nampa Planning and Zoning Commission member since late 2015, chairs a Nampa Chamber of Commerce business networking group and has held several offices with Nampa Kiwanis Club. In the early to mid-1990s, the insurance agency grew on referrals and the addition of a book of farm-related business acquired from a large Canyon County mutual insurance company that merged into what is now United Heritage. Adding this clientele provided opportunities to further grow
the business and made the agency referralbased. More growth came based on population gains, including a short-term spike in homeowner policies as the housing market boomed in the early and middle 2000s. Hal built the agency from the ground up, early on making many cold calls and setting up introductory meetings. He retired at an ideal time, working his final six years as “insurance companies were having their heyday” reflecting growth of the economy, he said. Premiums were low, aiding demand. Returns were high on customer-owned annuities and the insurance companies’ own investments. “It was just a good time to be in business, but it didn’t last.” Peggy made fewer outgoing calls, but would establish herself in the business amid a couple of recessions and a period that saw operating expenses jump in relation to income. The two-employee Sellman Insurance represents 10 to 12 insurers. Business activity was diversifying again as February began, after an earlier focus on health insurance due to annual open-enrollment periods.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held at the opening of Sellman Insurance at its building in Nampa.