Good Neighbor Podcast: Davie
Good Neighbor Podcast: Davie
Good Neighbor Podcast: Davie
Eps #6- Local Roots & A Personal Touch: How Marcus Erlandsson Safeguards Davie County Families
Marcus Erlandsson embodies the spirit of local service that makes Davie County special. Born and raised in the community with Swedish immigrant parents, Marcus didn't start his career path thinking about insurance. After working in construction while earning his degree, a chance connection through his father-in-law led him to Farm Bureau Insurance, where his natural people skills and sales background have made him a trusted advisor for families throughout the county.
What makes Marcus stand out is his commitment to personal connection in an increasingly digital world. "I'm old school and I like to sit down and meet with families across their kitchen table," he explains, highlighting the importance of face-to-face relationships when helping people protect what matters most. Licensed in five different insurance areas and capable of writing over 20 different types of coverage, Marcus primarily focuses on helping families with auto, home, and life insurance needs.
While Farm Bureau's historical roots began with serving agricultural communities (hence the name), Marcus emphasizes they now protect everyone from young families to established businesses. He takes particular pride in educating new insurance buyers who might otherwise feel overwhelmed by industry jargon and complicated policies. "Insurance can be confusing," Marcus acknowledges, "and they can maybe get taken advantage of by people sometimes. I really like sitting down with them, educating them on the whole process and making sure that they're taken care of from an early stage."
Marcus's passion for his community shines through in everything he does. "I take a lot of pride in being from Davie County. It's given me everything I have," he shares. This deep local connection translates into responsive service and genuine care for his clients' wellbeing. If you're looking for insurance protection from someone who truly understands your community because he lives it every day, reach out to Marcus through his Facebook page, by phone at 336-909-1679, or by email at Marcus.Erlandsson@ncfbins.com.
Markus Erlandsson
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Karen Wood.
Speaker 2:Well, good afternoon. This is Karen Wood and I'm so excited to have Marcus Erlandson here with us. He is one of our clients with Advanced Neighbors and we love to talk with our clients and get to know them a little bit better and share their story and business with the community. So welcome, marcus. How are you doing?
Speaker 3:I'm doing great, karen, thanks for having me here. I'm excited.
Speaker 2:I'm so glad to have you here. So tell us a little bit, Marcus, who you are. I know you're a Davie County resident, so just give us a little bit of your background.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I'm pretty much born and raised here. I went to high school here, live here, work here, whole deal Davie County through and through. I have a wife of almost four years and I have an almost two-year-old son. So just you know, I got my roots settled here and everything as well, so not planning on going anywhere anytime soon.
Speaker 2:I love it. I love it, and is your family originally from here?
Speaker 3:They're not. They're actually originally from Sweden. They moved here in the late eighties, so me and my brothers are first born Americans here in the country.
Speaker 2:Okay, how exciting. But now your parents still live here, right?
Speaker 3:They do, yep, they sure do.
Speaker 2:Okay, awesome. And they're in Baby County as well, right, yep, sure are Awesome, awesome. So you are with Farm Bureau, correct?
Speaker 3:I am.
Speaker 2:Awesome. So tell me how you ended up with Farm Bureau and in the Insurance Business Act and actually what you do for them.
Speaker 3:Well, so I actually I used to be in construction for about four years almost, and I was in working for a GC in Winston and while I was getting my degree and I had originally planned on going into project management or some type of management that's what my degree is from and my father in law was actually upfitting a Farm Bureau office in Statesville and you know, whenever I was coming up graduating I had to leave my work just over some disagreements and everything.
Speaker 3:I wasn't really giving what was promised to me whenever I graduated. So I was in the market for doing something different and my father-in-law was talking to the manager in Statesville and he was asking my father-in-law if he knew anyone who was young, was interested in sales and was looking to do something different. And I actually was in the North Carolina Sales Institute in college and openly competed in sales competitions and stuff. So I mean, that was really yeah, I've always been a interested in sales, so I figured, you know, it sounds like a good opportunity, might as well give it a shot that is so cool.
Speaker 2:So what? What do you do at the North Carolina sales Institute?
Speaker 3:So, uh, you just do like a lot of like mock little little sales things. You know we do like uh different scenarios and just you know you get like scripts and stuff where you practice your sales and you know you learn, you know you just learn the basics of sales. It's a really neat, really neat you know club that I was a part of. It's definitely one of the highlights of my college experience.
