Xavier Perry wants to take the next step in expanding his client base after giving himself some more elbow room with a physical relocation.
“We write auto, home, business insurance, motorcycles, boats. The only thing we don’t do is life and health insurance,” Perry said. “Everything else, we can take care of pretty much everybody.”
Perry operated near Flo’s on Goldsboro Street for more than a decade before recently making the move to 717 Ward Blvd. about a month ago because he outgrew his old space.
“We’ve got a lot of space here,” Perry said. “Our office is visible to the Ward Boulevard traffic, and hopefully the new traffic downtown with the new stadium will trickle down this way. We’re really excited to be here.”
Perry said his target demographic is anyone who needs insurance.
“We don’t discriminate against anybody,” he said. “Anybody who’s driving needs insurance. If you’re in the car, driving, and old enough to pay for insurance, we want to see you.”
Although he’s seeking to serve the larger community, Perry said he specializes in “non-standard” customers.
“Some people rent, some of them don’t have bank accounts,” Perry said. “In our location, we’ve dealt more with that non-standard customer. I’m trying to get a good split of standard, non-standard.”
Perry said his office is tailored to serve both English- and Spanish-speaking customers.
“We have the best of both worlds,” he said.
Customer service, Perry said, is what sets him apart from the other big name insurance agencies.
“With those (big name) companies, it’s mainly over the phone,” he said. “You don’t get the one-on-one experience. What I like is just being able to talk to somebody when they come into my office. I’m not just trying to sell them something, but I am getting to know them, know what their needs are. I’m trying to get them exactly what they need — not more, not less.”
Perry said his job isn’t to sell people on more than they need, but get them makes sense for them.
“When you go somewhere, you want to make sure that if you’re paying money, you know you’re going to get treated right. Sometimes I go places and they just treat you horrible. They take your money and you’re just a number to them. Here, we treat everybody with respect, no matter if they’re buying anything or not.”
Born in New York City, Perry moved to Greenville with his family while he was in high school.
“My mom moved me and my younger brother to Greenville because she wanted to get away from the crime in New York City,” Perry said. “I was at the age where I could have been highly influenced to go either be a criminal or I can just go to school and get a job, be a good citizen.”
Perry finished school in Greenville and worked his way up through the ranks and worked as a manager at Foot Action Shoe Store, which was later bought out by Foot Locker.
“I did that for at least 10 years,” Perry said. “I just got burned out working at those mall hours, 9 to 9 every day. I wanted something different, an office job, so that’s how I got into insurance.”
Perry has been a licensed insurance agent since 2004 and has worked in the industry ever since.
“I started off with a small company,” Perry said. “One I got into it and I got the knowledge and experience, I was like, man, I can do this myself. So in 2012, I opened my own agency — Top Choice Insurance.”
Top Choice is open Monday through Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to noon. Perry said walk-ins are welcome.
Christopher Long is The Wilson Times’ business reporter. If you have ideas for this weekly column, reach out to him at 252-265-7821 or clong@wilsontimes.com.
Based in New York, Stephen Freeman is a Senior Editor at Trending Insurance News. Previously he has worked for Forbes and The Huffington Post. Steven is a graduate of Risk Management at the University of New York.