Good Neighbor Podcast: Pittsburgh
Bringing together local businesses and neighbors of Pittsburgh. Good Neighbor Podcast hosted by Leila Carter helps residents discover and connect with your local business owners in and around Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Is your business serving the residents of Pittsburgh? Then, we need to talk! Visit gnpPittsburgh.com to schedule your free interview.
Good Neighbor Podcast: Pittsburgh
E86: When Tragedy Strikes, Your Agent at Bridge Insurance Group Shows Up With a Check
What makes Lynn Berry with Bridge Insurance Group a good neighbor?
What happens when life throws you a curveball? For Lynn Berry, founder of Bridge Insurance Group, an unexpected detour from medical school led to a fulfilling 40-year career helping people navigate the complex world of insurance. Her story reminds us that sometimes our greatest contributions come from the paths we never planned to take.
"We show up with a check when something goes wrong," Lynn explains, cutting through insurance industry jargon to reveal what truly matters. Whether it's a car accident, serious illness, or family tragedy, Bridge Insurance Group's mission transcends paperwork and policies—they provide financial relief during life's most challenging moments.
As an independent agency representing approximately 140 companies, Bridge Insurance Group offers every type of coverage imaginable while maintaining a deeply personal approach. Lynn challenges common misconceptions about the industry, particularly the notion that insurance companies are "greedy." She offers a thought-provoking perspective: when catastrophe strikes, you actually want your insurer to have deep pockets to cover substantial claims.
What sets Bridge Insurance Group apart is their commitment to treating each client as an individual with unique needs. Their diverse team spans multiple generations, ensuring they can connect with clients of all ages—from seniors seeking Medicare guidance to 26-year-olds newly off their parents' plans. In an era of automated quotes and chatbots, they prioritize meaningful relationships and regular check-ins.
Beyond insurance, Lynn reveals her multifaceted life: a devoted grandmother, worship band keyboardist, Bible study leader, and social butterfly who's always ready for a good meal with friends. Her well-rounded approach to life mirrors her holistic view of insurance—it's ultimately about people, not policies.
Ready to experience insurance with a human touch? Connect with Bridge Insurance Group through their website or social media platforms to discover how they're redefining what it means to be a good neighbor in the insurance industry.
To learn more about Bridge Insurance Group go to:
https://www.bridgeinsgroup.com/
Bridge Insurance Group
(724) 229-2987
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Lila Carter.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. Are you in need of an insurance company? One might be closer than you think. Today I have the pleasure of introducing your good neighbor, Lynn Barry, with Bridge Insurance Group Incorporated. Lynn, how's it going?
Speaker 3:Oh, it's great, Lila. Thank you so kindly for having me on. This is a great podcast and some of my friends have participated, so thanks for allowing me to be a guest.
Speaker 2:Yeah, thanks for being here. We're excited to learn all about you and your business, so please tell us more about your company.
Speaker 3:So insurance kind of has a dry name to it, but we want to put a little more emotion in it. So what we do here at Bridge Insurance Group is we show up with a check when something goes wrong, you have an accident, you're sick or, forbid, someone dies. That's when we're showing up with the check to help pay for those expenses, to help alleviate some of the financial burden that's associated with all of the things that insurance covers. So we do offer every type of insurance, which makes us a little unique in our market, and we really cater to individuals. So we give a lot of personalized attention, rather than some of the agencies that might be addressing more of the larger groups. So we're a very personal, hands-on agency and we are independent.
Speaker 2:Awesome. I love that you span all of those different needs for your clients. How did you get into this business, Lynn?
Speaker 3:Well, it's a little interesting because I fully intended to become a doctor. So here I was in high school doing all those prep classes, very fascinated with medicine, very fascinated with the human body and very fascinated with people's stories. Well, an odd twist of events, I met a young gentleman that I fell for very hard, got married very early and decided that I needed to change career directions because it wasn't in the cards for me to go to eight to 10 to 12 years of school. So I found a place at the time that would allow me to engage and get a license for selling insurance. And that's how my journey started. And it has been Lila. 40 years, or decades, I've been doing this.
Speaker 2:Wow, it's amazing. So are there any myths or maybe misconceptions in the insurance industry that you'd like to discuss today?
