High Net Worth Personal Lines / Personal Lines Risk Management

[whatsa]

Apologies for the long post, and thanks in advance for your responses to my very first post!

For the last year I've been reading with great interest articles about personal lines for high net worth clients, and "personal risk management" services provided by some of the bigger brokers, boutique firms, and carriers that specialize in this niche.

The affluent are indeed very different from you and me, and often times they need a full risk management and policy wordings review, just like commercial accounts, in order to take into account their various homes, art collections, yachts, and planes (not to mention kidnap and ransom, etc).

We have direct access to this market, and have been seriously considering spinning-off a standalone, specialized office to work the segment, but I have a few questions for those of you working this niche:

- Any thoughts on Chartis vs ACE vs Chubb vs Pure vs Ironshore, etc., in terms of pricing, service, risk management services, and pre/post catastrophe responsiveness?

- Do you find yourself more often than not placing all / most coverages with the same carrier?

- Which ancillary products do you find clients most interested in (such as K&R, High Excess Limits, International Travel Insurance, Aviation, etc)?

- How comfortable are your High Net Worth (HNW) clients in "opening up" about their finances / holdings / net worth when talking about insurance? Do you ever offer to sign a Non Disclosure agreement to make them more comfortable?

- Any do's or don'ts in terms of sales, marketing, etc., that immediately come to mind?

- Any brokers / agencies that immediately come to mind as "good examples" of a specialist working this market "right"?

Thank you for your kind assistance and all your insights into this market.

Regards,

 

[Bertolinoins]

I have seen dozens of agents attempt to take this angle and most have failed miserably because unless you already run in those circles they are private and hard to access... and your targets are few and far between unless you reside in SF, LA, Chicago, NYC, DC, parts of Florida, etc. The number of clients that truely have the need for those services are few and far between. I have some very high net worth clients including farmers, large property owners and professional athletes... they are not overly concerned about personal risk management. Your best bet is to approach "family offices" that handle the real old money. I have a handful that were referred by a private office in SF but I have never met the clients... The atty handles everything and requests very little input as he basically dictates what he wants.

 

[whatsa]

Bertolini- I wholeheartedly agree with your comment that it has been tried before. I neglected to mention in my original post that I am based in one of the areas that you mention in your email, and that I do have longstanding access to those clients both socially and professionally through non-insurance ventures. My questions are more along the lines of what works when selling to the high net worth segment... since we don't do personal lines, in the event we move forward I'd rather go in with a complete understanding of what are the needs of HNW clients from those who like yourself have experience with them.

My take is that if we provide personal risk management services, in addition to the traditional looking for the best price / coverage combination, it could be a nice differentiator when going to those clients (who we have access to).

Any thoughts / comments that you (or anyone else) could share or PM based on your experience?

Thanks again for all the help.

 

[Bertolinoins]

My only advice is to befriend the folks that handle business matters (Attorney, family office business manager, controller, agents, etc) because most of those folks are too busy living the good life to worry about it. Chubb, Chartis, Ace, FFIC and Travelers all do a good job so it really just comes down to fit for each estate depending on their area, hobbies, collections, etc. Be competent, trustworthy, accessible and responsive. That sounds simpler than it is.

Another piece of advice... learn COC's inside and out and gain favor with the UW's because you will get a lot of never ending home building or remodeling projects.

 

[ins cloud]

My only advice is to befriend the folks that handle business matters (Attorney, family office business manager, controller, agents, etc) because most of those folks are too busy living the good life to worry about it. Chubb, Chartis, Ace, FFIC and Travelers all do a good job so it really just comes down to fit for each estate depending on their area, hobbies, collections, etc. Be competent, trustworthy, accessible and responsive. That sounds simpler than it is.

Another piece of advice... learn COC's inside and out and gain favor with the UW's because you will get a lot of never ending home building or remodeling projects.

How difficult is it to obtain direct appointments with chartis, Chubb and travelers for a scratch agency? And does it matter that technically there is a business in place already just not insurance? Would that help my chances if say we have over a million in investments currently on the books?

 

[Bertolinoins]

Direct appointments are difficult but if you have a compelling business plan then the marketing rep may give you a chance.