As an insurance agent or broker, you’ve honed your craft as a personal lines agent, developing relationships with your clients over the years. But did you know that many of your clients are likely to run a home-based business or side gig? Without insurance to cover their commercial forays, some of your clients are likely not fully protected from the unexpected.
Adding business insurance services to your repertoire may sound intimidating but these days there is a wide variety of tools available, including Coterie, that make the process much simpler.
You know your clients and have spent time building deep relationships. Take your services to the next level by branching out to small commercial insurance.
- The opportunity is huge.
There are 31.7 million small businesses in the U.S. according to the SBA. Furthermore, the number of new businesses continues to increase. The opportunity for agents and brokers to step into writing commercial insurance is massive. The demand for business insurance services is likely to continue to grow so opening up your agency to commercial insurance will increase your ability to not only better serve your clients, but allow you to tap into this huge market. In addition, independent agents write 83% of commercial lines premiums compared to one-third of personal lines according to the IIABA.
- Build deeper relationships. Half of all small businesses begin at home, according to the SBA. If you already insure your clients’ home and auto policies, having the conversation about how to best insure their small business which very well might be home-based is a natural progression of your relationship. Take time to ask if your clients have developed a side hustle or gig. They may not realize what their personal lines policies will not cover, leaving them at risk.
- Technology has made writing small commercial insurance easier than ever. Through raters where agents like you can get quotes from several companies at once, to networks or aggregators where you can get access to several insurance companies writing small commercial, there are more solutions now than ever before. Small commercial insurance is no longer a long, unprofitable process.
- Your clients need you – and you can start with your current clients. You likely already have clients who either have a side hustle or have opted to start a business full-time. Deepen your current relationships by discussing what business activities your clients might be currently conducting. Business owners are busy, they need a trusted advisor to help them sort through the complexity of small commercial insurance.
- Build a niche. From home-based businesses to start-ups, build a niche and develop a reputation for handling small commercial business that many agents don’t want to handle. By targeting, marketing, and prospecting small commercial, you’ll build trust and bring in referrals. Act now while small businesses are still underserved by the insurance market, and build your reputation, expertise and book of business with business insurance services.
Seize the opportunity now around you and start writing small commercial insurance today. Coterie Insurance provides agents and brokers with a fast and easy solution to writing small commercial insurance.
