Technology and how advisers can leverage it to grow their general insurance business with Surer

| 30 Aug 2021

The last time we spoke to Surer, they had just launched Instant Quote Marketplace, a cloud-based platform that offers products from multiple insurers to allow financial advisers to view and compare the range of products, and ultimately get instant quotes from whichever insurer's product they pick.

For users, it is time-saving and effective, as they can generate quotes and showcase them to their clients. Should they or their clients decide that this is the best-fit product, the intermediary can then decide if they want to close this deal directly, by taking on representation with the insurer.

Since its launch, Surer has made further product developments to the marketplace. Surer co-founder Derren Teo said, “We have made huge progress in terms of product iteration and feature launches since. This is only possible because we have a strong pool of users who have been giving us very good feedback that are highly actionable.”

Not only are they partnering more insurers to onboard their products with an instant quote functionality, but they have added a feature that enables products in the marketplace to be customised by advisers to cater to their clients’ varying needs with bespoke covers.

Once an adviser has digitally shared cover and quotation details of a product, the payment process is straight-through as their clients make payment directly with the insurer to confirm their take up. There is also an auto-policy information storage for products sold through the marketplace.

New feature – proposal co-creation

Think Google Docs, but for the creation of an insurance proposal. Advisers can now send a digital proposal form to their clients and have their clients fill out details that they know or have. After which, the adviser then helps complete the proposal form on parts which the client was not able to fill out.

He said, “This essentially means that advisers who may be new to general insurance do not have to scramble to find out what information is required for them to get a quote - we not only have a ready-made template, but also give them the ability to work with clients digitally, to fill the information up.”

Amongst all the new features that were introduced, the development of a brand-new version of Surer is what most users should look forward to. Besides a revamped user interface, users can anticipate smarter functionalities like auto-population of proposal forms, stronger client management features and an upgrade dashboard with a digital assistant to remind advisers on outstanding tasks and recent activities.

Cushioning pain points insurers face

For insurers, working with Surer tackles two core problems – effectiveness of distribution and recruitment.

“An insurer that takes a direct to customer approach is limited to the number and/or types of products they can sell effectively via their direct channels – these are usually highly commoditised or simple personal lines related products like travel.”

Mr Teo added, “Effectiveness of distribution declines as the products get more complex. An insurer that takes an agency-driven approach has a broader range of products they can sell with good effectiveness through the intermediary. However, they are limited by how well they can engage intermediaries who may or may not represent them.”

Regarding recruitment, he said, “We know that only 9.9% of all licensed general insurance agents have fully utilised that maximum of three insurer representations. Yet, we understand that advisers work with a maximum of three to five insurers traditionally. Without representation, insurers have a small base of intermediaries to help sell their products.”

Surer solves these problems for insurers by essentially bringing their products to a readymade sales force – its users. Through the marketplace, intermediary users can get a one-stop view of products available to derive instant quotations from, while insurers can place their products on this marketplace for better distribution to an active workforce.

Identifying problems and finding solutions to it

In a recent survey conducted by Surer to understand the pain points of insurance intermediaries when it comes to selling or building their portfolio, results revealed that 78% of respondents sell general insurance on a regular basis.

“This is an encouraging size given that we have previously shared with AAN that we have spotted two interesting trends that indicate that general insurance to be the next frontier for insurance,” Mr Teo said.

The results from the survey also showed the top three difficulties advisers faced when selling general insurance and the findings are:

  • The top difficulty (61.8% selected) was in getting multiple quotes for clients due to multiple systems by insurers
  • The second difficulty (50% selected) was that too much administrative work is involved
  • The third difficulty (47% selected) was that of obtaining quotes due to slow or non-replies

The survey respondents consisted of 52% financial advisers, 41% composite insurance agents, 7% tied life insurance agents.

Research and surveys like that that help the team at Surer identify pertinent problems to be

solved. “We have managed to speak to our users, many of whom are advisers, and one recurring theme was that of ‘needs and solutions-based selling trumps that of product-based selling’. From this, we understand that advisers are highly aware that clients are a lot savvier with available options. Going to them and showing them a menu of products and getting them to ‘pick’ one is not going to work.”

He added, “The adviser who will be highly valued will be the one who takes time to understand their client’s

lifestyle or business who in turn will do a better risk assessment and provide advice on risk areas to be covered. Many have realised that in doing so, they see more recurring business and stronger trust from clients. However, they also see that requirements need to be a lot more bespoke, and servicing one client can be a lot more time consuming.”

With faster access to more quotes on the Instant Quote marketplace, Surer will help advisers become more effective in the entire quote sourcing process.

Want a free demo?

In collaboration with Surer, Asia Advisers Network readers can request for demo here. Or sign up for a 21-day free trial here.

More on Surer:

Reshaping general insurance business with Instant Quote Marketplace- Surer, InsurTech of the Year 2021 finalist

Singapore: Surer launches marketplace for instant insurance quotation

 

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