If they are only asking 3 questions, than here are the 3 underwriting outcome possibilities with new company:
1. Their rates are going to be high
2. They will buy the market share with high loss ratios
3. They will do the rest of the work and underwriting for the agent
This shows your total lack of knowledge about the prevalence of data available. One company is writing with only a name and address, a $1M property and liability policy. They have partners like Progressive that HAVE data. They know more about most of these risks than independent agents.
That said, they are still picky, no data, high rate. They are cherry picking the best, and leaving you the rotten.
It’s been some years since I owned an agency, but I am still in the business in a different capacity. First of all, I wouldn’t say something like “They are cherry picking the best, and leaving you the rotten” as it just cheapens who you are as real professionals don’t say this stuff. Secondly, the best clients don’t buy insurance online, even those in tech are mostly not buying insurance online. If you look at Esurance, they have yet to turn an underwriting or earnings profit. While Allstate was being proactive when they bought Esurance as it seemed like that was planing for the future, who would have known that buying insurance online would not be very successful, let alone get adverse selection of those who they insure (high loss ratio points to this). They can’t even compete on rates because of their poor underwriting results. In closing, I could be wrong, but it appears from your reply above that you lack insurance experience, this is the biggest problem of those who try to sell insurance online. Now you don’t need to tell me if you do or don’t since I can’t verify it, but I noticed those who are running to sell insurance online lack experience, those of us in the industry knows this will not work because experience tells us this (for example, inquiries on an agency website points to a collection of real bad business and agencies rarely capture this business).
What will this teach our customers, that the best way to buy insurance is on the internet without assistance? Who needs an agent? We need to teach our customers to value having an agent – spend some time asking about needs and making recommendations on coverage. Provide value or you will be perceived as having no value. I fear we are training our customers to believe they don’t need us. 3 or 5 questions to get a quote perpetuates these inaccurate beliefs. Don’t fall for it!
Unfortunately many agents sadly behave no different than the internet, they have become quoting machines and that is all they know how to do. No certainly not all, there are good agents like you, but many lack knowledge and this is not good for our industry. The best consumers never buy insurance on price alone and this is were this misguided agents miss the boat and build a bad book of unprofitable business. Despite this, a huge majority still want an agent, but these bad agents can cede their business to the internet one day if they continue to drop the ball on professionalism.
If they are only asking 3 questions, than here are the 3 underwriting outcome possibilities with new company:
1. Their rates are going to be high
2. They will buy the market share with high loss ratios
3. They will do the rest of the work and underwriting for the agent
This shows your total lack of knowledge about the prevalence of data available. One company is writing with only a name and address, a $1M property and liability policy. They have partners like Progressive that HAVE data. They know more about most of these risks than independent agents.
That said, they are still picky, no data, high rate. They are cherry picking the best, and leaving you the rotten.
It’s been some years since I owned an agency, but I am still in the business in a different capacity. First of all, I wouldn’t say something like “They are cherry picking the best, and leaving you the rotten” as it just cheapens who you are as real professionals don’t say this stuff. Secondly, the best clients don’t buy insurance online, even those in tech are mostly not buying insurance online. If you look at Esurance, they have yet to turn an underwriting or earnings profit. While Allstate was being proactive when they bought Esurance as it seemed like that was planing for the future, who would have known that buying insurance online would not be very successful, let alone get adverse selection of those who they insure (high loss ratio points to this). They can’t even compete on rates because of their poor underwriting results. In closing, I could be wrong, but it appears from your reply above that you lack insurance experience, this is the biggest problem of those who try to sell insurance online. Now you don’t need to tell me if you do or don’t since I can’t verify it, but I noticed those who are running to sell insurance online lack experience, those of us in the industry knows this will not work because experience tells us this (for example, inquiries on an agency website points to a collection of real bad business and agencies rarely capture this business).
What will this teach our customers, that the best way to buy insurance is on the internet without assistance? Who needs an agent? We need to teach our customers to value having an agent – spend some time asking about needs and making recommendations on coverage. Provide value or you will be perceived as having no value. I fear we are training our customers to believe they don’t need us. 3 or 5 questions to get a quote perpetuates these inaccurate beliefs. Don’t fall for it!
Unfortunately many agents sadly behave no different than the internet, they have become quoting machines and that is all they know how to do. No certainly not all, there are good agents like you, but many lack knowledge and this is not good for our industry. The best consumers never buy insurance on price alone and this is were this misguided agents miss the boat and build a bad book of unprofitable business. Despite this, a huge majority still want an agent, but these bad agents can cede their business to the internet one day if they continue to drop the ball on professionalism.