Originally posted on https://prowritersins.com/cyber-insurance-blog/how-to-sell-cyber-insurance/

Nearly half of small businesses experienced a cyber attack in the past year, according to Hiscox. But surprisingly, only 21% of small businesses have a standalone cyber insurance policy.

There’s a disconnect between small business owners and the cyber threats they face.

Brokers and agents can help bridge that gap. At ProWriters, we’re dedicated to helping you learn how to sell cyber insurance effectively to your clients. And our expertise, combined with our powerful Cyber IQ Comparative Rate Portal, can help you find the perfect policy once they see the importance of cyber coverage.

How to Sell Cyber Insurance | ProWriters

Tell Your Clients a Story

Stories resonate with all of us. Whether you’re explaining your vacation last summer or selling insurance, stories work to capture our attention. Painting a picture for your clients can convey the importance of cyber insurance and help you make the case for purchasing a policy.

Here’s a story we’ve seen play out far too often: It’s Monday morning and you come into work to find that all of your computers and phones are locked. You receive a message from a hacker demanding $50,000 dollars in bitcoin within 72 hours. If you don’t deliver, all of your data will be destroyed. What would you do? Who would you call?

When you tell your clients this story and they can’t answer those questions, explain that they need cyber insurance. The Cyber IQ Comparative Rate Portal makes it easy to obtain multiple quotes from top carriers in just seconds so you can show your clients what their options are.

What to Say if Your Clients Have Healthcare or Payment Information

If your clients handle healthcare data or credit cards, you can explain to them what kind of costs a cyber insurance policy would cover in the event of a breach. A cyber incident can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars or more in these cases, which is why as much as 60% of small and medium-sized businesses fail within six months of a breach.

A cyber insurance policy will cover the crippling costs that could put a company out of business. In the event of a breach, a policy will cover the costs necessary to:

• Conduct a forensic IT investigation
• Notify customers, media, and appropriate regulatory entities
• Provide credit monitoring services

What to Say if Your Clients Do Not Have Healthcare or Payment Information

You may have clients who do not handle healthcare or credit card data. Some of these clients may be under the impression they don’t need a cyber insurance policy since they don’t handle sensitive data. Your clients wouldn’t be alone in thinking this; many people make this assumption.

Unfortunately, it’s a common misconception. Some of the most common cyber attacks have nothing to do with the type of data the target has. Motivated by money, hackers will target the businesses itself—as opposed to the data being stored—and try to exploit or extort.

These cyber incidents can be devastating for a business. There are many costs associated with these kinds of attacks. You can explain to your clients that a cyber insurance policy will cover those costs, which can be incredibly expensive to cover out-of-pocket. This includes costs for:

• Ransomware events
• Network asset damage
• Business interruption

Your clients may not know everything about cyber insurance. But if they understand the risks involved with cyber and the costs a policy will cover, that’s a hugely important first step to getting them to see the importance of cyber insurance. Register with our Cyber IQ Comparative Rate Portal for a quick and easy comparison of quotes from top carriers to take them a step further. To learn more about selling cyber insurance to your clients, download our eBook, A Broker’s Guide to Selling Cyber Liability Insurance!