THE FAMILY BEHIND THE AGENCY

THE FAMILY BEHIND THE AGENCY
Bob Mathew's Agency Is A Family Agency... In Many Ways

For Bob Mathews, an agency is more than territories, products, customers and principals. It’s family. Betty Mathews, Bob’s wife, has been an integral member of the team right from the start. Today, Betty handles inside sales along with being the manager and treasurer of the company. She also does some training and telemarketing, and takes an active part in product shows. In fact, Bob told us that she knows all his principals and visits them often. And, to quote Bob, "She’s a very talented and capable lady."
Betty isn’t the only member of the Mathews family to take part in this dynamic agency. Bob’s daughter, Lynn Hummer, and his son, John, are both full members of the team. "Both of them have been working in the business since they were small," Bob told us. "They started out with a mop and a broom, moved up to making labels, and learned the business from the bottom up."
Starting at the bottom is the best way for anyone to learn a business, but Bob felt that Lynn and John should get all the business education they could as early as possible. "When they were around ten, I started taking them on sales calls," Bob said. "Remember, this was back in Kansas, and people there are more receptive to a family approach to doing business. I’d also take them on plant tours.

And I’d ask them to tell me when they spotted a job they wanted to do for the rest of their lives. They never did tell me. "
    They didn’t have to. The family ties in this agency and the keen interest Bob took in his children seems to have led them quite naturally into the agency. Bob continued, "When John was studying at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, he made sales calls for the agency and worked the territory. After he graduated and moved to California, he went with us full time. Then he went on to get his master’s degree."
    Bob explained that John had taken his undergraduate degree in business communication, and in keeping with family religious traditions, John got his graduate degree in counseling. "He’s very dedicated, " Bob said proudly. In his spare time, he works with orphanages and people who need the special help he can provide." You can’t help but feel the pride Bob has in John’s work at the agency, and in his counseling work.
    Bob speaks with as much pride when he talks about his daughter, Lynn. "She got her degree from Azusa Pacific College in business communications," Bob told us. "And she’s a wonderful golfer. She has won more than 100 trophies. She played in the

California Women’s Amateur Tournament in Pebble Beach and came in second in her category."
    Lynn’s entry into the family agency was prefaced with work as an assistant manager for Sherwin Williams, the paint company. "Working with another company gave her a perspective view of what the world of work is outside the family business," Bob explained. He also told us that he feels it’s important for Lynn and John to continue to get professional experience outside the family business by attending professional seminars. "Just like the concept of agents attending MANA seminars," he said, "it’s important for them to get up-to-date information that will help them to continue to grow. Ongoing education is very important for all of us. "
    So far, you’ve met the blood relatives. But as we talked about his family, Bob Mathews told us, "Everyone here is family. I look on everyone here who works with us as sort of an extended family. We’re all family members as far as I’m concerned. "
    The agency is one hundred years old this month. It’s changing its name. And it has changed a lot more since it started one hundred years ago. But the attitudes we have seen tell us one thing that will be written on the agency’s two hundredth anniversary: This is a company where people are important, very important!