This hard market is killing me - Commercial P&C

[Al3x Lee]

I think this market is just getting started. We are always juggling these pressures but now more shit is being thrown up in the air for us to catch!

Crazy times for sure.

God I hope not, I think if it gets worse, no one will want to work in insurance anymore. I feel as though it's a career that was already difficult to get established in prior to all of this.

 

[AZDave]

God I hope not, I think if it gets worse, no one will want to work in insurance anymore. I feel as though it's a career that was already difficult to get established in prior to all of this.

Hang in there, Man! Hopefully your Indy agency has solutions to these problems. So many dynamic changes to keep up with. Not fun when we have to resell a renewal due to non renewal or pricing. My motto is, don't give the insured a reason to shop, but unfortunately, the Carriers are!

Maybe time to just buy an agency and go for it Al3x! Many Agents getting ready to retire...

 

[Matthew Labb]

I am curious what @Matthew Labb and @marindependent have to say.

speaking specifically to the state of California, because that's one that I am most familiar with, I think many agents are having a difficult time finding carriers that are reasonably priced.

Commercial auto specifically, there's so very few options available that make sense in CA.

On the home and auto side, Travelers was a really competitive market and now they have many agents handcuffed -- no ability to write HOs, auto only.

It creates a competitive disadvantage when agency A was rock n and rolling with Travelers, and then all of the sudden they got the rug pulled out from underneath them, and agency B down the road still has access to all of Travelers products. Its just hard to compete at that point.

Most of the agencies we have within our network that are doing well in CA are also marketing and writing business in other states.

I'm not saying its impossible to thrive in that "growth stage" (to steal the term from @Markthebroker) writing insurance exclusively in the state of CA, but its much more challenging than it once was.

I think we can all agree that we hope the market softens soon, but the reality is that we don't know what to expect.

 

[Al3x Lee]

writing insurance exclusively in the state of CA, but its much more challenging than it once was.

I think we can all agree that we hope the market softens soon, but the reality is that we don't know what to expect.

I'm in Oregon, which I hear isn't as hard as California. You guys have so many regulations, our agency has some California policies and they always seem even more difficult than what we're dealing with.

And agreed, that's the hard thing is that it seems there is no light at the end of the tunnel for when we might see the market soften.

I was talking to one of our carrier reps and he was trying to convince me the hard market is a good thing for prospecting business because it gives people more reason to switch carriers... but on many lines of business there's only a handful of carriers you might be able to switch them to if you're lucky, and you may not even get quotes out of all of them.

 

[Markthebroker]

I'm in Oregon, which I hear isn't as hard as California. You guys have so many regulations, our agency has some California policies and they always seem even more difficult than what we're dealing with.

Governor Newsom is doing a great job of chasing people out of Kalifornia.

And agreed, that's the hard thing is that it seems there is no light at the end of the tunnel for when we might see the market soften.

There is, it's just a question of how long the tunnel is, and how much light is at the end.

I was talking to one of our carrier reps and he was trying to convince me the hard market is a good thing for prospecting business because it gives people more reason to switch carriers... but on many lines of business there's only a handful of carriers you might be able to switch them to if you're lucky, and you may not even get quotes out of all of them.

Your carrier rep is correct, it is a good thing for prospecting, but it makes quoting and writing business so much harder that it works out to a net negative at the end of the day, not positive.

Keep your head up buddy. I'm not a terribly great salesman, and I'm not the smartest guy in the world, and I made it. I am, however, one of the most persistent people you'll ever meet, and I had lots of b2b experience and capital. In all fairness, I didn't have to go through a market like this, but we had our own challenges.

It can be done.

 

[Al3x Lee]

Keep your head up buddy. I'm not a terribly great salesman, and I'm not the smartest guy in the world, and I made it. I am, however, one of the most persistent people you'll ever meet, and I had lots of b2b experience and capital. In all fairness, I didn't have to go through a market like this, but we had our own challenges.

It can be done.

I appreciate the encouragement and advice, and for now I don't plan on going anywhere, I'm almost done with my CIC, one more class to go and I hear the first 3 years of the business are the hardest. I'm about 2 years in.

I do have sort of a backup plan/possibility to specialize if the market ever allows for it. I'm working through a bachelors degree in cyber security on the side, a little under 2 years to go on that. I was thinking it would be cool to start building part of my book using cyber policies, but I haven't gotten super serious about it aside from pursuing the degree

 

[Markthebroker]

I appreciate the encouragement and advice, and for now I don't plan on going anywhere, I'm almost done with my CIC, one more class to go and I hear the first 3 years of the business are the hardest. I'm about 2 years in.

I do have sort of a backup plan/possibility to specialize if the market ever allows for it. I'm working through a bachelors degree in cyber security on the side, a little under 2 years to go on that. I was thinking it would be cool to start building part of my book using cyber policies, but I haven't gotten super serious about it aside from pursuing the degree

That is interesting. The trick with cyber is that it's a tough sell. Everyone has seen a fire or car crash happen to an individual or small business, and understands it can happen to them. With cyber, many business owners don't understand it or think it could happen to them. I've just found it a hard sale, but that's just me.

 

[Al3x Lee]

That is interesting. The trick with cyber is that it's a tough sell. Everyone has seen a fire or car crash happen to an individual or small business, and understands it can happen to them. With cyber, many business owners don't understand it or think it could happen to them. I've just found it a hard sale, but that's just me.

I think it's a hard sale because if agents don't have an in depth understanding of it, it's hard to paint a picture of what a huge liability it actually is. Many business owners don't realize that their cyber assets are sometimes more valuable than their physical assets and cyber can be a larger liability than many other liabilities their business has.

Our insureds usually aren't cyber experts, and if us as agents are also lacking in knowledge, it usually leads to a conversation revolving about 'what if' you got hacked or ransomware occurred. I don't know of any agents who can speak of the likelihood of this happening, or how it would actually occur on a technical level if they were challenged on it. Additionally there are regulations that are unique to cyber, like any other sector of the insurance industry.

I also don't think it's quite prime time for the product as it seems that the cyber insurance marketplace has changes near daily.

My vision is to have an in depth knowledge of cyber security and cyber insurance so I can present it in a light where it's possible to overcome the objections and answer the questions that business owners have. I think there's also potential to network with MSPs and be their go to cyber insurance expert / broker as they provide services for their clients and vice versa.

I also believe being an expert in something that is a tough sale could be beneficial, as all of the agents I've spoken with say the same thing. Might mean less competition!

It could just be a pipe dream, but I'm willing to take the risk. Worst case scenario I have a cyber security degree and if I ever need to pivot out of insurance, it may open a door for me.

 

[Markthebroker]

I just found out that Arrowhead is shutting down their core commercial department.

We may not have hit bottom yet.

 

[Al3x Lee]

I just found out that Arrowhead is shutting down their core commercial department.

We may not have hit bottom yet.

I received that email today too