Blog · Board and management reporting · Insurance brokers
The ten sales KPIs a commercial insurance broker should run on, each with its formula, the export it comes from and what it tells you: retention by count and by income, renewal watch, placement share per client, lines held against the norm, new business against lost, carrier concentration per line, remarketing activity, claims experience against retention, income per client after servicing cost, and account executive book mix. Also the three measures most brokers miss, the figures to drop, the identities, and who owns what.
A broker's revenue renews once a year, client by client, and most of what it could earn sits in lines the client places elsewhere. The measures that matter show which renewals are at risk, how much of each client's programme the broker holds, and where the book depends on one market.
| # | Measure | Formula | Export | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Retention, count and income | Clients renewed ÷ clients due; prior income of renewed clients ÷ prior income due | Policy ledger | Whether the clients leaving are the large ones |
| 2 | Renewal watch | Policies inside the notice window with no remarketing or review activity logged, by income | Policy ledger; activity log | Renewals drifting toward expiry |
| 3 | Placement share per client | Premium placed by the broker ÷ estimated total programme premium | Placement ledger; client schedule; estimates by source | Lines placed elsewhere |
| 4 | Lines held against sector norm | Lines placed ÷ median lines for clients of the sector and size | Placement ledger; client master | Clients thinner than their peers |
| 5 | New business against lost | New income won − income lost, per office and executive | Policy ledger | Whether the book is growing or being replaced |
| 6 | Carrier concentration per line | Largest carrier share of premium, per line; top three share | Placement ledger | Dependence on one market's appetite |
| 7 | Remarketing activity | Renewals with alternative quotes obtained ÷ renewals over a stated income | Activity log; quote records | Whether large renewals are tested before the client tests them |
| 8 | Claims experience against retention | Retention for clients with a claim in the year, by outcome and handling time, against those without | Claims file; policy ledger | Whether claims service is keeping or losing clients |
| 9 | Income per client after servicing | Commission and fees − servicing cost by activity | Ledger; time or activity records | Clients who cost more than they earn |
| 10 | Book mix per executive | New income ÷ total income in the book; clients per executive | Policy ledger | Books that stopped growing |
Every one of these is computed per account, per account executive and office, and in total, and every one carries an identity that must hold before the table is shown.
Placement share. The ledger records what was placed. What the client bought elsewhere appears nowhere unless someone asks and writes it down.
Income retention. Count retention is reported because it is higher.
Carrier concentration per line. Seen as a placement matter until the carrier withdraws and forty renewals need a new home in one quarter.
An office retained 92 of 100 clients due this year. The eight lost included its second and fifth largest. Income retention was 79 percent. Of the eight, six were inside the notice window with no remarketing logged, and five had a claim in the prior year that took more than ninety days to settle. Count retention said the year was fine.
Policies in force. A count that treats a fleet and a single van alike.
Quotes issued. Cost, not achievement.
Gross written premium as the only growth measure. Moves with rate; income and client numbers show what the office did.
| Table | Must hold |
|---|---|
| Retention | Due = renewed + renewed late + lost + pending |
| Placement | Client premium by line sums to the placement ledger; carrier shares sum to 100 percent per line |
| New against lost | Opening income + new − lost ± rate and exposure change = closing income |
| Book mix | Every client has one executive |
A table whose identity fails is a table with a row missing or counted twice. It is not shown until it is fixed.
| Measure | Owner | Reviewed |
|---|---|---|
| Renewal watch; remarketing activity | Account executives; office head | Weekly |
| Retention; new against lost; book mix | Office head; sales director | Monthly |
| Placement share; lines against norm | Account executives; sales director | Quarterly |
| Carrier concentration; claims and retention; income after servicing | Placement head; claims head; finance | Quarterly |
A measure with no owner is a metric, not a KPI; see KPI versus metric versus measure.
Ten measures from the policy and placement ledger, the claims file and the activity log. The renewal watch is weekly; placement share is where the growth is. Covirage computes all of them from the exports brokers already produce, files only, with the definitions stated and the identities checked. See Covirage for insurance brokers.
The share of a client's total insurance programme that the broker places. A client buying property and liability through the broker and its motor fleet, cyber and directors' cover elsewhere is a fraction of what it could be. The lines placed elsewhere are found from the client's schedule, from questions at renewal, and from the norm for similar clients.
Ninety-two percent of clients retained can be 80 percent of income if the two largest left. Income retention, with contraction on retained clients shown separately, is what the profit and loss account feels. Count retention tells you about service; income retention tells you about the business.
A broker placing 60 percent of a line with one carrier is exposed to that carrier's appetite. When it withdraws or reprices, a large share of renewals need remarketing at once, and clients who are surprised at renewal leave. Concentration per line, with the alternative markets tested, is retention risk seen early.