If you can’t insure it, your clients will find someone who can.
Insurance agents can no longer rely on the traditional customer profile — a married homeowner with two kids, two cars, and a clean driving record — to drive revenue growth.
“For every six standard risks that walk into your agency, there are likely four more that don’t fit the mold,” says David Wilson, Senior Vice President of Specialty Markets at Smart Choice. These non-standard risks, once seen as too complex or troublesome, are now one of the biggest opportunities for revenue growth, client retention, and diversification.
Agents who ignore E&S (Excess and Surplus lines), specialty, niche, or non-standard risks are leaving serious money on the table — and possibly pushing clients straight to competitors.
Here are five ways to turn those hard-to-place clients into a profitable part of your business.
Agents can start with one or two appointments and add more over time. There are no appointment fees, and agents keep 100% of commissions. The structure allows agents to engage as needed, based on their market and growth strategy.
“When you're writing standard personal and commercial lines, eventually you're going to run into something that doesn’t fit,” says Wilson. “That was the birth of Express Markets. Are you going to pass on that business, or help your agency capture it?”
- 1. Rethink What Non-Standard Means
Non-standard home and auto risks aren’t bad risks; they just fall outside standard carrier appetites. A home’s location near the coast, a prior loss, or a modular construction could push it into non-standard territory. In auto, it might be a foreign driver’s license or a spotty driving record.
The recent hard market and increasingly severe weather patterns have pushed even more risks out of the standard market, making non-standard business more mainstream than ever. For agents, that spells opportunity. These policies typically come with higher premiums, offering more revenue from a lower volume of business, but only if you’re willing to serve this segment.
- 2. Build Relationships in the Specialty Market
Roughly 40% of the U.S. auto insurance market is non-standard, according to Wilson. If your agency isn’t tapping into this segment, you’re sending nearly half of your potential clients to competitors.
How do you provide solutions for those out-of-the-box risks? It starts with building relationships with wholesale brokers and specialty insurers (e.g. surplus lines carriers, MGAs, and MGUs) who understand tough risks and can offer flexible underwriting. Many of these specialists also offer tech platforms that simplify submissions for complex business.
That process of courting the specialty market can seem intimidating. But Smart Choice helps simplify the process. The independent agency network’s Express Markets platform offers independent agents direct access to more than 40 E&S and specialty carriers, many with immediate appointment access within 24 hours. There are no fees or production requirements and 100% commission is paid directly to your agency. You don’t need to specialize in high-risk business to benefit; you just need to be ready when it walks through your door.
- 3. Bolster Revenue by Boosting Retention
Offering non-standard insurance solutions helps you grow your book and keep the clients you already have.
Clients get dropped from standard carriers for all kinds of reasons - including water loss, a DUI, poor credit, or even late payments. Without a non-standard option, those clients will be forced to leave your agency.
Having access to the right E&S or specialty markets helps you keep those clients. And if you educate them properly — setting expectations around coverages, exclusions, and payment plans — they’ll likely stay loyal while you help them work back toward a better-rated coverage option.
“There are about 40,000 independent agencies across the country. If you don't have this option for your clients, the agency down the street will,” says Wilson. “You don't have to do everything, but you need to have some offerings that fit within the strategic marketing of your agency, so that you can protect your clients, protect your revenue, and grow it as you go.”
- 4. Use Tech to Simplify the Process
Many agents avoid E&S because they think it’s time-consuming and complicated. But Insurtech has changed all that.
Digital quoting platforms, reinstatement options, and mobile payments make it faster and easier than ever to write and service non-standard business. All agents need to do is submit basic information and the technology can pull data using property addresses or VINs to pre-fill quotes and generate bindable options in minutes.
That said, tricky risks still require human expertise. With complex submissions, it’s always important to lean on your relationships, whether independent or through a network like Smart Choice, to negotiate the best terms for your clients.
Wilson reflects on the human touch: “We had one company that was only going direct-to-consumer several years ago. They said: ‘We don't need the independent agents. Our system is going to do it.' [...] With that approach, they found they could only penetrate 15% to 17% of the market in their best areas. So, they came back to us and said: ‘We need the agents, because they're the ones that talk to the clients.'
“People still like to talk to people, and they want to understand: ‘What are the coverages? Why am I in this situation? How do I get out of this situation? Tell me about the payment plans.' People still need a human touch. Once that company started engaging with us [and the agency network] their business started tripling.”
- 5. Use Smart Choice Express Markets
Wilson led the launch of Express Markets in 2017 to help independent agents capture and convert hard-to-place risks into revenue. The platform provides access to 40+ carriers across five categories:- E&S wholesalers
- Non-standard auto
- Non-standard homeowners
- Artisan contractors & small commercial GL
- Specialty & niche
Bottom Line: Don’t Let Old Thinking Cost You New Revenue
The non-standard market has evolved in recent years. With modern technology and easier market access, there’s really no reason for independent agents to avoid this business.
The numbers speak for themselves. In 2017, Express Markets wrote $130 million in premium, and by the end of 2024, that number was $740 million — with non-standard business accounting for 30% of Smart Choice’s total volume. That growth came from agents who adapted to meet their clients’ unique needs and offered specialty solutions others wouldn’t.
While clients with non-standard risks may not look like your “ideal” customer, they represent a huge underserved market. When you solve their problem, you earn their trust, referrals, and long-term loyalty.
So, stop throwing away your non-mainstream business and make the smart choice to turn those non-standard risks into new revenue.