Sometimes life is full of difficult choices. One such choice in the daily grind of commercial insurance brokers relates to their ‘go to market’ strategy and how they find the best solutions in the market for their clients.
Really there are only two choices right? You can use insurer portals, or you can send a completed application to market(s).
In speaking with hundreds of brokers over the last couple of months, we get the sense that this is a grudgingly accepted reality for the majority of brokers. Insurers and MGAs are continually bringing out their flavour of portal, and yet the generally accepted wisdom is that the last thing a broker needs is another commercial insurer portal.
So, why this disconnect? Are there positive aspects to insurer portals that brokers need to consider? Is there a significant group of brokers that have ‘seen the light’ and transformed to a commercial insurer portal model? Or, is it simply the case that the alternative to portals is even worse?
We thought we’d dig in and explore these options in more depth:
Advantages
Disadvantages
Commercial Insurer Portals
Fast but narrow
Involves logging into your favorite portal, entering your client’s details and hoping that you get a quote.
- much quicker than e-mailing applications to insurers
- good for smaller packages
- you’re never sure if your client will fit the quoting criteria
- how many insurer portals will you go to? Will you ‘shop around’ or just go to your favorite one?
- do you also complete a separate application for your records?
- you’ve spent time putting your client’s data into someone else’s system
Sending Applications to Insurers
Slow but thorough
Involves completing a detailed application, identifying underwriters, sending out your application by e-mail and then waiting for a response.
- opportunity to approach a much broader range of insurers and ‘shop the market’ for your client
- completion of an application gives you a record of your client’s business
- you have to find the right application (not always easy) and ask the right questions before sending to market
- how do you decide which insurers might be a good fit?
- typically very long delays to get responses or quotes from insurers. Often at least a week if not more in reality.
- how do you manage the various messages and actions as insurers come back to you on all the submissions you’ve got in market?
Our verdict
This is sadly a lose : lose situation. Both options are fraught with difficulty and obstacles. Insurance brokers who navigate these options every day are true heroes!
It may not surprise you to learn that this is the primary reason we built Quotey. We fundamentally believe that brokers deserve better choices, and need precision built tools to deal with the complexities of the current insurance market.
Brokers no longer have to make tough decisions like this. Instead Quotey will enable you to:
- Create smart digital applications for your clients
- Get multiple quotes in real time from our panel of insurers
- Compare the terms of multiple quotes and coverages
- Digitize your marketing process to find the right insurers and track their responses
A better option is coming! Book a demo at your convenience.
We’d love to get your thoughts in the comments section below, or take our 30 second survey to vote for your best approach to market.
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