How this insurer tries to “wow” brokers and customers

Offering consistency and going back to basics are just two of the ways Trisura Guarantee Insurance Company tries to stay one step ahead of the competition.

Basic things like responding promptly to brokers’ inquiries can make a significant difference, suggested Richard Grant, senior vice president of specialty insurance solutions with Trisura. Underwriting consistency also plays a key role. Other insurers may “write a class of business today, then in a year they are out of the business and then five years later, they’re back in the business,” Grant said in an interview Tuesday. “Trisura strives to be a consistent, stable underwriter that brokers can rely on.

“If we can make our brokers look good in their client’s eyes, that broker is going to remember Trisura, and we hope it will lead to their next piece of business being placed with us,” he said. “We encourage our underwriters to take pride in everything they do, take ownership in what they do and consistently deliver amazing service.”

This is also where one of Trisura’s values – having an entrepreneurial spirit – comes into play. To Grant, that means taking ownership, creating results and caring deeply about the overall success of the company. “We built the company from scratch by providing a step-above service and assisting our broker customers – solving their problems and helping them win business,” he said. “If our brokers are successful and we are part of that, we too will be successful.”

So, how does a smaller company like Trisura compete against some of the international behemoths and win? “We focus on wowing our brokers and their customers by providing that great service and coupling it with finding solutions for their problems with our creative underwriting expertise.”

Staff buy-in and passion is crucial. “Love what you do, and if you don’t love it, find what you do love,” Grant advised. The fortunate part of the insurance industry, he said, is that there are jobs that everyone can fall in love with – from actuarial number crunchers to front-line sales people.

“There is a job for anyone and everyone in the insurance industry. You just have to find what makes you tick and go after it.”