A website designed to assist in the placement of special risk, hard to place and niche products just went live this morning – the culmination of months of work by two insurance industry veterans.
“We started this over a year ago back in June of 2013, when Ross (Totten) retired,” says Mike Callon, vice president of Marketing Assist. “We talked about putting together a website specifically for the independent broker – and after a conversation with Randy Carroll at the IBAO (Insurance Brokers Association of Ontario), we agreed to partner up with Independent Broker Resources Inc. (IBRI).
“Today that has become a reality.”
IBRI is the wholly owned for-profit subsidiary of the Independent Brokers Association of Ontario.
Callon and Marketing Assist president H. Ross Totten, FCIP, CCIB are looking to tap into the 34,000 independent brokers who are members of provincial associations across Canada.
“We’ve been reaching out to companies and MGAs ever since the IBAO convention,” Callon told Insurance Business. “So far we’ve called on over 100 markets in Ontario; including some in Alberta and Atlantic Canada. We’ve identified about 110 to 115 players in the special risk, hard to place and niche market area.”
Markets in other provinces are being contacted right now, adds Callon.
The target market for Marketing Assist is in the 15 per cent segment that makes up a broker’s book of business. (continued.)
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“About 85 per cent of every broker’s business is written with his contracted markets, and it is really standard classes of business,” says Callon. “The other 15 per cent is really in the segment we are targeting, which is the special risk, niche products and hard-to-place classes of business. The majority of this business in that 15 per cent is currently placed through intermediaries, or a specialty niche company.”
The Marketing Assist portal link went live on the myinsuranceshopper.ca website today, next to the ‘Get a Quote’ and ‘Find a Broker’ tabs.
According to Callon, the listings on the website will include a ‘Value Proposition’ sheet, contact information, a phone number and e-mail address as well as a direct link to the market’s own website “in an easy to read and connect format.”
The four ways to search through the site are:
By category (24)
Alphabetical product listing (460)
Markets products listing; and
New products listings (which includes all new products from the past 60 days).
“This will improve brokers’ efficiency, reduce time and potentially enhance coverage for the consumer in this sometimes confusing market place,” says Callon. (continued.)
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The buy-in from the provincial associations was crucial for the expansion of the site, says Totten.
“We pitched it as a perk for the associations,” says Totten. “Why reinvent the wheel, when the website is already set up for it?”
How it works
“On myinsuranceshopper.ca, consumers will have the ability to access specialty insurance categories and product listings on-line. Consumers will be given an chance to select a broker on-line to help them place their insurance request,” says Totten.
“Brokers will access marketing assist via their sign-in portal that will allow them to search by category, product, company listings and new product that will keep them current in the marketplace.”
Totten adds that a Broker looking alphabetically for ‘tattoo parlours,’ will be directed to a screen that has all the companies that write the class, along with a contact information and a summary sheet of that wholesaler or company.
“For a consumer, if I’m a guy in Red Deer, Alberta who is opening a tattoo parlour and I want to get insurance, as a consumer I can click on ‘tattoo parlour’ and it will take me to a broker in my vicinity that is going to write that class of business.”
