Why You Need The Extra Information to Make a Big Difference

It doesn't need to be huge, it just needs to add another piece to the puzzle and happen consistently.

Because the more data you have on a risk the more likely things will go the way you and your clients want.

That's how you tell a better insurance story and how you can stand out over everyone looking for a shortcut.

Lisa Duncan, RPS Executive Vice President, talks about the steps she takes and the places she goes that improve those chances.

Full Episode Transcript

Joey Giangola: Lisa Duncan, how are you doing today?

Lisa Duncan: I'm well, how are you?

Joey Giangola: Yes, I'm doing good. I want to know this before we really go anywhere. And that is, do you have a special sort of talent that you really appreciate, but you don't get to use it that often. But then when you do, you don't think people appreciate it as much as you think they should?

Lisa Duncan: Wow. That's a really good question. And I think that I'm pretty good at reading people and reading situations. But I don't know if people don't appreciate it. I would have to think about that. I don't know. I can also place really good paint colors. So there's that.

Joey Giangola: I think both of those count one because the paint's easy right. You're like you put all this effort into a nice paint color. Somebody comes over and they just don't say anything and then you're devastated.

Lisa Duncan: Yeah, exactly.

Joey Giangola: Reading people. I mean, again, they just might not appreciate the level of subtle awareness you bring to situations because you've already read the room. So your answer works, not that there's a wrong one. For me, it's a little easier. I enjoy a good summer playlist at a barbecue. I like putting one together.

Lisa Duncan: Oh, that's a really great talent.

Joey Giangola: And then you just kind of, I don't know that I'm good at it. I just like doing it and just when people don't respond to the music song after song, just a part of you sort of dies inside every time. You're like, I feel like, but anyways. But let's move this over to insurance. And I think this is, I'm kind of curious to hear what the answer would be. Is there something, because there's a lot that goes into what you do every day. But a lot of it goes mostly unnoticed and maybe unappreciated in a lot of cases. What's maybe the thing that stands out to you where you kind of have that back and forth. And really in any direction of the process where people maybe underestimate it or don't appreciate it as much as they should?

Lisa Duncan: That's a great question. I would say probably, and this isn't necessarily innate to me, but I would say any good broker. Whether that's in the retailer, the wholesale space is synthesizing data in a way that it's easy to understand for the underwriter, understand for the client and understand for maybe even anyone internally. So you have a litany of clients when you are in the insurance space. I think that's the thing that most people don't realize and don't appreciate. And so you have to pivot and craft your product for all of those clients. And some of those clients are capital c and some of those clients are lower case c but yeah, I would say taking the information and making it understandable and palatable for the various populations that you are approaching. That's something that I think outsiders in the industry or outside of the industry don't appreciate. And I think sometimes it's not acknowledged by clients. Or what it takes to get information from them just spewing out something and then us making it sound way more technical.

Joey Giangola: That's that subtle translation I think that does get lost quite a bit. Now, being that data is the new gold rush that has been going on for several years now, is there a piece of information that you find sort of key or that maybe is not paid attention to enough?

Lisa Duncan: I don't think that it's new necessarily, but I think the data and information that's online that isn't necessarily provided by the client is still really helpful. In my own experience, and I don't remember doing this when I started in the industry. I just don't think we were there as a society with technology, but in my previous role and even still now, I find myself spending a lot of time on department of building websites or county sites and things like that. And I know it sounds like, I don't know if it's silly, but it just sounds really archaic to do it. But that's sort of, it can be a lot of information there that your clients can't provide or you otherwise wouldn't have access to. And I think it's part of that data cloud if you will. There's a lot of information out there that can help us tell a better story. And some of it, a lot of it is on county and building websites.

Joey Giangola: And that's probably, would you say that's an extra step that sometimes gets maybe overlooked in the process of pulling in that little extra tiny piece that might add to the puzzle?

Lisa Duncan: Yeah, absolutely. Well, I mean it takes time. So it's something else, brokers, underwriters, whoever. Everyone is super busy and inundated with a lot of things to do. And it would just be really nice if everything came packaged, has a nice little bow on it and you could just populate it and send it off. So yes, it's [inaudible] than other staff, but I think that's how you differentiate yourself. That's what we talk about here at RPS. We talk about data and the ability to have insights on our clients and our carrier partners and data is the key part of that insight ecosystem. So gathering the information and being able to manipulate it, to determine where we should focus our efforts or where we need to do things better, et cetera, et cetera. But that takes time. So yeah, it's a key piece. Its additional work but it can be incredibly valuable.

Joey Giangola: Yeah I guess the question you sort of mentioned that we weren't there necessarily when you got in the industry. What has that progress been like for you in terms of what you have been able to kind of do now versus when you got into it? How surprised are you as to where we're at? Are we where you think we should be or do you think? I guess if you had to put sort of a dot on a map, are we making progress to maybe your expectations? Not that anybody's counting.

