Plymouth Rock Assurance: building up from within
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Plymouth Rock Assurance: building up from within
DECEMBER 2019
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P LY M O U T H R O C K A S S U R A N C E
We speak to Bill Martin, who leads the Home Insurance Group at Plymouth Rock Assurance, about how being willing to take risks for the sake of the customer experience can lead to sustainable growth
P
lymouth Rock Assurance, founded in 1982, is an insurance provider that had historically focused on providing auto
insurance for the Northeastern USA. However, the 04
last two years have seen its Home Insurance Group growing extraordinarily, all thanks to a decision by the company to embrace homeowner’s insurance as a growth strategy. “Our values are helping customers solve their problems.” Bill Martin, who leads the Home Insurance Group at the company, says, “We go a little further than most companies are willing to in order to do a better job.” Martin was brought on to turn home insurance at Plymouth Rock into a self-sustaining business in 2016. “Coming into the home insurance business, we already had established relationships through our auto insurance connections, so we had an embedded advantage. Our independent agents and our distribution partners were already committed and enthusiastic marketers of our products,” he explains, “but it also provided us with
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1982
Year founded
$1.5bn Revenue in US dollars
2,400 Number of employees
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Plymouth Rock: Celebrating 35 Years CLICK TO WATCH
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1:58
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“ What happens in the background might be very complicated, but for you sitting on the other end of the chatbot, or our website, or the phone, it looks like three small steps” — Bill Martin, Head of the Home Insurance Group, Plymouth Rock Assurance
an opportunity to do something more dramatic and sophisticated than what was being done.” The goal at Plymouth Rock was to streamline the customer experience. Traditionally, acquiring home insurance is a complex process with dozens of lengthy questionnaires full of “gotcha” questions that either hike up the price or justify denying the customer. “We did something similar to what a startup does,” Martin says. “We wiped the slate clean.” This allowed the company to establish a clear goal. “We wanted to start with something very simple: what w w w.pl ymo ut hrock. com
P LY M O U T H R O C K A S S U R A N C E
was the absolute ideal way for a customer to buy and maintain their home insurance policy?” Martin continues, “Everything we do is built around that specific experience.” Internally, the quest for innovation saw the Home Insurance Group completely remodel its product manager role, following a technology industry model. Historically, product managers in the insurance industry focus primarily on product pricing. Plymouth Rock gave product managers direct oversight for a variety 08
of employees, from data scientists to technology IT professionals, user design experts to business process engineers. The resulting tool is called @Home. While the average competitor takes 20-30 minutes to quote a home insurance policy and find coverage, @Home by Plymouth Rock Assurance can do it in under five minutes. The quote itself takes less than 30 seconds. “The only way we can do that is by doing our homework first,” says Martin. “We try to answer all the questions about the people and the houses that need insurance before they even ask us for a quote. We pre-rate all the homes in our territory and figure out what it
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P LY M O U T H R O C K A S S U R A N C E
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Plymouth Rock: The future of Home Insurance is landing CLICK TO WATCH
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costs to insure them for a basic cover-
payments. While this isn’t possible for
age package.” Everything delivered at
every customer and every case, data
Plymouth Rock works alongside the
and analytics help the company define
advent of technology. It is a learning
when loss scenarios can be stream-
process, with customer experience
lined like this. Customers can also
at the forefront. “What happens in the
take pictures of their home and submit
background might be very complicated,
them through an app developed by
but for you sitting on the other end
Plymouth Rock when initially seeking
of the chatbot, or our website, or the
a home insurance policy. This removes
phone, it looks like three small steps,”
the need for inspections and allows
Martin says. With Plymouth Rock’s new
policies to be in force more quickly.
tech platform, customers can submit
Plymouth Rock also focuses on the
photographic evidence for simple
importance of partial loss claims such
claims with the potential for instant
as ruined carpets or fire-damaged
MARCH 2020
kitchens. “Most home insurance com-
profitability. While the insurance
panies practically expect you to be
industry grew around 3% last year,
a general contractor, able to know how
the Home Insurance Group grew 57%.
much it’ll cost to rebuild your home
Rapid growth is not the main chal-
two years from now,” Martin says.
lenge; competitors can grow rapidly
“Yet the majority of claims you make
by under-pricing the product. What
aren’t total loss claims.”
sets Plymouth Rock apart from the
The approach taken by Plymouth
many fast-growing insuretechs is how
Rock has had such great success that
it keeps growth in line with profitability.
it has started bleeding into other busi-
Aside from a competitive market, the
ness lines of the company. Plymouth
company has had to face detractors
Rock’s home business has exceeded
who operate traditionally and criticise
internal expectations in terms of
new methodologies. “There’s a lot
both growth trajectory and business
of mischaracterisation in what we’re
E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE
Bill Martin Bill Martin leads the Home Insurance Group at Plymouth Rock and also oversees Plymouth Rock’s reinsurance program. He joined Plymouth Rock in September 2016. Bill has more than 30 years of experience in the property/ casualty insurance industry. He has held senior positions at several companies including Farmers Insurance, Progressive and Travelers. He has been involved in four home and auto start-ups, most of which continue to thrive today. Prior to joining Plymouth Rock, Bill was President of Bankers Insurance in St. Petersburg, Florida. Bill has a B.A. in political science from Stanford University. He is an avid sailor, skier, trombone player and sports fanatic.
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P LY M O U T H R O C K A S S U R A N C E
“ While it takes a little bravery to do something that’s dramatically different, with us, we’re less brave than we are strategic” 12
— Bill Martin, Head of the Home Insurance Group, Plymouth Rock Assurance
doing,” Martin says, “but you make
the industry. But it’s worth it. Plymouth
yourself vulnerable to that whenever
Rock’s quick processes allow agents
you disrupt a market.”
to spend more time talking to custom-
This rapid growth has had its chal-
ers about types of coverage instead of
lenges. Being at the forefront of
price, ultimately selling more and more
innovation means presenting unknown
often. “While it takes a little bravery to
processes to partners that might have
do something that’s dramatically differ-
to change their workflow to accommo-
ent, with us, we’re less brave than we
date new systems. Meanwhile, finding
are strategic.” Martin explains, “We use
in-house talent to perform at the level
a lot of data, advanced modelling, and
needed is an obstacle faced across
process technology behind the scenes.
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It would be difficult for other compa-
concludes, “I think that will set us as
nies to replicate and deliver the results
a market leader. Internally, it will be a
we’re delivering.”
rollercoaster of making mistakes and
According to Martin, the indus-
learning from those. Externally, for the
try is on the cusp of major change.
customer, it will be a lot more enjoyable
“Five years from now, there will be
to buy home insurance.”
a shakeout of people who have good technology but don’t have a sustainable profit margin, leaving only companies that are ‘doing it’ rather than talking about it.” Martin w w w.pl ymo ut hrock. com
T +1 855-993-4470 www.plymouthrock.com
Plymouth RockÂŽ and Plymouth Rock AssuranceÂŽ are brand names and service marks used by separate underwriting, managed insurance, and management companies that offer property and casualty insurance in multiple states. Each company is a separate legal entity that is financially responsible only for its own insurance products. You can learn more by visiting plymouthrock.com