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Blog · Board and management reporting · Insurance brokers

Lost at renewal: why clients left and to whom, from the placement ledger

How a commercial insurance broker analyses the business it lost at renewal from the placement ledger and the renewal outcome file: lost premium by line, by carrier, by account executive and by stated reason, the share lost to a named competing broker, the clients lost after a remarketing exercise against those lost without one, and the pattern that says whether the book is losing on price, service or coverage.

The short answerEvery renewal has an outcome: renewed, lost to a competing broker, lost to a direct market, or non-renewed by the client. From the placement ledger and the outcome file, lost premium is split by line, carrier, account executive and stated reason, and by whether the placement was remarketed before it was lost. A book losing mainly non-remarketed placements on price has a process problem; one losing remarketed placements to the same competitor has a proposition problem. The split says which, and the account executive list says where.

A broker's retention rate is 88 percent and the leadership team is content. The 12 percent lost is $6m of premium, two thirds of it in one line, half of it to one competitor, and most of it never remarketed. The placement ledger and the outcome file say all of that. This guide sets out lost-at-renewal analysis, the splits, and the pattern that names the problem.

The measures

Per renewal:

Outcome: renewed, lost to broker, lost to direct, non-renewed Remarketed before outcome: yes or no Reason, as recorded

Per line, carrier, account executive, competitor, reason:

Lost premium, lost count, lost share of premium due

The rows you need

  • Placement ledger: client, policy, line, carrier, premium, renewal date, account executive.
  • Outcomes: policy, outcome, competitor category, reason, remarketed flag.

Client and policy identifiers only.

The assertion

premium due for renewal = renewed + lost to broker + lost to direct + non-renewed

Every renewal in one outcome. A renewal with no outcome past its date is listed as unresolved, which is often a lost placement nobody recorded.

A worked analysis

Premium due: $48m. Lost: $5.9m.

Split Largest cell Lost premium Share of lost
By line Property $3.8m 64%
By competitor Broker category B $2.9m 49%
By account executive AE-07 $2.1m 36%
By reason Price $3.6m 61%
By remarketed Not remarketed $4.1m 69%
Pattern Present?
Losing on price, not remarketed Yes: process
Losing remarketed placements to one competitor Partly: $1.2m
Losing on service or coverage No

Two thirds of the lost premium left on price from placements that were never taken to market. The client got a quote and the broker had not. That is a renewal process finding with the account executive named, and it is a cheaper fix than a proposition problem.

Per account executive

AE Premium due Lost Lost share Not remarketed share of lost Top reason
AE-07 $9.1m $2.1m 23% 88% Price
AE-12 $11.4m $0.6m 5% 20% Coverage

Account executive AE-07 loses at four times the rate and almost never remarkets. The one-to-one has a list.

Where it goes wrong

Retention rate only. Eighty-eight percent, and no split.

Outcomes not recorded. Half the losses are unresolved renewals.

Reason taken at face value. Every loss is price. Show the distribution per executive.

Remarketed flag missing. The process finding is invisible.

Every quarter, lost premium by five splits

Mapped once, the placement ledger and the outcome file produce the outcomes, the five splits, the pattern and the per-executive view every quarter. Covirage builds this from the exports as they are. The insurance brokers page describes the setup, and the renewal watch guide covers the remarketing activity that this analysis shows the cost of skipping.

Questions people ask

Where does the reason come from?

The account executive records it at the outcome: price, coverage, service, relationship, or client change. It is imperfect and it is the only source. The report shows the reason distribution per account executive, and an executive whose every loss is 'price' is a pattern in itself.

What is a remarketed placement?

One where the broker approached alternative carriers before renewal and presented options. Lost placements that were never remarketed are the clearest process finding: the client went to market and the broker did not.

Does this need client names?

No. Client identifiers, line, carrier, premium, outcome, reason and the account executive. The competing broker, where known, is a category or a coded identifier.