The Ascent of Controlled Environment Agriculture
Agriculture has always been a crucial part of our economy, but in recent years the shift to controlled environment agriculture (CEA) has created an unmet need for specialized horticultural risk management solutions. In the 10 years between 2009 and 2019, with compounding annual growth rates of more than 9% expected over the next five years. As the indoor farming industry continues to expand at breakneck speeds, growers are becoming increasingly reliant on controlled environments and technologies that maintain ideal growing conditions. The complexities of a greenhouse business make it more difficult to manage these companies’ risks but with these newfound challenges come newfound opportunities for businesses and brokers alike.
Growing Your Horticultural Client Portfolio: 5 Tips for Insurance Brokers
Growing your horticultural insurance business is all about demonstrating your industry knowledge and pairing your prospects with the right insurance coverages. As the industry grows, providing clients with key growing and horticultural coverage will help empower individual companies to scale and mitigate risk. As a broker, you can position yourself to win and retain more horticultural clients by providing exceptional value as a knowledge resource, recognizing their risk management needs, and offering comprehensive insurance coverages to protect the business’s financial interests. Here are 5 tips that can help.
Understand your client’s business
Aside from financial strength and premiums, one of the top concerns businesses have when shopping for commercial insurance is knowing their broker understands their risk management needs. The first step in providing the best possible horticultural insurance is recognizing the operational risks of the business. For example, nursery insurance needs often include general liability, building coverage, workers’ compensation, agricultural property, and commercial auto coverage. While these coverages account for most risks growers face in their day-to-day activities, several gaps still exist, any one of which could cause a company serious financial distress. Say a nursery is storing some stock at an off-site warehouse and suffers a loss there. Is it still covered under the company’s basic commercial property policy? What about a situation where a hydroponic farm accidentally contaminates a nearby waterway with pesticides? These are just a couple of ways greenhouse and horticultural company insurance can get complicated. However, for brokers who can demonstrate a deeper understanding of these nuances, there’s a significant opportunity to win over prospective clients’ trust.
Familiarize yourself with the regulatory requirements
When you understand the regulatory requirements that are relevant to your prospects and clients, you can help identify potential risks, recommend the right insurance, and set your clients up for long-term success. Nurseries and greenhouses that fail to comply with regulatory requirements — whether knowingly or unknowingly — are likely to expose themselves to greater risks of claims, accidents, and worker injuries. So, although it’s not your responsibility as a broker to possess deep subject matter expertise on regulatory requirements, a working knowledge of these laws can help you offer more value to prospects, along with the chance to spur greenhouse grower client relationships that last.
Specialize and customize coverages
Insurance brokers targeting horticulture clients should focus on specialization and expanding greenhouse insurance options. According to MarshBerry, an insurance consulting firm and thought leader, specialization will soon become the norm. “Vertical specialization offers customized solutions, deeper expertise, and improved results. This approach will help your business move from a transactional relationship to a consultative business partner that clients can trust.” CEA systems are becoming increasingly complex through automation and the use of other technologies, leading to more complex and potentially more costly claims. Tailoring insurance options through monoline offerings and endorsements can help provide more comprehensive coverage for CEA operations, positioning you to earn more business as a horticultural insurance specialist.
Offer educational resources and learning tools
As a broker who specializes in horticultural insurance, your prospects and clients will rely on you to help identify the threats to their business before they turn into losses and claims. Sharing information about common horticultural business risks and challenges — and ways to reduce claims risks — can not only help the business operate more safely but also position you as a trustworthy, valuable resource. Educational resources can range from webinars and blog posts to live events and training programs. Regardless of how you choose to share your knowledge and expertise, what’s most important is considering what your prospects will find most helpful and most valuable to their business. Once you do, you’ll begin to build the foundation for a lasting professional relationship with all your prospects and clients.
Retain your clients by continuing to differentiate
While many (if not most) brokers have historically prioritized closing new clients over retaining existing ones, the data show that focusing on retention is the more effective path to profitability and growth. Though you can’t always retain clients, differentiating yourself from other brokers can help you improve customer satisfaction and loyalty. In addition to continuously searching for and providing new risk products to protect your clients, providing exceptional customer service can help your clients feel secure. One of the best ways to ensure top-notch customer service is to create an omnichannel customer experience. An omnichannel experience is a unified approach to providing seamless, personalized interactions across all channels. This allows your clients to get what they need from you no matter how they prefer to communicate and will almost certainly lead to improved customer satisfaction and retention.
Conclusion
Building a horticultural insurance portfolio comes down to three things: understanding the company’s needs, offering the right risk management solutions, and providing a positive customer experience to retain their business. As nurseries, greenhouses, and other horticultural businesses continue to grow, they’ll likely partner with knowledgeable brokers who offer specialized insurance options. NIP Group’s GrowPro program empowers brokers with better horticultural coverage by design and other resources they need to capitalize on the ascent of controlled environment agriculture. With more than 35 years of horticultural industry experience, customized coverage options, and superior customer service, NIP Group is your go-to partner for greenhouse and nursery growers insurance.
Visit the GrowPro web page to submit your accounts today or speak with an expert.
