Download How Can We Bind More Business With You?

How Can We Bind More Business With You?
May, 2013
The marketplace is definitely changing. Here’s our take on the situation and our suggestions on how
we can work together more effectively to help you bind more business.
THE E&S MARKETPLACE — In each of Arlington/Roe’s offices and in each of our ten operating departments, we are seeing an increase in applications. This tells us that carriers are coming off risks and producers and insureds are shopping coverages and price.
WHAT WE ARE SEEING — The market is tightening. Companies are “giving back” lines of business to the
E&S marketplace. Because of rate increases, producers are submitting applications that still belong in the
standard marketplace. In most cases our E&S markets cannot compete with standard company increased
rates unless the account is non-renewed for claims or underwriting reasons.
WHAT WE ARE DOING — To handle our increased application opportunities we have a two pronged plan.
One is to hire the people we need to service quality submissions. The other is to inform our producers of the
effects of a tightening marketplace so that you know better how to work with our segment of the industry. It is
not complicated, but it is necessary to know how we treat your submissions and what we need in order to do
our best work for you and your customer.
HOW YOU CAN HELP — To ensure the maximum success we invite you to be a part of our team. By reviewing the following you will better understand our segment of the industry and how we can best work together.
WHAT EXACTLY IS EXCESS & SURPLUS LINES — How and why is the E&S marketplace different from
the standard marketplace? Understanding this is your first step in binding more business.
Excess & Surplus Lines FAQ’s
WHY A RELATIONSHIP — In that we specialize in so many lines of business and represent so many lead
companies, we often have the ability to be creative in crafting coverage. With your help to fully understand the
risk and together uncover exposures, we’ll provide our best work for your customers and we’ll bind more business.
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THE ALL IMPORTANT APPLICATION — The quality of your applications directly impacts our ability to secure the best coverage and price for your customers. If your application is professional, it will go to the top of
the underwriting queue every time within need-by date expectations. An application that includes many details such as years of experience, a note detailing the risk, loss history and desired limits helps us find the
best coverage and often best price in a timely manner.
INSURANCE CARRIERS — Receiving the same submission from multiple E&S brokers is cause enough for
a carrier to decline a risk. All professionals have reputations to build and protect and so we carefully select
which companies to which we submit your applications. Our companies move our submissions to the top because they know that we do not send every application to every market.
EXPECTATIONS AND REPUTATIONS — We have underwriting authority in most of our practice areas, but
for those accounts requiring underwriting at the company level, our response time is at their mercy. Let us
know the need-by date of all applications and we’ll help you set the expectations for your insureds. We can
handle some urgent situations when the submission quality is very good. Please understand that it becomes
difficult when numerous accounts are a “rush.”
ONLINE INDICATIONS AND BINDING — There are excess and surplus lines of business that have very
specific criteria and lend themselves to being rated online. This can result in a rate indication requiring further
underwriting/rating, or a final rate that can be bound and even issued online.
FINAL THOUGHTS — It is impossible to fully outline how to work successfully with the excess and surplus
lines marketplace. We invite you to join our team to understand and use the system to the fullest. We encourage you to review our breadth of products by visiting our website or inviting one of our marketing managers
into your office. We stress that you can never tell our underwriters too much about a risk. If you fall short in
your description, the risk may fall short in the consideration and pricing the account deserves. We owe our
best work to our customers, and that happens best when we’re a team.
WE APPRECIATE YOUR BUSINESS!
Your Arlington/Roe Team
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