Top Insurance Brokerages in USA | Fast Brokerages 2023

“There are hundreds of workers who work for my clients, and if I make an order that’s not right and they don’t get paid, there are hundreds who won’t go home that Friday with a check to feed their families”

Saray Uribe, CharSan Insurance & Consulting

Fast growth in difficult times

Like all the others DIFFERENTThe winners of 2023 Fast Brokerages – all top insurance agencies – CharSan Insurance & Consulting persevered to achieve a growth of more than 20% in the amount of money from 2021 to 2022.

Being in business for less than three years, CharSan has also been recognized as a Fast Start-up.
Owner Saray Uribe came to the United States in 2004 from Cuba. “One thing you don’t see in Cuba is new construction,” he explains.

Eventually, he gravitated to the construction insurance business as the owner of a company in Charlotte, North Carolina.

“We have a tagline, ‘efficiency and integrity are paramount,'” he explains. “Therefore, we strive to be fair and just to our customers.”

DIFFERENT also praised Outsourced Risk Managers, which won the Fast Brokerage and Fast Starter awards.

“Having great people is the biggest factor that has helped us grow our customer base,” said the company’s president, Billy Bray, who lives in Houston. “And I’ve tried to be a pillar in my community and continue to do so.”

In less than 30 months, Bray went from zero to 100 clients. He also hired 6 employees and various contractors.

Milestones reached 18 months ago

DIFFERENT asked top insurance brokerages to name their performance in the past year and a half.

For Uribe, that was hitting $1 million in direct-writing pay, which he accomplished by targeting construction companies in the Charlotte metro area. In addition, he managed to:

• Find four insurance policies
• Become a member of the Professional Insurance Agents board
• Establish yourself as an organization owner

Meanwhile, Bray’s Outsourced Risk Managers grew by 30% in the following areas:

• Primary customers
• The number of policies written each month
• Employees
• Money

“We increased our staff significantly,” he explains. “We are still few but we have increased the number of employees because we have increased the number of customers. We have won a number of awards – not just for scale but for our market recognition for excellence. “

Some of the main ones are:

• Relocating to downtown Houston to be closer to customers
• Expansion to 22 countries
• Continuing professional development

Greater areas

Everything DIFFERENT‘s Fast Brokerages have done well, but they also have a niche that offers particular benefits. Miller emphasized how this is an important building block: “They need to understand what’s driving the market and have a plan to identify where you’re going and what success looks like.”

Uribe mentions the E&S market as construction contractors need more support than can be found in the illegal market.

“I would say that the growing area is my clients’ business,” he adds. As they grow, we grow. They start with sales of about $150,000 and I see figures of $2 million after two or three years – that’s exciting to me. “

For Bray, the areas of greatest growth were risk management and business and employee consulting.

“I started as a one-man agency, and we’ve added employees as clients have come in… And in order to be successful, we also use contractors. So, our contractors have grown outside of our full-time and part-time W2 employees on a project-by-project basis. .”

As part of focusing on adding new customers, Larry Lipman, founder of Fast Brokerage Benadvize, took advantage of Amazon’s new policy to build his business. “Amazon established a law requiring their sellers to buy insurance. I have brought about 200 Amazon sellers to Amazon,” he explains.

“Surrounding myself with great people is the main thing that has helped us grow our customer base. And I have tried to be a pillar in my community and continue to do so”

Billy Bray, External Risk Manager

Opinions on market conditions

Bray has an interest in the market and economy. They see the following as new challenges:

• Cyber ​​liability, which is becoming more important for business owners to focus on
• Be prepared for new business challenges as they grow
• Maintaining a good relationship with your broker

Regarding the latter, he adds, “I think the relationship between the client and the broker is more important than ever.”

Uribe repeats what Bray said while adding some more. “In terms of 2021 to 2022, the premiums were slightly higher in 2022, and this was due to more competition. Some companies were exiting the market… Therefore, all companies are increasing premiums because they need solvents, they should be profitable. So , there is a lot of competition but prices are killing customers.

“Regulatory changes – which are also affecting the industry. The financial sector and inflation – are something that affect all aspects of the insurance industry,” he says.

“It’s still a tough market, and I’m seeing strict regulations around what contractors want, so I see a lot of policy going forward.”

Top insurance brokers value culture

When Uribe started his business, he had a laptop in his bedroom. Now, he has an office with five employees. That puts him in a better position to give back.

He said: “Being a foreigner is a strange thing. “There is a connection to many of my clients. They have workers who are waiting to be paid on Friday so that they can feed their families and there is a huge responsibility on my shoulders to do my job properly.

“There are hundreds of workers who work for my clients, and if I do a process that is not right and they don’t get paid, there are hundreds who won’t go home that Friday with a check to feed their families.

“So it’s something I think about every day, and it’s part of the efficiency and integrity of what we do. We have to do our job, our job.”

Breaking out of profit and loss is something Miller encourages brokerages to do to be successful. He added, “One of the greatest competitive advantages that a business – or any organization – can have is a corporate culture that is flexible, focused on customer needs, and able to change while maintaining its core values.”

• Acrisure
• ALCHEME
• Alliant Insurance Services
• Benadvize
• CAC Specialty/Cobbs Allen
• Cohen & Company Insurance Services
• Higginbotham
• International Citizens Insurance
• Mile Square Insurance Agency
• PCF Insurance Services
• Presley Insurance Group
• Reliance Partners
• The Liberty Company Insurance Brokers
• Virtus

Fast Starters

• ALCHEME
• Benadvize
• CAC Specialty/Cobbs Allen