10 Ways to Get More From Your Insurance Broker

Insurance brokers work on your organization’s behalf to find the best insurance coverage at the best price. While going to bat to get you the best terms and price is integral, there are many other ways to make the most of your relationships with your broker. Most businesses do not fully utilize the services of their broker and consequently miss out on advice and analysis that can help to better your risk management efforts and lower your insurance costs.

Ten Services You Can Request of Your Broker:

Analysis of your insurance portfolio to determine if there are any coverage gaps, and whether you have adequate limits.
Analysis of your claims to determine trends and give advice on how to prevent these losses.
Cost of risk analysis to determine optimal deductibles.
Loss control inspections and advice.
Risk Management advice.
Claims handling advice. Your broker can let you know which claims are covered and will report them to the insurer for you.
Exposure analysis to determine the potential losses and whether adequate protection and coverages are in place.
Advice on related topics such as trade credit, business interruption/continuity, and bonding.
Education of your staff on various loss control, insurance and risk management topics.
Annual stewardship review. This is basically a report to you on what they have done for you over the past year, how they have performed, have they met their service standards, and what they plan to do for you in the future. The size of your business will determine how comprehensive the report. At the very least, ask your broker yearly to define service goals and make sure they are being met.

Ask your broker for advice on any matter that involved potential for loss, risk, insurance, claims, or any other matter that you feel they might be helpful on. The worst thing they will tell you is that the service is unavailable or that there is an accompanying fee.

There are a number of additional requests you can make to your broker to get more out of the relationship. If you have any suggestions, we’d love to hear them! You can contribute by submitting your comments below.

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6 Responses to “10 Ways to Get More From Your Insurance Broker”

Kelly Strickland on August 4th, 2009

Hi Craig,

Great post. I find many organizations do not fully understand the role of their insurance broker, thereby under using and undervaluing the service provided.
Jana Harding on August 4th, 2009

I think a lot of people and organizations alike are under the impression that additional help from an insurance broker comes at additional cost. As if there is a basic service and then the rest is extra.

It’s great that to be reminded what insurance brokers are able to do for us should we need it. After all, we are paying for the service – we should at least take advantage!
Josh Bourden on August 4th, 2009

Great post. I had no clue about a lot of these services. Keep uncovering these hidden risk management gems!
Craig Rowe on August 4th, 2009

Absolutely – What better time than now to get the most for your money? Its true – the worst thing that a broker can say to such a request is no. There are so many value-added services that we often don’t avail of when it comes to risk management. Imagine how many of these opportunities we would uncover within your typical small business and their investments/expenses?
chrismosstrc on August 10th, 2009

The spirit of this is true, and in my experience most companies could get more out of their broker at no additional cost. But companies shouldn’t overlook the independence of their broker (or the lack thereof). If your broker is taking “Contingent” or “Enhanced” commissions, they may not be the best claims advocate because the amount of the commission could be based on the claims result.

Also, brokers don’t always consider risk management solutions that do not involve insurance.
Ronald Hicks on August 12th, 2009

It is a shame that one would have to ask. This should be a standard for any company with an insurance budget over $200,000 (allbiet some may still not apply such as claims trending as some will have very little claims at this premium level). As far as the claims advocate comment as “not being in the best interest of the agent”. If you are a large enough agent, it would not matter. Smaller agents may have more to lose by losing the customer to a bad claim then the contingent commissions.