Huge opportunities for brokers to increase their commercial business

The greater complexity of the risk faced by commercial clients relative to personal clients provides brokers with significant opportunities to offer ongoing and professional assistance and advice on risk management. And by building relationships with commercial clients through the provision of quality service based on sound risk management principles, brokers will benefit from improved client retention and a significant increase in their commercial book.

This is the view of Quinten Matthew (pictured right), Head of Broker Services at Santam, who says that, in the nature of business, commercial clients are already pre-disposed towards the concept of risk management. The opportunity for the broker is to identify and target growth segments in line with the economic strategic imperatives in South Africa, to build relationships around the concept of risk management and to ensure that service delivery outperforms other distribution channels.

“Following the success of the risk management model in the Personal Lines business, there is every good reason for brokers to target commercial clients. Commercial insurance is neither as price-sensitive nor as commoditised as Personal Lines insurance. As the risks tend to be more complex, the opportunity exists for brokers to develop close long-term relationships with their clients, providing constant advice on ways and means to manage and reduce the risk,” says Matthew.

He says that there are several ways in which brokers can increase their commercial books. These include keeping track of new markets, monitoring trends in the business environment, and identifying opportunities such as those relating to the 2010 World Cup and beyond.

“It is very important for brokers to participate and network in business forums as a means of marketing their services. It is equally important that the service provided is tailor-made to suit the needs of clients. By providing professional advice and flexibility, offering alternative solutions, removing the hassle factor from insurance and simplifying the insurance jargon, brokers’ efforts are bound to meet with success. And as success is contagious, brokers should make a point of selling their success stories whenever the opportunity arises’, advises Matthew.

He notes that, in order to support brokers in their efforts to increase their commercial business, Santam is currently in the process of developing specific products for growth industries as well as systems that will offer brokers additional information for the purposes of determining and managing client risk.

“We are currently developing specific products for the agricultural and tourism industries, and, in the second half of this year, will concentrate on products for the construction, transportation and services industry. We are also rapidly moving towards a scientific rating system that incorporates the client risk profile with reference to the segment and client history and which will allow brokers to offer accurate pricing for each type of risk,” says Matthew.

“As Santam is an intermediary-driven organisation, our role is to provide brokers with the tools to assist them to offer a better service to their clients. This includes quicker access to Santam in order to speed up the response time for brokers in providing quotations and issuing policies,” he concludes.