Monoline: Beyond the Coverage
An educational podcast for insurance professionals that dives deep into personal umbrella insurance, industry trends, risk mitigation, and sales strategies. Hosted by Senior Underwriter Janessa Vanderheyden, each episode features expert insights, real-world case studies, and practical advice to help agents grow their business and better protect their clients.
Monoline: Beyond the Coverage
Automating Book Rolls: The SimpleSwitch Revolution
What if book transfers weren't a nightmare? What if your team could get back thousands of hours currently spent on umbrella policy renewals? That's exactly what Monoline's SimpleSwitch program delivers, revolutionizing how agencies manage their standalone umbrella policies.
In this deep-dive conversation with Rachel Crump, Monoline's Agency Transfer Manager, we unpack a game-changing approach to book transfers that's transforming agency operations. Born directly from agent feedback, SimpleSwitch is a fully embedded platform that handles everything from data collection to automated communications while keeping your agency firmly in control.
The numbers speak volumes: agencies save 2-3 hours per policy annually. For a modest book of business, that translates to hundreds of reclaimed hours your account managers can redirect toward relationship building and revenue generation. The magic lies in Monoline's comprehensive approach – we manage the entire renewal process with co-branded, customized communications that maintain your agency's voice and relationship with clients.
What sets SimpleSwitch apart is its perfect balance of automation and control. While communications flow automatically at 90 and 60 days pre-renewal, account managers remain CC'd on everything and can intervene whenever needed. This hybrid approach brings "new school technology with old school values," giving agencies the best of both worlds without sacrificing client relationships.
Beyond efficiency, SimpleSwitch offers financial benefits for both agencies and clients. Agencies earn increased commissions, while in most states, clients benefit from in-agency transfer discounts. And with Monoline's upcoming expanded coverage limits, you'll be able to offer higher protection without policy rewrites, eliminating excess layers and consolidating coverage under one roof.
Ready to transform how your agency handles umbrella renewals? Visit monoline.com/simpleswitch to learn more about this completely free program that's changing how agencies approach book transfers. Your account managers will thank you.
Ready to get started with SimpleSwitch?
- Visit monoline.com/simpleswitch, fill out the interest form, and Rachel will be in touch!
- Reach out to transfer@monoline.com and our Transfers Team will assist you.
Visit monoline.com to experience our revolutionary platform that's making personal umbrella insurance a breeze for agents across the country. Follow us on LinkedIn for the latest updates!
Welcome to Monoline: Beyond the Coverage, the podcast that goes deeper than policy limits to explore why personal umbrella insurance matters more than ever. I'm Janessa Vanderhey den, and today we're diving into something that's been a total game changer for agencies looking to grow smarter, not harder: SimpleS witch, Monolin e's agency transfer program. If you've ever looked at your standalone umbrella book and thought there's got to be an easier way to renew these, well, here it is. Joining me is the incredible Rachel Crump, Monoline's Agency Transfer Manager and the mastermind behind making this process truly seamless. Rachel, I am so glad you're here. So let's start at the beginning. Monoline was designed to make life easier for agents. Can you tell us how Simple Switch fits into that mission?
Rachel:Sure. Thanks, Jan, for that sweet intro.
Rachel:I'm so excited to be here again with you talking specifically about something that I am so passionate about: SimpleSwitch. When I first joined Monoline, the SimpleSwitch transfer program didn't even exist, but agents kept coming to us and asking me if we would be open to taking on full books of business and not just individual policies. So we quickly shifted our focus and built something totally new a fully embedded book role transfer platform that is right inside of your Monoline dashboard. So now we have had several agencies hit their one-year mark with us and they're telling us that they're saving hours at renewal and they can't believe how much time they're getting back and that the process has truly changed the way they operate. And we just wanted to be out there and start to tell some other agents so they can experience it as well.
Janessa:I love that and I think something so amazing about Simple Switch is the ease of everything and how we have just really zoned in on the simplicity of everything, too. And I just want to kind of touch on saving hours for AEs. Could you give an example of how many hours an agency actually could save?
