Why Your Business Deserves Honest Insurance Advice: Transparency in Commercial Coverage
Whether you're running a construction company, manufacturing facility, healthcare practice, or municipal operation, the same underlying issue affects your insurance purchasing: about 65% of organizations in high-risk industries buy coverage from just a handful of carriers.
This concentration isn't coincidence; it's the result of how traditional insurance brokerage works.
How Insurance Agency Goals Create Conflicts
Insurance agencies operate with a simple business model: write policies with preferred carriers, grow that book of business, earn larger commissions and bonuses.
There's nothing inherently wrong with making money, but this creates an obvious conflict when agencies claim to offer "unbiased" advice while having financial incentives to steer clients toward specific carriers.
Most agencies can easily manipulate which insurance company appears most attractive. They control which underwriters receive submissions, can request certain carriers to decline quotes to create the appearance of shopping the market, and often present limited options that favor their most profitable relationships.
Organizations across industries like construction firms, manufacturers, healthcare providers, municipalities, and nonprofits face particular vulnerability because they're managing tight budgets while often lacking insurance expertise among their staff.
Business owners and administrators trust their agents to shop the market fairly, but they rarely have visibility into the actual process.
The Financial Stakes Across Industries
When businesses don't receive truly competitive insurance proposals, the financial impact compounds year after year. A mid-sized construction company spending $150,000 annually on general liability and workers' compensation might save $25,000 or more with proper market competition. A manufacturing facility could see even larger savings on their property and casualty coverage.
Over a five-year period, these savings represent real money that could fund equipment upgrades, employee benefits, or business expansion. For public entities, it's taxpayer dollars that could support community services or infrastructure improvements.
How Traditional Insurance Brokers Limit Your Options
Most insurance brokers work within these constraints:
Limited carrier relationships: Many agencies only have appointments with a handful of carriers
Profit-driven placement: Brokers naturally favor carriers offering the highest commissions
Insufficient market testing: True competitive bidding requires extensive carrier outreach most agencies won't invest in
Lack of transparency: Clients rarely see the actual submission process or underwriter responses
The result is a system where businesses think they're getting competitive quotes when they're actually seeing a pre-filtered selection designed to benefit the broker's bottom line.
Fee-Based Insurance Consulting
Our solution addresses these conflicts through a fee-based consulting model that separates advice from sales commissions. Here's how it works:
Unbiased Carrier Selection
Without commission-based relationships, we can objectively evaluate which carriers offer the best combination of pricing, coverage, and service for each client's specific needs.
Comprehensive Market Testing
We systematically approach every viable carrier in the marketplace, not just the ones paying the highest commissions. This often reveals coverage options and pricing that traditional brokers never present.
Full Process Documentation
Clients receive detailed reports showing exactly where we submitted their account, which carriers quoted, which declined, and why. This transparency eliminates the guesswork and builds genuine confidence in the insurance purchasing decision.
The Safety Connection Advantage
Our approach goes beyond insurance procurement. Because we provide hands-on safety consulting services, we're actually on job sites with our clients' teams. Whether it's a construction site, manufacturing floor, or municipal facility, this gives us unique insight into their operations, safety culture, and risk exposures that office-bound insurance brokers simply can't match.
When we present a client's account to underwriters, we can speak authoritatively about their safety programs, training initiatives, and risk management efforts. This detailed knowledge often results in better pricing and coverage terms because underwriters have confidence in our assessment of the risk.
Questions Every Organization Should Ask Their Insurance Agent
Before your next insurance renewal, consider asking these questions:
Which carriers will you submit our account to, and why?
Can you provide documentation of all carrier responses, including declinations?
What financial incentives do you receive from each carrier?
How do you ensure we're seeing all available market options?
Can you provide references from other businesses in our industry you've helped save money?
Making Better Insurance Decisions
Organizations across all industries deserve insurance advice that prioritizes their interests over broker profits. Whether you're managing taxpayer funds or private capital, you deserve to know your money is being spent wisely on competitive insurance coverage.
The solution isn't eliminating insurance agents. They provide valuable services. Instead, it's creating transparency in the process and ensuring that advice comes from sources without conflicting financial incentives.
When business leaders and public officials have confidence in their insurance purchasing decisions, they can focus on their primary mission: growing their operations and serving their communities effectively.
Your insurance advisor should be your advocate, not your salesperson. The difference matters more than you might think.
At Tawney, we believe organizations across all industries deserve transparent, unbiased insurance consulting.
Our Total Risk Management Solution combines hands-on safety services with fee-based insurance consulting to ensure our clients get the coverage they need at the best possible price.