Agents, brokers and the sales network

Agents, brokers, banks and affinity partners sell your policies. This guide covers bringing them on, keeping their licences in date, organising them into a sales network, and deciding what they may bind on their own.

Bringing an intermediary on

Distribution > Agents and brokers > New. Besides the contact details, the Distribution section holds:

• Channel: agent, broker, bancassurance or affinity partner. Commission schemes, contests and the performance screen group by channel.
• Onboarding: Applied, Being checked, Appointed, Suspended or Terminated. Only appointed intermediaries can bind cover; quotes through the others are referred to an underwriter.
• Reports to: the agency or region above them. Override commission goes up this line.
• Sales team, branch and territory.
• Appointed on and the agreement dates. The agreement ending is announced 30 days before; after it ends their quotes are referred.
• Commission scheme: leave empty to use the best matching scheme (see Commissions and payouts).
• Withholding tax, kept from every commission payout.
• Credit days and Keeps commission and sends the net premium, for brokers who collect premium.

Licences and appointments

On the intermediary's page, Licences and appointments records each regulatory licence, appointment to sell, agreement, certificate or indemnity insurance, with the line or product it covers and its dates.

Once any licence is on file, every quote through them is checked: they need a valid licence for the product's line, and if appointments are recorded, an appointment for that product. Otherwise the quote is referred with the reason. The distribution team is notified 30 days before a licence or agreement expires, and expired licences are marked by the daily tasks.

Without any licence on file nothing is checked, so companies that do not track licences are not blocked.

Sales teams and the pipeline

Distribution > Sales teams groups people by branch or territory. The Receive new leads in turn list is a rota: a lead given to the team without an owner goes to the next person on it, who is notified.

A lead now carries its expected premium, chance of winning and expected close date. Sales > Sales pipeline shows the leads of a team (or everyone) in columns by stage, with the expected premium and the premium weighted by chance. Move a lead to the next or previous stage with the arrows on its card.

Binding authority

Binding authority on the intermediary's page sets what they may bind without asking: the highest sum insured, the highest premium, the highest discount, for every product or one product, between two dates. Always refer when rules send some risks to you even inside the limits, for example a vehicle older than 12 years.

When an agent presses Issue now in the agent portal, the quote is checked against their authority, licences and agreement. Inside it, the policy is issued at once. Outside it, nothing is issued: the quote is referred, the underwriters are notified with the reasons, and the agent is told it was sent to you. Every attempt is kept on the Authority record tab, bound or referred.

Without a binding authority, the simple Authority: highest sum insured in the agent portal settings still applies.

Targets and contests

Distribution > Targets and contests:

• A target is for one intermediary (with the people reporting to them) or a sales team: premium written, policies sold or new customers between two dates, with an incentive as a fixed amount or a percent of the premium. When it is reached, Award incentive adds it to their pending commission.
• A contest runs across a channel or everyone; Leaderboard ranks the participants.

Distribution > Sales performance shows premium, policies and commission by channel, the top intermediaries, licences about to expire, and the progress of every running target and contest.