Greater Insurance opens Deerfield office

GIS is a Madison-based company founded in 1974 by Richard Grams.

Grams and his wife Sandra lived in Deerfield and raised five children, all of whom graduated from Deerfield High School.

In the early 1980s and 90s, Grams encouraged his agents to focus on farm and health insurance in rural Wisconsin. The goal was for agencies to have a storefront in each town, to be a place where neighbors connected and could sit down to review an insurance policy.

GIS has since grown to include 22 offices in Wisconsin and two in Minnesota. The company’s 24 agents sell life, health, property causality and commercial insurance and more through popular companies such as Progressive, Auto Owners, Wisconsin Mutual and Nationwide.

Familiar faces

After Grams passed away, his daughter Sherri Gjermo, who worked closely with her father for 22 years in his company, took over the business.

Opening local agencies has been one of Gjermo’s goals.

“I have had my eye set on Deerfield for some time,” Gjermo said. “Recently that opportunity presented itself when Sarah and Lori came on board.”

Sarah Paoli, one of the two agents at the Deerfield GIS location, has deep roots in the community.

Her mother, Sue Neath, owned American Family Insurance in Deerfield for 30 years.

Paoli worked for her mother for 11 years before joining GIS in 2020.

“It was nice working with her, learning from her,” Paoli said. “She was customer oriented, driven [to build] relationships.”

That’s what “Greater Insurance is about,” Paoli continued. “Building relationships, knowing your insurance, being a part of the community.”

The office’s other agent, Lori Brown, agreed that GIS is relationship oriented.

Brown, whose husband is a Deerfield native, was working in the food industry when she found herself looking for a new job.

When she was told of an opening at GIS, Brown decided to go for it.

“It was completely opposite of what I’ve ever done, but let’s see what we got,” Brown said.

A customized experience

Brown stressed that GIS isn’t an insurance company – it’s an agency that sells insurance to its customers through insurance companies.

“We shop for you,” Brown said. “We find the best fit for each person based on their needs and figure out what company works best for them.”

GIS will help customers find an insurance company for everything from their homes to their land to their businesses.

Insurance is “a really personal thing for people,” Paoli said.

GIS aims to make its customers and its employees feel like a family.

If customers “feel like they can reach out and ask questions and be part of the group, I think that makes us better as agents and as a company,” Paoli said.

Paoli and Brown also said they try to teach customers about insurance.

Insurance is costly, Paoli said, and it’s something people hope they never use. But they hope whatever they have will cover them.

They also want customers to understand what they’re buying.

“Some people…need explanations,” Brown said. “That’s why there’s agencies like us, to help.”

“Nobody wants to call a 1-800 number and have to go through all the prompts and wait times,” Paoli said. “By reaching out to independent companies, [customers] can have a face and place and people.”

Growth mindset

Paoli and Brown said they’re excited to grow GIS’s presence in Deerfield.

“We want to be another business that supports the community and hopefully the community supports us,” Paoli said.

The agency has had positive feedback since opening in October, Paoli said, and they want people to feel confident that they’re familiar faces the community can reach out to.

Gjermo agreed that Deerfield has received GIS warmly.

“We truly feel blessed to be a part of the Deerfield community,” Gjermo said. “We look forward to making new friends as well as helping out our old friends.”

For more information about Deerfield’s Greater Insurance location, call (608) 710-4010. For more information about Greater Insurance Service Corporation, go to www.greaterinsurance.com.