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Workplace Benefits Renaissance 2008

One of the first Franciscan friars to inhabit the Southwest was Junipero Serra, founder of the famed California missions.

One of the most successful is J.D. Moya.

Of course he’s not a Friar anymore, but he did step directly from the Franciscans into the life insurance business – and it was all because of a priest.

Joseph Demecio Moya left Grants, New Mexico for Cincinnati at age 14 to study for the Franciscan priesthood. After nine cloistered years, he decided to leave and return to his hometown. He had been home about a week when a debit insurance agent stopped at the house to pick up the premium for his mother’s life insurance policy.

"My son is home and looking for a job. Do you have something for him?" Mrs. Moya asked the agent. "Well yes, as a matter of fact, I do!" the agent replied. Not at all sure that this was how he wanted to start his "civilian" life, J.D. decided to talk to a priest, who convinced J.D. to give it a try and pointed out that at least he would get to wear a suit. "Work with your mind, brother, not your hands." So J.D. started selling debit insurance for $125 a week.

He sold 526 policies in his first year and soon thereafter joined John Hancock as a manager. It didn’t take him long to realize that he preferred personal production, so he left to start his own agency, named, aptly enough, The Moya Agency. Along with running his own business, he was also elected a city councilman in Grants and for a while was mayor pro tem. And he married Gale, his wife of 30 years.

His family and his agency grew side by side. Three children were born – Kristy, Sandy and Justin. How did he grow his agency? Well, anyone who knows J.D. knows he doesn’t mince words. "I’m not a babysitter. I will share with my agents the things I did that made me successful. I use the companies I have to offer the best products and the best service for the best price. That’s how you keep happy clients. It’s that simple."

Today, Moya’s agency is home to over 2000 agents and there is an additional office in Harlingen, TX, besides the main office in Albuquerque, New Mexico. However, they’re not The Moya Agency anymore. "When we began to grow, we wanted to find a name that would symbolize the freedom to soar," Moya says. "So we chose Pegasus, the flying horse."

And it’s definitely a family affair. Both wife, Gale, and daughter, Kristy, work at the Pegasus offices along with son Justin, 21, who accompanies his father on sales calls, actually carries business cards with the title "Junior President" and is already poised to take over his father’s business when the time comes.

Which leads him to his next topic – the state of the industry today. Remember, the man doesn’t mince words. "When it comes to agent encouragement, most companies today have lousy attitudes. And we’ve got to do a better job of recruiting and then we’ve got to reeducate our existing agents and teach them, among other things, innovative lead generation. Regardless of the Internet, financial institutions or other trendy issues, you will never take the agent completely out of the equation."

And what about the marketplace? "The Hispanic Market and the Middle America market are being underserved. My goal is to get Pegasus in the grocery store next to Bank of America. Then I’ll be happy. That’s why our current emphasis is on alliances with those who serve these two vital markets - S&L’s, small banks and small business.

And what about that waterbed salesman? Well, it seems that after a recruiting seminar, a gentleman approached J.D. and expressed interest in becoming a life insurance agent. "What do you do now?" J.D. asked. "I sell waterbeds" the man replied.

"So I taught him the same things I’ve taught countless others over the years. He listened, and then he went out and did what I told him. Today he makes over $250,000 a year and has done so consistently for the past few years."

So it seems there is a way to make it all work, even in today’s environment. And if nothing else, perhaps J.D. Moya is living proof that the basic fundamentals of life don’t change and still work, even after all these years.

Just like in Assisi.

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