Want to connect with your clients? Brokers reveal their best service tactic

Tell them they’re at risk.

That’s the best way to get clients on board with buying coverage, say 76% of brokers responding to Canadian Underwriter’s 2025 National Broker Survey. That percentage is statistically consistent over the most recent five survey years.

Informing clients about ‘emerging risks and exposures’ is most the popular tactic for brokers with 16 or fewer years in the business (79%), and least popular with veteran brokers (70%) with 31 years or more years of experience. It draws the most favour from those at mid-sized brokerages with between 20 and 99 employees (83%) and is least used by brokers at small firms with fewer than 20 employees (66%).

In a verbatim survey response, a woman broker who’s newer to the business says, “being able to identify the clients’ exposures and providing complete solutions to properly insure their operations” is key to customer loyalty.

Another respondent advises her peers to look beyond the immediate answer. “Always [seek] the ‘why’ in something,” she tells the survey. “Often, it leads to a fuller understanding of the situation and we end up pivoting from our original assessment of the client’s needs to a product that suits them better because we took the time to look past the surface.”

Related: Brokers reveal their preferred ways to communicate with clients

Also, use fresh eyes, advises a younger broker who took over an existing book of business.

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“I stepped into a commercial book and had to learn everything about everyone. This gave me an opportunity to re-underwrite and review everything like it was new to the office,” she tells the survey. “I was able to [identify] areas where clients were exposed, and I took this opportunity to openly discuss the exposures and insurance solutions for the insureds to better protect themselves.”

Next most popular is ‘informing clients of relevant new products,’ favoured by 73% of respondents. That’s three percentage points lower than last year (76%) but better than results for 2022 (70%) and 2021 (69%). Women brokers (75%) are more likely to opt for the tactic than men (70%). It’s also more popular with veteran brokers (77%) and those at mid-sized firms (79%).

One newer broker commenting on the survey says she’s “always making sure they are aware of new coverages or changes coming that could have an impact on them. This could be through email [or] newsletter.”

Related: What’s helping brokers generate leads?

One method on the rise among 2025 survey respondents is ‘developing a deep knowledge of a small selection of products,’ which got high marks from 62% of respondents this year, compared to 57% in 2024. Men are slightly more likely to use the tactic (64%) than women (61%). Sixty-three percent of both newer brokers and those at large firms say the technique benefits their practice.

CU‘s survey asked brokers what will help them develop knowledge and skills needed to be viewed as trusted advisors. Eighty percent of survey respondents say training and certification bodies like the Insurance Institute and RIBO provide an edge. That’s up from 75% in 2024.

And 80% of respondents cite mentorship as key to developing the knowledge needed to earn client trust – compared with 74% giving that answer last year.

Canadian Underwriter’s 2025 National Broker Survey was fielded between Jan. 22 and Feb. 20 with 165 responses. For most questions sets, respondents were able to choose multiple answers, so totals will not always equal 100%. The survey is supported by Sovereign Insurance.

Phil Porado

Phil, an award-winning journalist with over 30 years of experience in financial topics, has been managing editor of Canadian Underwriter for more than three years.