Speaker 2:So it sounds like that's a lot similar. I guess what I'm thinking, but I guess on a collegiate level, some basic skills, people skills, I guess.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah.
Speaker 2:You know, just to a deeper level, absolutely Mixing with sales. I love it. Well, I can. It certainly shows because you're very easy to talk to and work with. So that's awesome. So you went from construction to Farm Bureau, which now, understanding your background of having that involvement with the North Carolina Sales Institute, I can connect that and that makes sense for me.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah.
Speaker 2:A little bit better, but generally just yeah, construction to insurance. So what's your favorite part of what you do with Farm Bureau?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I guess the main thing is I've always been a people person. I get to meet people of all walks of life. It's never a dull moment. I always get a different interaction with people on a daily basis. I really enjoy working with people. I'm old school and I like to sit down and meet with families and sit across from their kitchen table. Know, kitchen table sit across from my office. It's remote so I mean I'm, I'm always out and about, so it's, it's a, it's a nice little little little deal going on there.
Speaker 2:You're an old soul in a young body.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I've been told that a lot.
Speaker 2:Well, you know it takes that to do what you do because you're getting intimate with people as far as their information and people need to trust you to divulge a lot of that information. So that's awesome and you're definitely a trustworthy person, for sure.
Speaker 3:I appreciate that.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 3:So you started then with your father-in-law in Statesville, but your office is back here in Davie County, correct? It is yes. So I was in Statesville for right at almost three years, and they weren't actually opening. They didn't have any openings in Davie, you know. So that was the only reason why I wasn't working home, but it was the closest I could work. So as soon as they had an opening in Davie, my current manager, grace, later reached out and he was like hey, I have an opportunity for you. If you want to come on over, we're willing to make it work. And here I am Awesome, Awesome.
Speaker 2:So you've now been with Farm Bureau. You said four years.
Speaker 3:I'm going into my fourth year Yep Going into your fourth year.
Speaker 2:OK, and tell me a little bit specifically what you do for families. Four years, is that right? I'm going into my fourth year. Yep, going into your fourth year. Okay, and tell me a little bit specifically what you do for families.
Speaker 3:Oh man, pretty much. My job is to safeguard what is most important to families, so you know, their vehicles, house businesses, farms, their life, health. It's a wide range of things that I do. I'm licensed in five different lines of insurance. I'm capable of writing over 20 lines of insurance, but really, really, what I specialize in is just that auto, home and life market.
Speaker 2:Okay, so tell me, what makes Farm Bureau special.
Speaker 3:I think that the thing that Farm Bureau does very well is that they have a local feel. You know we're, we have over 100 offices in the state, so you'll be hard pressed to find a county that doesn't have a Farm Bureau office in it. And um, we're, we. We, uh, do a lot with agriculture and with with the people of the county and of the of the state. So we, I feel like, you know, versus these big national carriers, we still, you know we're obviously a large, you know business and everything still, but we still have that feel of like a local, little family-owned of office. So I think that really separates us. You know people like that. They can come in, you know, just drive down the road and talk to someone in person, instead of being on the phone for four hours trying to get a hold of someone you know in another country or something.
Speaker 2:So right and not knowing who you're actually going to speak with, versus there's an actual face behind the name and you can see that face regularly in your community, living life with you yep, exactly love it. That's awesome. So do you have a larger or a long-term vision for yourself with Farm Bureau um?
Speaker 3:you know, maybe a management is in the future, but you know, I'm I'm currently enjoying what I'm doing. Um, I, I really just I take a lot of pride in being from Davie County. I love, love the county. It's given me everything I have, you know, and I I wouldn't be in this situation I'm in right now if it weren't for for Davie. So any chance I have to just service and help grow the county and, just, you know, make as many connections and relationships as possible, that's really ultimately my, my long, long-term goal. So just having as many people on Davey insured and, you know, friends and clients, that's pretty much my long-term goal.
Speaker 2:Okay, so do you. I know you work with individuals, you know, and families and so forth. Do you do commercial, or I know you deal in agriculture and so through that there's going to be businesses, but how would you classify that?
Speaker 3:Yeah, we do commercial. I have several business owners I work with. We try protection for those business owners there. You know commercial autos, all kinds of policies like that, along with the farming side of it as well. So ultimately, you know, we have our separate federation just for farming, so we have that as well. So we try to service as much as we can.