Lisa Duncan: Well it's funny that you asked this question because I was thinking the other day when I was making dinner, why am I equating to making dinner, but I can just remember being over the stove and thinking about this. How I can remember, I started with Marsh in Pittsburgh and I can remember the part of my training process was learning how to go into the file room and how the actual blue folder needed to be organized with, and you had to use the double hole punch for the top of the page and it had the little arms that you would fold over and eyelid a certain way. And you would get audited and scored on how it was part of your performance review about how things were in here, was everything documented, et cetera, et cetera. And I was chuckling to myself about now it's shared folders.

It's not necessarily that your performance review is based on it, but it's really for your own benefit that that information is there and from a continuity standpoint. If you're indisposed and I can't access, somebody else can and right away. So I would say I definitely would have expected us to have been there by now for something like that. But overall, yes and no. I think there's parts of what we do that have come a long way that I'm like, yes, this was awesome. I'm grateful that we have found the light, are seeing the light about for example like claims handling or site visits. Being able, and I would say the pandemic also contributed to this too is there's so much you can do with remote videos and you can actually see things and do things and you don't have to physically be there. I think that's great.

On the flip side, no. Why do you, I'm trying to think of something, I'm trying to think of something that's like kind of archaic and I don't know why we have it. Oh, amendatory forms on policy. I don't know how familiar you are with policies per se, but especially on a property policy, some of our carrier partners with every state on that form. And so the policy is like 300 pages long and I would have thought, I can remember that from the beginning of my insurance career and it is still in existence today. And I would have thought that we would have figured out a way to just say, hey, when you send a policy, here's a link.

These are the most updated amendatory forms. Check it out. Because nobody actually reads them and it just it's paper. Although it may have been sent electronically, it's still a big PDF. So yeah, I think there's some things that we do really well in the industry from a technological standpoint and from modernization and being contemporary. And then there's other things that are just like, I don't know, will this ever change? Maybe it keeps a couple of people employed and that's why it'll stay like this. I don't know. But yes and no, it boils down to.

Joey Giangola: It's a constant battle of fighting the old ways and how do we kind of continue to progress. The other thing around this conversation too is I think that's interesting is the more data we have, the better we can be. But then obviously the more data that we get, the more nervous people get about. So there's that whole balancing act of like how much we get, how much they want to give. I mean, how do you balance that out in terms of like... I guess, where have you seen people start pushing back? Or what is that line looking like today in terms of clients' comfort with the information that is needed to improve the overall insurance experience?

Lisa Duncan: Yeah, so I work in the property space. So the information that I receive is some of it could be proprietary or maybe manufacturing process. So occasionally I've gotten pushback from clients on that about, well I don't want to share about how we make this class or how we... And underwriters need that to understand well, are you introducing some specific chemical or something in the process and that could make your hazardous level would be higher or lower or what have you. I think though, if we were talking about any type of third party liability, so workers' comps or GLs or especially any financial management liability coverages, although those particular lines have quite a bit of information that is highly sensitive to even place the business and has always. With the recent data breaches that insurance carriers have had and brokerages have had, and the concern about privacy in general and how, I don't think anybody is concerned that any employee of the insurance firms that have had these breaches are an issue, it's the bad actors.

So yeah, it gets a lot of highlight in the news and that makes people panic. So I think that clients are definitely more sensitive about it but then how am I going to insure you properly if I don't really know what I'm insuring says the underwriter. And then the broker says, how am I creating this narrative about what you do to get you insurance if I don't really know what you do. Or I'm ill informed or misinformed. Yeah, I think it's everybody trying to be as transparent as possible but making sure that they are using secure processes which I think we make a good effort to do that as an industry.

Joey Giangola: So you mentioned obviously working in the property space, when agents come and approach maybe a certain location that, what I'm after here is when you're dealing with the agents and they're dealing with something that might be a little above their weight class. They may be going after something that might be a little outside of what they might normally go after. What do you see? How can you help them? What are some things that they should really do when they find themselves because everybody wants a better opportunity right? How are they prepared for that situation when maybe there's something that they haven't dealt with before?

Lisa Duncan: I think it and it applies in normal non-insurance life situations but ask questions. The most success I've had with clients, whether those clients be my retail agents or clients be the actual insured buyer is really understanding what it is that what are their concerns, what's keeping them up at night and what it is that they do. I feel like when you start trying to fill in the blanks on something, is when you can mock up the process. And so asking questions, I don't think there's anything, there's no silver bullet or a wave your wand, or you just have this super power to get a better deal. I mean I think relationships are a component of that, but also if you're still creating and cultivating relationships, having the most information and being informed and being able to be transparent with your carrier partners or your retail agents, I think that's the key. Again, I think that applies for any relationship whether it's romantic or platonic or professional, it's the ability to communicate in a way that is honest and transparent and clear.

