Carrier Relationships

Quite frankly, our industry is about relationships, as is most of our personal life. The old golden rule of treating others as you wish to be treated is most prevalent in our industry as it is in any other industry. One of the biggest mistakes I see in our industry is that most of our relationship focus is on our clients. I know, I know - without that relationship, there is nothing. But one question that becomes prevalent in our industry is, “”Who do I work for?””

For those captive agents, it is an easy answer. You work for the carrier. In those cases, the most important relationship is the carrier. The carrier will form the relationship with their clients through national ad campaigns. You noticed that I said their (carrier) clients. It is more about how the carrier sets itself apart from other carriers. Those consumers are buying insurance from the captive, not from Joe or Jane Schmo agent. Product diversity is non-existent as the coverage choices are limited. As a matter of fact, one of the biggest captives deals mainly in personal lines, as commercial products require a deeper level of knowledge and trust that must be developed person to person and not from carrier to person. My personal insurance was with a captive for years (we all make mistakes), and I never had any contact with my agent as my original (friend) agent left. They reassigned me to someone I did not know and was located in an inconvenient location. I know I should have started the article with – “Hello, I’m Brett and I’m a recovering captive insured.” My point is that there was no agent relationship, and the only relationship was mailers that I got from the captive carrier.

Now let us expand on the relationship matrix when you are an independent agent. Where do I begin? The carrier, of course, because if you don’t have that, you don’t have anything to sell your clients. There are multiple relationships to manage through this channel, and the larger the number of carriers you represent, the larger the task it is to manage those relationships. Captive agents work for the carrier. Independent agents work for themselves, their carriers, and their clients. Independent clients are not just a market share or number, but they are family (if you are good). Carrier representatives such as marketing representatives and underwriters are family as well (if you are good). I would say clients are like your children, as you want to protect them and provide them with peace of mind. Carrier representatives are co-parents. As the saying goes – “”It takes a village…”” The better the relationships you cultivate with your carrier representatives, the better your clients are taken care of.

Let’s expand - underwriters can be your best friend or your worst enemy. They want your relationship to be thorough, organized, a solid risk, and profitable. You will learn from the underwriter what the company’s appetite is for certain risks and particular things they will look for when underwriting. The easier you make their job, the easier they

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Facilitation of quality medical care (when an accident does occur) will make your life. Marketing representatives are there to support you in driving products and sales. The more you engage them and make them believe you care, the more they will engage with you. These two relationships are your direct connections to the company. If you have one or two company contracts, this process will be easier, but you will have fewer choices (unless you broker). If you have five or more company contracts, this relationship job becomes more difficult but offers you the best chance to be successful in providing your clients with peace of mind.

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Too often, agents do not appreciate or use these relationships to their full advantage. The best marketing representatives I have encountered were once agents and understand your trials and tribulations the best. You need to utilize this fact to enhance this relationship or find other common ground to expand your relationship. The way to gauge how good this relationship is, is to look at how often they touch base with you by phone or email or visit your agency in person. If they communicate with you once a year, you should work on the relationship. Often, underwriters are someone you never meet in person. I think that the underwriter relationship has always been the most difficult to manage. In today’s marketplace, it has become easier as you can do a Zoom, Team, or Go-toMeeting and put a face to the person. It’s easy to tell you no in an email but it becomes harder when they have to look you in the eye and tell you no (video chat). Think about how you grow your carrier relationships, as they are just as important as your client relationships and should get the same or more effort than you invest in your client relationships. If you provide value to your carriers (volume, experience, and peace of mind), they will provide the highest level of value that they can provide you without doing anything illegal. If you think about it, look at your existing relationships with your carriers. I would bet the best ones are the ones you have the most success with and place the majority of your clients with.

This industry is so intertwined in that an agent you work with may become an underwriter or carrier marketing representative and/or a future client. Just because you are having a bad day doesn’t mean that they need to now have a bad day as well. People remember bad interactions way more easily than they remember good interactions. One bad interaction can erase numerous good interactions. Respect, cherish, cultivate, and work on all of your relationships as you are in a relationship industry, and the biggest part of that industry is your carriers. If this was prior to COVID, I would say hug your carrier representative (if they accepted hugs).

The client relationship is what most of you do well. Still, the easy buttons are: client contact or touches (not physically), review risks and suggest the best way to cover those new or existing risks, be proactive instead of reactive and be available/help whenever needed. In your client’s mind their insurance is through you and not the carrier you placed them with for their insurance needs.

Lastly, my sage advice part of this column (new thing) is: Don’t eat the yellow snow unless it’s from the Ice Deli and lemonade flavored.

Should you have any questions regarding this issue, do not hesitate to reach out to me directly. As always, this is just Brett’s 2 Sense and I hope it was helpful. If you need any clarification or have any suggestions for future articles, please email me at bgerger@iiaofil.org.