Winning With Small Business Through Total Account Solutions and Specialty Coverages

• Sponsored by: The Hanover Insurance Group Inc.
• October 5, 2026

As small businesses adopt new technologies, expand their operations and navigate emerging risks, their insurance needs have become more complex and interconnected, increasingly extending beyond traditional small business coverages into specialty lines. This evolution makes it critical that agents move beyond individual policies and adopt a total account strategy that addresses risks across both traditional and specialty coverages.

Rate Fatigue Colliding With Agency Capacity 

After several years of premium increases, many small businesses are experiencing rate fatigue and are asking agents to remarket accounts more often. That request collides with the reality of the agency operating model, as most agencies can profitably market only a small portion of their books annually. When the focus shifts from strengthening coverage and addressing changing exposures to repeatedly shopping for the lowest price, profitability suffers.

Compounding the challenge, experienced account managers remain in short supply as industry retirements continue. The challenge is clear: Agencies need a more efficient model that allows them to deliver value while meeting evolving customer expectations.

From Market Pressures to Action: Total Account Opportunity    

For agencies, optimizing their operating models and reducing remarketing can help address rising client expectations and better match customers with the right coverage. The path forward is to help small businesses protect their operations more holistically while making account management easier and more efficient. Here are four considerations: 

1) Bring capabilities together across small commercial and specialty lines. This allows agents to address a broader range of risks while building a more comprehensive insurance strategy. Few carriers offer that depth across all those areas, yet that breadth is aligned with the needs of today’s small businesses. With many small business exposures now crossing into specialty lines, gaps can go unnoticed when policies are evaluated in isolation, especially when accounts are reviewed only every four or five years.

2) Improve operational efficiency. Common effective dates across all policies mean fewer annual customer touchpoints, greater operational efficiency and fewer opportunities for competitors to quote against individual policies throughout the year. Importantly, it helps drive better retention, lowers dependence on costly new-business acquisition and allows agents to spend less time on administrative tasks and more time providing strategic guidance.

3) Improve retention with the total account strategy. When agents address the full risk profile of a business rather than individual policies, relationships become more durable. Customers are less likely to view insurance as a commodity and more likely to value the advice and protection they receive.

4) Strengthen agency economics. Expanding existing relationships is often more efficient than continuously remarketing accounts or acquiring new customers. Agencies often do not recover acquisition and servicing costs until the third or fourth year of a client relationship. A total account strategy helps agencies grow revenue within existing relationships while making better use of limited staff resources. By focusing conversations on evolving risks and coverage needs rather than annual remarketing, agents can deliver greater value to clients while creating more sustainable economics for their businesses.

The Value of Right Carrier Partners

Agents are evaluating carrier relationships more closely. One key element is pricing stability. A stable pricing philosophy with fewer renewal surprises retains business better and builds stronger long-term relationships. 

Similarly, carrier service center capabilities play an important role. Partnering with service centers that support both small commercial and specialty accounts provides a single point of service and a consistent customer experience. This collaboration also reduces administrative complexity for agencies and offers added staff capacity as retirements continue to create staffing challenges across the industry.

Agents also increasingly value carrier partners with strong digital capabilities, including streamlined quoting, policy servicing, billing and claims tools. Effective digital solutions simplify routine transactions, improve responsiveness and reduce administrative workload, allowing agency staff to spend more time advising clients and developing relationships.

At the same time, value-added risk management is another important differentiator. The strongest carrier programs help small businesses identify and address issues before they become claims through risk assessments and guidance on evolving risks. Even a well-handled claim disrupts a business. Price matters, but loss prevention matters even more over the long run. 

With the growing range of exposures facing small businesses, partnering with carriers that offer deep specialty expertise helps agents identify emerging risks, close coverage gaps and deliver more comprehensive protection. Ultimately, the goal isn’t the lowest price. It’s finding the right balance of competitive pricing, broad protection, convenience and stability.

Today’s market pressures all stakeholders. Small businesses are seeking greater value, broader protection and more proactive engagement, while agencies continue to face staffing and profitability pressures. The right carrier partners can help bridge that gap with pricing stability, service center support, risk management resources, digital capabilities and specialty expertise. With a total account strategy, agents are well positioned to deliver stronger protection, deeper client relationships and greater long-term value.

Charles “Chip” F. Hamann is president of small commercial at The Hanover Insurance Group Inc. 

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