Practices of High-Revenue Insurance Agencies
The research behind high-revenue agency performance
Travelers’ survey of 356 senior agency leaders reveals a consistent pattern: The agencies with the strongest small commercial revenue share a set of deliberate practices that have helped drive their success.
High-level, strategic agency owners are positioned to achieve growth and profitability in a competitive market. What separates high-revenue agencies from others is their approach. They are deliberate and proactive when using time across the organization to support small commercial clients and drive growth. For these agencies, efficiency is a growth strategy.
Connect with your Travelers representative to explore how adopting these practices can benefit your agency.
Proven practices of high-revenue agencies
Across profitability, book strategy, service economics and carrier relationships, these practices consistently separate high-revenue agencies from the rest.
Lead with profitability strategies.
High-revenue agencies measure a good year by what reaches the bottom line – not just retention or top-line growth. Profitability margins are a primary success metric for 38% of high-revenue agencies, tracked alongside producer productivity and small commercial premium volume. The agency study details how high-revenue agencies build this discipline into their operating rhythms.
Qualify small commercial clients to strengthen books.
High-revenue agencies stop chasing every new business opportunity – 43% use return on equity to define an ideal client before committing producer time, and 44% screen by expected service demand and revenue efficiency. The agency study covers how high-revenue agencies apply qualification discipline at the front of the funnel.
Remarket small commercial insurance book.
For high-revenue agencies, remarketing is a strategic discipline, not a reaction to rate increases or client complaints, with 80% remarketing at least a quarter of their small commercial book annually and 40% remarketing more than half. The agency study explains how high-revenue agencies build a remarketing cadence and what drives the placement decision.
Improve agency service models.
High-revenue agencies restructure how work gets done so producers spend time on small commercial accounts that move the business: 46% track service touches per account, 51% move high-touch accounts to a different service model and 45% automate routine tasks to free producer capacity. The agency study details what this service restructuring looks like in practice.
Consolidate accounts to improve performance.
High-revenue agencies don’t wait for carrier capacity changes to force a consolidation decision – 81% have consolidated their small commercial carrier relationships or are actively planning to, with service efficiency and loss ratio performance as the leading drivers. The agency study covers how high-revenue agencies approach consolidation and what a preferred-carrier strategy looks like.
Use data to unlock cross-sell opportunities.
High-revenue agencies move beyond producer instinct to find what’s hiding in the small commercial book: 58% use CRM or AMS data to identify cross-sell opportunities, 40% use carrier-provided gap analysis and 37% use third-party data sources. The agency study details how high-revenue agencies are building data-driven cross-sell into standard account reviews.
Reimagine carrier relationships
High-revenue agencies aren’t just placing business with their carriers, they’re using those partnerships as a strategic lever. The agencies leading this shift expect carriers to bring data, planning and post-close support to the table, not just policies. Travelers works with agencies as that kind of partner, bringing dedicated support, performance insights and joint planning to help agencies do things they couldn’t do alone.
Download the “Practices of High-Revenue Agencies” study
The “Practices of High-Revenue Agencies” study expands on all practices with complete survey data, in-practice examples and a framework for assessing where your agency stands today.
The study introduces a framework for improving efficiency and performance, with insights into:
- A full explanation of each practice
- Supporting survey data
- Practical implications for small commercial agency principals
- Ideas for evaluating your agency’s current approach
