Profitable Underwriting
John Gilleland
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Business Plan Template Index

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Preface to our plan

Use of our plan

Scope of our plan

Purpose of our plan

Our Goals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

What we want

Our Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Action items

Our Plays/Scripts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Sets of Actions

Auto Quotes Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Homeowners Insurance Quote Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Dwelling Fire Insurance Quote Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Selecting Market Niches to Target . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Prospecting for New Clients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Policy Reformation/Reconstruction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Improving Agency Profitability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Underwriting Homes Needing Repairs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Underwriting Prospects with Poor Insurance Scores . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Teen Drivers With Temporary Suspensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Preparing Upcoming Renewals to Increase Retention/Production/Profit . . . . . . . . 34

Persuading Underwriters to Give Us Accommodations/Exceptions . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Reducing Youthful Operator Accident Frequency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Underwriting Unacceptable Exposures Using Loss Exposure Reduction . . . . . . . . 40

Underwriting Exposures Using Modification of Coverage, Deductible, etc. . . . . . . 43

Resolving Disputes Between Insureds and Adjusters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Prospecting for New Books of Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Alphabetical Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Business Plan for XYZ Insurance Agency

Introduction

Preface to our plan

This business plan explains, illustrates, and schedules how we will plan and implement better ways to sell and service _________ in our market, the cities/counties of _______ and _______. We will learn more about our business so we can plan and then work in smarter ways. We will develop this document as a formal plan so we are better able to use our resources.

The XYZ Insurance Agency is committed to:

q Serving our clients’ best interests without consideration of our interests.

q Offering a wide selection of insurers who are competitive and offer quality.

q Enabling our clients to dream and work in smarter ways.

q Exceeding our clients’ expectations.

We want more commission and profit sharing payments. We will succeed so we can enjoy doing good work for great pay!

Use of our plan

This business plan is our team playbook. It should be used by our teammates to:

1. Understand how each of the insurers we represent can be used to serve our prospects and clients in coordinated ways.

2. Explain principles, processes, powers, and purposes (goals & objectives) to new employees and customers (prospects and clients).

3. Develop ways to underwrite more profitably and increase our policies-in-force “PIF” counts while being compliant with principles of indemnity and states’ regulations.

4. Use quality management principles (e.g., process mapping, customer focus) to document and improve our work processes.

5. Illustrate and explain how each process and its associated principles can be used on the job to reach our goals and objectives.

6. Ask for feedback from CSRs and insureds on how each process is applied so we can learn what results are produced for our customers.

7. Track improvisational adjustments to our processes to learn when variation from our formal procedures is and is not appropriate.

8. Make favorable impressions on prospects, clients, and partners (e.g., insurers, real estate agents, contractors).

Scope of our plan

This team playbook has a limited scope. It does not answer questions such as:

q How do we negotiate better sales commissions and profit sharing arrangements with the insurers we represent?

q What can be done to persuade our markets to not raise rates

q How should new employees be trained?

q How should we determine when to role books of business?

q What procedures should be used for auditing our client files?

q How should we react when an insurer we represent determines its book of our business should be re-underwritten or re-rated?

These questions are not directly related to how we will sell and service our clients.

Purpose of our plan

This plan was written in an effort to help our team:

q Recognize what we are doing well so we continue doing it.

q Learn what we need to fix and set priorities so we work on the most important things first.

q Communicate, in better ways, with each other, clients, and insurers so we are more productive.

q Set realistic goals to use our resources in better ways so we can sell more policies and coverages more profitably.

q Face challenges with better information so we are more successful.

q Encourage insurers, prospects, clients, and other professionals to work with us so we become more influential with insurers, clients, and professionals who can help us earn more money for our services.

We want to be more correct, consistent, quick, confident, and comfortable about our work!

Our Goals

What we want

As stated previously, we want to:

q Recognize what we are doing well so we continue doing it.

q Learn what we need to fix and set priorities so we work on the most important things first.

q Communicate, in better ways, with each other, clients, and insurers so we are more productive.

q Set realistic goals to use our resources in better ways so we can sell more policies and coverages more profitably.

q Face challenges with better information so we are more successful.

