Selling Professional Liability in Niche Markets

Posted on: December 21, 2017 by Huntersure

Any experienced insurance agent knows that niche markets are both lucrative and challenging to place business. With specialized risks that are specific to the industry, it’s up to the insurance agent to identify all the ways that they might experience an exposure. While general liability insurance can extend coverage to certain scenarios, professional liability must be expertly crafted to accommodate the incidents where general liability would be moot. In this article, we’re going to cover some ways that professional insurance agents can boost their sales of Professional Liability Insurance in varying niche markets.

Alex Wayne, executive vice president at A.J. Wayne & Associates, Inc., says “One of the things agents should always focus on is that the ‘professional services definition’—the description of professional services—adequately describes what the insured does. You don’t want to be too specific about it because that can restrict coverage, so you want to be just vague enough while making sure you capture what they do.” Another important policy detail? Defense costs in addition to limits. “Often, they’re within the limits—that might be an option that is available,” Wayne explains. “That’s more important in my opinion than first-dollar defense, just because most professional liability involves claims of severity but not frequency,” he states to Insight & Analysis Magazine.

Next, be sure to remember to include all of the entities that are associated with the business in the insurance policy. This will ensure there no gaps in the policy and that you’re not opening yourself up to liability exposures yourself.

A great way to do this is to review their contracts with their vendors and other entities. You can create a customized insurance contract that addresses each of their exposures as they relate to each of their operations.

When selecting partners that know what they’re doing, pay close attention to carrier ratings and past claims service. “That sounds so obvious as to be meaningless, but agents really have to look at a carrier’s claims service, claims history and philosophy. There are those carriers that want to represent the client and will defend their policies, and those that will just decline right off the bat and make the policyholder pay for it,” reminds John Torvi, vice president of marketing and sales at Landy.

Remember that as an agent, addressing their specific niche risks is your specialty. Be thorough, review contracts, place business with reputable carriers, and your business will go off without a hitch in 2018.

About Huntersure

Huntersure LLC is a full-service Managing General Agency that has provided insurance program administration for professional liability products to our partners across the United States since 2007. We specialize in providing insurance solutions for businesses of all sizes. Our program features can cover small firms (grossing $2.5 million annually) to large corporations (grossing $25 million annually or more). We make doing business with us easy with our breadth and depth of knowledge of E&O insurance, our proprietary underwriting system that allows for responsive quoting, binding and policy issuance and tailored products to meet the needs of your insureds. Give us a call at (646) 751-3030 to learn more.

Posted in: Professional Liability Uncategorized

Tagged: Huntersure Professional Liability Insurance