To ensure ongoing success, Hanson's firm is building on its underwriting expertise and its ability to react to
changes. "We continue to seek ways to optimize our carriers' capacity and their return on equity," he says. "We
are aligning ourselves with carrier goals and measurements, anticipating market changes, and looking ahead
for market windows, including formation of our own Florida admitted company, American Coastal Insurance
Company, which has grown to over $200 million premium in five years."
Nolan is investing in professionals with technical, sales and negotiation skills. 'It's been tough," he notes. "Many
people are retiring or are settled in where they are." The pipeline is less robust than he'd like. "Larger
companies have cut back their training programs," he says, "but the need remains.
"We need to educate our emerging workforce on how to move discussions beyond price in what's clearly a
price-driven marketplace," he adds. "Today's environment provides an ideal opportunity to help clients get
superior coverage at similar pricing. This isn't just a broker issue, but an underwriting issue, too. The future of
programs depends on how well we differentiate products and services and avoid a commodity mindset."
Sterling's company is engaging brokers as it looks ahead. "To build our business, we listen to our brokers," he
explains. "We asked them what tools they needed to sell our product and delivered them in a timely fashion. In
the program marketplace, coverage is important, but there's more to the equation than that.
"The way to distinguish ourselves is by providing retailers better service, faster response and easy-tounderstand
procedures," Sterling adds. "The bottom line is this: as program administrators, we live and die by
how easy we are to do business with.