Marketing Cyber Insurance Like a Pro

It’s no secret: We are experiencing a cyber awakening. For many businesses, the abundance of threats involving ransomware groups, extortion demands, social engineering, data breaches and DDOS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks is creating feelings of unease. As the nature of cyber insurance evolves, so too will the terms and forms that the industry uses on a regular basis.

Change is coming and, when it happens to the world of cyber insurance, you’ll want to be one step ahead of the curve. Read below to learn how cyber insurance broker Phillip Hawes thinks about this process, and how you can implement some of his recommendations in your practice today.

From Phillip:

Most major cyber insurance carriers send solicits around 45-60 days out. Despite this, some carriers won’t quote more than 30 days out, making the cyber insurance renewal and marketing processes tricky to follow. Here’s how it generally pans out.

To start, let’s say a client comes to you asking for cyber insurance. While navigating this process, you encounter a mountain of required applications and additional information needed in order to simply procure a quote. Phillip highly recommends using a full service brokerage like Limit (f/k/a Apollo Brokers) to breeze through these tasks. Limit has the ability to quote off applications and create 6+ bindable quotes in a matter of 5 minutes or less.

When it comes to cyber insurance, cyber insurers and MGAs are the most tech-savvy insurance carriers in the industry. However, applicants with $50M+ in revenue are often referred to an underwriter for manual review. This process can include ransomware questionnaires and MFA attestations. If these are done upfront, it makes the process a lot easier and more efficient due to the fact that cyber underwriters appreciate (and often expedite) completed submissions.

So what is needed for a complete submission? To prepare for a full marketing effort, underwriters like to see a ransomware/MFA supplemental and loss runs (if applicable) in addition to a general application. Submissions should be approached with the intent of making it easy for underwriters to do their jobs.

Phillip’s recommendation? “Pick 5 to 6 carriers and market to them based on their appetite. This helps underwriters keep their desks free of clutter, and it gives them a greater number of qualified (pre-underwritten) opportunities. Once we receive quotes on our end, we compare policies, make our recommendation and generate a comparison document for your review. Limits can be tough to navigate as different carriers use different terminology.”

In some cases, a carrier will decline coverage due to a lack of controls. When this happens, Limit can help businesses implement these controls in a way that is cost effective. This is made possible due to the fact that Limit offers an array of solutions from the cyber industry’s leading security companies. This is an important step because it shows carriers that your client is proactive in their approach to cyber security by successfully implementing solutions to address prior blockers. In turn, cyber carriers may reconsider their declination and retroactively quote. For a full list of cyber security solutions, please take a look at Limit’s Cyber Security Marketplace.

The insurance process can be hectic. The experience is often filled with delicate, unexpected nuances, and a carrier’s appetite can often make or break a deal. To ease the stress, specialty brokers such as Limit can be utilized for both marketing know-how and expert advice. At Limit, we take care of all the dirty work so that you can focus on doing what you do best – helping your clients find the coverage they need.

The Limit Perspective

Limit is a digitally-native wholesale insurance broker working on behalf of retailers in multiple lines of insurance and across the United States. Our platform allows clients to:

• Obtain instant quotes from top cyber insurers
• Find up to $3M in insurance coverage automatically
• Receive a plan with customizable and comprehensive coverage
• 24/7 support

Limit is building a lean, tech-enabled business that can efficiently deliver insurance policies which are tailored to the needs of individual clients. We have taken some of the first steps to revolutionizing the industry and welcome you to learn more on our website: https://www.limit.com/

You can also reach out and connect with us on LinkedIn.