The promise of one-stop shopping for independents

Independents will have another arrow in their quiver come February, as two insurance industry veterans are pushing forward with their vision for an online resource site for association-affiliated brokers.

Risk Management News

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Independents will have another arrow in their quiver come February, as two insurance industry veterans are pushing forward with their vision for an online resource site for association-affiliated brokers.

“It is a web-based marketing resource for brokers,” says Mike Callon, vice president of Marketing Assist. “We started back in June, around the time Ross retired, and we talked about putting together a website specifically for the independent broker – and after a conversation with Randy Carroll at the IBAO (Insurance Brokers Association of Ontario), he said they association would like to partner up with us.”

Callon and Marketing Assist president H. Ross Totten are looking to tap into the some 34,000 independent brokers who are members of provincial associations across Canada. So far they have 19,122 member brokers onboard.

“We’ve been reaching out to companies and MGAs ever since the IBAO convention,” Callon told Insurance Business. “So far we’ve called on 78 markets in Ontario; some of them including a few down east (Maritimes). We have 32 more markets to call on in the next few weeks. We’ve identified about 110 to 115 players in the special risk, hard to place and niche market area.”

The Marketing Assist portal link is expected to go live on February 1, and will be located on the myinsuranceshopper website, will be next to the ‘Get a Quote’ and ‘Find a Broker’ tabs. (continued.)
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“We pitched it as a perk for the associations,” says Totten. “Why reinvent the wheel, when the website is already set up for it?”

Totten does add that there will also be portals available on the various association websites as well.

After clicking on the Marketing Assist tab, there is another option of choosing ‘I’m a broker’ or ‘I’m a consumer’ says Totten.

“If they click on ‘I’m a consumer,’ it will take them to where a broker is operating near them,” says Totten. “So, if I’m a guy in Red Deer, Alberta who is opening a tattoo parlour and I want to get insurance, as a consumer I can click on ‘tattoo parlour’ and it will take me to a broker in my vicinity that is going to write that class of business.

“If I click on ‘I’m a broker,’ then it is going to ask for my code, then I can go in and type in any one of 460 different (alphabetically) classes of product, or I can search in any one of 24 categories of business, like errors and omissions, liability, transportation… so I can search for it two ways”

Totten adds that anyone looking alphabetically for ‘tattoo parlours,’ will be directed to a screen that has all the companies that write the class, along with a phone number and a summary sheet of that wholesaler or company. (continued.)
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“Because to us, a market is either an insurance company or an intermediary, an MGA,” says Totten. “It will list all the MGAs and companies that write that class of business that have subscribed to the service. I can click on ‘Totten Insurance Group’ for example, and I can go right to their website.”

The biggest use for brokers will be that the client can go right to their website,” says Totten. “It will give all of their products, all the applications, it will give summaries of what the wholesalers do and how they do it.”

“About 85 per cent of every broker’s business is written with his contracted markets, and it is really standard classes of business,” says Callon. “The other 15 per cent is really in the segment we targeting on, which is the special risk, niche products and hard-to-place classes of business. The majority of his business in that 15 per cent is currently placed through intermediaries, or a specialty niche company.”

 

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