Small commercial is the next frontier for independent insurance agents. Below are 10 small business insurance categories, along with a glimpse into their risks, that agents are experiencing tremendous success writing today with Coterie Insurance.
1. Administration and Support Services
Often servicing multiple organizations, prospective insurance customers in this category may be exposed to numerous risks, including their:
- Buildings
- Business property
- Data and information
- On- and off-site general liability
- Professional liability
Increasingly, people are opening service-based businesses like these out of their homes. The risk here is, should disaster strike, their business losses would not be covered by their homeowners insurance. That means they would pay out-of-pocket, not just to get their business back up and running, but potentially owing settlement to their customers for unfulfilled contracts.
Educating small business owners about their risks is vitally important—and when they see the expertise you bring, your retention rates soar and you grow with them. It might be the most exciting part of all of this: you grow your book in the short-term and in the long-term, too!
2. Finance and Insurance
Increasingly, small businesses in this category are conducting their business in a fully digital environment, making crime and fraud one of their biggest risk arenas. Important areas to explore with these prospective customers include:
- Data security
- Property exposures, potentially at multiple locations and in multiple states
- Third-party agreements
- General and professional liability
3. General Merchandise Stores and Misc. Store Retailers
The retail environment is fraught with risk, from customers, employees, mother nature, and society. At a minimum, these retailers need insurance that covers their:
- Property and business property
- Inventory, on site and in transit
- General liability
- Product liability
- Business interruption
4. Personal and Laundry Services, Private Households
As people get busier and busier, personal services are on the rise. Shopping, housekeeping, laundry, at-home car washes—if it’s a service that travels, there are people opening businesses around it right now. Don’t underestimate the value of the person running one of these businesses as a side gig—these are the customers who will grow with you and because of you. Today, their risk exposures skew heavily to liability.
Write small business, profitably
Agents have been conditioned to believe writing small commercial means foregoing profit—the time wasn’t worth the money earned. Not anymore. With Coterie Insurance, you can:
- Know instantly if a business is in appetite; ours includes 80 percent of small, micro, and home-based businesses—more than 300 NAICS codes!
- Respond immediately when a prospective customer needs a quote.
- Bind a quote with the click of a button and a credit card number.
- Service your clients with confidence
Coterie is built on the value and expertise independent agents bring to insurance customers—a claim we prove every day with broad coverage, deep insurance expertise, slick technology, and a steady stream of opportunity every day. If your agency is not affiliated with us yet, change that here.
Bonus: 6 More Categories
Thanks for reading! Here’s a bonus list of six more small business categories that are growing strong. Don’t you wonder how many of these small businesses are in your state? If it’s really that simple, that fast to write them? There’s only one way to find out.
- Doctor Offices
- Information—Publishing, Broadcasting, Motion Pictures, Sound Recording, and Data Hosting
- Non-Auto Repair and Maintenance
- Professional, Scientific and Technical Services
- Real Estate Agents/Property Management services
- Retail Trade – Consumer Goods – Home Furnishings, Electronics, and Appliances Stores; Building Material and Garden Equipment and Supplies Dealers
