Adaptation Made 2023 A Success For Smart Choice Agents
by Mark Brandt
As we raise our glasses to toast a successful and quite eventful 2023 in Commercial Lines, one word comes to mind to describe how we’ve accomplished tremendous growth together: adaptation. Looking back at the articles we’ve published in the magazine this year about Commercial Lines at Smart Choice, you can follow the rapid evolution of the marketplace and how Smart Choice and our member agents have adapted to not only survive but thrive.
As the year began, you heard about the importance of diversification into Commercial, as the hardening Personal Lines marketplace was predicted to not only continue but accelerate. We posited that such a pivot was not a scary endeavor, as Commercial has similar foundational coverages as Personal Lines and the additional exposures businesses face are not difficult to grasp.
We suggested ways to get started identifying opportunities and provided a simple yet powerful platform to enable our agencies’ success: Smart Start Commercial.
As the calendar turned to Spring, the topic changed to expanding our commercial portfolio so our agents could capitalize on commercial opportunities beyond main street small business. We built a team at Smart Start to provide a solution for Trucking and other Transportation risks. Our agents had an incredible new resource that opened doors to further agency diversification and revenue streams. The Personal Lines hard market was indeed accelerating, and Smart Choice agents found success with our expanding Commercial portfolio.
As we entered the second half of the year, the hard market raged on, and Smart Choice continued to focus on solutions. Even as the hard market realities finally landed on our doorstep, Commercial Lines remained largely “open for business” outside of certain geographies and challenging classes of business that began flooding the marketplace.
Once again, we adapted to the market and emphasized other opportunities in Commercial (i.e., workers comp is actually a soft market), but also the safety net provided by our Express Markets vertical. As some classes of historically standard business began leaking into the E&S space, Express Markets was there to offer a landing place to retain that business in the agency.
As we wrap up the year and celebrate the growth we’ve collectively accomplished, most crystal balls predict that we’re in for a continuation of current market conditions for perhaps another year. Here at Smart Choice, we will continue to invest in Commercial Lines to ensure our agents are equipped to meet the demands of a rapidly evolving marketplace. Soon we will again expand our robust portfolio of markets and products that will allow our agents to adapt and win business.