Roundtables: Middle Market

Guiding Questions

• How are you sourcing these accounts today? 
• How are you identifying where the account fits? Whether it is the Standard Market or E&S?
• When a middle market account lands on your desk, what's the first thing you do and has that process changed in the last few years? 
• How do you differentiate yourself when you know three other brokers are also circling the same account?
• Where do you feel the most friction during your initial conversations or outreach with those MM prospects?
  
  
  

Guiding Questions:

- What does a "complete" submission mean to you versus what it means to an underwriter and do you think that gap is closing or widening?
- Have you lost a middle-market account at the marketing or quote stage, and what did you learn about why?
- When an underwriter comes back with a declination or a heavily conditioned quote, how do you handle that conversation with your client?
- How much of your middle market success do you attribute to carrier relationships versus submission quality and can you separate the two?
- What's one piece of underwriting information you wish insureds would just volunteer without you having to ask for it?
- How do you think about account rounding in middle-market? Is it a priority, and does it actually change how carriers treat the account?
- If you could change one thing about the way wholesale brokers or carriers handle middle market submissions, what would it be? 

Guiding Questions:

 - When you're presenting a proposal at this premium level, who typically needs to be in the room, and how do you adjust your presentation depending on whether it's the risk manager, CFO, or ownership making the final call?

- How do you structure the conversation when you're presenting multiple carrier options? Do you lead with your recommendation, or lay out the full picture and let the client land on it themselves?

- What's your approach when the incumbent comes back with a last-minute counter or the client asks their current carrier to match your terms?

- How much of the presentation is spent on price versus coverage differentiation, and has that balance shifted for you at the $100K+ level compared to smaller accounts?

- What objections or hesitations show up most often at the bind stage, even after the client seems sold and how do you close those out?

- How do you handle a scenario where the client wants to bind but is asking for changes to terms, subjectivities, or effective date that could jeopardize the placement?

- Once the account is bound, what does your handoff to service/account management look like, and what's the biggest thing that gets missed in that transition at this premium level? 

Conversation starters are posted a week in advance, and recaps are posted within 24 hours.

Conversation starters are posted a week in advance, and recaps are posted within 24 hours.

Guiding Questions: 

- When you're presenting a proposal at this premium level, who typically needs to be in the room, and how do you adjust your presentation depending on whether it's the risk manager, CFO, or ownership making the final call?
- How do you structure the conversation when you're presenting multiple carrier options? Do you lead with your recommendation, or lay out the full picture and let the client land on it themselves?
- What's your approach when the incumbent comes back with a last-minute counter or the client asks their current carrier to match your terms?
- How much of the presentation is spent on price versus coverage differentiation, and has that balance shifted for you at the $100K+ level compared to smaller accounts?
- What objections or hesitations show up most often at the bind stage, even after the client seems sold and how do you close those out?
- How do you handle a scenario where the client wants to bind but is asking for changes to terms, subjectivities, or effective date that could jeopardize the placement?
- Once the account is bound, what does your handoff to service/account management look like, and what's the biggest thing that gets missed in that transition at this premium level?