KIA&B 2016 Volume 21, Issue 2 | Page 6

| TECHNOLOGY & YOUR AGENCY | The Right Property Data Improves Service Jerry Fox W hy doesn’t the carrier already have property data on this home? Is this quote accurate, or will I have to go back to the homeowner with a revision? All agents want to provide the best product for their customers, but questions like the ones above make it difficult to quote policies with multiple carriers. Often, timing is 4 critical, and the need for speed is essential to a consumer. For example, imagine a scenario where an agent receives a frantic phone call from a homeowner who is trying to close a mortgage loan but forgot the need to provide proof of homeowners insurance coverage. This agent may choose to quote a policy with a single carrier knowing that it can take an average of 20 minutes to enter consumer-supplied property information at each carrier’s portal with no guarantee that the quotes will be based on a consistent and accurate KANSAS INSURANCE AGENT & BROKER |MARCH - APRIL 2016| reconstruction cost. Therefore, while bidding a homeowners policy with a single carrier may get the job done, a question remains: Is this the best product for my client? Comparative rating vendors can help agents achieve the goal of recommending the best product by reducing the time it takes to bid multiple carriers and bind a homeowners policy. Unfortunately, timing is only half of the equation. The other half is accuracy.