Sales? I Thought This Was Underwriting!

 Davis Flachs

Sales? I Thought This Was Underwriting!

It was the fall of 2019 and I was considering taking a break from college. I still had no idea what field I wanted to go into, so I thought maybe I should shift my focus and find some employment for a year or two. I applied to every position within two hundred miles that had the word “intern” or “trainee” in the title. Within a month, I had found myself gainfully employed by a workman’s compensation company under the title “Insurance Trainee” and promptly sent in my drop out forms to my university.

For the first few months, I worked in underwriting. I liked it, but it was quite repetitive with not much interaction outside the company. Sales handed us potential accounts, we analyzed risk, spoke to the client about their needs, then priced the account. Wash, rinse, repeat.

Then, March 2020 came around. The pandemic changed everything. Sales had a harder time signing clients, so underwriting was left empty-handed. One day my supervisor strolls by my desk, tells me to get my stuff, and come with him. I began to sweat, as I thought the first round of layoffs had just begun. As we stepped into the elevator, he hit the third-floor button - the sales and claims floor. At this point, I was beyond confused. Next thing you know we were standing before an empty desk. He said, “Sales is swamped right now, you’re gonna be here to help out. Tina will be by in the hour to get you set up.” I sat there, staring blankly whilst trying to keep my cool. I had no idea how sales worked.

In the first two weeks, I mostly sat in on calls, studying the process. As a company who offered a premium product at a higher cost, it became more difficult to sign on clients in a time of economic stress and uncertainty. Even with the team facing such adversity, we persevered. 

Step 1

I quickly learned the sales process. As it was B2B (Business to Business), there was no cold outreach. First step for new clients was to approach them before policy renewal. Then, we would offer them our services and give them a rundown of what differentiated us from the competitor. This included a quick claims turnaround and a plan that was customizable. This approach was often enough to get an ongoing line of communication. 

Step 2

Next, we’d set up calls with potential clients over the following weeks. The first week would be used to see what they need, discover what kind of premium they are comfortable with, and find out if that is something we are willing to offer. At this time, a member of the claims team is assigned to look through what records we have on their former claims to make sure there are no red flags. 

Examples of this include a high volume of probable fraud, a high count of OSHA violations, or if the company has protected employees from the insurer during an audit of the claim. The next week was used to gauge where the potential client was leaning. The main things we looked for were:

• Are they just using us to beef up the list of potential insurers they bring to their superiors?

• How important are our specialized services to them?

• Does the management seem like someone who would comply in the case of a claim inquiry?

In workman’s comp, sales isn’t just about closing the deal. While underwriting analyzes the risk on paper, sales needs to make sure that the client will cooperate. In the instance they don’t or are unresponsive to our inquiries, this allows time to pass, allowing potential drugs in a claimant’s system to be flushed out. This also allows them to visit a doctor of their choosing without hearing our recommendation first. 

In the instance they visit a doctor with shoddy morals, he will know the bill is footed by the insurer and will often recommend the most expensive treatment. This hurts us but also hurts the claimant. I have seen numerous claims where back surgery was done, then had to be re-done. More often than not, all they needed was physical therapy for a few months. Now many of them are wheelchair-bound for life, and we get smacked with million-dollar claims. This can all be avoided if the management is cooperative, which is why the sales team pays close attention to gauging the atmosphere/mentality of the potential client and their workplace.

Step 3

From this point, if we decide to proceed, the job is passed onto underwriting to price out the plan, then offer it to the client. This goes through a few rounds, but since the plan is customizable, we were often able to make it work. 

During all this, sales has a line open to keep the pulse of the client and make sure they remain interested. In this time we would fill them in on reporting incentives and other programs we offer that result in premium discounts. It also kept up the image of good service.

There were a few occasions I met with big ticket clients face to face, often flying to the midwest or driving down south. Over the phone was easy to master, face to face sales are more demanding. Meetings, taking them to a sporting event, then dinner afterwards, keeping them entertained and charmed without laying on the business talk too heavily. 

Conclusion

Through all of this, I went from being a college dropout with absolutely no idea what my next move was to finally feeling like an adult with not just a solid idea of what I wanted to do for work, but the abilities I needed to do so. I had not just knowledge on the sales process - but first hand experience. From offering them our product, explaining what we can offer that others cannot, to building an ongoing rapport with the client while discussing terms, to closing the deal. It is this experience that made me realize this is what I wanted to do.