How To Establish A Commercial Lines Renewal Day

If your team is consistently behind on renewals, having a designated renewal day can be the answer for less chaos and smoother renewals.

For many commercial departments, we recommend establishing a designated day each week where the team focuses on being proactive to work on their renewals. For each agency and/or size account, we may have a different timeline. Please refer to your agency's processes for specific details. 

Getting Renewal Review Days Started

To get ready for renewal review days, we recommend management start with a few organizational to-do items:

• Identify who will be having what day of the week as renewal day. We recommend staying away from Mondays since this is the most common holiday day of the week. Also, Mondays are generally a bit chaotic.
• Once everyone has their days, it's important that it's communicated to the office.
  • Each person should place a sign on their desk/door when it's their day.
  • The team member should go on DND or place a reminder in the phone system.
  • If the agency uses chat such as Teams or Slack, place yourself on away.
  • The front desk should be given clear directions that when someone calls in, they're to let the client know the agent is on an appointment, and either someone else can help them or they can get back to the client first thing the next morning.
  • It should be made clear to all team members that the person should not be interrupted during their time. If it's an emergency, see the team leader. 
• We recommend starting the renewal day 30 minutes into the day (allowing the team member to get in, get settled and clear up any issues) and ending at about 2-3 pm so they can wrap up any essentials for the day.
• If your agency is behind in renewals, the first month is designed to get in, get settled and get organized. 
  • Week 1: Identify where each renewal is based on the timeframe you should be starting. For example, if you should be 90 days out on renewal, run all your renewals from 90 days to today and write down where they all stand in the process. 
  • Week 2: Work on the most time sensitive renewals first. The goal is to take each week to get one more week ahead toward our goal. For example, if we are on average 30 days before renewal but should be 90, on week 2 we want to be 37 days out, on week 3 44 days out, etc. 

Managing Your Renewal Day As a Team Member

Here are a few tips to make the most of your renewal days:

• Make sure you prepare for a successful renewal day.
  • Set an alarm so you know when to start and stop.
  • Set up your DND and signs, etc. so it's very clear.
  • Have your report and tasks ready BEFORE renewal day so you can get to work. 
  • Shut down your email when possible and only check it when you need to. If you get something that needs to be worked on, add it in as a task for you for later that day and keep your focus on renewals.
• Start aligning your world.
  • When you know you have a renewal day, you can request pricing from underwriters for 2 days before your renewal day. This means if they are late, you still have breathing room. 
    • When you get any underwriting info, you can task it to yourself for your renewal day to review and respond.
  • If you are working with a producer, 2 days before your renewal day remind them of anything they need to provide you. 
  • If you need items from clients, 2 days before your renewal day give them a strong call to action. Each communication with a client should have an agreed upon target date.
• Boundaries
  • As the agency aligns around a renewal day, everyone may need to be trained and retrained on boundaries. 
  • It is critical that you hold strong on your boundaries and defend them. You teach people how to treat you. If you break your renewal day, you are teaching people it's not important. 
  • Expect there to be a transition period — the first 30 days you will be getting settled into a new process. Give everyone grace and strength as you move to a new model.