Sizing up the market

If the accepted wisdom were to be believed, these days, commercial clients simply buy on price and everything that a broker brings to the table, such as risk management and market knowledge, is immaterial. But two recent, separate, surveys of SMEs and corporates seem to suggest these types of clients do expect and value the skills a broker delivers, writes Martin Friel

The smaller players

The survey of SMEs, conducted by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII), found that of the 310 SME decision makers interviewed, just under a third (31%) said they purchased at least one form of business insurance direct from an insurer with 16% having purchased directly online and another 17% having done so ‘offline’.

However, there was better news for brokers when the survey pool was broken down by size. Businesses with a workforce of between 11-49 staff, classed as small