Joey Giangola: Let's bring things full circle. Lisa you brought that relationship up in terms of the agent and how it relates to the broker. What's something that they might be really good at that you feel they might not get the credit for in that agent broker exchange?

Lisa Duncan: Can I specify that even more? When you say retailer, who are you? Because in the retail space, you could have the broker who is the placing broker, you could have the account executive. I'm going to throw out the account executive because I feel like I've always been the placing broker and then maybe have been the account executive as well. I've never exclusively been the account executive. And while I've run into some account executives that I thought weren't as strong in that field, there are others that I have worked with that were phenomenal.

And I think the shout out for them is something that sometimes isn't appreciated, is their ability to get the insurer, the buyer of the insurance just comfortable. And I'm not just talking about like socializing, taking over happy meals or something like that. But in that professional relationship to then generate that transparent communication, that honesty and that channel of communication that is so valuable for the brokers, for the underwriters, for everybody that's part of this process. So I would say that accounting executives just don't get enough shine for that. I would give them those props. And it's something that I don't think that a lot of people acknowledge sometimes.

Joey Giangola: All right, well that leads me to another interesting question. Since you do have sort of a view across a lot of accounting executives and you could sort of say to agents outside of that comfortability that they can bring to it. Is there maybe something maybe a little more specific, just even detail oriented that if you could implement one sort of task or procedure or process to your account executives today, what would that be? No pressure if you want to change [crosstalk].

Lisa Duncan: No, I was just thinking. The reason why I'm noodling or ruminating with this so much is that I know something that I would love them to do for my corner of the world, the placement. But I realize that they are the account executive over can be up to 8, 10 lines so.

Joey Giangola: Go ahead and be a little selfish Lisa. Go ahead.

Lisa Duncan: Oh I get to be selfish, okay. All right. So if it was just me and just my line, I would, I really just wish more individuals would organize the information that they're providing. So instead of just like a data dump of things. So they might make it that client very comfortable and that's great. And then you have this onslaught of information and it's just a lot to sift through. So I wish that my account executive brethren could organize that better.

Joey Giangola: All right, Lisa. I've got three more questions for you.

Lisa Duncan: Sure.

Joey Giangola: The first one, very simply, what is one thing you hope you never forget?

Lisa Duncan: I hope I never forget to read the entire email. Always, always read the entire email. Just don't stop, don't. No, read the entire email and read it again.

Joey Giangola: Seems simple but very helpful I would imagine.

Lisa Duncan: Yes.

Joey Giangola: All right. On the other side of that, what's one thing you still have yet to learn?

Lisa Duncan: I still have yet to learn patience. And this applies to me personally and professionally. I have been very fortunate to have my career accelerated and even started my career, since I started my senior year of college. All of those things have been fast-paced for me which I like but also there's just some things that you can't learn or know without time. And I can't make time go slower. I can't make it go faster. I mean, it's like when you're a little kid and you're like, oh man, you're seven. And you're like, I can't wait to be 15. And then you keep wanting to be older and older and then it comes to the point that you're like, oh, I don't want to be 40 yet. Or I don't want to be 50 yet or whatever it is. But yeah, I hope that I can continue in my life to learn to stop, breathe, look around and understand that I don't control time, I just need to use it wisely and I need to be patient about how it transpires.

Joey Giangola: Right Lisa, the last question to you. If I were to hand you a magic wand of sorts to reshape, change, speed up, alter insurance, really in any way shape or form that we maybe haven't touched on yet, what is that thing? Where is it going and what's it doing?

Lisa Duncan: This is super nerdy, but I do feel passionate about it just thinking about it more and more as I get further in my career. I wish with this wand I could make an insurance 101 class be part of a curriculum in your gen EDS in your first year of college. I think that sounds so, I don't know how many people would be super excited about it, but I think there'd be enough that people would, I don't know, there might be more interest in the industry. Because otherwise they're just isn't only because you know somebody or something. But maybe yeah, some sort of introduction to... Like I really wish that I had learned in high school how to, although TurboTax is really helpful to do your taxes or something like that. I never use fractions right now.

It would be really nice to have learned some of those basic life skills or something. And insurance as much as nobody I think would say it out really out loud, it does permeate a lot of how business works, how society works. We need it for ships to sail and cars and trucks to move and trains to be on the rails. And yeah, if there is some sort of like introduction to how risk management works in the world, I think that could maybe make people conscientious of what's going on. [inaudible] too much to ask for.

Joey Giangola: This has been fantastic. I'm going to leave right there.

Lisa Duncan: Okay, all right. Sounds good.