Most companies, including those in the insurance industry, would always claim that customer satisfaction is their main goal, but how exactly do they make their clients happy? In this interview, Arian Ebrahimi and Stanislav Kojokin, respectively the president and CEO of KASE Insurance, describe how their company offers solutions worthy of their DSB Claims Award for Brokerage of the Year at the 2021 Insurance Business Canada Awards. KASE Insurance’s products range from liability, employer and specialty insurance to transportation and construction insurance, among others.
Insurance brokers, said Ebrahimi, usually contact their clients every year before account renewal, answer clients’ phone calls on weekends, and say they care about their clients, but being proactive means maintaining a broker-client experience through consistent participation in the client’s business plan.
“It takes a certain level of trust, but the idea is that in these renewal meetings or whatever you’re planning with the client, you should be trying to understand the client’s challenges, what keeps them up at night, and where their business is headed,” Ebrahimi said. “With that connection, we can really start doing that broker work and figuring out what products the client needs to know about, which markets are going to support these ongoing changes the client is facing, and how often you should be checking in. That’s really proactive service.”
During the pandemic, clients’ touch points have become even more important as businesses adapted to changing circumstances. This has prompted brokers to become more keenly aware of their clients’ concerns and involved in finding solutions.
In terms of getting a foothold in the commercial lines segment, it’s a challenge that the two executives have hurdled. Kojokin said he was expected to have industry experience even in the early stage of his career. Otherwise, he would have been placed in a kind of “graduation program” that would have required him to work in administration, then in personal insurance until he was entrusted to handle commercial insurance accounts. At this point, he offers a time-tested insight that could help less experienced industry professionals.
“Arian and I were able to have good mentors, we were able to skip those steps, those processes,” he said. “The one thing we found crucial in our careers was finding a great mentor, a great coach who was able to walk us through how to win accounts, how to differentiate ourselves in the industry and build a great book of business.”
Kojokin noted that the technical part of commercial insurance motivates executives like him to continue learning. “You will never know everything, you will always have to take courses, you will always have to admit that you have to learn the industry trends and the changes that are happening, which makes this industry so much more fun. I definitely recommend every new broker to go out there and find themselves a great mentor,” he said.
For young brokers, another career challenge is choosing the brokerage with the kind of leadership that is right for them. Kojokin said the choice would depend on the type of job one is looking for.
“If you’re looking to become a commercial broker and build your niche or business, practice specialization, then you definitely have to find a leader that’s aligned with [your] goals and has a game plan on how you can reach those goals,” he said. Such a game plan can include ongoing sales coaching and familiarization with digital tools, as well as having a supportive account management team that enables brokers to concentrate on building relationships with their clients and sustaining the growth of their business.
Relationship building is an ability that is likely to be tested as brokers strive to meet greater client expectations for the rest of 2022.
“I think that clients are interested now more than ever in finding value in that expense called insurance,” Ebrahimi said. “Brokers should be expecting to have to prove that value. And that’s what we’re doing when we see every new business client – we’re outlining what value we provide and showing the client not just [how to save] money but how they would be better serviced in a firm like ours.”
