Strong partnerships are at the heart of every good insurance business. But can carriers do a better job at communicating and being transparent with their broker partners?
Johnell Holly (pictured), senior vice president at FM Global, thinks so.
“Brokers often want to sell a product but don’t fully understand how it was developed. Opening the ‘black box’ and discussing our approach strengthens relationships,” he said.
Holly spoke to Insurance Business after his appointment to a newly created role at FM Global, overseeing global client services, sales, broker relations, marketing, and the company’s business risk consulting group.
His responsibilities include unifying and driving strategic alignment across the functions, ensuring they scale alongside the company’s long-term business goals while elevating the experience FM Global’s clients and brokers receive.
“Operating in silos has been effective for us as an organization, but to elevate our performance and truly excel in serving our clients and brokers, a unified strategy is essential,” Holly added. “We believe aligning our efforts in one direction will enhance our already strong performance.”
Fostering better communication and alignment with brokers has never been more critical amid continuing pressures, including global conflicts, rising interest rates, and inflation. Holly pointed out that the Fed’s decision to maintain high interest rates reflects ongoing economic challenges.
“The market is still in a position where insurance companies are looking for a little bit more rate right now,” he said. “Our clients are fatigued. They want something different, and we must recognize that.”
Insureds want more options as they face persisting hard market conditions and are reassessing broker relationships.
For its part, FM Global is offering unique value through its emphasis on loss prevention and risk management.
“We bring the uniqueness of loss prevention and engineering, which allows us to offer real long-term solutions,” Holly said.
He also pointed to initiatives such as membership credits, which demonstrate a commitment to sharing profits with clients and policyholders. FM Global has set aside approximately $1.4 billion for its policyholders this year, coinciding with the commercial property insurer’s 25th anniversary as a merged entity.
“Eighty percent of our underwriting income over the last nine quarters has been or will be returned to policyholders through our membership credit," said Holly. “When we have a good year, it comes back to our clients and our mutual policyholders.”
Holly revealed his role was created to consolidate various aspects of the company’s external image functions and operations. He said FM Global recognizes the importance of its broker partners and aims to improve transparency and relationships, domestically and internationally.
“We can be a much more transparent organization,” Holly said. “We want [broker partners] to recognize their value to us.
“We also want to incorporate some training initiatives to help our broker partners and ensure folks understand what we bring to the table and how we bring it to the table.”
While FM Global has a strong domestic presence, there are opportunities for growth in markets such as Germany, Asia, and the UK.
Holly revealed that the insurer plans to refine products to better resonate with international markets and strengthen relationships with broker partners in these geographies.
Holly joined FM Global in 2001 as a consultant engineer and has served in various roles across the organization. Building on his extensive experience, he aims to lead the team towards a better-integrated and more efficient operation.
But it’s not just about fixing what’s broken. For Holly, the next steps will also involve leveraging FM Global’s strengths.
His immediate priorities include understanding the current successes and challenges within the company’s departments, collaborating with the team to develop a clear vision and strategy, and ensuring that all components work together effectively to achieve common objectives.
“We’re going to look at all the great things that we’re doing and develop a strategy that will take advantage of those things,” said Holly.
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