Brokers are suffering on an etrading issue, which is hurting their business
By Content Director Saxon East
It is costing brokers millions in held-up sales, as well as aggravating customers and agonising staff - and it is only getting worse.
Welcome to the world of etrading referrals.
This year’s etrading survey from Insurance Times revealed that the number of brokers waiting one or two days for a referral had surged from 25% to 44%.
This means that just under half of brokers are having to wait ridiculously long times for insurers to respond on referrals.
The issue has clearly got worse during the pandemic, with insurers using the crisis as an excuse. But, as broker Jon Newall pointed out during our webinar at Biba’s annual conference today, insurers have had a full year to sort the issue out.
What can brokers do? Brokers need to monitor referral times and scale back premium, or even blacklist insurers taking too long to respond.
There is a wide choice of insurers to choose from on both the software houses and extranet sites, so brokers can cope with scaling back on commitments to the worst performing insurers.
It’s unfair to blame all insurers, as some show good response times according to our research.
Certainly though, some insurers have allowed a culture of ‘let’s blame the pandemic’ to creep into working practices.
But nothing will get insurers moving quicker than the threat of lost revenues.
Broker challenges for 2021
This is a big year for brokers. Personal lines brokers have to deal with the FCA regulatory crackdown on products and pricing.
Added to all of this, brokers are on the front line with their customers, many of whom will have felt let down by not being covered during the pandemic - only to find their premiums are being put up as the market hardens.
During these turbulent times, the last thing brokers need is slack service from insurers on etrading. It’s time they let their voices be heard.
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