Rachel:Sure, so it really is more than rolling policies. It is about transforming how agencies operate. So when you shift to a model like this, you are freeing up your team to focus on relationship building and revenue producing activities, not paperwork.
Rachel:So, depending on the carrier that you're moving, especially if it is coming from a wholesaler, you will save two to three hours per policy per year. So you multiply that across the book and that's hundreds, or even thousands of hours that your account managers are getting back every single year.
Janessa:That is absolutely incredible and I'm sure all of our agents are very thankful for you guys coming up with this system. But we hear all the time how much agents love the platform for individual placements, but rolling an entire book, that sounds like a really big lift. So how do we actually make that process so simple?
Rachel:That's the beauty of it.
Rachel:Monoline does all the heavy lifting, we handle the data collection, quoting, automated client communications and we download everything directly into your agency management system. So the agent doesn't have to do a thing.
Rachel:It's not about just making it easy. It's about empowering agencies to work smarter so they can spend less time on admin, and more time on what really matters.
Janessa:I love that and I think one of the biggest pain points that we see is especially during renewal season, and I know something that we do that kind of sets Monoline apart is we have automated communication. So what does that actually look like for an agent using Simple Switch?
Rachel:We completely customize the transition experience. Our system sends out co-branded emails that will reflect your agency's tone and brand. So we work on those emails together and they look like they're coming from the assigned account manager, and that account manager is also CC'd, so they will stay in the insured's recognized account manager's name that the email is coming from and, of course, the account manager can also respond to that email as well to support the message. Then 90 days before renewal, the client will get an email introducing the transition to Monoline and explain a little bit about what's happening and the timeline behind it, and then 30 days later, which is 60- days prior to the renewal they'll receive the quote and the payment link, again with the account executive CC'd on it.
Rachel:The agent will stay in full control without having to lift a finger. While we are automating the flow of all of these communications, we are never taking control away from the account manager. So I just want to make sure that agencies understand that and you'll see it when you log into your transfer dashboard. There's different columns and you can watch the specific transfer opportunity move throughout the different columns based off of it's unquoted, it's quoted, it's waiting for the insured to pay. It's downloaded into your system. So you can always get in there and you can pull a quote out and you can archive it. If you were able to bundle that standalone umbrella into a bundle this year, that is fabulous for you. So you jump in there, you archive the quote out. It goes into a missed opportunity and then you can always pull it out next year if you need it.
Rachel:But the account managers are never losing control. It's automated so they don't have to do anything. But if they need to, they can jump in there at any point and make any changes, adjustments. They can take payment for the insured If it's that you know those clients that will not like that automated payment link. You can always jump in there and take payment for them. So it's kind of the best of both worlds automated if you want it, but you have control if you need it.
Janessa:That is incredible. Just hearing about it, it just makes me wonder why all agencies aren't doing book rolls with us. But I think also, being a little biased working at Monoline, I can speak on behalf of your whole transfer team too that you guys just do an amazing job working on that communication, making sure that the process is so simple. So I just have to give a quick kudos to you and Alikhan and Antoinette. So you guys are amazing. Let's talk in numbers for a second. Is there a financial benefit for agencies and their customers?
Rachel:Agents earn increased commissions, and then in states that will allow it there's four states that will not allow us to adjust the pricing, but in the states that do, your clients will benefit from an in-agency transfer discount which will lower their premium to match the expiring. So, yes, the SimpleSwitch pays off in more ways than one.
Janessa:Another great perk. We love that. So we have talked a lot about saving time and strengthening the operations, but I think sometimes we want to know what's the bigger picture here. What does Simple Switch really mean for the future of an agency?
