Listening to Select Broker feedback and reaping the benefits
November 2, 2018
Enhanced coverage inspired by Select Broker responses helps a Zurich underwriter win new business and a customer secure excellent insurance protection.
Adam Arena, a market-facing underwriter for Zurich North America, will be the first to agree that listening to feedback from Select Brokers® can result in significant wins. A recent success offers a case in point.
The prospective customer, a leading auto transport company that hires owner-operator truck drivers, requires the drivers to have several lines of insurance coverage, including occupational accident, physical damage, cargo insurance and non-trucking liability.
In this case, the transportation company was experiencing problems related to the occupational accident line of coverage, which helps protect owner-operators as well as the company should an accident occur. It also helps promote driver retention. Because of this, their broker reached out to Zurich.
“This Select Broker has had a long relationship with us,” Adam said. “He has been in the industry for 30-plus years, he knows the markets and he knows what other carriers can offer. When the customer was having some claims and administrative issues, he knew they wouldn’t have those with Zurich. He also knew that the insured was looking for a long-term and sustainable, all-encompassing work-injury solution for their large fleet of owner-operators.”
Occupational Accident’s added value: Adam was more than ready to pitch Zurich’s Occupational Accident product, particularly since he could present additional selling points.
“There are some new benefits that are unique to our Occupational Accident program, the main one being a truck payment benefit enhancement,” Adam explained. “If an independent contractor who owns their truck is not able to work, this new benefit will reimburse them for their truck payments while they’re away from work. That’s something our team has been working on for the last couple of years.”
This new enhancement was the direct result of feedback from Zurich’s Select Brokers. “We like to engage our brokers and ask them what they’re hearing in the marketplace, what they think operators want and need,” Adam said. “We spend a lot of time talking to them, because we know they’re talking to their clients about things they would like to see.”
The truck payment endorsement frequently came up in conversations. “We started looking at how we could add those recommendations,” Adam said. “Our team worked really hard on this, doing all the work that’s involved with adding benefits to a product.”
The hard work pays off: When Adam and the broker presented Zurich’s Occupational Accident line to the customer, the truck payment endorsement was a major deal-maker, as were Zurich’s in-house Claims handling with specialists who have an average of 10 years’ experience in this space, and programs that make the most efficient use of benefit dollars, including Zurich Managed Care, PPO networks and staff doctors and nurses. They also emphasized Zurich’s administrative responsiveness.
“We were able to really push our value proposition and let them know that not only were we the best option, but that we would be ready to help them make that move,” Adam said. “I had several phone conversations to address the issues they were having and explaining how Zurich would avoid those situations, which would let them focus on running their business versus having to deal with insurance problems.”
Although the truck payment endorsement wasn’t the only reason the customer chose Zurich, it did add even more advantages to an already effective line of protection.
“Our team has an average of 15 years of underwriting experience,” Adam said. “We really bring a lot to the table when it comes to the trucking industry. We are always asking how we can take something that’s already very good and make it better. We relied on our Select Brokers to help us do that.”