Few states represent as dramatic a case study of the country's economic malaise and stumbling recovery as Michigan. The state's rebound has been incredible, to say the least, but has so far to go simply because it had fallen so far. Sure, they've recovered of thousands of jobs during this so-called recovery, but they're in the hole for nearly a million.

Near the end of last year, no less an authority than Forbes ranked Michigan near the bottom in the nation for business and careers. Only three other states fared worse. Not only that, but based on both Census and Labor Bureau data, the state of Michigan ranks dead last in three primary job and economic per capita growth indicators: GDP growth, income levels and employment growth.

And in a national survey—as reported by CEO magazine last year—Michigan ranked as the fifth-worst business climate in the country, primarily because of the perceived burden of taxes and regulations.

So maybe Janelle Crudo deserves some recognition (or at least hazard pay) for even considering this line of work when employers are in such short supply.

But the economy does have its silver linings, as well. According to the “2012 Economic Competitiveness Benchmarking Report,” from Anderson Economic Group, a research and consulting firm, the state really is bouncing back:

Michigan's private sector employment grew at the fourth fastest rate in the country between 2010-11—but that growth stems from a higher unemployment baseline.

Michigan's per capita GDP growth ranked in the top 10 between 2010-11, as well, but again, that growth is coming from a lower base and the state's absolute GDP remains lower than a decade ago.

The story goes on, with real per capita personal growth up more than 2 percent over last couple of years, which ranks better than most states in terms of growth but still low overall.

The state hit a speed bump lately, though, ending December with the third-highest jump in unemployment aid applications, up more than 6,600, blamed primarily on manufacturing layoffs.

Sure, she's only a couple of years out of college—having earned a business degree from Walsh College in 2010—but she's already been in the benefits business nearly half a decade.

Crudo's a benefits risk advisor with CIA Financial Group in Shelby Township, Mich. In fact, she already heads up the agency's benefits division.

Full disclosure: Her dad's the chief executive officer. But she's also earned her place in the firm. And she's definitely put in the hours.

“When I was about nine or 10, I was assembling enrollment kits around the dining room table,” she recalls. “So when I say it feels like forever—it really pretty much has been forever.”

But more recently, she managed to flip a college internship at the firm into a full-time position into running a department—all in a little less than five years. And having Dad run things doesn't help as much as you might think. At least not at this company.

“Our numbers are still posted in the kitchen every month,” she says, “but he's been very supportive and helpful. He focused on benefits when he started in the industry but now he focuses purely in commercial [property and casualty] insurance.”

So, to recap: You're coming of age in a state where employers—and employees—and running for the borders, so you chase a career in employee benefits. Never mind that you're a young woman trying to break into a club dominated by middle-aged men. In fact, there might be more women in Congress now than at any given benefits trade show.

 “I'm a firm believer that insurance finds you,” she says. “You don't choose insurance. But sales has always been a passion of mine. I'd always known it had to be some sort of intangible sales that was always changing. I couldn't push a vacuum door to door; it had to be something that was ever-evolving, ever-changing and ever-growing. And I got an amazing opportunity to intern at the benefits department at my agency and just fell in love with it. I just love talking and meeting new people. On the benefit side, not only do you get to deal with the executive management team, but you also get to deal with the employees, which is really cool. Getting to meet all these people every day is a great opportunity and I just stuck with it and fortunately was offered a position when I graduated and haven't looked back.”

Benefits Selling: But what about that gender barrier?

Janelle Crudo: It's definitely a boys club. I definitely think insurance has that connotation. I feel like it has that 'drinking scotch at five o'clock with a cigar in a gentleman's club' type of mentality, so I think that gives me a little bit of an edge. It gives me a fresh perspective. And I like change. I'm comfortable with change and I guess I picked the right industry.

BS: So what's your training been like?

JC: I have a friend who's now a CPA. I have a friend who's an attorney. I got in the insurance world so we kind of all got into industries that really make you mature really fast in your knowledge and business acumen. And we were all really fortunate to find mentors in other industries so I work with a CPA that kind of helps me get my bearings in my industry. My attorney friend works with another CPA. It's really been that kind of learning of getting thrown to the wolves [and fighting for your life]. I guess you could say we had a “learn by mistake” atmosphere. And I wouldn't say I've been [completely] on my own, but I definitely learned from being in the trenches.

