I am back in the saddle now that I’m off the road, and this content is going to come to you fast and furious. Today I’m going to share with you one of the easiest hacks that I have that you can use to drive a wedge with a prospect, and it comes from all places Certificates of insurance.
For crying out loud! What are you talking about, David? What in the world are you doing with certificates? Well, listen, I could go down the easy road and say that I look at certificates to make sure that the auto limits are right and the General Liability limits are right. We all know to do that. But here’s the one that I find more often than not allows me to have a conversation past that initial stage with the prospect, and it involves the umbrella, but specifically workers’ compensation. How many times have you looked at a certificate of insurance and you see that the Employer’s Liability limits on the umbrella are at the state minimum or on the workers’ comp? Rather, how many times have you looked at a certificate of insurance and realized that the employer’s liability limits on the workers comp are at the state minimum? We know that the umbrella is not going to write over top of that, and it is an extremely inexpensive charge for you to take those limits from state minimum to a million across the board, so you get the full benefit of the umbrella riding over top of it.
Now, if you’re a younger producer who’s new to the game, this may not seem like a big deal to you, but I have to tell you, getting a little longer in the tooth as an old dog these days. I’ve seen some claims that hit those employer liability limits. More importantly, I’ve seen them hit the umbrella because the employer liability limits were exhausted. Thank God my clients had million-dollar limits. We’ll get into more about what that looks like, talking about occupational disease and some of the ways that other people can sue an employer under employer’s liability, but for right now, what you need to know is there’s really no reason to ever write employer liability limits for anything less than a million across the board.
If you’re writing umbrellas for your clients right now, I would highly recommend that you go back and look to make sure that it’s doing what it’s supposed to do and writing over everything, including those employer liabilities on the workers comp. If it’s not, you’re leaving yourself open to a guy like me coming in and pointing it out, and I can promise you when I use the claim scenarios that I use, I’m going to get that business owner’s attention. So take some time, review your clients, look at the certificates you’re issuing and make sure that umbrella is doing its job and you’re going to be safe from the predators out there.
In the ever-evolving world of commercial insurance, marketing has become a critical lever for growth. Yet most agencies still struggle to understand what’s actually working. From websites that generate leads with no attribution to CRM systems that silo vital data, insurance agencies are often flying blind.
If you’re a commercial insurance producer trying to grow in the middle market, you’re probably aware that the old-school prospecting methods—cold calling hundreds of businesses, dropping off trinkets, hoping someone is “coming up on renewal”—are no longer enough. In today’s competitive environment, success isn’t about how many people you reach. It’s about reaching the right people at the right time with the right message.
Too many agents stop learning once they’ve earned their license. The bare minimum—meeting continuing education requirements—is not enough in today’s climate. Producers often resort to online forums, asking where they can complete CE hours “as quickly as possible.” This mindset directly impacts their ability to communicate complex subjects like reinsurance or risk modeling to clients in an understandable way. As a result, they struggle to retain accounts and close new business in an increasingly competitive market.
The problem? Too many producers are pitching too soon, to the wrong people, with nothing more than a quote to offer. This article walks through how to close more business by positioning yourself as a trusted advisor, selling Total Cost of Risk (TCOR) outcomes, and using a structured approach to differentiate at every stage of the sales process.
In the modern commercial insurance landscape, trust is no longer built solely through in-person meetings, networking events, or polished brochures. It’s earned digitally—often before a prospect ever takes your call. As sales dynamics shift and competition tightens, the producers who will thrive are those who understand one thing: educational content is the new handshake.
Most commercial insurance producers think of referral networks as an afterthought—something that might generate a lead or two if they attend enough events, shake enough hands, or stay active in their BNI chapter. But the producers who consistently dominate the middle market think differently. They treat referral networks like revenue engines, built with the same discipline as a sales pipeline, and they use those relationships not only to generate appointments but to recruit the next generation of elite producers.
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