Sean O’Reilly, Director and Co-Owner at Anderson Smith, shares his top tips on using Bravo Insights to spark a lively dialogue with insurer partners, drive efficiencies in your brokerage and focus on quality presentations where it really counts.

For a busy independent broker in current market conditions, finding the right market for a client same day is a dream come true. Usually though, the reality looks much more like outbound phone calls and emails as you chase placement solutions for clients. But thanks to Bravo Insights, one Bravo member was able to switch the narrative.

“We had a call from Eaton Gate approaching us for our business they were interested in that they’d seen on Bravo Insights, and we hadn’t even logged on to the platform yet,” says Sean O’Reilly, Director and Co-Owner at Anderson Smith. “Eaton Gate, along with AXA and Zurich, remain probably the most proactive insurers to embrace the application so far and I remember they quoted on that risk.”

“We didn’t realise the risk was in their appetite”

Sean adds that crucially, the team at Anderson Smith didn’t necessarily think that particular risk was within Eaton Gate’s appetite. “Eaton Gate kicked the door open and prompted a conversation,” says Sean. “It got us interested and made us realise that these are the kinds of conversations happening now thanks to Insights.”

Bravo Insights has, Sean says, unlocked opportunity and created a space where insurers can engage more efficiently and effectively with regional independent brokers. “In the old days, it would often be more of a one-way street with us approaching insurers,” says Sean. “Now it’s regularly a two-way thing. We’re still presenting risks, but insurers are also coming to us with risks they see on Insights that are in their appetite, which is absolutely great.”

Sean confirms that the team have definitely seen increased engagement from insurers as a result of using Bravo Insights, and he’s looking forward to the platform continuing to develop and grow. “I mentioned earlier that AXA, Zurich and Eaton Gate have all been early adopters, and we’re looking forward to the likes of Aviva and Geo using the system more in the second half of this year,” says Sean. “With those relationships with specific insurers, while they are working on fully implementing the system into their workflow, we can still use the tool to our benefit to see the opportunities available and prompt engagement a little bit earlier.”

“We can match risks with appetites, and we’re not wasting anyone’s time”

Bravo Insights was designed to bring efficiencies to brokers’ businesses, and Sean agrees that it’s fulfilling its promise. “Quite simply, we can see at a glance what our placement data looks like,” says Sean. “We always try to support Bravo’s partner insurers. For e-Trade business that’s pretty straightforward. However, what we don’t want to do, for our sake and the insurers’ sake, is to put manual presentations in front of insurers that have no interest for it.”

Sean explains that resource and time pressure is a challenge across the industry, but Bravo Insights can help to mitigate this and ease the pressure. “We all know how busy insurers are right now,” says Sean. “They are snowed under, and even the most straightforward presentation can take a week or ten days to turn around. Thanks to Bravo Insights, we can work with insurers and only put quality presentations in front of them instead of bunging up the system with presentations they’re likely to decline. We can match our risks with insurer appetites, and that means we’re not wasting anyone’s time.”

Bravo Insights rates the markets available on each risk as red, amber or green. Sean explains that this clear view makes it easy for the team to see what they need to focus on, and helps to save them time. “We focus on green risks,” Sean adds. “If we have a lot of available markets showing up as green, we probably won’t worry too much about approaching the amber markets. If there are not so many green markets, we will then pick up the phone to the amber markets to ask what more information they need from us in a presentation, or better still over the phone, to rule it in or out.”

Sean’s top tips on making the best use of Bravo Insights

Diarise. Sean’s number one tip for making the best of Bravo Insights is diarising regular use of the tool. “We’re all busy, but definitely make a point of diarising, otherwise it’s easy to forget about it. Jump on the platform on a monthly basis,” says Sean. “For us, 1-30 days out from a risk is probably too short, whereas 61-90 days is too far out. Between 31-60 days out is our ideal scanning point, as it’s still far enough ahead. In the 1-30 days window you’ve probably already made a broking strategy on that risk, however it is still very useful for any last-minute issues.”
Share with the right people. Sean adds that it’s vital to get access for the right people in your team. “If your owners and directors of business are the only ones with access, and they are not looking at day to day placement and broking, no-one will use it,” says Sean. “Think about who is broking for business and make sure they have access to the tool.”
Get it on your agenda. For Anderson Smith, it’s also been helpful to include Bravo Insights as a regular agenda point in team meetings to embed the use of the tool. “It’s not going to fix all of your broking problems, but it’s another tool you can use alongside regular dialogue with insurers,” says Sean. “The key is that it can help to identify good fits, but just as importantly, those risks that are never going to fit with a particular insurer.”

If you are not a Bravo member and would like to find out more about how Bravo Insights can help you to connect with insurers who have appetite matched to your client’s risks, please speak to Simon Bailey on 07483 929046 or simon.bailey@bravo-group.co.uk.