Rachel:A few things. Another huge value that we are excited about is, once Monoline offers higher limits, like the $10 million that will be coming soon here. In the future, you will be able to endorse any of these existing policies up to those limits without having to rewrite the policy. So that means eliminating the need for any excess layers that are sitting with other carriers. Solidifying your client's coverage. Consolidating everything under one roof of Monoline it's cleaner, more efficient. Reduces E and O exposures by organizing all the moving parts and again, it just feeds into working smarter, not harder.
Janessa:Yeah, and I think that's something so important that we here at Monoline try to preach is we want to make your life easier. We don't want to make your life harder in any way, and I think the Simple Switch program is the perfect example of that, because the ease of transferring is just amazing.
Rachel:I mentioned this earlier, but now that we have had a handful of agencies that are making it through the full year and they're getting lots of renewals in, they're coming back and we're really being able to look at the calculator, which, if any agents want to talk to me about SimpleSwitch, we can work through the specifics that you and we can really narrow down onto how many hours, what kind of revenue that can produce for you, right, and it goes back to your account managers. But when you see those first year's renewals come through, it is life- changing because they really are automated. So while there might be a little bit of transition time here on the front end, on the back end there are no renewal questionnaires. You don't have to worry about chasing down the insureds to make sure that they have paid or the rate increas ings, or something wasn't endorsed to make policy, or it was endorsed but the premium wasn't adjusted, and so then if that premium increase at renewal, this really will automate the process and your account managers don't have to lift a finger at renewal.
Rachel:We are acting like an agent's back office. We are taking this mess that you are dealing with and we are automating it and we are making it a smooth, seamless transition that will be year after year after year. We're going back to the old school model of truly transferring a book. So we're taking that book, we're looking at the profile of the book and really helping you as the agency and not just picking apart the little ones that we want. We truly are taking that entire book of business but there's not leaving just the scraps, that you now have to deal with later.
Rachel:So the support team as well. You mentioned Alikhan and Antoinette, so my team this is not just me. We have a fabulous transfer team.
Rachel:We usually do monthly check-ins with our transfer agencies, just at the first few months to make sure that everything is working, knowing that the agency needs it to work for them, because every agency is a little bit different and their process is different, and so we want to match you where you are at, because this is to make your life easier, not ours and that's the technology that we have on the back end and the ability to customize it for what agencies need. To go through your process, your teams will get to know all of us really well, even on the new business side. We get so much deeper with the agencies that we're working with on the transfer side and we see the new business side just skyrocketing as well.
Janessa:Yeah, and I think it was actually one of our co-founders, Carson. He said this one day on a meeting. He said we're bringing new school technology with old school values, and I think Simple Switch is the perfect example of that, because we're bringing the ease of everything being in the exact same platform that everybody's used to, but we're bringing back that old school value of talking to your agents and figuring out what works for them and being able to adjust, and I think that's something so important that monoline just really prides itself on.
Rachel:Yeah well, we're revolutionizing book rolls. I mean, we've all worked at carriers in the past where you've, or agencies, we've all done a book roll, whether you wanted to do it or you see the market that we're in today, um, and the technology that we've put behind making this so simple for you.
Rachel:Transfer book roll is not a scary word anymore You get in and if I jump on a 15-minute demo with you and show it to you, I'll say what questions do you have? And 95 percent of the time, agents just sit there and stare at me and that's it.
Janessa:Yeah, that's they're like this this is too good to be true. So what's the catch here? And we're like literally nothing. I sat in on a meeting with you just a couple of weeks ago and everybody yeah, you're right, everybody just sat there in silence and they were like this is the easiest process we have ever seen.
Rachel:I usually send an email to an account exec after their first transfer policy has issued and I say, hey, can you just give me a little bit of feedback? And it is so fun to see their replies. Where I have no feedback, I can't believe how easy that was.
Rachel:It's pretty cool to see it's definitely been an evolution. So, yeah, our agencies that joined simple switch 15, 16 months ago helped develop it with us. That's who Monoline is. We're constantly asking for your feedback, we're constantly trying to change it, and so a lot of those early transfer agencies helped us build the this platform themselves. It was built by an agency going through a transfer.