 I'd always thought that once you got into the working world there would be like a formal, 'OK you're training, now you're on your own, now this …' And that's not what I experienced at all. But I think because of that I've been able to grow a lot faster because I was able to learn with real-life examples, real-life consequences and real-life rewards versus a formal training program. My organization has also been very helpful. We have a team selling approach. We always take someone else out even if they're in a different department and help solidify the reputation of our expertise and knowledge that we have across different industries and different professions. It really helps to learn with someone that's maybe a little bit more seasoned in the industry.

BS: But having a mentor's helped. I mean, besides your dad.

JC: Yeah a CPA, she's a managing director of a CPA firm locally here. And she's really kind of taken me under her wing and really helped me grow. My father is my father, but it's nice to have a woman in the professional world that I can relate to and look up to and learn from. She brings me to all of her networking events and introduces me to everyone she knows, and I'm pretty sure she knows everyone in the world, so I just think really highly of her and I was really fortunate that I was able to meet her.

BS: You obviously still see a future for this industry under reform.

JC: Absolutely. I see more of an opportunity now than there really ever has been in the past. I think people in our industry really are just dwelling on the medical insurance, when medical insurance or health insurance is just a small part of what we do. If we look at benefits as a human capital management tool, we're looking at more than just health insurance. And we're looking at more than just dental, disability, life insurance. With health insurance essentially going away in the future from the way we're used to having it [through an employer], what other tools are available to engage employees, to motivate, attract and retain, communicate, educate, boost presenteeism, remove absenteeism [and so on]? I could on and on about how many opportunities there are to boost that human capital need that is now left a little bit empty by where health insurance used to be a big part of that. Wellness programs, there's just so many. There's so many opportunities available to be successful in our industry and I think taking that approach is going help my firm and myself move forward in this industry, where a lot of people are potentially leaving or uncertain or upset. We've talked about it often so you know great opportunities head.

BS: And that brings up another point: you're in Michigan, near Detroit, which has had some issues over the last several years, to say the least.

JC: A little bit.

BS: So you sell benefits to employers in a location that's kind of suffering there. How has that been for you?

JC: Actually when I got into the industry, I was actually stripping away benefits left and right. We were taking employers from 100 down to 30 people, or closing doors. We were stripping benefits away. We were really in a time of struggle and it's been really great for me to see the upswing in the economy, I know it's debatable on whether there is one or not, but my perspective is companies are hiring. They want to make their benefits packages competitive. They want to have a edge on their competition when it comes to attracting and retaining employees. So it's been a time of upswing as far as some of the groups I'm concerned with, and again there's still some struggle…it's not back to where it was and I don't think it ever will be, but we're seeing a return of growth. Companies need to be leaner and meaner and do more with less, and that just goes back to making sure you're retaining and attracting those ideal employees and you're really managing your human capital with what you have because we don't have as much as we used to. And how do we make that work?

BS: On the product side of things, what do you see really kind of taking off over the next few years?

JC: We're seeing a lot with the cancer and the critical illness. And then the accident policies. And we look at medical insurance and again we're seeing those higher deductibles. We're seeing more of a consumer-driven system, which is great, but what happens if we're disabled and our disability policy is only covering us for a $200 a week and we have deductibles north of $2,000? So being able to help individuals with cash that they might need now for groceries, for babysitters, for gas to get to and from a hospital that might be 30 miles away every day. So being able to supplement traditional insurance options with more practical day-to-day needs programs has been more popular because, again, we're looking at deductibles north of $2,000. We're looking at emergency room co-pays around $200—and that's not in everyone's checkbooks right now.

BS: When it comes to objections—of which I'm sure there are plenty—what do you hear the most? And how do you get around it?

