After life in NFL, Lincoln Kennedy tackles insurance
January 11th, 2011
Lincoln Kennedy spent 11 seasons protecting quarterbacks and opening holes as an offensive lineman in the NFL. Now, he’s protecting his clients’ interests as a Farmers Insurance agent in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale.
After retiring from the Oakland Raiders following the 2003 season, the three-time Pro Bowler worked as a broadcaster and sideline reporter. In May 2009, Kennedy added “insurance agent” to his résumé.
InsuranceQuotes.com caught up with the 39-year-old Kennedy to see how the transition from NFL player to insurance agent is going.
InsuranceQuotes.com: How did you get into the insurance business after your time in the NFL?
Lincoln Kennedy: I was looking for something that would provide some stability for my family, and I also wanted to build my presence in the community. A friend approached me — it was actually my homeowner’s and auto agent — about getting into insurance and I gave it some thought. Soon thereafter, Farmers recruited me.
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| Lincoln Kennedy became a Farmers Insurance agent after playing 11 seasons in the NFL. |
InsuranceQuotes.com: What are some of the lessons you learned as a football player that you’ve been able to apply to the insurance business?
Kennedy: The discipline of committing yourself to sports growing up is similar to the commitment you have to make in the business world. Sales is all about approaching prospects and the proper clientele and showing them the value of doing business with you — similar to what it is playing sports. You want to show value to the team that it was essential for me to be protecting the quarterback or opening up holes for the running back. My ability and my desire to do it were strong, but I was also confident and people knew that I was trustworthy. I think those types of things resonate pretty well through the business world. It tends to sustain you and make people look forward to doing business with you.
InsuranceQuotes.com: What are some of the differences between your time in the NFL and your current career in insurance — besides not waking up sore on Monday mornings?
Kennedy: The main difference I’ve had to learn and get accustomed to is dealing with rejection. I didn’t necessarily have to deal with rejection as an athlete because people I faced in the sports world came looking for my talents. There weren’t a lot of times where people were saying, “I’m not interested” or that I couldn’t get people to call back. It’s just a reversal of fortune, if you will, where you have to go out and seek other people and now I rely on other people to make my business go. Before, people came to me and they relied on me to make their business go.
InsuranceQuotes.com: Which do you prefer: selling insurance or playing pro football?
Kennedy: You know, to each his own. I’ve always preferred a challenge in my lifetime so whatever I did — whether it was sports or school or now this career — it’s been challenging and rewarding in its own way. It’s a matter of trying to be the best that you can be in your surroundings.
InsuranceQuotes.com: What advantages have you found in being a former pro athlete working in the insurance business?
Kennedy: I guess some of the obvious advantages are when people either recognize my name. I’ve had a couple clients who have seen the back of my business card, which has a football photo of me, and they’ve wanted to do business with me. Some have said they wanted to do business with an ex-Raider because they’re Raiders fans. There have definitely been advantages like that. I’ve also had people call me just to validate that I was, and I quote, “The Real Lincoln Kennedy.” It’s opened up some doors for me, and I like to think that just getting my foot in the door and having a solid product like those that the Farmers Group promotes has really helped me get some good business.
InsuranceQuotes.com: Do you find people treat you differently because you are a former pro athlete?
Kennedy: In the early part (of my insurance career), I had more customers who wanted to talk football with me and not just insurance. Finally, I had to put my foot down and say, “You know, I’m here to do a job. With all due respect, I’d love to talk football, but this is something that’s important to me and I’m hoping to stress the importance to you.”
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| Lincoln Kennedy says that “the discipline of committing yourself to sports … is similar to the commitment you have to make in the business world.” |
InsuranceQuotes.com: What types of questions are you getting from policyholders, and what types of concerns do they have these days?
Kennedy: Most of them just want to know more about insurance. One of the things I thought about when I first got into the business was that (insurance) is essential and everyone needs it, but not everyone knows how to be protected or what kind of gaps and shortcomings they have, so they don’t totally understand it. I enjoy explaining why insurance is important and what insurance is truly for. More importantly, it’s been a matter of showing them that customer service and loyalty to a company can resonate not only with your rates but also the knowledge that you’re taken care of. A generation before us, most of the people stuck with the same insurance company for decades. That’s changed recently, but we’re trying to get it back that way.
InsuranceQuotes.com: If you were approaching the business with a coach’s mentality, what are some of the ways you would “coach” your clients?
Kennedy: I don’t think of it really as coaching. I think of it more as advising. I just want them to understand that they’ve worked very hard to get the assets they have. Whatever it is and whatever they have, no matter the value, it’s my responsibility to help them protect it. I want them to know how they’re protected and, in the event of a catastrophe, what they can be looking forward to seeing on the other end. From that advisory standpoint, I’m pointing out what’s already there and helping them to understand it a little bit better.
InsuranceQuotes.com: Was it important to you to plan for life after football while you were still a player?
Kennedy: I didn’t know I was going to be going into insurance, that’s for sure. It’s always important to plan, but I also think there are opportunities that come along that you might not have necessarily given much thought to, but when the opportunity confronts you, you can go one of two ways: You can say it’s not for you, or you can pick up some material, read about it and find out if it interests you. In my mind, I’ve got some pretty lucrative business dreams that I want to achieve in my lifetime, and give back to my family and my community. This was a way to kind of kick-start those dreams.
InsuranceQuotes.com: Have you had an opportunity to work with any fellow ex-NFL players?
Kennedy: I’m really involved in the former players’ chapter here in Arizona, so I’ve had a chance to work with friends and I’ve also made some new friends. Professional sports is a big fraternity. We all generally know one another, so whenever we can help one another out and do business together, you’re more likely to do it. It’s all about opening up those networking opportunities and passing it along.
–Kevin Allen
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