Frank Phillips is the head of ReSource Pro’s award-winning Insurance Experience (IX) Center.
For insurance agencies, small business accounts need more, not less attention
Managing small accounts can be surprisingly challenging for an insurance agency. While they may be a smaller source of revenue than a substantial, strategic account, they still require a good amount of support as they are often less experienced insurance buyers.
Over the years, we see that insurance agencies have taken many different approaches to servicing small accounts, though the results are often mixed. Some measures include engaging carrier service centers, using them as training for new staff, and handing off certain tasks to a third-party vendor.
Let’s dive into why these solutions usually fall short.
1. Carrier service centers are not a catch-all solution
Often, this is an agency’s first response when account managers become overwhelmed. Keep in mind, though, that service centers will not work with accounts split across carriers. Many agencies we have worked with say that service centers only handle simple policies, so agencies still have to service the most complex small accounts.
2. Small accounts often need experienced staff
Some agencies will attempt to use a small account book as a training area for newer or younger team members. These accounts, however, may require a guiding hand that inexperienced team members do not yet have. Worse still, this approach could increase your E&O risk.
Insurance Journal reports that each E&O claim costs an agency an average of $40,000, and that doesn’t take into consideration the reputational damage that can occur. With this workaround, agencies are doing themselves a disservice.
3. Offshore personnel have limited reach
More sophisticated agencies sometimes look to offshore outsourcing to help, and while this is a step in the right direction, it is an incomplete solution. Offshore personnel cannot hold U.S. insurance licenses and therefore cannot speak to clients and perform insurance transactions. Thus, the agency is once again left doing the servicing itself, even if it has outsourced administrative tasks.
Exceptional service and profitability are possible
What’s often missed in all these failed attempts at a solution is that, when handled correctly, small accounts can foster amazing growth for an agency.
What if you could hand off these accounts to experienced professionals who would ensure an ongoing revenue stream and exceptional customer service, while maintaining ownership and 100% of your contingents? And what if that book didn’t run off but grew due to account rounding and even new production?
To make that happen, you would need a private-labeled, one-stop service center handling all carriers, all lines, all industries, all states, both admitted and Excess & Surplus. It would require high efficiency processing, both onshore and offshore, real-time, and in overnight batches. You would have to have experienced, licensed onshore account managers, that both service and sell, in a centralized, low-cost environment. And there would have to be robust, cutting-edge technology to drive efficiency, interfacing seamlessly with your existing agency management platform.
With ReSource Pro’s ExpressIX, you get just that. Our clients have seen their small accounts book nearly double within a year of partnering with us. Talk with our experts to find out how we can help increase the profitability and customer experience of your small accounts.