Therefore, our goals include:

q Reviewing the way we do things so we recognized what needs to continue.

q Thinking about problems so we learn what needs to be fixed.

q Asking questions and making suggestions so we become more knowledgeable and persuasive.

q Setting goals that are S.M.A.R.T.* so we achieve great objectives and get credit for what we accomplish.

q Developing and using a plan that will help us be more correct, consistent, quick, confident, and comfortable when faced with challenges.

q Having good information arranged/documented in smart ways so we have a reference manual and a sales tool to use when persuading clients and insurers.

* Goals should be S.M.A.R.T.: Specifics details, not ambiguities, are used in

measurable ways that are not subjective but are

agreed upon by all stakeholders, with

realistic expectations, in ways that are

time-framed with realistic deadlines and well planned timing.

Our Work

Action items

Here are things we need to do to increase our production of PIFs.

Action(s)	Rules & Principles
Ask clients for referrals.	If a client is happy, ask for their help. Put referral information from clients on our referral record.
Create and maintain a referral record.	Know who has been referred to you and know how well you’ve been pursuing those referrals.
Ask for names of three prospects from vendors offering to sell you products or services you could live without or buy for less elsewhere.	Be willing to spend a little more money if it gets you more prospects to give quotes.
Pass freebies on to our new or loyal clients.	Use our additional resources to thank your loyal clients.
Ask your current vendors for freebies to pass on to our clients.	Get more value out of whatever is costing us money now.
Give business owners examples of insurance documents to help them sell their products and services.	Enable important people to refer more prospects to you.
Introduce our best clients (don’t just refer them) to business owners when they need things you can’t sell them.	Encourage business owners to reciprocate by sending you prospects to quote.
Network with builders, lenders, realtors, remodelers, car dealers, and any other business owners who might send you prospects.	Paying to get referrals is more cost effective than paying for advertising.
Ally with a remodeler who can do building inspections and/or RC estimates for our prospects needing quotes and clients needing repairs, annual inspections, or bi-annual inspections.	Get dwelling descriptions and RC estimates done quicker. Prevent increased damage after losses to dwellings.
Use our mission statement to teach interested clients why you are so good to work with.	Get credit for doing good work from our good clients.
Follow scripts when taking actions (doing work).	Developing decision trees, matrices, etc. and using them helps people take the best actions in the same ways.
Use this chart to evaluate opportunities and decide how they can be managed to get you referrals (e.g., auctions, door-to-door sales offers)	Recognize new opportunities to succeed. Get more value from everything you buy.

Our Plays/Scripts

Sets of actions

We know what to do because we think before we act. Our actions are scripted in smart ways. Here are 28 scripts/actions we call team plays. These help us act smarter by avoiding guesswork.

Subject page #

1. Automobile Insurance Quote Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

2. Homeowners Insurance Quote Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

3. Dwelling Fire Insurance Quote Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

4. Selecting Market Niches to Target . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

5. Prospecting for New Clients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

6. Policy Reformation/Reconstruction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

7. Improving Agency Profitability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

8. Underwriting Homes Needing Repairs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

9. Underwriting Prospects with Poor Insurance Scores . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

10. Teen Drivers With Temporary Suspensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

11. Preparing Upcoming Renewals to Increase Retention/Production/Profit . . 34

12. Persuading Underwriters to Give Us Accommodations/Exceptions . . . . . . 37

13. Reducing Youthful Operator Accident Frequency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

14. Underwriting Unacceptable Exposures Using Loss Exposure Reduction . . 40

15. Underwriting Exposures Using Modification of Coverage, Deductible, etc. 43

16. Resolving Disputes Between Insureds and Adjusters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

17. Prospecting for New Books of Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Auto quotes

Here’s our process for deciding which companies to use when giving automobile insurance quotes to prospects for new business.

This is the end of the template. It should not be the end of any agency’s playbook. Much of the preceding documentation and the rest of agencies’ playbooks should be written by each agency’s players so they will want to use it. People are more likely to maintain what they help create. If they own it, they will want to use it.