Renewals arriving on the desk with days to spare
The renewal report runs on a Monday. It lists everything expiring in the next sixty days, and every account handler gets their slice. Most of those cases are fine. A few are not: a commercial combined where the client has not returned the proposal update, a fleet where the insurer wants a claims experience that nobody has requested, a property owner who bought two more units in the year and has not told you.
Those cases are the ones that land on a handler's desk with ten days to go. The market approach is rushed, the client gets a renewal terms letter with no alternatives, and the conversation about cover becomes a conversation about price. Sometimes the renewal is invited on the incumbent's terms because there simply is not time for anything else.
The diary tells you a date, not a state
Most broking systems have a renewal diary. Acturis, Applied Epic, Open GI and the others all produce a list of what is due. What the diary does not tell you is where each case actually is. Has the information request gone out? Has the client replied? Has the claims experience arrived? Has anyone approached a second insurer?
That state lives in the handler's head, in their inbox and in sticky notes on the monitor. When a handler is off sick or has a heavy month, nobody else can see which of their renewals are quietly stalling. The manager finds out when the client calls to ask why their renewal terms arrived the day before expiry.
- The renewal trigger date is fixed for all cases, whatever their size or complexity.
- Information requests are written by hand, so they go out when the handler has time.
- Chasing the client depends on the handler remembering to do it.
- There is no shared view of renewals by stage, only by expiry date.
- Complex cases and simple ones sit in the same list with the same lead time.
What a late start costs a brokerage
A late renewal is rarely lost on the day. The damage is quieter. Fewer insurers get approached, so the client sees less choice and the broker has less to show for the fee or commission. Information arrives late, so it is thin, and the file shows less evidence that the cover still fits. Handlers work evenings in the busy renewal months and the quiet months stay quiet.
Then there are the renewals that do go. A client who receives terms at the last minute is the client who takes a call from a competitor who got in touch two months earlier.
The renewal pipeline we build
- We read the renewal list from your broking system through its API or a scheduled export, and bring in the policy details, the handler and the class of business.
- Each case gets a lead time based on its type, so a large commercial package starts months out while a simple household renewal starts later.
- At the trigger point, the client receives a renewal information request pre-filled with last year's answers, asking them to confirm or change each item and upload anything new.
- Replies are captured against the case, and outstanding items are chased on a schedule you set, with the handler copied only when a client stays silent.
- Every renewal moves through stages you define, such as information requested, information complete, market approached, terms received, terms presented and bound.
- A manager view shows every renewal by stage and by handler, with the cases that are behind their expected stage highlighted.
- Stage changes and client replies are written back to the broking system as notes, so the client file stays the single record.
We do not replace the broking system. It stays the place where policies, documents and accounts live. The pipeline sits alongside it and does the chasing and the tracking that the diary cannot.
Stage by stage, what changes
| Stage | Today | With the pipeline |
|---|---|---|
| Trigger | One fixed report for everything | Lead time set by class and size |
| Information request | Written by the handler when they get to it | Sent automatically, pre-filled from last year |
| Client chasing | From memory | Scheduled reminders, handler alerted if ignored |
| Visibility | Handler's inbox | Shared board by stage and handler |
| File record | Notes added later, if at all | Replies and stage changes logged to the client file |
Renewal season afterwards
Handlers open a case that already has the client's updated information attached, or a clear note that the client has not replied despite three reminders. Managers spend their Monday looking at which cases are stuck rather than asking each handler how things are going. Work spreads out because the big cases start earlier, and the handlers have time to approach more than one insurer when it matters.
Does this sound like your office?
- Handlers regularly start commercial renewals with less than a month to go.
- The only renewal report you have is sorted by expiry date.
- Nobody can tell you how many renewals are waiting on the client right now.
- Information requests are typed from scratch or copied from last year's email.
- You find out about stalled renewals when the client complains.