Speaker 2:Okay, well, so we're. We try to try to service as much as we can. Okay, because sometimes just the name Farm Bureau can mislead people. You know what I mean that they sometimes think that is only for that rural, the agriculture clientele.
Speaker 3:But that's not the case yeah, in the early 1900s we actually were formed for the farmers who can't make it to the city, pretty much because all the people in the city weren't willing to, you know, come out and service the farmers and all the people that lived out in the rural areas. So they kind of just formed their own thing out of that. So that's, we've always, you know, had a big emphasis on farming and on people in rural areas, for sure.
Speaker 2:But we do service everyone.
Speaker 3:So we don't just, don't just do farms.
Speaker 2:OK, OK, Very good to know and you said that federation, that's part of that federation that you're speaking of how you guys were founded.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, we have a separate federation and I probably should know more about it than I do, but I do know that we do a lot, lot for the farming and agriculture in North Carolina. We do a lot for FFA and stuff like that. Young Farmers and Ranchers is another big one I know.
Speaker 2:Farm Bureau offers scholarships and a lot of other opportunities for agriculture, so they really do try to give back and help out as much as they can in that field that's awesome too, because and you know, davy county has a lot of rural farm area, um, so I can imagine that, um, you're able to give back to davy county a lot um through that. So, yeah, that's awesome. So who's your favorite clientele to work with? Like, is it new families? You know who's that sweet spot for you that you just naturally feel like every time I turn around, you know that's who I'm working with.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you know our primary you. That's who I'm working with. Yeah, um, you know our primary client is is the? You know just the typical families and everything you know. We don't set ours for just one clientele but I like working with, uh, with new families, you know younger people, just because a lot of the time insurance can be confusing and they.
Speaker 3:They can be maybe a little more, you know, unaware of what to do and how to set it up, and they can maybe get taken advantage of by people sometimes. I really like, you know, sitting down with them, you know, educating them on the whole process and making sure that they're taken care of from an early stage so we can, you know, set up their future the right way and everything, and make sure that everything's good from from the start, pretty much.
Speaker 2:Outstanding. Well, you don't find, or at least in my experience, someone as young as you that has the heart and passion for what you do, and I think that's very speaks volumes for you, your character, um, and everything. So, um, I think you're doing a great job out there. People are very, very lucky to have you in their corner, Um, so tell everyone how they can best reach you if they want more information, um, or just like to to connect with you.
Speaker 3:So, um, I do a lot on Facebook, social media. You could follow my Facebook page. It's Marcus Erlandson, north Carolina Farm Bureau Insurance Agent. You can have websites linked on there. I have my office number, my email, my cell phone on there. I try to be, you know, as reachable as possible. I like to pride myself on getting back with people you know at within 24 hours, for sure, but you know way earlier than that, pretty much all the time, unless there's you know something going on. But I try my best to be reachable and that's usually where people are able to get a hold of me at.
Speaker 2:Okay, what's the best phone number for someone to reach you?
Speaker 3:So, uh, you can, I'll get my cell phone number out, I mean whatever you're most comfortable with, I'm fine with that, yeah absolutely, it's a 336-909-1679. Okay, okay, hopefully no one sends me any nasty pictures or texts or anything.
Speaker 2:Uh, you're you're too nice for someone to want to do that, and do you have a particular or best email that someone could reach out?
Speaker 3:I do. So it's just my name. It's Marcus, and then Dot Erlinson at N as in Nancy, c as in Charlie, f as in Frank, b as in boy. I as in igloo N as in Nancy and S as in samcom, so it's just N-C-F-B-I-N-Scom.
Speaker 2:Got it. Got it Well, Marcus. Thanks for taking a few minutes here with me on this kind of wet Friday afternoon just to let our Davie County audience know a little bit more about you and your services and what you do, and we really appreciate it and I hope you have a great rest of your services and what you do and we really appreciate it and I hope you have a great rest of your day and weekend.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. You too, karen. I love any chance we get to sit down and talk, so happy, happy to help and happy to support this. And, you know, get back to the county anyway, I can.
Speaker 2:Outstanding. Same here, buddy. Have a good one.
Speaker 1:Yes ma'am, me too, thanks. Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to GNPDavycom. That's GNPDavycom, or call 336-559-3044.