Big Friendly Giants – The benefits of appointing a larger corporate broker

If you are looking for a new insurance broker, you will inevitably encounter one of the numerous multinational giants in your search. They are constantly expanding their reach into the UK, often by making acquisitions of existing smaller brokers. Where previously this representation would’ve mostly been felt in London, they now have more and more of a presence within the wider UK.

What’s in it for you if you do decide to go for one of the broker giants?

Insurer access and influence

For a wide range of products, you go to a supermarket rather than your local corner shop. Bigger commercial operations have the sway and capabilities to manage relationships with a wide range of providers to source more options for their customer.

This exact same logic applies to insurance brokers. The larger the broker, the more insurers they are likely to have access to. This means more potential quotes for you to compare and contrast when finding the right policy for you , than if you were using a smaller broker.

By the same token, if you use a larger broker, you piggyback on their existing large relationships with insurers. As with any business, the simple fact is, larger accounts are likely to be given more attention. This gives your broker more sway with an insurer than a smaller player, meaning more leverage for them when sourcing quotes for your policy. Do you struggle to find quotes when it comes to renewal? Could this additional insurer sway be of use for getting your cover squared away?

Niche and tailored products

Off the back of this weighty insurer influence, bigger brokers can often open the door with insurers to create specialist enhanced products for certain industries (sometimes referred to as ‘schemes’). These are often crafted to be market-leading; offering enhanced cover and competitive terms when compared to your more standard products. They may also offer tailored industry-specific auxiliary services, if you purchase one of these products. A common example would be the offering of discounted (or even fully included) Risk Management Consulting as part of the overall package.

Ask your broker if they have a specialist product for your business and what that means for you in terms of cover and pricing. If they do, are there any aspects of the enhanced cover or other services that really appeal to you? If you’re already paying for a service separately, could you make an overall saving by utilising the same service offered to you by a specialist insurance product?

Claims handling

A bigger back office in a broker, means a bigger claims handling team. Smaller brokers may have the same broker handling all aspects of your insurance for you, including when it comes to making a claim. In a larger outfit you can gain access to specially trained claims experts, who offer sound technical and practical advice at the point it comes to the (often stressful) process of making a claim. They will have access to data on your claims and draw on their wealth of expertise to offer some useful analysis of your history.

When considering a new broker, try challenging them on their claims service. If you have made a lot of claims in the course of running your business, how would they handle this and what can they offer you with your claims that your current broker can’t? Do they plan to actively manage your claims on your behalf, or will it still be left up to you?

Wide market knowledge and international reach

The largest brokers in the world, as companies, represent countless industries, placing every conceivable type of insurance across dozens of countries. This represents a wealth of industry insight that can be useful to you, outside of just renewing your own policy.

Say, for example, you want to expand your operations to a new country, a truly global broker could give you a few pointers on the territory. They could give you the heads-up on any concerning claims trends they are seeing for your industry in that region or advise you on what this expansion would mean for your own insurance program from direct company experience. They may have native employees within their firm based in that country that have existing relationships with the local insurance market.

Equally, if you are exploring new operations for your firm that require new insurance products, a larger broker probably has a massive pool of resources ready to get that sorted for you. They can advise you about the current market for that product and give you some pointers to make sure you are ready for your application.

Have a think about whether this wide-reaching knowledge for products and territories would be of benefit to you. If you have any expansion plans around the corner, what does the broker think about them? Can they tell you how they would look to go about servicing your ambitions?

This all being said, there are unique benefits to going for a smaller local broker; it all boils down for what will work best for your business. Start your search for your next broker, big or small, with PomeloScan right here.