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The entire medical industry is built upon layers of specialists. Ask a trial attorney for help with a merger or acquisition and you'll get an immediate referral. Specialization is the way of the world except, in too many cases, in our insurance world.
Thankfully, making the transition from generalist to specialist is not a daunting task for any producer or agency. Normally, all that is required is an interest, an education, and a declaration. For those of you who have been kicking around for a while, take a look at your existing book and you'll probably discover that you have clusters of clients already segmented into specific classes. This a good start. For those of you who are new or have a broad client base, consider business segments for which you have an affinity, an interest, or some level of past experience-for the obvious purpose of selecting a target market or markets that you'll enjoy working with.
Now it's time to qualify your choices. It's not enough to specify just the class of business; you should also identify the size and scope of your specialty within the class. For instance, rather than simply stating that your chosen specialty is consulting firms, you'll go on to clarify the segment of the industry that you work in. In our example, this would sound like: "Consulting firms with a national or large regional client base, 12 employees or more and generating $2 million to $10 million in annual revenue." This declaration cuts across the normal industry band and acknowledges the inherent nuances of clients at different levels of the spectrum. It also allows you to pre-screen your prospects and establish minimum and maximum premium levels.
Carrier partners
Next, let's make sure you have two or more carrier options for your specialty and that the targeted segment or segments exist within a large enough population in your geographic area to provide enough business to make the effort worth it.
With your carriers, you're looking for more than just an off-the-shelf program-you want a partnership. This partnership would include market research, client education initiatives, risk management and loss control assistance and, at some level, a joint business plan for co-production and mutual support. In short, you want carrier partners that can specialize (or have done so) and have a value proposition that says so. You must work with underwriters who understand the risks you're submitting and will help you understand the prospects you're calling on.
Speaking of prospects, all is for naught if there aren't enough prospects to call on. To check on the "prospect population," do a little digging online or use a market mapping service. If you're worried that your target market is not large enough, you can move up or down the industry band, and you can decide to specialize in additional target markets-for instance, consulting firms, corporate training companies, and marketing firms.
Once you've selected your target markets and secured your carrier partners, it's time to get educated and to make your introductions. I would love to believe that you have the time and the patience to really study the industry segment before calling on prospects, but you don't and you won't. Thankfully, the majority of your education will come from the people you meet and the work that you do. This is not to imply that you shouldn't do some preliminary research such as checking prospects' Web sites, reviewing their trade journals and associations, and learning as much as you can. You definitely should. However, most of what you need to know about any particular client will come from the client, and, with few exceptions, you can learn as you go.
The key to this kind of experiential learning is to simply acknowledge that no client exactly fits into a "cookie-cutter" program and each will have unique needs and expectations. Your job is to gather enough information to enable you, the client, and the underwriter to make educated decisions about the right fit.
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