When Trisura began looking over the feedback on its broker survey, there was an “aha!” moment hidden in the numbers that had so far gone unnoticed.
“We received over 700 responses, which was great, as we’ve never done this sort of a broad, analytical survey before with our brokers,” said Sandra Henkel, vice president of Strategic Initiatives at Trisura Guarantee Insurance. We were very pleased with how we scored in the key categories.
However, the results did highlight a number of opportunities for us. “ We had an ‘aha!’ moment; we scored “best of class” on providing information and expert advice, but on the flip side we didn’t score nearly as high on education and broker training. Our brokers told us that we have the thought leaders, but we weren’t sharing that information enough with them.”
The Canadian-based property and casualty company works with 150 brokerages, specializing in corporate risk, surety and related products. The survey was sent out to the some 3,000 contact names within that network, Henkel told InsuranceBusiness.ca, in an effort to help Trisura define what the key value drivers were for them. (continued.)
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“We reached out to all of our broker partners a few months ago,” she said, “hoping to find out how we measured up on those key value drivers. Afterwards we took a close look at the feedback, and then spent a lot of time talking with our brokers in the network, and internally talking with our frontline people who work with the brokers.”
The information from the survey was not only shared throughout Trisura, but with the broker network as well.
“We came up with a game plan, which we shared with our brokers this summer,” she said. “We sent them a snapshot of the results first. A couple months later, we came out with a strategic game plan – a concrete plan to deliver on these things. The survey helped us to focus strategically on what is important to our brokers and how to implement real change.”
As Trisura focuses on specialty products, Henkel said a recurring suggestion from brokers was to increase the depth and breadth within our specialty product lines – but more importantly, maintaining the quick turnaround that Trisura takes pride in.
“People were telling us that they like our responsiveness and quick turnaround,” she said. “We are a small, Canadian-owned company, and as such we have the agility that a lot of the big players don’t have. But we can’t rest on our laurels, and it is one of our competencies that we’ll work hard to maintain.” (continued.)
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Following up on the “aha!” moment, Henkel said that Trisura has been busy taking steps to improve its sharing of knowledge with brokers.
“Establishing ourselves in thought leadership, producing more case studies and white papers, developing training tools and an educational website. Getting our people out there more,” said Henkel, “These are all initiatives that respond to the feedback provided in the survey.”
Having that finger on the pulse to be in tune with what brokers need to better-serve their client is crucial to Trisura’s success, Henkel pointed out.
“We get calls all the time from brokers, and we try to be very solution-focused,” she said. “We always try to find a way to help the broker help their clients. That is why we value the personal touch, and why we’ve opened offices in Halifax and Quebec City. We want to be more than just a website; we like being there on the ground to help our brokers.”
