<body><div>A lot can change in the span of 50 years.That’s why accomplishments that reach the half-century mark no matter if it is a marriage, a win streak for a football team or a business being open, are revered so much.The Webster Insurance Agency, located in Bridgeport, has been celebrating its 50-year anniversary in 2024. And indeed, there have been plenty of changes since 1974 but Webster Insurance has consistently and successfully served its customers for 50 years.<figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=4IBVFo_0wEii91X00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=4IBVFo_0wEii91X00" width="600" height="450" ></figure>They have done so because of a variety of factors. At the top of that list is one important word – family.“Everybody knew my dad and his two brothers,” Ron Webster said. “People would meet me and ask, ‘Is your dad the paper hanger (Duck), the musician (Dave) or the insurance man (Dan).Dan Webster Jr. is the original Webster for Webster Insurance.“My Dad started the agency in 1974,” Ron said. “He was one of the very first independent agents that represented Erie Insurance in the state of West Virginia. He got a contract with them when nobody really knew who Erie was.“People know them now; they know they are a great company. Erie will be celebrating their 100-year anniversary in January. We’re honored to represent them.”Ron went to for Erie as a district sales manager in Beckley where he served customers throughout southern West Virginia for years, laying the foundation for Webster Insurance to become a father-son venture.“I started my own agency in Clarksburg in 1994,” Ron said. “Then me and my dad merged our agencies together and he retired in 2011.”In 2016, Webster Insurance Agency became a third-generation business as Ron’s son, Dustin, joined the company.It’s created a unique situation for Ron and one he wouldn’t change for anything as he has been both mentor and apprentice in the following in your father’s footsteps equation.“My dad is the best salesman I’ve ever know,” Ron said. “He’s really good at talking to people. When I was a kid, probably 8 or 10 years old, he was writing insurance for a neighbor, and I went over with him. He was sitting there talking to him, making him laugh and I remember thinking, ‘He’s friends with these people first. He’s friends with them before he tries to sell something and it’s genuine.“He doesn’t know a stranger. He loves people, loves talking to them and learning about their lives.<figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=0iyzBd_0wEii91X00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=0iyzBd_0wEii91X00" width="600" height="452" ></figure>“I learned that from my dad. People are important, getting to know them is important. If you get a sale out of it, fine. If not, you made a new friend and that’s actually more important. I know it sounds cliché, but I believe that is a reason why we have around as long as we have.”Ron would be proud of his son Dustin, no matter what but that doesn’t change the fact that the father is 100 percent confident the family business will continue to thrive with the son.“He started in middle school saying he wanted to do this,” Ron said. “But if you ask the girls in the office, they will tell you he would come in and wouldn’t even talk to them he was so shy. But he really came out of his shell once he went to college.“He is amazing. He’s really good with people. He’s really sharp. He understands coverages even better than I do sometimes. He has a real good feel for the business. I’m very comfortable he will continue with the business. He’s been with me since he graduated from WVU in 2016.”Ron said when the three of them get together it can be difficult to “turn the insurance talk” off but they do end up sharing stories rather than engaging in strictly business talks.“When I see my dad, I like to tell him stories about somebody I know he knows, somebody he wrote for,” Ron said. “Or if I’m around Erie company people, a lot of them remember him and ask how he’s doing. He gets a kick out of that.“He’s super proud of Dustin as well. He had a part in building a legacy that Dustin can be a part of.”Dan’s first incarnation of Webster Insurance was located in Clarksburg for years. It’s been in the old house where Chiropractic Care Center is currently located. It had a presence in the Chandler Building.When Ron first started, he was based out of his basement in Stealey, and he moved to the Goff Building before he and his father merged their business at the current location for Webster Insurance on Doctor’s Drive.In 2023, Webster Insurance expanded to St. Marys, as an agent friend of Ron’s in that area was preparing to retire. Currently, Ron and Dustin alternate between being in the St. Marys and Bridgeport offices.The girls in the office that Dustin was too shy to talk to years ago have played a crucial role in the success and longevity of Webster Insurance. They may not be related by blood, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t part of the family.“The people we’ve had working in our agency, they have been incredible,” Ron said. “We had a lady, Florence Reed, that worked here for 20 years. She started with my Dad, worked with both of us until she retired. She passed away a few years ago. She was so good. People loved her.“We have a lady now, Melissa Hickman, who has been with us probably 18 years. She is super knowledgeable and probably has as long in the insurance business as I do. People love her and she is so good with people.<figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=2fYwQy_0wEii91X00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=2fYwQy_0wEii91X00" width="600" height="450" ></figure>“We have Jane Aves, Melissa’s sister, Joyce Hickman, and Adrianna Constable who are all good people that really care about our customers.