To our Carrier Partners

Mainstay understands the importance of mutually beneficial, long-term relationships with our carrier partners. By granting their support, these carriers benefit from a valued-added strategy driven by specialization and innovation. The expertise and business philosophy held by the partners at Mainstay ultimately results in profitable results for our business partners. That expertise and philosophy are outlined below:

Product Development and Underwriting
Within the framework of it’s underwriting and administration services, Mainstay takes a proactive role in the monitoring and coordination of all aspects of product development and underwriting to ensure consistent profitability to the carrier. Our staff works diligently to identify the special needs and expectations of each group of insureds, and also analyze coverage gaps, marketplace weaknesses, and claims and actuarial data that can affect long-term strategy. Once we've gathered the appropriate information, we work to develop a program with underwriting and pricing strategies that address specific requirements related to that marketplace.

Product Research
Effective product development starts with research. We must collect, analyze and interpret expansive data relevant to loss history, underwriting characteristics, market potential and competition surrounding any particular industry. The larger our data set, the more effective our product design and market strategy.

Risk Selection
Mainstay staff are committed to long-term carrier relationships that exist only with an underwriting philosophy directed toward mutual profitability. Mainstay does not sacrifice underwriting integrity for production.

Risk Management and Loss Control
Risk Management and loss control is the foundation of a well-administered product to assure that both operations and insurance coverage are working together to achieve reduced exposure. We have long recognized that the underlying principles of controlling insurance costs are related to comprehensive loss-prevention programs and a consistent claims administration function. To assist in accomplishing these objectives, our product development strategies incorporate these essential services:

• A thorough study of business operations and a detailed review of accident history by class
• A complete review of available safety and loss control programs
• Evaluation of loss history with specific identification of problem areas and hazardous conditions, emphasizing both high frequency and severity exposures
• Communication and discussion based on evaluations
• Development and implementation of an "Action Plan" for new and existing products

Innovation in Rate Making
The rate making strategy at Mainstay seeks to identify weaknesses in any particular market approach to pricing. Often those weaknesses are driven by a lack of effective risk segmentation. Insurance companies able to leverage unique rating plans based on unrecognized segmentation value will find themselves becoming the dominant player in their industry. The Insurance Services Office and much of the open market calculates premium using an oversimplified approach.  Mainstay recognizes this opportunity.  We incorporate it into the management of our products for program as well as individual risk business.

Actuarial Review
Professional Program Administrators appreciate the importance of third-party review of program claims data. In order to ensure longevity of any particular program, it remains critical to analyze updates on claim reserves and development tracking, as well as severity and frequency trends. For new and ongoing programs, Mainstay partners with respected actuarial firms for their review and opinion of the numbers. This policy results in advice and solutions that are independent, unbiased and customized for any particular program.

Sales and Marketing Strategy
Both the Sales and Marketing strategies maintained at Mainstay are designed to leverage our competitive advantages which include:

• Specialization – This is one of our core value propositions. Specialization inevitably creates increased product and distribution knowledge resulting in added value to our carrier and broker partners.
• Proven Sales Process – A sales process is a systematic approach for performing service sales. The benefits of having a sales process include seller and buyer risk management, standardized customer interaction in sales, and scalable revenue generation.
• Business Development – Mainstay uses a methodical and analytical approach to finding and developing target customers. The stages include defining the target customer by division and product, analyzing the marketplace by region, making contact with commercial lines marketing managers of targeted customers, and driving in submissions for our products using an in-depth features and benefits presentation.
• Distribution – Market penetration at Mainstay is represented by an extensive network of regional, national and global retail brokers. While each relationship is unique, they are all built on trust and the idea of mutual benefit, and they number into the thousands.