Commercial Insurance Intake Checklist for Independent Brokers

Commercial intake is where brokerages lose days. A contractor emails a certificate request, a restaurant sends a menu, a landlord forwards a lease. None of it is a submission. A checklist-driven commercial form turns that chaos into a file a markets person can actually work.

Start with operations, not coverage labels

Carriers price what the business does. Ask for legal name, years in business, description of operations, website, and class of work before you ask for 'I need CGL and property.' The coverage list comes after you understand the risk.

The fields that prevent a second request

• Locations and occupancy of each building
• Revenue, payroll, and subcontractor costs
• Number of employees and whether they are WSIB/workers' comp covered
• Vehicles and whether they are used commercially
• Prior carrier, target effective date, and loss runs
• Contractual requirements: additional insureds, waiver of subrogation, certificate holders

Build decline rules around appetite, not hope

If you do not write cannabis, overnight trucking, or certain hospitality, say so in the form. Hard decline rules keep those inquiries from burning producer time. You can still capture the contact for a referral.

Make upload the default for loss runs and applications

Commercial clients will upload an ACORD, a current policy, or five years of losses if you ask clearly. Parsing those documents into structured fields is the fastest path from 'interested' to 'marketed.' Intakecore supports commercial templates and custom questions when your book is more specialized than a generic BOP form.