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February 07, 2022 at 07:55 PM
What You Need to Know
- He has degrees from Dartmouth and Berkeley.
- If you had a computer before 1983, he might have been responsible for making sure some of your floppy disks worked.
- Even he finds the preferences of Medicare plan prospects hard to track.
Bill Daniel is the CEO of All Web Leads (which is also known as the AWL Insurance Agency), and of its InsuranceQuotes arm.
The Austin, Texas-based company uses a web-based quote service to generate leads for producers who sell Medicare plans, property and casualty (P&C) insurance, and other insurance products.
Daniel has a bachelor’s degree in engineering from Dartmouth College.
He started out as an engineer and supervisor at Polaroid Corp., then went on to serve as a site manager for quality at Verbatim Corp., an early manufacturer of computer floppy disks.
Later, he became a sales executive at Oracle, earned a master’s degree in business from the University of California at Berkeley, and moved deeper into technology firm marketing and management at technology startups. He founded and sold Wallop Software, a business website support firm, and Surgient, a private cloud automation firm, before taking over at All Web Leads, in 2008.
Via email, we asked Daniel a set of questions that touch both on his professional knowledge and on what he does off the clock.
1. What market indicator, industry statistic, regulatory change or advisor trend are you watching most closely right now and why?
The AWL Insurance Agency operates in the personal lines space, with a focus on property and casualty and Medicare products. Therefore, we are watching two key indicators: the P&C carriers’ combined ratios and Medicare Advantage preferences among Medicare-eligible consumers. Both indicators inform how we execute against our growth strategy.
2. How has it been changing recently (2021) and how do you expect it to change (2022)?
2021 was a difficult year for the P&C carriers and their loss combined ratios. This has led to most carriers planning for price increases across products and geographies during 2022.
On the Medicare side, Medicare Advantage continued to gain share versus Medicare supplement products during 2021, and we expect that trend to continue in 2022.
3. What would you suggest advisors do now or consider doing in the future about it?
On the P&C side, get ahead of the carrier price increases coming, by helping your customers explore alternatives and, hopefully, find less expensive options that meet your customers’ needs.
On the Medicare side, continue to develop your understanding of the intricacies of Medicare Advantage and how Medicare Advantage plans compare to traditional Medicare and Medicare supplement products. Knowledge is key.
4. Who or what critical source of information do you track, or follow online, to keep up with this or other trends?
For the P&C carriers combined ratios, it is simple to track, as many of these carriers are publicly traded or required to publicly disclose this information.
