Gretchen Cash This is Me

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1. 1. CashBenefits Online : Dallas Business Journal Article

   www.cashbenefits.com/dbjournal - [Cached]

   Published on: 8/3/2004   Last Visited: 4/29/2006

   Agent Gretchen Cash is determined to buck trends in the male-dominated world of group insurance.
   
   Promising a 24-hour response time and a human voice on the phone rather than voice mail, Cash's hands-on approach has forged Dallas-based CA$H BENEFITS into a business with $20 million in premiums.
   
   "The only thing I have to sell is service because there is an insurance agent on every street corner," she said. "I've had a lot of new clients who have complained that before they would wait a week before they heard from their agent if they had a problem, or never. Sometimes, they would only hear from their agents close to renewal time, once a year."
   
   CA$H BENEFITS serves more than 100 businesses. If the company can't get a response from an insurance provider or carrier within a day, Cash or one of her four employees calls the customer with daily updates.
   
   "We want them calling us any time they have an issue," she said.
   ...
   "Cash is a risk taker, which is an asset in the good-old boy culture of Texas insurance," said Carolyn Goodwin, president-elect of the Dallas Association of Health Underwriters.
   ...
   While the industry is becoming more accepting of women, Cash said her minority status makes her more determined to give clients better service.
   
   "On three occasions I paid for claim resolution with my own money because I wanted to show my sincerity to my client," she said.
   ...
   After a few years and a couple of promotions, a manager took Cash aside and encouraged her to go back to school.
   
   She has since earned charter life underwriter and registered health underwriter status, two rare designations in the industry.
   
   "During that time, while I was in my administrative jobs, I kept noticing that the salespeople were making a lot more money and having a lot more fun," she said. "I set my goal that I wanted to be in sales and watched and learned and got years under my belt in the industry."
   
   She also watched sales people treat clients without courtesy.
   
   "I'm always on time or early," she said. "That doesn't sound like much but, years ago, my former manager was very late to every appointment. I think that's extremely rude and a horrible way to start off with a prospective or even a loyal client."
   
   IN THE BEGINNING
   
   Cash was a principal and vice president of Group & Pension Administrators Inc. for 20 years before deciding to start CA$H BENEFITS in September 1991.
   
   Starting with minimal seed money and renting office space from a competitor, Cash started cold calling for clients.
   
   "It took six months before I really saw some progress," she said.
   ...
   Cash said today's increased use of voicemail systems would have derailed her business then because it would have been almost impossible to get decision makers on the phone.
   
   "It took me about a year and a half to get back to where I was making my comfortable income again," she said. "I kept my overhead low and it was just me in the beginning."
   
   Cash has begun to focus on networking and helping other women-owned businesses. She is a member of the Dallas chapter of the Entrepreneurial Women Presidents.
   
   "There were so many years that I felt less than adequate because I was a woman," she said.

2. 2. business consultant dallas

   www.aboutbusinessconsultants.c - [Cached]

   Last Visited: 11/6/2005

   ... Design by MacPrime LLC press Dallas Business Journal Consultant/broker Gretchen Cash says, "the only thing I have to sell is service because there is an insurance agent on every street corner." Most ... http://www.cashbenefits.com/press.html

3. 3. CashBenefits Online : Dallas Business Journal Article

   www.cashbenefitsonline.com/dbj - [Cached]

   Published on: 1/16/2001   Last Visited: 6/26/2005

   Agent Gretchen Cash is determined to buck trends in the male-dominated world of group insurance.
   
   Promising a 24-hour response time and a human voice on the phone rather than voice mail, Cash's hands-on approach has forged Dallas-based CA$H BENEFITS into a business with $20 million in premiums.
   
   "The only thing I have to sell is service because there is an insurance agent on every street corner," she said. "I've had a lot of new clients who have complained that before they would wait a week before they heard from their agent if they had a problem, or never. Sometimes, they would only hear from their agents close to renewal time, once a year."
   
   CA$H BENEFITS serves more than 100 businesses. If the company can't get a response from an insurance provider or carrier within a day, Cash or one of her four employees calls the customer with daily updates.
   
   "We want them calling us any time they have an issue," she said.
   ...
   "Cash is a risk taker, which is an asset in the good-old boy culture of Texas insurance," said Carolyn Goodwin, president-elect of the Dallas Association of Health Underwriters.
   ...
   While the industry is becoming more accepting of women, Cash said her minority status makes her more determined to give clients better service.
   
   "On three occasions I paid for claim resolution with my own money because I wanted to show my sincerity to my client," she said.
   ...
   After a few years and a couple of promotions, a manager took Cash aside and encouraged her to go back to school.
   
   She has since earned charter life underwriter and registered health underwriter status, two rare designations in the industry.
   
   "During that time, while I was in my administrative jobs, I kept noticing that the salespeople were making a lot more money and having a lot more fun," she said. "I set my goal that I wanted to be in sales and watched and learned and got years under my belt in the industry."
   
   She also watched sales people treat clients without courtesy.
   
   "I'm always on time or early," she said. "That doesn't sound like much but, years ago, my former manager was very late to every appointment. I think that's extremely rude and a horrible way to start off with a prospective or even a loyal client."
   
   IN THE BEGINNING
   
   Cash was a principal and vice president of Group & Pension Administrators Inc. for 20 years before deciding to start CA$H BENEFITS in September 1991.
   
   Starting with minimal seed money and renting office space from a competitor, Cash started cold calling for clients.
   
   "It took six months before I really saw some progress," she said.
   ...
   Cash said today's increased use of voicemail systems would have derailed her business then because it would have been almost impossible to get decision makers on the phone.
   
   "It took me about a year and a half to get back to where I was making my comfortable income again," she said. "I kept my overhead low and it was just me in the beginning."
   
   Cash has begun to focus on networking and helping other women-owned businesses. She is a member of the Dallas chapter of the Entrepreneurial Women Presidents.
   
   "There were so many years that I felt less than adequate because I was a woman," she said.