20 February 2025

Small Agency, Big Portfolio: A Small Agency’s Guide to Better Carrier Access

Carrier access for small agencies is an essential part of thriving as the insurance landscape evolves. Without a robust insurance carrier network that offers your client the thing we’re all near-addicted to – choice – how can small agencies compete with industry giants? Offering these choices is also a critical way to attract new clients and build trust. Luckily, the answer is simpler than you may think.

Offering diverse and relevant insurance products across client needs is no longer a luxury but a business necessity. The key to unlocking survival and growth is those expanded agency product offerings to lure customers. Luckily, you don’t have to do it alone! Today, both technology and strategic partnerships with companies like bolt are leveling the playing field for even the smallest agency. It’s time to expand your carrier network and product offerings the bolt way – and reap the rewards of that success.

Why Carrier Access Matters for Small Agencies

A broad carrier network is the bedrock of success. Agencies that can offer an expanded product range are better equipped to meet their client’s needs. And “happy clients, happy life,” right?

Consider the small business owner. They, too, have time and size constraints. They probably need standard product offerings, like commercial property insurance. However, what if they also work online and want to make sure they have cyber liability coverage?

Will they want to spend hours researching different carriers? Then juggle a complex stable of providers? No. They’re going to want the choice that’s simple, effective, and holistic – the company that can offer them a “one-stop shop” of comprehensive, tailored solutions for all their needs. Expanded carrier access for small agencies is essential for that competitive edge, or they’ll seek coverage elsewhere.

Today, clients expect fantastic service, competitive pricing, and personalized solutions. Agencies that can compare provider quotes and offer specialized coverage see higher client retention rates and increased referrals. With that comes the golden goose – client satisfaction.

Additionally, the insurance industry is facing some key challenges in 2025:

Eroding trust,
Evolving customer demands,
The boom of tech in a digital world, and
Rising awareness of climate risks.

Outside the life market, insurance products have seen turbulent profitability, driven by inflation woes and macroeconomic challenges. Clients now seek specialized coverage for emerging risks, from digital assets to sustainable energy installations.

Agencies need the flexibility to adapt to these changing needs quickly, breaking free of older reactive insurance models to meet their clients’ needs proactively. And it all starts with expanded agency product offerings and a robust insurance carrier network.

Challenges in Expanded Carrier Access for Small Agencies

For smaller agencies, this creates a challenging cycle. With limited staff and resources, it’s difficult to manage a wide insurance carrier network. Skip the strong relationships with multiple carriers, however, and your growth is limited.

This is compounded by the extensive traditional carrier onboarding process when you expand agency product offerings. Paperwork (and more paperwork!), training, licensing, compliance… the list goes on, for each and every partner. Even their technology and lack of easy integration with other product platforms may be holding small agencies back from competing with the Big Names.

But even the largest agencies are not immune, either. Insurance premiums in the personal P&C market saw strong growth in recent years, but research indicates the industry’s relevance has yet to recover to pre-pandemic levels. Most of that growth lies in rate increases, not market expansion. While larger agencies can still rely on traditional coverage, innovators need to focus on specialized products and careful market targeting to see ongoing growth.

Now, add market fragmentation to the mix. Identifying carriers that offer specialized products or serve specific niches requires significant research and networking. For many smaller agencies, the investment of time and resources needed to expand their insurance carrier networks traditionally outweighed the immediate benefits.

So, it’s challenging indeed to expand agency product offerings. But without that expansion, growth stalls and your competitive edge disappears. How can you expand carrier access for small agencies without this thorny issue? With smart collaboration.

The Solution to Expanded Insurance Carrier Networks for Small Agencies

Enter technology, stage right, and ready to work! With platforms like bolt, expanded carrier access for small agencies just got a whole lot simpler. You’re one strategic partnership away from the insurance carrier network of your clients’ dreams.

Not only do tech-based solutions like bolt’s connect smaller agencies to the insurance carrier networks they need, but they also simplify processes and remove administrative headaches. Think streamlined quoting, underwriting, and binding processes with a simple, centralized access point. How? Let’s take a look:

Agencies get instant access to extensive carrier networks through a single point, eliminating the need for multiple system implementations and training programs. Effective competition with larger firms just got a whole lot easier.
With built-in tools for quoting, underwriting, and policy management across all connected carriers, agencies can spend less time on admin and more time serving clients and growing their businesses.
Finally, there’s the data dilemma. Data insights and analytics are the lifeblood of smart business decisions. In a strategic partnership with the right platform, you can identify growth opportunities and optimize, as well as expand, agency product offerings to match market demand and your clients’ needs.

It isn’t just about wider carrier access for small agencies. It’s about building strategic partnerships with carriers that align with your agency’s client base, especially for niche and underserved insurance products.

Imagine you can expand your agency product offerings to include everything your client may need. Pet insurance? Fido’s covered! Cyber insurance and AI liability coverage? No tech troubles here. Being able to meet client’s expanding insurance needs in an evolving marketplace is a fantastic way to add extra value to your core services, too.

2025 is expected to be a growth year for these niche insurance offerings. You can struggle to offer them all in-house ineffectively and watch your competitors pull ahead. Or you can invest in the right partnership to help you expand your agency product offerings and insurance carrier network and get right back to giving your clients everything they need. And the next time they need an insurance product, no matter how unusual, yours will be the name that comes to mind.

Expand Carrier Access for Small Agencies Effortlessly with bolt

Why run your agency ragged, trying to meet all your client needs, when you can improve your carrier access and expand your agency product offerings with one platform? Achieve efficient, effective growth, all without having to work with individual carriers directly.

Ready to revolutionize how you approach carrier access for small agencies? We’re here to help. Sign up today with bolt and grow your revenue, reduce complexity, and enjoy expanded access to over 220 microservices on one scalable, modular platform. It’s time to transform your small agency into a competitive powerhouse.