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Jeff Zander on Defining an Industry

For over 20 years you've heard Dave Ramsey say Zander is the only company he recommends for all of your insurance needs. And if you've worked with Zander to get coverage of any kind, you know why! But maybe you've wondered about the man behind the giant reputation.

Jeff Zander is an industry innovator with more than 40 years' experience helping customers understand insurance. Zander Insurance Group was founded in Nashville nearly 100 years ago by Jeff’s great-grandfather, Herman Zander. Today, Jeff serves as CEO of the fourth-generation, family-and-employee-owned business.

To learn more about his passion for service and his vision of reaching more families nationwide with the best insurance on the market, we asked Jeff a few questions.

Zander Insurance Group: A Family Tradition

When did you start working with the family business?

I joined in 1986 after gaining experience working for Northwestern Mutual and Progressive Insurance Corp. My initial emphasis was on developing new marketing programs to bring more awareness to the services we offered.

But your work expanded pretty quickly from there?

Yes. I always wanted to bring awareness to the need for insurance, and I was driven by the desire to find the best value for our clients. But then my focus expanded—not only did I want to give clients great value, I also wanted them to have a more thorough shopping experience.

How did you deliver that value for your clients?

By offering them the broadest array of insurance companies to shop, while also providing exceptional service and guidance.

From Property to Term Life and Beyond

So, you brought customers a menu that was both deep on knowledge and wide on choice. Which service was the original focus of Zander Insurance?

Our original focus was on home and auto insurance, along with business and employee benefit plans, but we were primarily focused on serving clients in middle Tennessee. Through our involvement with Dave Ramsey, we not only expanded our product offerings—to include term life, disability, home, auto, health, employee benefits, business insurance and more—we also expanded to become a nationwide outfit to serve Dave's ever-growing listenership and participants in his financial programs.

That would seem to cover the whole spectrum of insurance needs for sure! But you’re also known for your innovative approach to delivering a world-class customer experience for anyone shopping for policies. Which one are you proudest of?

Well that brings me back to the vision we had of reaching and serving families nationwide. Our website was the first of its kind to allow customers a way to compare multiple products with multiple companies, which was essential for that vision of service! And our website is still the only website nationally that lets our clients compare such a wide variety of personal insurance products from the top companies in each area of protection.

A History of Innovation With Zander Group Holdings

User-friendly websites are awesome, but you didn’t stop there. Share about the original product that Zander brought to the marketplace to combat identity theft.

That was something totally unique that we developed in 2007 with a lot of input from Dave. Most of these so-called “ID theft protection” services are just glorified credit monitoring—which you can do yourself, for free. We wanted a total solution identity theft protection product, and that’s what we made. Our ID theft protection services are designed to provide affordable and comprehensive ID theft restoration services where an actual person can save you the headache of hours of recovery work if your identity is stolen.  

 Do you have the right insurance coverage? You could be saving hundreds! Connect with an insurance pro today!

As new threats have arisen, we have introduced protection features like personal information monitoring and stolen funds protection to keep up with and combat those risks. And with child ID theft becoming increasingly prevalent, we set ourselves apart from the competition by covering children for free on our family plan.

Even as we have added features and benefits to our plan, we have never once raised the cost, which is why our product continues to be the most cost-effective choice on the market .

With Zander’s emphasis on personalized service, you must have put a lot of effort into helping customers get all the answers they need to make the best insurance choices.

Our customers can speak anytime to a team member who is knowledgeable, qualified and invested in finding them the best insurance solutions. And because we know that client feedback is crucial to staying in tune with the needs of today's consumer, the members of our senior management team are available anytime via the "Contact Us" page on the Zander website or through the link in every employee's email signature.

We believe in the trickle-down method of handling questions or concerns, which not only ensures that our customers receive prompt and appropriate attention but also sets the precedent for customer care with our team members. It's a big step in being transparent and truly service oriented.

Dave trusts Zander for his own insurance needs, and those of his whole team. Find out why.

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Ramsey Solutions

About the author

Ramsey

Ramsey Solutions has been committed to helping people regain control of their money, build wealth, grow their leadership skills, and enhance their lives through personal development since 1992. Millions of people have used our financial advice through 22 books (including 12 national bestsellers) published by Ramsey Press, as well as two syndicated radio shows and 10 podcasts, which have over 17 million weekly listeners. Learn More.

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