Janessa:Yeah, amazing. I think we were just at a conference a couple weeks ago and you were talking to an agent and you were kind of explaining what the process is to roll his book over. And then we had another agent come up and he was like what are you talking about right now? Like what are you saying right now? And he was like I want that too. And just watching agents' faces light up at this I think it's so fun. They hadn't even seen the platform yet, but just you explaining it. You had two agents be like we want to do a full transfer,
Rachel:and that was what three weeks ago.
Rachel:Both of them are starting transfers next week. That's how quick this process is. It was all right, let's look at your book. It works for you. Here' s the letters. Is this, do the letters fit your voice?
Rachel:And then I would start going this is not a month long process, no, but then I mean it is, let's do it and let's move.
Janessa:Y eah, and I think you get that so many times just on the chat or if we're talking to a new agency, we'll kind of bring up, hey, you know that you can also do a book roll. And I'd say so many of those agents are like yes, connect me with Rachel, I would love to talk to her about that. So I just have to give you a huge kudos. This has been your baby and watching you grow it has been so incredible. It's funny. We were just watching you just like watch policies come through and you get so excited when a transfer comes through. So it's really been fun to watch you thrive in this space.
Rachel:It's wild to think how far this program has come. Yeah, yeah, we just have three transfers a week and then it goes to a hundred.
Rachel:It is pretty cool to see how fast we are growing and I, you know, started on the agency side. I was on the account manager desk and so, knowing that I'm giving these account managers hundreds and thousands of hours back on their desk to be able to deal with the market and to help with burnout and turnover, and see smiles when we're on our transfer check-in yeah, it's going great. Yeah, oh my gosh, I didn't have to chase down a carrier for six weeks to get this done. It's just done and renewed and I just can't believe it, and I just love making agents' lives better.
Janessa:This is actually a great lead way into my next question For anyone listening. If they do want to roll their book, what's the next step that they need to take?
Rachel:Shoot me an email. I just need a few basic details about your book what states is it in, what carriers, what's the volume look like and then we can take it from there. We'll schedule a quick 15, 20-minute follow-up so I can learn about what your renewal process looks like again, because we tailor it to you. But the process is really fast. We're super supportive, completely tailored to your agency's needs, and if you are ready to stop wasting time on cumbersome workflows, this is your moment.
Janessa:I love that.
Janessa:All right, my very last question for you, and then we will wrap this up Is there a cost to using SimpleSwitch?
Rachel:No!
Janessa:I think this is the best question to end on. Everybody is probably wondering again there's got to be a price to pay for something that's easy. So tell us more.
Rachel:Our platform is free to use. So is the Simple Switch Transfer Program. So all you have to do is fill out the form on the Simple Switch page of our website. It asks some of those initial details and then I will reach out to get you going. So go to monoline. com/simples witch. Fill out that form and I will give you a call.
Janessa:Amazing, and we will put all of this in the description. We will have Rachel's contact information, we will have a link to the Simple Switch landing page and, Rachel, thank you so much for walking us through Monoline's transfer program. It really has been incredible watching you build this. I even remember a year ago when I started going through it, I was like this is so simple, and somehow you, your team, the developers and a huge thanks to all of our agents have made it even more simple. So again, thank you for just making agencies' lives easier. That brings us to the end of this episode. A huge thank you to Rachel for joining us today.
Janessa:Simple Switch isn't just a tool. It's a strategy, A way to grow, adapt and truly thrive in a world where time is everything and relationships are everything else. If you're looking at your umbrella book and thinking there's got to be a better way, there is, and we would love to help you roll it over the Monoline way Again visit us at monoline. com/simple switch to get started or just reach out. We're here and we're ready.
Janessa:What did you think of this episode? Send us a text and let us know.
Janessa:We drop a new episode every month on topics that help you build your business, educate your clients and build our professional community. Make sure to subscribe and follow us on LinkedIn for more insights into the world of personal umbrella insurance. Thanks for listening.
