I was reviewing a long-term clients renewal the other day and as it was time to approach alternative insurer markets on their behalf, I obtained updated information about the client’s situation and sent the quote request details out.
Due to my clients occupation, I had a few declines back quickly and then started to get the quotes in from the other insurers. They had all been provided the same information so the differences in the replies was quite surprising. I had a call from a couple of insurers wanting to better understand the client and others simply emailed the quotes to me. This differing approach brought up caution flags for me as some had a better understanding of the risk than others.
After carefully reviewing the terms and the policy conditions I was in a position to be able to discuss the options with the client. We had an option with extremely broad cover at one end and one with limited cover at pricing to match at the other.
As with many of our clients, we have been trusted to look after their insurance needs for many years and have developed strong relationships: an important part of City Rural company values. To us our clients are relationships – not transactions.
I had prepared for the conversation with our client due to the differences in the quotes. As we also have many other clients in the same industry, we have comprehensive knowledge of the risks and exposures they commonly face.
The discussion was easy and the client listened. I took time to explain the cover that they currently had and then what the alternatives were. With our knowledge of the client and the industry, I could present scenarios that I’ve handled for other clients to support the advice I was giving. The pricing difference of the best policy compared to the lowest alternative was $2000.
The difference in the policy conditions was that one covered Mental Health for the full policy limit and the other one had a total exclusion for this. The pricing was not a big part of the discussion because the exclusion far outweighed the saving. The client, without hesitation, confirmed to renew with his current
insurer as providing the far better cover even though it was considerably dearer.
Our client understood the differences in the policies and so was able to make an informed decision on the cover they needed.
This process really reaffirmed to me that the better we know our clients and their industry, the better we are able to prepare their policies and as a consequence, the better off our clients will be.
And that’s what counts.
Andrew.