Employee Spotlight : Joe Cieslinski

Interview with Joe Cieslinski, Account Executive

How would you describe your role at PS&F?

My role is very relationship-focused. It’s about opening doors and seeking qualified businesses that PS&F can genuinely help and provide value to. I feel like this mission ultimately should lead to consistent sales growth and client retention for the long term.

What inspired you to start a career in insurance?

Before getting into commercial insurance, I was a third-generation family business owner. We had a distribution company out of Beaverton, Oregon, and we ended up selling in 2018. But in the 12 years that I was a part of the business, I was fortunate enough to get experience in just about every facet of the company, including sales, marketing, operations, management, leadership, and all that. Having that business acumen and empathy has really helped me understand businesses on the other side of the table and relate to their problems. For the last four years I was involved in the family business, I was responsible for our commercial insurance program.

As I was hitting the reset button and figuring out what I wanted to do next, commercial insurance became a natural fit for me, as I am very much a people person and wanted to get into something where building genuine and trusting relationships was critical. I also like the fact that you have to bet on yourself in this sales role. Obviously, the whole production role isn’t for everybody, and there’s stress and pressure that comes along with that. However, if you can deal with the stress and pressure productively and in a positive way, it’s an awesome job and career.

You work with clients in various industries, including manufacturing, distribution and hospitality. What is something exciting going on in the hospitality industry right now?

The need for management lines and those facets of insurance coverage, I think, are becoming more and more critical, just with the social changes happening out there and the different exposures that I don’t think a lot of business owners were thinking about five or ten years ago.

With hospitality, we are focusing a lot on restaurant franchises and seeing hotel occupancy continue to trend in the right direction.

What is the most valuable advice you ever received?

There is a reason you have two ears and only one mouth. Focusing on listening more than talking, I think, is really important in general, especially when you have a sales role and you’re trying to find opportunities to help and provide value. It’s all about asking the right questions, listening, and that discovery and exploration process overall.

How do you make the PS&F difference?

Besides my experience and the drive to succeed, I think the PS&F difference is about being authentic and genuine and always focusing on how you can help and solve problems. This has always been a focus of mine. It’s just not a short sales cycle, and we really focus on being patient, doing the right thing, and paying it forward. I think one thing that I was always turned off by before I got into an actual sales role was the idea that you had to be pushy and manipulate someone to make a decision that was potentially not in their best interest. Kind of that classic used car salesman vibe. Once I realized that working for PS&F is the complete opposite experience, it just fit really well for me.

What is something you have been talking about often with your prospect?

I always highly encourage my prospects to get a second opinion. It never hurts to have a backup, a second set of eyes, and an additional resource. Nine times out of ten, we can find significant areas of improvement through a policy audit and capabilities presentation, or even just better communication and overall service. It’s fun to work for a company that truly does the best job in these areas.

What do you like to do when you’re not working?

I love hanging out with my two boys (Julian, age 4, and Jack, age 7) and my best friend and wife, Emily. Golf is absolutely one of the hobbies I’m most passionate about. I really enjoy playing and watching at the professional level. I would say my current favorite golfer is Viktor Hovland. He always seems to be on the humble side of things and has worked hard to make it through the ranks. But for the record, I have always been loyal to Rory and Tiger.

I try to stay as involved as possible with my kids’ sports. Both of my boys love to play sports, but my seven-year-old has been consistently playing on baseball, basketball, and soccer teams over the past three years. I have been lucky enough to coach my kid’s baseball team since T-ball.

What is your favorite thing about your hometown?

I was born and raised in Portland, Oregon. I roamed a little bit in my 20s, but I knew that I wanted to get back to the Pacific Northwest for sure. I think being born and raised here and going to Oregon State, plus being part of a local family business, has really helped me in my commercial insurance career so far. As far as the Pacific Northwest in general, my favorite thing about it is the seasons. I lived in Honolulu for a year and a half, and as beautiful and fun as that was, I really missed the seasonality and the weather cycles.

What accomplishment are you most proud of?

Being a dad.

What is one talent you’d like to have?

One thing I wish I was good at that I skipped in my youth was skateboarding. I don’t know why I never got a skateboard. Now, in my late 30s, I wish I was a good skateboarder, which is a weird thing to say.

What is something your coworkers would be surprised to learn about you?

The first concert I ever went to was Alanis Morissette.

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