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Cynthia Combs Verizon Digital Ready Mentor

Location Portland, Oregon, United States of America
Mentor Industry Financial/Insurance Services
Languages spoken
  • English
Recent Activity

How I can help

My professional background

I have been a licensed property & casualty insurance broker (California and Oregon) for over 39 years and have recently retired. I have worked in several facets of the insurance industry including: surety, general liability, property, professional liability, management liability and cyber risks. I have held both an individual contributor position in sales and underwriting, along with management / coaching (as a director and team lead). My expertise ranges from sales, underwriting, management, coaching, marketing strategy, branding, website design, social media and business / project / product development. I have also served as a volunteer and ambassador with several organizations including: Women's Center for Leadership, SharedHope International, American Heart Association and Go Red for Women (along with the support of several nonprofits).


How to work with me

What I can offer

Sales management (including CRM system utilization, training and setup - i.e. Salesforce) Sales training / coaching / mentoring Sales strategy and implementation (goals and objectives) Business planning / business development (territory management) Operations and risk management (overall risk and insurance reviews) Marketing and branding (including story branding and media messaging) B2B relationships and strategy (including unique B2B2C opportunities - Blue Ocean concept) Specific industry expertise includes: insurance, real estate, construction, nonprofits and law firms

My expectations for a successful mentoring relationship

One of my favorite books is: Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazzi with the primary premise that even in life (no matter what your role) you should always have a "board of directors" or key individuals as your sounding board. That is how I also see the mentoring relationship, it is another advocate, resource or board member to assist with ideas, strategies or knowledge sharing. It is about having key individuals (no one mentor can fulfill all aspects of the business objectives) who can tap into their expertise in helping a company to "Lead Forward". You don't need to be a Fortune 500 company to put together those key individuals to help support and guide your business. There are many experts who have retired from their business but still willing to share their expertise with passion and purpose. Mentors should be individuals who do not see individual gain from their relationship but realize that what they are doing is leaving a legacy and helping others achieve greater success.

How entrepreneurs can prepare before we start

If you had the perfect "board members" for your company, what would that look like? What objectives, challenges, questions or concerns do you want to accomplish in this engagement? Are their specific "roles" within your organization that these mentors can play without being an employee? Do you have your one, two, five year business plans outlined as to what you want to accomplish within those time frames? What does success look like for your company and what legacy do you want to leave? (Including succession planning).