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| Dominique Sharteer |
How she went from that difficult start for a teen mom to becoming a successful insurance agent at SAV-ON in a handful of years is a testament to the way she lives her life: Always pushing ahead, never looking back.
After her second daughter was born, Dominique decided it was time to get her high school diploma, so while raising two young daughters she obtained her General Education Diploma (GED) at 19 years old.
She continued working at various retail jobs and a call center, where she worked with customers and found that she was good at connecting with them, understanding their problems and working to solve them. During those years, she also filled out a few career profiles and was always surprised to see that many of the results pointed to a career in the insurance industry!
Shortly after her seasonal job with the call center ended in December 2017, she noticed an ad for a Customer Service Representative at a local insurance agency on Craigslist. A company called SAV-ON was looking to hire someone, preferably someone who was bilingual. Since her husband was a SAV-ON customer, she was familiar with the company and applied. After an interview, she was hired as a CSR for their Seattle/White Center office in April 2018.
It wasn’t long before she decided that, while being a CSR was okay, she wanted to become an insurance agent. It meant more interaction with customers and the potential for making more money. SAV-ON management liked the idea and sent her to the one-week class. After that she studied hard while at the same time being a mom to her now three-children family, and passed both the necessary tests last September.
Now with almost a year as an agent, she really enjoys it. “Every day is a little different,” she says. “I really like developing personal relationships with my clients, trying to help them as much as possible.”
Dominique is a Seattle native, and most of her family live in the area. She comes from a big, blended family, with six sisters and three brothers. With all those siblings, she naturally likes a big family, and treats her SAV-ON clients like family, gaining their trust, getting to know them well and finding out about their families.
“I like to develop a business-friendly relationship with my clients,” she explains. “I like to make them feel comfortable and make the conversation flow while I get to know them personally. That way they get to know me, and will be repeat customers.”
This has also resulted in many of her customers bringing family members in for insurance. And they want to deal only with Dominique, since their family member has said nice things about her. One woman client brought her son in to get insurance with her, another brought their cousin in with them. In additions, many of SAV-ON’s White Center customers are Hispanic and being bilingual helps Dominique care for them without a language barrier getting in the way.
When Dominique isn’t helping clients at SAV-ON, she enjoys spending her off-hours with family. She likes to take her kids to the park, or swimming at her mom’s house on Angle Lake. She and her husband also like to grab a basketball and shoot hoops for fun and exercise. The family also enjoys playing card games together and having barbeques.
SAV-ON has become like a family to her, too. “They understand if something comes up, whether it’s a funeral or something personal we can go and make it up later,” She explains. “They care about their employees and I appreciate that!”
“This is my favorite job, and the first time I haven’t thought about leaving after a year,” she admits. “I really like that SAV-ON is so family-oriented, and I respect the management for being so flexible with their staff.”
She enjoys being an insurance agent and the flexibility of her own schedule. “I choose to work Saturdays, as my husband has Saturdays off and watches the kids during the day,” she says. “That way I can have other days off to be with my kids.”
As far as the future is concerned, she wants a job in which she can be successful, buy a home, and eventually retire from after a rewarding career. What that is hasn’t been determined, but insurance is in the running.
When asked what she wanted to say to those who are reading this article, she didn’t miss a beat: “Tell them to call SAV-ON and ask for Dominique! I’d be happy to help them!”
