From the contractor's side, they asked for a quote once. They filled in your web form on Sunday night, forwarded a scan of last year's application and the current dec pages on Monday morning, and mentioned a third truck in a Tuesday voicemail. To them, that's one request.
To your agency it's five pieces in three places, and each one gets typed into one carrier's portal, then another's, then mostly again at renewal. Many contractor markets aren't in a rater.
- First quote, market 1
- Market 2
- Market 3
- Mid-term change: a new driver
- Renewal, market 1
- Renewal, market 2
- The year37 entries9 entries
The re-keying isn't one big job
It's the same few dozen facts about a client, entered again every time something happens. Entity and operations. Payroll by class code. Subcontracted work. Vehicles and drivers. Locations. Loss history. Current coverage. Those facts don't change between Sunday's form and Tuesday's voicemail. Only the container does.
So the fix isn't a faster typist or a better form. It's a place for the facts to live.
One file
Put those facts in one structured file per client. Let every incoming piece update it: the web form starts it, the ACORD fills it in, the dec pages add limits and dates, the voicemail adds a truck. Then build every outgoing submission from it: each carrier's submission and supplemental, the policy change, next year's remarket. For the carrier application, use whatever forms tool your agency is licensed for. ACORD forms can be read freely, but not generated without one.
Isn't that what the management system is for? Partly. Applied Epic, AMS360 and HawkSoft hold the client record, and they should stay the record. What they don't do is read a web form, an ACORD PDF and a voicemail and reconcile the three. The file is the staging area between the inbox and the record: it collects, it flags, and once a person has looked, it writes into the system you already have.
Client file
- Entity and operations
- General contractor, 12 employees, residential remodelsweb form, Sun 9:12 p.m.
- Payroll
- Form says $840k (next 12 months). Last year's ACORD says $790k.different periods: the estimate goes on the application, last year's actual goes in the file
- Subcontracted work
- $310k last year, certificates on file for most subsACORD 126, Monday's scan
- Vehicles and drivers
- 3 pickups, 4 drivers. Third truck bought in March, not on the current auto policy.ACORD 127 + voicemail, Tue 2:30 p.m.
- Locations
- Shop and yard, one addressACORD 125
- Current coverage
- GL $1M/$2M, auto $1M CSL, workers' comp, tools and equipment; all expire Nov 30dec pages, Mon 11:05 a.m.
- Loss history
- Requested from the current carrierwaiting, authorization on file
The third truck from the voicemail goes in once. It shows up in all three markets' auto submissions, at renewal and in every remarket after that. A truck that's been off the policy since March is also worth a call today, not at binding.
Two rules keep the file trustworthy. Disagreements don't get settled by the software: if the form and the ACORD disagree on payroll, the file shows both figures and a person decides. And every fact links back to the email, form or call it came from. That second rule is your record if a coverage question ever turns into an E&O claim. “Where did this number come from” gets an answer that isn't somebody's memory.
What it gets wrong: a crooked scan read as $79k instead of $790k, a VIN mangled in a voicemail transcript, two clients with similar names merged into one file. Disagreements between sources get flagged. A figure that comes from only one source isn't checked against anything, so a person confirms the figures that set the price before anything goes out.
For clients you already write, current coverage can come from the policy download in Applied Epic, AMS360 or HawkSoft through IVANS, though commercial downloads are often less complete than personal lines. For a prospect, it comes from their dec pages. Loss runs get requested from the current carrier with the client's authorization, and the request goes out the day the file is opened, not the week someone remembers.
Getting it to the carriers
Where your comparative rater accepts an import and covers the class, prepared data goes in once. Many contractor markets aren't covered. A carrier's approved integration is the next route. Some carriers don't allow automated access to their portals, and for those, someone on your team keys it in once from the finished file. That's still a fraction of the work, and it keeps you on the right side of the carrier agreement.
Renewals start from the file
- 120days outClient gets a short “has anything changed?” and a payroll update requestAutomation
- 105days outAnswers update the file; loss runs requestedAutomation
- 90days outDraft remarket package, changes highlightedAutomation
- 75days outAgent decides whether to remarket, and whereYour agent
About four months out, the client gets a short “has anything changed?” request with a payroll update. Their answers update the file. A draft remarket package comes out of it with the changes highlighted, minus the carrier-specific supplemental questions only the client can answer. Your agents decide whether to remarket, where, and what to recommend, and the client signs the application once a market is chosen. The parts that need a license, or a signature, are the parts that are left.
What the contractor notices
Not the file. They notice that nobody asked them for the same information twice, and that the quote came back faster than last time. That's the whole point, and it starts with one line of business you quote often, not with every client you have.