- With more insurers considering exits from regions prone to extreme weather events, agents may need to diversify their client portfolios.
- Policies that provide coverage for a business’ activities could be a potential growth area for agents seeking to pivot from residential to commercial insurance.
- Insurtech company, BizInsure for Agents, offers brokering tech solutions to help agents efficiently bind and manage small business and micro business policies in minutes.
With more insurers exiting the residential property and casualty insurance market citing extreme weather events, insurance agents with books heavily weighted towards these products could be left in a bind.
In a voluntary survey conducted by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners in 2022, five large insurers advised that extreme weather patterns have led them to make changes to their business.
The insurers’ comments, which were first reported in September 2023, indicate they are taking steps including no longer writing coverages in some areas, excluding many weather events from coverage, and raising monthly premiums and deductibles.
These latest revelations are part of a decades-long trend of insurers leaving home and car insurance markets in areas at greater risk of flooding, wildfire, hurricane, and other natural disasters.
“Residential insurance is becoming harder for agents to sell in many states,” says Andrew Lilley, Channel Sales Manager for small business brokering platform BizInsure for Agents. “Insurer exits and soaring premiums in this sector may mean it’s time to pivot towards commercial clients.”
Harnessing the power of technology
Seeing the wisdom in pivoting a portfolio is one thing, but finding efficient ways to do so is another. While retooling a brokerage comes with many challenges, technology can help agents service SMB clients more effectively.
“Backed by an established Insurtech platform, BizInsure for Agents is well-placed to serve agents making the switch from residential insurance to commercial insurance,” says Lilley. “The platform brings growth opportunities for agents as it makes it easy to manage the full lifecycle of a small business policy, from binding to renewal.”
Agents using the BizInsure for Agents (B4A) platform can compare competitive commercial insurance quotes from multiple insurers and for multiple products from a single data entry, saving them the time and effort of filling out multiple long proposal forms and chasing down individual insurers. This represents important growth opportunities for agents looking to efficiently pivot to commercial books. Agents can quickly service new and existing clients and seamlessly avoid binding inefficiencies throughout their process.
The platform also boasts self-service management options, including amending policy details and adding certificate holders instantly.
Lilley continues, “The B4A platform is designed to make binding easier and profitable for agents who embrace technology. The ability to bind and amend policies without needing to contact the carrier—that’s money in the bank when we’re talking about converting leads and minimizing the amount of time spent managing policies.”
Covering commercial clients
While business property policies are also on the chopping block in many areas, agents can instead focus on covering a business’ activities.
When agents make the jump to commercial insurance, they can service new SMB policies that cover activity-based risks, rather than business property. BizInsure for Agents already offers four key SMB and micro-SMB policies backed by five national carriers: Beazley, Best Choice, CNA, Hiscox and Victory. These include General Liability, Professional Liability, Combined Miscellaneous Medical Liability from Beazley, and the tailored coverage of Architects & Engineers Professional Liability.
“Insurtech platforms are designed to help make agents more efficient. BizInsure for Agents marries a great offering for SMB and micro-SMB clients with tools to simplify policy management, win back time and bind more,” says Lilley. “It’s a great solution for agents pivoting to commercial insurance or those who already have a strong portfolio.”
As with any insurance, coverage will be subject to the terms, conditions and exclusions contained in the policy wording. The information contained on this web page is general only and should not be relied upon as advice. The number of quotes provided varies between products, occupations and other underwriting factors determined by the insurers.
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