Speaker 3:Well, I think a lot of it is probably number one. It's too complicated, I don't understand it, it's very expensive and maybe number three insurance companies are greedy. So we can look at that a couple of different ways. I will challenge everyone as we're heading into the fall and really, generally speaking, year round, If you watch TV, you see a lot of insurance companies advertising Different products, of course, but they do have a lot of money which we can sit back and say maybe that's not in our preference. But I'll tell you what.
Speaker 3:If my child has cancer or if I have a great loss in my family, a father of four or five young children passes, or I have a terrible car accident that renders me unable to work for the rest of my life, those insurance companies better have deep pockets because I want them to be able to pay those claims. So I think that's a little bit of a misunderstanding and we're here to help you understand that they don't put together hundreds of pages of contracts and legalese to make it easier for you to understand. They don't put together hundreds of pages of contracts and legalese to make it easier for you to understand. So using an agent that doesn't target you is a wise decision for a lot of people.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and so who are your target customers and how are you currently attracting them to the business?
Speaker 3:Well, it's interesting because we do have a little bit of a long history, but we really do cater to individuals. So we do a lot in the space of Medicare, so serving our senior population. We do a lot for health insurance. So if you're 26 and you just got kicked off your parents plan, that's a really good lead for us. We also deal with a lot of businesses and commercial clients as well. We do a ton of life insurance and, more importantly, we've kind of hit a hard market. We've seen a lot of natural disasters around the country and many people are, as a response, getting higher rates in their car and homeowners insurance. So we're able to review that. We have about 140 companies that we can contact and represent, not at a charge to you it doesn't cost you to use us but we can do the shopping for you rather than going on the internet and trying to figure it all out yourself.
Speaker 2:Wow, there's so many different target markets for you all, and have you ever thought about possibly starting a podcast to reach all of these people?
Speaker 3:That would be a great idea. Are you trying to give me some ideas on that? I would love to do that, lila, maybe you and I.
Speaker 2:I can certainly help with that. So outside of work, what do you do for fun, Lynn?
Speaker 3:Oh my goodness. Well, I have four children and six grandchildren, and we are a stand-up comedy, so I love spending time with my family when I can. Now they're all grown so I don't get to see them quite as often, but it's either family. I have tremendous friends, and each of those friends has a little different avenue that they like to do. Some are active, some like to go to cars shows, some like to do concerts. I have a lot of good friends. I love food. Just invite me for a meal, I will show up and then, if it's anything regarding my faith, I'm also very active in my church. I play keys, I sing, I'm in the worship band, I lead a life group which is a little Bible study. So I have a very active life as far as everything from my business to my family, to my social life.
Speaker 2:Oh, it's amazing that you're so well involved in the community there. That's so special.
Speaker 3:So, Lynn, please tell our listeners one thing that should stick with them about Bridge Insurance Group says that, but I will tell you that every day I walk up and down these halls with all of our agents and I talk about doing charity work and I talk about treating each individual as a person. We don't really cater to the larger companies and that makes us different. We have to work harder, not only to earn your business. We have to work hard to keep your business. We're competing against a lot of commercials and TV ads and radio ads, but we want to be so personal with you and you will love our team. We have everything spanning from those in their 20s to those in their 60s. We have somebody for everybody and I feel like everything really circumvents around the fact that you're going to have an agent that you learn to know, can call, can reach out and is going to do regular reviews. You're not just going to hear from us once, you're going to hear from us regularly.
Speaker 2:That's great and yeah, every insurance claim comes with a story, you know, and usually the basis of that story is the word help. So thank you for the work that you're doing in the community to help the people of Pittsburgh and beyond and just be there for them in these times of trouble. How can our listeners learn more about Bridge Insurance Group?
Speaker 3:Well, we're pretty present out there. We're on most social media platforms Facebook, linkedin, instagram, x. We're on TikTok yes, my younger generation has gotten us out there. And, of course, bridgeinsurancegroupcom is our website. We have some events listed there and you'll get to see some of our team members and a little bio.
Speaker 2:Very good. Well, Lynn, I very much appreciate your time today and having you as a guest on our show. We wish you and the group the best moving forward.
Speaker 3:Thank you so kindly, Lila, and the best to you and this group the best moving forward. Thank you so kindly, Lila, and the best to you and this great Good Neighbor podcast.
Speaker 1:I love it, thank you, thank you. Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnppittsburghcom. That's GNPPittsburghcom, no-transcript.