“They have helped us stay in business as long as we have. They are the faces of the company, and we feel like they are part of our family, and we feel like we are part of their family. I think that is really important.”The Websters are all collectively appreciative of their clients through the years.“We still have our first customer,” Ron said. “My dad wrote a policy for a guy in 1974. He had one vehicle, and wasn’t married. He’s now a big businessman and owns a lot of stuff and we still have him insured.“We are so grateful to him and people like him that have allowed us to serve them. We have policy holders from the 70s, 80s and 90s. Somebody asked me the other day if we have started seeing third, fourth generation customers. I know for a fact that we have third generation for sure and I’m pretty sure if you started going through our books you could find a fourth generation.“To be able to serve that many families, that many people for that long a period of time, it’s an incredible honor. Almost all our referrals, new business comes from word of mouth.”Webster Insurance offers auto insurance, house insurance, commercial insurance for businesses and contractors, life insurance, workers compensation insurance; basically, everything but health insurance.And although they are closely associated with Erie, they are not exclusive.“Webster Insurance Agency is independent, so we do write for Progressive, some other companies,” Ron said. “Farmers Mutual out of Fairmont we do a lot of business with them. We are not all Erie, but we are not a captive agency like a State Farm. We can write for whoever we want, but we primarily work for Erie.”Perhaps the biggest change in the 50 years Webster Insurance has been in business has been on the technological front.“When I started, we were still doing paper everything,” Ron said. We had these big rate book binders. You would go to a page with a chart with your age and you start to put all these numbers together to build a quote and for the most part everybody was the same.“You could say, ‘Hey Ron, I’m thinking about buying this car, how much do you think it would be?’ And I could give you a pretty good idea. Now, everything is computer generated and there is so much data that you could have a twin brother driving the exact same car and the rates could be completely different.“There’s no pencil involved anymore.<figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=0QBYIU_0wEii91X00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=0QBYIU_0wEii91X00" width="600" height="393" ></figure>“The other thing that has been a big change is everything is online. We are competing against companies that are just about numbers, how many they can write and here is what the rate is. There is no interaction. Nothing except, I get an online quote, put what coverages I want, hit a button and I have a policy.“We’re competing against that. Sometimes, when you get a young person who is single, we don’t even hear from them. They just go online, and they are getting whatever The General or Geico or Progressive gives them. Normally, when they get married and buy a house, that’s when we hear from them because it gets a lot harder.“Trying to find that mix of having an online footprint without losing face to face connections, that’s been a tough balance to figure out, even for companies like Erie.”In 2020, the whole world, let alone insurance, changed thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic.Webster Insurance never shut down during the pandemic but that doesn’t mean there weren’t any concerns.“I think it scared everybody,” Ron said. “You just didn’t know what was going to happen. We locked our door and everybody went to their own cubicle or office and we stayed away from each other but we never closed.“A lot of people stopped driving, stopped working. There was nothing to do except when someone called in with a question about their bill. That went on for a long time. Erie was very supportive during that time. They lowered their rates, offered rebates to customers.“But what happened the following year, the middle of 2021, things started getting crazy because everybody started driving again, went back to work. The phones started ringing off the hook. People were buying cars and buying houses, then inflation took over and went through the roof and this market just got nuts.“It’s starting to level off a little bit but companies were losing money. Some of the online companies started dumping customers because they were losing so much money they started cancelling polices. A hard market is a market where nobody wants to write business, and everybody is shopping. That’s where the market is right now.“Erie has been steady. Some of our customers are shopping but we are writing more than we are losing.”Online competition, global pandemics, inflation, the Webster Insurance Agency has navigated its way through it all and every other issue that has come its way. That doesn’t appear to be changing anytime soon. Ron said he is confident Erie will continue to provide the stability needed for continued success.And there is no doubt that the stability and success will continue thanks to the power of a family.For more information about Webster Insurance Agency click HEREEditor's Note: Top photo shows three generations of Websters with Webster Insurance Agency (from left): Ron, Dan and Dustin. Second photo is of Dan Webster during the early days of his business. Third photo is of Ron Webster at the agency's current Bridgeport location and bottom photo features Dustin (left, center) and Ron (right, center) receiving an award.</div></body>

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50 Years and Going Strong, Webster Insurance Agency Maintains Success with Emphasis on Family

A lot can change in the span of 50 years. That’s why accomplishments that reach the half-century mark no matter if it is a marriage, a win streak for a football team or a business being open, are revered so much. The Webster Insurance Agency, located in Bridgeport, has...