Heath Ritenour, CEO of IOA, Offers Advice to Younger Entrepreneurs

No two days are the same for Heath Ritenour, the CEO and Chairman of the Board of the Insurance Office of America (IOA) in Florida. This is true, despite the fact that Heath Ritenour has worked at IOA ever since he accepted a college internship position in 1996. He also grew up around the business since his parents, John and Valli Ritenour, launched IOA when he was a young teen.

Heath Ritenour understands that he needs to juggle priorities each day to decide which businesses in IOA’s family of companies require the most practical assistance and executive oversight. He relies on a proven time management system to stay on top of his many responsibilities while also receiving daily briefs regarding every aspect of the business from others in leadership.

Thanks to these two decisions, Heath Ritenour has been able to implement several new developments of his own after taking over the top executive position upon his father’s retirement in 2018. One recent example is the launch of SimplyIOA.

What is SimplyIOA?

Heath Ritenour and his team recognized early on that one of the most time-consuming tasks facing their clients was researching and purchasing insurance policies. To remedy this problem, IOA released a smartphone application and computer platform that allows clients to compare and purchase auto and home insurance within minutes. They can complete the transactions by speaking to an agent directly or providing the required information online.

CEO Heath Ritenour chose the name SimplyIOA for the new product because clients only need to answer five simple questions when interacting with it. Upon receiving the information, an IOA agent taps its network of trusted insurance partners to find the best possible coverage for clients. IOA has made the newly-released app and platform available in Florida, Texas, and Georgia. The eventual goal is to make SimplyIOA available to clients in all states where the company operates. This is also a good way to draw customers away from companies that stick with the old way of doing things for too long.

Heath Ritenour’s Advice to Other Entrepreneurs

The ability for a new company to distinguish itself from the competition is one of its biggest predictors of future success. Recognizing this can be difficult to do, Heath Ritenour advises would-be business owners to enter an industry that is ripe for change. He points to the insurance industry as a prime example after seeing for himself how it operated using outdated ideas for far too long.

Heath Ritenour also recommends completing a careful market analysis to determine consumer demand for products and services before deciding to disrupt an entire industry. Another way for new business owners to set their companies apart is to offer better technology and automated services than the competition right from the start. This is also a good way to draw customers away from companies that stick with the old way of doing things for too long.

Having overcome cancer in 2015 and taken over the family business in 2018, Heath Ritenour feels prepared for any new challenge that may come his way.