Boutique wholesaler seeks creative solutions
McAuley Woods partners with MGAs and retail agents
By Phil Zinkewicz
MIND THE GAP! MIND THE GAP!
Anyone who has traveled the London Underground has heard that phrase many times. The recording is played automatically at certain stations where trains don’t quite line up properly with the platform, requiring those either entering or exiting the train to watch his or her step. In London souvenir shops, there are coffee mugs and T-shirts for sale that read: MIND THE GAP.
But to Loti Woods, co-CEO and president of the West Palm Beach, Florida-based McAuley Woods & Associates, the word “gap” means something else. It means an omission. Something is not there that should be. And, for Woods, that something is usually an insurance product that someone hasn’t thought to design or sell.
Woods says that her brokerage operation partners with MGAs in offering new products. “We take them to retailers and warn them that a particular exposure exists, and now we have a product to close the gap,” says Woods. “Bob (partner and co-CEO Robert McAuley) and I like to describe our firm as an ‘agency opportunity center,’ where we offer creative risk management solutions through a select network of independent agents and brokers who share a common focus—using intelligent insurance strategies to improve clients’ business performance.”
Woods says that she and McAuley started their own agency after having worked with a national wholesaler and after having decided to “go out on our own.” Says Woods: “In the beginning, we realized that we had to differentiate ourselves. We saw that providing a full-range of basic coverage is only a starting point in the agent-client relationship, so we decided to look for the gaps in those basic coverages and become innovators.”
As an example of innovation, consider the agency’s approach to the food industry. An E. coli outbreak in a national pizza chain results in the death of two customers. Nine months after the outbreak, the pizza chain continues to report financial hardship. Sales are down, while expenses continue to rise. Such events in the food handling industry are not uncommon.
The coverages offered by McAuley Woods include loss of business income and incident response, accidental and malicious contamination, food product recall, extortion, crisis management and media handling. These are coverages that are not in the mainstream of traditional commercial insurance products, according to Woods.
However, coverage for the food industry is only one example of the alternative products that the organization offers. McAuley Woods also has extensive expertise in providing product warranty coverage. For example, their “Field Turf” client surpassed a major competitor as a leading manufacturer of artificial turf for sports stadiums only after the broker wrote warranty coverage for them, which allowed Field Turf to guarantee, through an insurance policy, that their product would meet certain durability standards.
Another client is a power regulator manufacturer that, through a product warranty provided by Woods’ firm, was able to offer an energy cost reduction guarantee to its customers as part of an insured product. “Under this arrangement, customers who purchase their power regulator equipment from this utility receive an insured guarantee that savings on their energy bill will be at least 10% as part of their warranty,” says Woods. “The company offering the guarantee feels this feature will set their product apart from all their competitors.”
Involuntary unemployment insurance is another of McAuley Woods’ alternative products. Written through mortgage lenders, homebuilders, auto dealers and many other industries, this coverage makes monthly payments for someone who is involuntarily laid off from work and can’t make those payments. The company also spearheaded a coverage involving state-mandated coverage for child support. These coverages are underwritten on a blanket basis, not individually.
McAuley Woods also offers a variety of enhanced insurance options that give companies a competitive edge with their customers, according to Woods. These cover credit card usage, product purchase guarantees, emergency travel insurance and more than 100 supplemental protection options that can be structured into a customer service package. “Our products are not demand products in the sense that agents’ clients are demanding them. But those clients will benefit from these products, and our agents must educate their clients on how these products can improve their business results,” says Woods.
“In a sense, we are creating the demand. We see the gaps that exist out there and then help our agents understand those gaps and how we can fill them so that the agent can better inform his or her clients.”
Woods says that retail agents consider her firm as an extension of their operations, rather than a separate entity. “They see us as part of the team. They don’t look at us as simply a ‘portal to a market.’”
Moreover, the firm’s partnership with Renter’s Legal Liability is a good example of how McAuley Woods works with MGAs. The MGA originally contacted Woods about a condo legal liability product designed as a protection for associations in Florida. The MGA worked with McAuley Woods to distribute a renter’s legal liability product nationally. “This is designed for apartment owners as the named insured to cover liability caused by renters’ negligence,” says Woods. “The policy addresses the common problem of renters not having adequate liability insurance.”
Says Woods: “Through our renters’ legal liability program, renters are financially protected and provide liability coverage for the owner. The owner receives continuous monitoring and enforcement of the requirement to possess $100,000 of liability insurance. Our liability policy is uniquely tailored with a wide array of coverages to protect the condo community.”
Concludes Woods: “We have a true business partnership with our MGAs, our carriers and our retail agents. That is our strength, whether in hard markets or in soft markets. We recognize exposures that others don’t see.”
In other words, in order to remain a successful boutique operation, all McAuley Woods has to do is “mind the gaps.”
For more information:
McAuley Woods & Associates
Web site: www.rmwins.com |
