Bob's blog: Claim time is crunch time

I’m an insurance broker, and am happy to say that I’ve had a pretty fair run of success. My critical factors are undoubtedly having a brilliant team, actively seeking opportunities, and a belief that clients want to deal with us because we do more than sell lowest price insurance.

But there are times when I feel the market has gone completely daft. Insurers have been screaming ‘soft market’ for too long, yet will compromise their carefully thought through rating and acceptance strategies in the interest of market share. Regulators want a ridiculously increasing bite of our hard-earned bottom line to pay for the errors of others, and expect us to lose out in time and money navigating the ever-changing and complex compliance. HR policies fermented in the corridors of power trickle through – in fact it’s a torrent – with little heed for how they affect the small to medium sized enterprise. And I won’t bother to rant about the expensive and extensive IT issues that surround us like a fog.

Couple those problem areas with the increasing cost of doing business – from utilities and salaries, rent and rates, to income and commissions – and it can often be hard to be positive about the future.

Be that as it may, I – we – made the career choice to be an insurance broker, so it’s necessary to think creatively about how to find an opportunity that spells success and longevity for your firm.

First steps to continued success are to get a grip on costs. Trading lean, working longer hours, spending more time on marketing, keeping your face in the local press (for good reasons!), networking, finding new ways to increase income, trading in niche markets, and encouraging sales staff to get out there go the extra mile. And it usually helps if, dare I use the word, a bonus is offered!

Most of all, we must continually demonstrate to existing clients that we offer more than just retailing the product and collecting the premium, by demonstrating when selling to new prospects that they can expect more as a right.

We should never forget that, for the client, insurance is a complex, necessary purchase that promises all sorts of things if something bad happens to them. We know, intimately, what those causes for a valid claim may be and no doubt wax lyrical about them as a sales platform. When the client suffers a loss, insured or otherwise, they expect some help from the people that sold the product – just the same as advice is sought from a garage about a strange noise emanating from your car engine.

Yet so many brokers focus only on the sales process and, when renewal comes along and the client goes elsewhere for a lower premium, they shrug and chase the premium down or go and find another client. Looking after a customer throughout their lifetime with you is the USP of a successful broker, and never more so at the time of a claim.

Soft markets come and go in cycles. If all you put in front of a client is price, then they’ll move on for a better price.

But it’s not all doom and gloom. Yes, there are challenges and difficult choices to make, but no one said it was easy. In fact, maybe it’s still a bit too easy, which is why this is such a competitive marketplace.

My personal view is very positive. There are lots of opportunities for good brokers, and those who go the extra mile, who look at the challenges and deal with them, and who look for business, will succeed!

Bob Pybus is a director of the Institute of Insurance Brokers and director of NPA Insurance Broking Group.