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On June 21st, Rich and I were invited to Chubb headquarters in Philadelphia by Kevin Dolan, regional manager for financial lines.
This was a great opportunity for us to be able to see and understand the carrier side of the insurance business, rather than just the broker side. When we arrived to Chubb, Kevin Dolan, the financial lines regional manager, graciously greeted us and told us his story about how he ended up in the insurance industry and working for Chubb. Kevin started out in a totally different area of work, not knowing what he wanted to do long term, but was drawn to insurance and has never looked back since joining the industry. Kevin mentioned that he has moved around a lot and stressed to Rich and I that geographical flexibility can be very important early on in your career if you wish to “climb the ladder” of a company, especially at a corporate level.
After our talk with Kevin, we shadowed two underwriters from financial lines and learned the process of how they quote potential clients given to them by agents. It was interesting to get a first hand look at the system they use which provides them quotes based on loss histories, payrolls, and numerous factors. These representatives felt it was important to develop a good relationship between themselves and the various brokers they work with, as it is mutually beneficial. The two specific underwriters we shadowed said they have done a lot of business with Safegard Group and mentioned very good working relationships with many of our agents. From what I understand, an underwriter will tend to be more flexible with an agent on a quote if he trusts and has good working relationship with them. In turn, the agent will market more of his business to that underwriter.
After seeing both sides of the insurance industry, it is clear to me that it is a business largely based on developing relationships.
Learn more about Chubb on their website: https://www2.chubb.com/us-en/. Chubb is just one carrier Safegard represents in our commercial division and personal division.