The Submission Your Underwriter Will Want to Work On
By Erik W. Leeming ▪ Know The Underwriting
New business gets a good, hopefully great story.
An underwriter opens a submission and finds completed ACORD applications , 5 years of currently valued loss runs, a vehicle schedule, an updated driver list, a business income worksheet, a signed statement of values and current payrolls. Everything appears to be there.
But does the underwriter truly understand the account?
What does this business actually do? What is the story behind the story? Why was this market chosen? Is the insured serious about switching carriers? What might concern the underwriter, and what has the insured done about it?
When those answers are missing, the underwriter has to stop, send a list of questions, and wait. The submission may be complete as a collection of documents, but it is not yet a clear picture of the risk or the opportunity.
New business got the story. Does the renewal?
When a producer visits a prospect, they may return with insight no application can capture. They have seen the operation, met the people, and learned what matters to the decision maker. A strong new-business submission carried that perspective forward. The agency and the underwriter were rewarded with the account. Hopefully, this is a new business plan that works more often than not.
Now consider the agency’s book of business - retention is key. Think about any account the agency has serviced year over year, but also consider that first renewal. It’s been nine months. If remarketing begins 90 days before renewal, the agency may know more about the business than it did when the account first arrived. It has handled changes, answered coverage questions, followed claims, and perhaps learned whether the insured acted on risk control recommendations.
Yet a remarketing package can become little more than refreshed forms and schedules. The agency knows the story. The underwriter may never receive it.
The amount of detail will differ by account. A small commercial risk that nearly qualifies for straight-through processing may need a short explanation of the issue that sent it to an underwriter. A complex middle market account may need a fuller narrative. In either case, the underwriter should not have to discover the central question and then ask the agency to answer it.
Who owns the story?
Many agencies put real thought into deciding which accounts to remarket. Producers, account managers, and leadership may discuss carrier fit, pricing, coverage, service, and the likelihood of retaining the client.
What happens after that decision?
If assembling the submission falls entirely to the service desk, the package may reflect whichever information an account manager has at hand. One desk may include an insightful account summary. Another may send the required documents and wait for the underwriter’s questions. Both people may be working hard, while the agency presents its accounts inconsistently.
This is a process question, not a criticism of account managers. The producer may know the relationship, the decision maker, and what would cause the insured to move. The account manager may know what changed throughout the policy year. Neither holds the complete story alone.
Does the underwriter know the game plan?
An underwriter can like an account and still wonder whether there is a genuine chance to win it. That question becomes particularly relevant when an agency remarkets an account as it approaches its first renewal. Why is the insured considering another carrier so soon? What would need to improve? Would they or any new carrier face the same marketing exercise next year? The underwriter is thinking “Do I want to have to fight to keep this account every single year?”
The agency should not leave the underwriter guessing.
If you have chosen a small number of markets because they are especially well suited to the account, explain why this underwriter is among them. Tell them why you are remarketing and what the insured has said matters most. Is it coverage, service, claims handling, risk control support, price, or some combination? What would realistically compel the insured to change carriers?
In the back of the underwriter’s mind is this - If I get this account, what do I need to do to ensure that they don’t change carriers?
You do not need to promise exclusivity or disclose every internal conversation. You do need to give the underwriter an honest view of the opportunity. That lets them tell you where their market may have an advantage, where it cannot meet the insured’s priorities, and what they need to develop a meaningful proposal.
The account is not the only thing being evaluated
Underwriters receive more submissions than they can give equal attention. They have to decide where their time is most likely to lead to business their carrier wants to write.
Sometimes an underwriter will speak with the carrier’s agency marketing representative, particularly if they have not had many opportunities to work with your agency. They may want to know: Is this agency growing with us? What kind of business does it bring? How has the relationship performed? Does this agency give us a real chance to win? How important is this particular account to them?
That conversation may happen without the submitting agent ever hearing it. The agency’s track record and the story surrounding the account can influence whether the underwriter leans in. If this opportunity is important to your agency, help them understand why. If you rarely approach this market, explain what made you choose to now.
A carefully chosen market deserves a clear explanation of why it was chosen. The insured deserves an agency that can explain why each market was asked to compete.
Before the package goes out
Consider this - could someone unfamiliar with the account open your submission and understand:
What the business does today, including material changes?
What its loss and risk control history means beyond the reports?
Why this market was selected?
Why the account is being marketed now?
What matters to the insured and whether there is a genuine opportunity to win?
Why this account is important to the agency?
What issue the underwriter is most likely to question?
The answers need not become a lengthy report. A concise account narrative, supported by organized documents, can give an underwriter more to work with than another stack of attachments.
Most agencies already have the information to build an exceptional submission. The producer knows the relationship and the opportunity. The account manager knows how the account has operated and what happened during the policy year. Agency leadership and the marketing team may understand the broader carrier relationship. The next step is bringing those perspectives together before the package goes to market.
Imagine making that brief review a consistent part of both new business intake AND renewal remarketing. What would an underwriter learn that they could not find in the applications? What concern could the team address before it becomes an email asking for more information?
A submission like that gives the underwriter a reason to engage, the facts to make a sound decision, and confidence in the agency behind the account.
That is a standard worth building together.