JC: There are definitely plenty of objections. I think the objection I hear most is, “My health insurance renewal is in June. You can call me around then and I can talk to you.” This is the one I hear the most and has become my favorite. With that objection I get the chance to highlight how I'm different and that working off renewal allows me to take a proactive approach. Naturally that will lead them to ask what my proactive approach is and they hear words like “performance management,” “wellness,” “communication strategies”—all words they're not used to hearing from people in my industry. The goal is to lead them into setting up a meeting to learn more about what they're doing in those different areas and where we might be able to implement solutions tailored to their unique needs. If the conversation doesn't go in that direction, then they're either not an ideal candidate for the way we do business or their current agent might be providing solutions in these areas already. We definitely can respect and like to see great loyalty and are very comfortable moving on.

BS: Talk to me about your single best and worst sales experiences.

JC: I heard a great quote not too long ago: “You can only learn from mistakes you can survive.” Thankfully I've been able to learn from all of my mistakes and truly feel they're the best way to get better. I was working on a great opportunity a couple years ago: They were a great match to the way we do business and I was confident we were going to move forward in obtaining them as a client. We showed them the solutions we can bring to the table and all of the proactive tools we would implement to address a few key areas of struggle they were facing. When it came down to the decision, they moved forward with another agency. I'd gotten so excited in what we could do for them proactively I forgot to address the areas of reactive service we could provide. The returning of e-mails and phone calls, adding and removing people from benefits, and the service team they would be dealing with on a daily basis.  All things we provided with excellence but never highlighted. I learned a very important lesson: You can't just show off the shiny tools in the tool chest; you need to make sure you are representing yourself in its entirety.

My best sales experience would have to be the comment I received from a longstanding client. They made it a point to reach out to me and tell me how happy they were with our team. She'd stated that even though they had been a client for years, they felt the same amount of attention in year one as the current year. This is something we pay a large amount of detail to and it was really gratifying to hear that it was noticed.

BS: And, finally, can you talk about how you go about drumming up new business? And how much time you spend working on that vs. retaining current clients?

JC: This is an area I'm constantly working on and I feel there is always room for improvement. Time management is something I need to consciously work on and am always looking for ways to improve. I work in a block schedule approach. Monday is reserved for working on my business, Tuesday and Thursdays are purely sales days, Wednesday is my time to focus on retention of current clients, and Fridays are for wrap up and relationship building with centers of influences and clients. I have a very strong team behind me, and with their expertise I am able to stay laser-focused in both bringing in new business and retaining the great clients we have.

As far as what I do to drum up that new business, it falls into two categories: networking and referrals. Networking is actually what drew me into sales—being able to constantly meet new people and learn about different industries. Referrals can come from current clients or from centers of influence. We pride ourselves on working smart and hard for our clients and when we achieve common goals and do what we said we were going to do asking for a referral to work with someone they might know is an easy conversation. Centers of influences are people that are respected in their fields and have a common goal of both growing their business and their business acumen. Aligning myself with these individuals has helped me grow tremendously and in turn has led to some great referrals.

BS: So where do you see yourself, and in a bigger picture, the business, five years from now?

JC: Five years from now I hope to be thriving in the benefits industry. I would like to see human capital consulting and value-added services take the place where commission used to be. I see a bright future in our industry and I would like to see myself successful in it.

BS: What kind of advice would you give to someone who wants to break into this business right now?

JC: Learn as much as possible. Listen more than you talk. Learn more than anything else. Read everything you can get your hands on. It's ever changing—you're coming across so many different industries, so many different people, personalities and it's great to be able to have that knowledge behind you and feel confident about what you're advising. I mean, I must read three books a month on my iPad…”

In the meantime, Crudo's scrambling to keep up with recovery and charting her own course along the way. And she certainly has her supporters.

 “Janelle is a rising star,” insists Tanya Boyd, president of Sunnyvale, Texas-based Tanya Boyd & Associates. “Her fearless attitude exudes confidence with every prospect who's lucky enough to work with her.  She surpasses all sales expectations at her agency, while going to college, and now studying for her master's. Her energy and enthusiasm are contagious. I look forward to watching her career grow right off the charts.”

Her boss—and dad—agrees. 

“Janelle just seems to have a natural passion for this industry, CIA CEO Sam Crudo says. “Janelle always is working on self-development, and is always striving for the next level of excellence.”