There Can Be Only One: The Hatcher Agency

Photo by Lori Sparkman

Consumers have come to expect brands to make outrageous claims. After all, how can every product on the market be the best? As stated in the classic and soon-to-be-rebooted film Highlander, “In the end, there can only be one.”

When it comes to employee benefits in Arkansas and now beyond, Greg Hatcher’s Little Rock-based Hatcher Agency sure looks like “the one.”

Founded in 1990 by a 28-year-old Hatcher fresh off setting a group-sales record for Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield, the Hatcher Agency now has offices in Fayetteville, Austin, Memphis and Philadelphia. It is the home of outrageous service — it says so right on the firm’s Little Rock headquarters facade — and what sets this claim apart from others, of course, is Hatcher and his team backing it up. The agency has won multiple awards and earned numerous accolades, including inclusion on Arkansas Money & Politics’ “Best of 2025” list.

Hatcher is well known for setting goals and reaching them, whether that means launching a Division I collegiate wrestling program or a chain of ice cream shops. What truly sets his insurance agency apart, he said, goes beyond great customer service.

“It’s not just providing outrageous service. It’s the speed at which we need to do it,” Hatcher said. “We empower our employees to make any decision to take care of the customer without management approval.”

Equipping his team members to do so makes that possible. As thousands of Arkansans can attest, the Hatcher Agency does what it takes to provide customers with what they need and then some.

“Guaranteeing the lowest price is pretty important,” Hatcher said. “We can do this because we have all the market options.”

As an independent agency, the firm offers employee and individual plans from numerous top companies, as well as health savings accounts and flexible spending accounts sponsored by employers. In addition to a plethora of group and individual options, such as basic health, vision, dental, life, travel and long-term care, the agency offers 401(k) retirement plans, hospital gap policies, accidental death and dismemberment, and even LegalShield coverage, which allows clients to create a will and update it every year at no additional cost.

The Hatcher Agency has also distinguished itself in the individual market. One Little Rock woman recently turned to Hatcher when her 26-year-old son rotated off the family health plan and his internship did not offer benefits. She found just what was needed after one visit with a Hatcher agent. She said it was the first and only place she thought to call.

“Many agencies have stopped selling individual or small group policies due to the overhead costs,” Hatcher said. “We feel like it’s our job to take care of all customers regardless of the size. We are our carriers’ top writer for individual and Medicare supplement policies.”

The agency can cast such a wide net because Hatcher employees know their stuff and are empowered to do what it takes to serve their clients.

“We pay for all employees to get their insurance license, their Certified Self Funded Specialist designation and their Registered Employee Benefit Consultant designation,” Hatcher said. “Smarter, better-trained and empowered staff is our goal. In addition, we have several exclusive products other agencies don’t have. We can do this because we are the largest organically grown benefits agency in the country.”

For the former three-sport college athlete, striving to be the best comes naturally, and that trickles down to his employees.

“We live by this quote: ‘Unless you continue to change and evolve, you will learn a valuable lesson from someone who will.’”

The quote is attributed to Cael Sanderson, the four-time NCAA wrestling champion at Iowa State and Olympic gold medal winner who finished his college career undefeated in 159 matches.

Hatcher is a fervent believer in believing in oneself. The Michigan native told AMP last year that his success at Blue Cross depended on it.

“I was 23 years old, and I looked like I was 18,” he said. “I had a Yankee accent from the North, and my territory was Hope, Prescott, Malvern, Texarkana. I’d never listened to country music in my life, yet that’s all that was on the radio when I’d go see these guys.

“What I learned from all that came from the first two questions every customer would give me: ‘Hi. Where are you from?’ because of the accent and, ‘How long have you worked at Blue Cross Blue Shield?’ I knew what they were really asking: ‘Hey, where the hell are you from?’ and ‘You don’t know anything. You look like you’re 18.’ so I developed a sales pitch called, ‘Why me?’”

In a sense, Hatcher sold himself rather than policies, he said, and he empowers his employees to do the same — to make customers believe they would go to the mat, to borrow a wrestling term, for them.

“Instead of selling Blue Cross, I was selling me,” he said. “I would tell them my father [the late Joe Hatcher, former president of Hendrix College] lived in Conway so they would know I was a Southerner. I’d say, ‘I know I look like I just started. I did,’ and I’d say, ‘I know I haven’t been here very long, but there is no human being in this state that’s going to work harder for you than me. If you will trust me with your insurance, you can call me 24/7.’”

The agency added property and casualty coverage in 2008, Hatcher said, “partly because our clients wanted us to handle it and partly as a hedge against national health care.”

“We have been able to provide virtually every client we look at savings in some form on their P&C premiums,” he said.

Hatcher employees are also equipped to adapt. With rates continuing to climb on the health side, Hatcher said more groups will self-fund so they can better manage and see medical and drug claims.

“In addition, you will see more drug sourcing from other countries,” he said. “We have a couple of exclusive products that will really help our clients.”

At the Hatcher Agency, a win for the customer is a win for the team.

A sign in the second-floor training room of Hatcher’s Little Rock office reads, “Hatcher Agency job description: Every employee has the authority to do anything to take care of the customer with no approval from anyone.”