Tools for Growth: How Our Agency Finds More Markets in Less Time

At 618 Insurance Agency, providing superior customer service and low rates for our clients drives the success of the agency. But as an independent agent working with numerous insurer partners, I know first-hand how difficult it can be to find the right insurer for each risk. Manually searching for appetite takes a lot of time, it’s what I call the “hurry up and wait” process: having to write numerous emails to underwriters and just hope that they get back to us on time.

This process can take hours out of the day, wasting time that could be spent servicing clients, and doesn’t always produce the results you need. To build new and more successful business opportunities, our agency uses technology that increases our access to more insurers and streamlines the appetite search process.

Saving time with instant access to the right markets

At 618 Insurance Agency, we found a simple way to improve the process of finding the right insurer appetite at the right time. We use IVANS Markets — a free online search tool that enables us to quickly identify markets for commercial lines risks to submit our new and renewal business. We simply type in the industry and check all the lines of business we’re looking for, and the search tool instantly presents a list of insurers ready to do business with us.

As soon as we implemented IVANS, we experienced exponential time savings and growth opportunities with access to more markets for our clients. I can easily save hours upon hours of work, as I already know who I need to contact to streamline the quoting process and make sure I get the results I need, when I need them. The tool reduces time-consuming, manual processes that can be hampered by outdated, inaccurate information to make sure we have the most up-to-date insurer appetite.

Increasing connectivity with insurers for greater success

Placing more business with appointed insurers is also crucial to growing our business. A quick search in IVANS Markets not only presents the appetite information we are looking for, but shows our appointed insurers first, so we can easily expand the insurer relationships we already have and place more business with appointed insurers that we didn’t know we could place business with. Through IVANS, we are submitting the business that our insurers are looking for to help improve connectivity, and we have won new business that we would have historically not written because of this increased access and insight.

Ultimately, automated search technology like IVANS Markets has completely changed the way I go about the quoting process, and I’m able to easily locate and bind new business in a lot less time. If you’re an independent agent looking to grow your business, I encourage you to try IVANS Markets. This free tool for agents provides more access to new markets in less time, which is one of the keys to continued success in the digital marketplace.

Access to Markets, Agency-Carrier Connectivity, Agents, 2017