How does a boutique firm with hometown values, one location and 28 employees successfully serve clients in 48 states?

How does a boutique firm with hometown values, one location and 28 employees successfully serve clients in 48 states?

Van Wyk Risk Solutions celebrating its move to downtown Grand Rapids with a recent ribbon-cutting ceremony. The Warner Building is a perfect fit to continue its growth and commitment to people and organizations looking for a true partner. Courtesy Van Wyk Risk Solutions

This is a loaded question, but a question we’re asked often. First, it’s important to tell you what we are not. We are not a multilocation national broker, and we are not a public company. We have chosen a different path.

At Van Wyk Risk Solutions, we pride ourselves in providing resources and capabilities of a national broker and the service-minded accessibility of a hometown firm. We are a privately owned company with one location and recently celebrated our move to downtown Grand Rapids. When you walk into a local boutique, you expect full attention and top-notch service. You don’t want to sit in line waiting for your number to be called. Van Wyk combines our team’s decades of knowledge and experience to give you our undivided attention and service.

What other hometown values do you expect at a boutique firm? Do you expect solutions to be custom tailored? Crafting risk solutions is in our blood, it’s in our name and it’s our purpose. From day one, we use our knowledge and experience to ask the right questions and custom tailor risk solutions that work perfectly with your exposures.

To find the perfect custom-tailored solutions, we need to get creative. You don’t want off-the-shelf solutions that fit in a box, right? As an independent insurance firm with market access to several providers and substantial underwriting knowledge, we are very creative and design a custom risk management program that is specifically tailored to your risk exposure and risk appetite. No off-the-shelf solutions here.

Behind the name of Van Wyk Risk Solutions is 28 colleagues with a combined total tenure at Van Wyk of 215 years who act with integrity and keep their word. Integrity is the core of who we are. When we say something, we mean it, and we stick to it — everything you expect in a boutique firm.

We take pride in partnering with our clients. Our success relies on great partnerships and each partnership must be built on trust. Why would you trust our partnership? Van Wyk does not have any commissioned salespeople. We offer our services with only your best interests in mind. As a boutique firm, we treat your business as if we are part of the ownership. Your concerns are our call to action.

So, what is the secret on how a boutique firm with hometown values, one location and 28 employees serve clients in 48 states? By successfully combining knowledge and experience, custom-tailored creative risk solutions, integrity, partnership and ownership for thousands of clients. In 1982, after more than a decade of climbing the corporate ladder of a large national insurance provider, CEO Max Van Wyk knew that his work all came down to the lifelong value in which he firmly believes: We are placed on Earth to serve.