How We’ve Navigated COVID-19: Part 6

“You can’t stay in your corner of the Forest waiting for others to come to you. You have to go to them sometimes.” -A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh

Note: This is the sixth article of a multi-part series on how our company has worked through the changes caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. As in the previous pieces (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5), you’ll not only hear from me, but I’ll also include commentary and insight from my colleagues, explaining what happened behind the scenes and their personal thoughts along the way.

Pet health insurance is a growing sector. According to the North American Pet Health Insurance Association (NAPHIA), the industry has been increasing at an average annual growth rate of 23.4 percent over the past 5 years. According to 2020 year-end data, approximately 3.45 million pets were insured in North America. While this is a larger number, and we’re experiencing a high percentage of overall growth, estimates still place the penetration rate for all household pets around two percent. Thus, there are a lot of pets out there who aren’t protected.

One strategy we use to reach more pet parents is partnerships. The right partner can almost immediately give us access to an entirely new segment of the market we weren’t reaching before. One example: we work with companies that want to offer pet health insurance as an employee benefit.

A key tactic in this space is networking. When the pandemic hit and travel ceased, not to mention all industry events either canceled or rescheduled to remote only, it became very difficult to network.

In this article, you’ll hear from two members of our Partner Channel team: Rob Hall, AVP of Partnerships, and Nikole Adams, Account Manager. They will share their perspective of how the pandemic altered their day-to-day activity, as well as long-term planning for networking.

Week of April 20, 2020

Rob Hall, AVP of Partnerships: “Traditionally, networking is thought of from an acquisition standpoint. ‘I want to meet new people who can bring me business.’ That’s obviously an oversimplified way of looking at it, but what it really misses is the actual relationship-building aspects. So, yes, we attend conferences and other events to acquire new leads, but we’re also there to meet with existing partners in an effort to strengthen those relationships. None of this is to say it’s all about business for me–I truly enjoy interacting with people and forming friendships. I’m a networker by nature.”

Nikole Adams, Account Manager: “Face-to-face meetings are so important to what we do. Partnerships are based on trust, and that doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time. In fact, our team thrives on collaboration, whether with an outside partner or a colleague at the office. So, we really did not like the idea of losing that connection. When the office introduced a small-scale reopening over the summer, we were in as much as possible. Masks on and socially-distanced, of course.”

Rob: “Like most people, we’ve relied heavily on the advantages of technology to fill the gaps in being able to travel. Video meetings have become the norm, and they’ve helped us keep in touch with partners. In addition, when available, we’ve participated in virtual conferences. Admittedly, though it can be a bit awkward, I’ve had success in making new contacts. It takes a little more effort and certainly helps when the conference organizer takes an active role. For example, many video platforms allow for breakout rooms and other functionality, and that really helps.”

Nikole: “We have a relatively small team, but we’re a tight-knit group. I think we were one of the first teams at the office to start virtual happy hours, and we’d even randomly pop-in when other departments were hosting. Due to the nature of our work, we collaborate across the entire company, so it’s important (and fun) to make sure we stay connected. With just a little bit of creativity, it’s fairly easy to plan team-building events even with everyone working from home.”