When seeking insurance for your construction industry business, whether at renewal or for the first time, there are a number of factors to consider and pitfalls to avoid:



The quality of the presentation sent to insurers 
 
First impressions count with insurers. If they receive a poorly written or very brief insurance presentation of your business from your insurance broker this reflects badly on you and may have an effect on whether the insurer wants to write your business or not.
 
Take the time to discuss your business with your broker. Explain your processes thoroughly and highlight any areas which you believe create risk and importantly any areas where you have taken steps to reduce your risk (some specialist brokers may be able to guide you on this). Answer their questions carefully and thoughtfully. If your broker has a good understanding of your business and the risks which it faces, they can present your business to insurers in the very best light possible.
 
It is a common bugbear of insurance brokers to be handed a copy of the existing insurance policies by a potential new client and being told to beat the price. This does not allow the broker to add any value, prevents them from being able to present the business properly to the market, and worst, any errors, omissions or deficiencies that may lie within the existing insurance programme will be replicated.
 
Insurance broker selection
 
Professional qualifications are not the only indicator on whether a broker has the necessary expertise to administer your insurances but they are a good start. 
 
Unlike many other professions, insurance brokers do not need any formal qualifications from a professional body in order to give advice or to transact business. 
 
However the insurance industry does have a professional body, the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) and membership is voluntary.
 
Does the individual at your broker hold any CII qualifications? Does the broking firm hold CII Corporate Chartered Status? If your broker has these qualifications it demonstrates a commitment to high standards.

You will also want to ensure that the broker you intend to engage with has, as a minimum, relevant experience in your industry. Don’t be afraid to ask for references from the brokers existing clients in your sector.
 
Even better, if the broker is a specialist for your industry they will already have a good idea of the risks faced by your business and can ask the right questions in order to present your business to the insurance market accurately.
 
Another benefit of using a specialist broker is that insurers may be more comfortable with presentations received from a specialist and might be willing to put forward a more competitive quotation.
 
Avoid ‘Flooding the market’

Approaching a number of insurance brokers seems like a logical way to cover the market and get the best terms possible. But remember that brokers are middle men and will often be using the same insurers. So there is a danger that the same insurers will be approached simultaneously by the different brokers. This is known as ‘flooding the market’. 


Flooding the market will turn many insurers off as they will realise that if the client has engaged with multiple brokers, the number of competing insurers involved also dramatically increases and so the chances of that insurer actually winning your business is very low. As a result they will instead focus their limited resources on quoting for clients that they are more likely to win. They may be pressurised by the brokers to produce a quote but it is unlikely to be as competitive as it could be if they were really ‘gunning’ for your business.
 
Our advice is to select a broker who you can trust and who meets your criteria and work with them to secure the best terms from the market. If you want to engage with more than one broker, do try to limit the number involved.
 
Only target suitable insurers
 
A scattergun approach rarely yields the best results in all aspects of business.
 
Insurers keep a log of historic quote requests and will get tired of seeing the same presentations year on year. So if they see that they have quoted for your business a number of times over the years and haven’t won your business they will be less inclined to put forward a serious quotation or may simply provide a ‘no quote’.  This can work against you where an insurer’s appetite changes, over say a three year period, and they’re actually now an ideal fit for your business, but they no longer want to quote for your business.
 
Work with your broker to only target those insurers who are likely to have a strong appetite for your business at that point in time.
 
For any more tips on how best to present your business to the insurance market, please do not hesitate to contact us on 03300 53 94 94