When a client reveals that they like you (the producer), the agency, and their carrier, but they still want to shop their account to test the market, it’s something that grabs your attention. You start looking for extra ways to reduce the renewal premium and to pump up the value of the services that you provide. But sometimes there just aren’t enough classifications and credits in the manual. So, if you could just convince your insured that the companion acts of shopping for and buying new insurance will prove to be counterproductive, you’ll save everyone involved time and money.

To make this point, you’ll need to clearly demonstrate that moving their business account is not a zero-cost transaction. It’s expensive. And the total expenses involved may actually exceed any perceived dollar savings. Here’s a simple numbers-driven way to effectively make this point.

Gather together the many costs associated with shopping and ultimately moving a typical business insurance account. Key them into our two-page Insurance Transfer Cost Projector template (Excel required).

Include these costs: Value of client’s time invested in pre-move and post-move activities plus the cost of tangibles and any intangibles. All combined, the true cost of the insured’s transfer becomes startlingly clear.

The resulting projected dollar cost to the potential “switcher” can be shocking, especially to someone who never really thought about the ramifications of shopping. Employ your calculated total to expose the fact that moving their account might actually cost them money. Further suggest that your insured add this number to any replacement quotes proposed by a competitor. Importantly, the shopper can’t effectively argue that the total tally is simply a one-time transfer cost, because rates aren’t guaranteed from year to year. After all, your next renewal offer could decline while your rival’s might rise.

The ideal way to use your transfer cost spreadsheet is to sit down with the insured and go over it, item-by-item. Some activities may need to be added, while others are deleted. Plus, some of the hours that you estimated may need modification. When you work openly with your client, they’ll see that your cost estimates weren’t exaggerated – and perhaps conclude that moving their account isn’t such a hot idea after all.

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