Why use a insurance broker in Australia?
Insurance brokers can be extremely valuable for your business. As a small business owner, you need to make smart choices about your insurance. Your insurance doesn’t just protect the organisation you built – it protects all your employees, too.
Finding the right coverage takes time, research, and knowledge of both policies, the insurance industry, regulations in Western Australia, and your unique requirements. But who has time to do all that when you also have a business to grow?
Enter your new insurance broker. Now, you can benefit from their industry knowledge and experience and make the right choice the first time around – without wasting time or money.
What is an insurance broker, and why should you find one? Keep reading to learn how broker services can better your business.
Business insurance broker
What Is an Insurance Broker?
As a client, you buy insurance from two types of insurance reps: brokers and agents.
Insurance agents work for one company. They know their products inside and out and only provide their captive services to clients who want one of the policies their insurer carries.
An insurance broker, however, isn’t captive to a single insurance company. Brokers are an expert on a long list of providers and policies and can generate quotes for all of them, too.
So, if you want to shop around and receive expert advice without emailing a dozen agents, then you need to choose a broker.
While brokers do offer more choice, they also provide much more than a long list of potentially beneficial policies. By working with more insurance companies, they are more likely to understand bespoke insurance needs. Brokers also have an understanding of how different policies impact the business landscape, which makes them powerful allies for small and medium-sized businesses.
9 Reasons Why Insurance Brokers Add Value to Your Business
The ability of an insurance broker to seek out quotes and policies that fit your business’s unique needs is enough of a reason to choose a brokerage over an agent.
But many small businesses don’t realise just how much value their broker can add to their bottom line.
Here’s how your insurance broker can become one of your business’s most valuable assets.
1. Brokers Get You Better Rates
Brokers get you more for every dollar compared to buying from an agent or directly from the insurer.
Some businesses prefer to skip the broker in favour of a price comparison site. They think they’ll save on commission fees but cutting out the middle man. (You will always know what part of your premium goes toward’s your broker’s sales commission). But removing the middle man doesn’t save you as much money as you might hope.
Why? It’s just not about preferential rates. Though, brokers get those, too. Instead, brokers get you the perfect amount of coverage.
An insurance broker has the experience to identify what coverage you need – and what you don’t. They then use their product knowledge to find a policy that covers all those bases without adding lines that don’t add value.
In other words, you don’t have to pay for policy features that you don’t use, which creates long-term savings.
2. Brokers Save You Time
The insurance world presents such a long list of products (and further decisions once you make the first big choice) that it takes forever to sort through them all.
Your broker’s experience allows them to take stock of your liabilities and risk and find you the top five policies that make the most sense for you. They can also use a long list of tech and software to make it easy to compare the options – not just the prices.
Instead of becoming intimately familiar with 17 different policies, you have a helping hand to filter them for you.
3. Brokers Prevent You from Being Underinsured
One of the worst realisations you can make as a business owner is learning that your business is underinsured.
Why is it one of the most devasting things that can happen? Because businesses only realise this is the case when they need to make a claim and find out they can’t.
Your broker will address all your liabilities – and the size and prevalence of them – and find you a policy that will protect your business when it all goes wrong.
4. Brokers Help Your Insurance Grow with You
Your business is on the move, and there are big things on your horizon. But does your insurance policy reflect the growth?
As your business grows and changes, your liabilities and assets also change with it. A broker can help you adjust your insurance programs to reckon with these new changes and ensure that you are always protected.
Plus, their ability to offer products from different carriers means you don’t lose access to the broker you know so well. You may need to scale your policy, but the helping hand who is always there for you remains the same.
5. Brokers Keep Your Policies Up-to-Date
Both business and insurance regulations change regularly.
A broker who caters to small businesses stays on top of any national or state regulation and assesses your policies on your behalf.
Rather than leaving you legally exposed or liable, your broker keeps an eye on Canberra on your behalf.
6. Brokers Can Be Specialist Providers
A small business insurance broker is also a specialist who can offer bespoke or unique cover to those who need it.
For example, do you deal with significant amounts of personal data and data processing? You can add optional coverage to protect your business in the event of a data breach.
Other examples of bespoke or specialist services include professional liability, business income for off-premises utility services, commercial property insurance, business travel insurance, and (mandatory) workers compensation insurance.
7. Brokers Advocate During Claims
There are so many differences between working with a broker and a price comparison site, most notably the ability to work directly with a real human. But the human face that makes the most significant difference becomes most apparent when you need to make a claim.
Your insurance broker is an expert in their field, and they can advocate on your behalf if a claim suddenly transforms from a routine event into an intractable problem.
Your broker works in your best interest to help settle most claims quickly and quietly.
Without a broker, you either need to dedicate your own time to the problem or you must phone your solicitor. Both take time, energy, and funds away from your business.
8. Brokers Provide Advice
As a small business owner, there are so many things on your plate. You don’t have time to think about every eventuality or liability.
You know you need fire, flood, and theft coverage. But do you know about the hidden liabilities that impact the value of your business?
Your broker does.
From litigation to loss, a broker can tell you more about liabilities that you never knew existed and therefore protects you from them. You get free business advice and great, comprehensive insurance rates in one neat package.
And don’t worry about sharing private information. Brokers follow a code of ethics that requires them to keep all your discussions confidential.
9. Brokers Are Available on the Phone
Chatbots, messaging services, and forums are incredible customer service tools. But they aren’t what you want if you have an insurance question or a claim.
Unlike price comparison tools, your insurance broker is only a phone call away.
How to Choose Your Insurance Broker
Now that you know how an insurance broker adds value to your business, you might wonder, how do I find this partner and ally?
Start by asking for referrals and references from the local business community. You will quickly find out who is and isn’t happy with their insurance coverage.
Once you narrow down your choice, learn more about their specialist business experience. Do they work with businesses who require your industry-specific coverage? How often? What advice can they offer?
Remember, choosing an insurance broker is about more than price. You also need to consider the overall fit for your business and ensure that you are comfortable with the level of service they provide.
Your goal is to find someone who can ensure that you’re not underinsured or overinsured and who knows about the insurance coverage required and available in both Western Australia and further afield. Alternatively, call Grace Insurance.
Are You Ready to Find an Advocate and Broker?
Your small business insurance needs to protect your business, your employees, and your customers. To find the perfect insurance policy, you need a keen insurance broker who is an expert in the needs of SMEs like yours.
Are you ready to find out how much you can save by switching to an insurance broker? Click here to get a free business insurance quote.
Grace Insurance does not accept any liability arising out of any reliance on the information in this article. We urge you to consult your insurance broker for personal advise, as we only provided general advise.
