MRL #073- Spit-Shining A Turd: How To Sell Risk To Underwriters In 5 Easy Steps

I woke up to this LinkedIn post by Micah on Wednesday:

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“A contractor saved six figures on their insurance premiums....

The catch, their claims history sucked.

I'm convinced the key to lowering their cost despite their past, was their meeting with the insurance carrier’s loss control rep.

They blew the guys socks off. Here's how they did it:

1) Mindset: Went into it with idea of selling themselves

2) Prep Call with Agent

3) Showed up: Ownership took it seriously and didn't delegate the meeting down to someone else.

4) Honesty: Owned past

5) Coachability: Humbled themselves and sought out advice of the rep”

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So I called Micah to get the full scoop.

Turns out it was closer to $130,000 saved…

And when Micah said their claims history sucked, he wasn’t lying.

They had a frequency issue and a severity issue with one claim clocking in at $6,000,000.

Yeesh.

I immediately knew this was going to be this week’s newsletter and podcast topic.

Mainly for selfish reasons because, frankly, I’m not the best at it.

And what better way to learn than to listen to Micah’s story and retell it myself.

Spit-Shining A Turd: How To Sell Risk To Underwriters In 5 Easy Steps

#1. Be The Agent Of Record

I know we harp on and on about BOR’s and being the Broker of Record but this is yet another reason why it’s so important.

When you’re the Broker of Record you control the market.

And when you control the market you can leverage the carriers against each other…

Thus, driving their price down.

#2. Review & Analyze Claims History

Work with your insured to get the full story about their losses.

If you’ve got camera footage, even better.

Then dovetail that into all the corrective actions they’ve made (or are making) to correct their mistakes.

Compile both into a detailed narrative and submit with the rest of your submission.

#3. Invest Time With The Carrier (If Possible)

I realize this isn’t always possible…

But if it is, try to get one of the carrier’s loss control reps on site…

And get your insured’s management team on site with them.

The more familiar the carrier is with the actual people involved, the better.

Have them “show” not just “tell” the carriers about all of the efforts being made to prevent similar losses in the future.

This takes prep work, though.

As Micah laid out in his post…

There can be a lot of coaching to do to prep your client for the visit.

#4. Sell Their Future, Not Their Past

Remember, a company’s loss history only paints a picture of their past.

It’s your job to paint a picture of their future.

In Micah’s case, his insured had a rough 3 year stretch from 2019-2022, but their last 18 months have been good.

Underwriters tend to be overly analytical and get lost in the numbers…

It’s your job to abstract from those numbers and tell a story about why you’re insured will be profitable in the future.

“If they continue on in this direction here’s how profitable they’ll be…”

#5. Bundle Their Entire Program

What do the rest of their lines look like?

Are they all with one carrier or piecemealed out?

If they’re clean and piecemealed out, that’s a huge opportunity.

Hopefully, you can house their entire program with one carrier and offset losses in one line with profitability in another.

(which is why most captives require the Comp and GL with the Auto)

I Know You Already Know This Stuff…

But it never hurts to rehear it.

Because if you’re like me…

Sometimes you get lost in the sauce and forget the fundamentals.

And a little refresher never hurt anything but egos.

Ok, that’s enough for this week.

If you want to hear the full story, check out tomorrow’s podcast.

In the meantime, kick ass and take names.

See you next Sunday,

Maximus F Revenue IV

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