The above exchange is between Jack Reacher and Oscar Finlay from Season 1, Episode 7 of Amazon Prime’s Reacher, an action-packed crime TV series. It is but one example of Reacher reminding anyone around him (usually Finlay) that “details matter.” In the above situation, it’s the critical detail of recognizing the plural possessive form that ultimately helps them break open and solve the case.
Watching Reacher is often part of my time unwinding from a long day working on insurance accounts. However, I frequently find myself comparing Reacher’s attention to detail to what I do at work every day. The criticality of “details matter” applies in insurance just as much as it does to Reacher’s investigations. I think of accounts (especially the complex ones) as insurance puzzles, where I need all the pieces to put them together – and the details most definitely matter.
The Puzzle Pieces of Underwriting
What are the puzzle pieces and details that matter, you ask? Almost all underwriters will think of the most common aspects first:
However, the next piece is hidden and the most difficult to discern: What is the producer’s and applicant’s actual intent? Do they want the most cost-effective option, the broadest coverage or somewhere in between? It does an underwriter no good to put together a great coverage proposal with broad terms when the insured just wants a cost-effective policy (i.e., the cheapest option).
Details matter.” – Reacher, and also every great underwriter ever.
Misleading Clues: The Risk of Over-Relying on Expiring Policies
Like Reacher and Finlay in the earlier exchange, where they searched the wrong garage several times before realizing they needed to go to a completely different house, an underwriter must also look out for puzzle pieces that might lead them down the wrong path. One example of this false path is expiring policies.
Expiring policies are often structured ineffectively; the coverage isn’t set up in the most efficient way for anyone involved – the insured, carrier or producer. Take, for example, a common request for shared limits on a Miscellaneous Medical (Misc Med) policy. Producers often work to build a vertical tower of limits, but structuring the primary differently can usually be more cost-effective. Building limits per location or limits per entity creates broader, more cost-effective coverage on the primary. It also typically means that a producer will not need to place as much vertical limit, and what they do place may be at lower pricing.
It does an underwriter no good to put together a great coverage proposal with broad terms when the insured really just wants a cost-effective option.
The Hidden Piece: Competitive Intelligence
Another hidden puzzle piece, often the difference between winning or losing a bind order, is understanding how your competitors are likely to approach the same risk. What coverages will they offer? What are their minimum premiums? Which underwriter will be handling the account? These are questions that don’t come with the submission; they’re answered through experience. Just like the light bulb moment with the plural possessive for Reacher and Finlay, this insight can suddenly make everything click.
This kind of competitive intelligence is hard-earned, built over years of learning competitor appetites, tracking how individual underwriters operate and noticing when a carrier steps outside its usual box (because, after all, this is E&S). And sometimes, that understanding is the most valuable piece on your desk. It helps you quickly triage opportunities, decide which ones to pursue and position your proposal to win.
I was recently speaking with a producer about markets and carrier approaches when he mentioned a proposal he was confident would win an account. But the agent came back to say he had not won it—the insured wanted to maintain a separate limit for Sexual Misconduct coverage, and his proposal didn’t offer that. Instead, the Sexual Misconduct coverage in his proposal was included as part of the broader PL tower, and the business stayed with the incumbent.
There are only three markets that offer a separate limit for Sexual Misconduct under their Misc Med policy form (hint: we’re one of them!). Had the broker known this detail, he could have gone directly to the two other carriers that offer a similar coverage structure, instead of casting a wide net to 5-10 markets and ultimately spinning his wheels.
The Final Detail
For most people, Amazon Prime’s Reacher series is more entertaining than insurance. But for those of us that love the insurance puzzles we get to solve every day, the same principle applies: details matter. Especially the ones you might not be thinking about, but that could make you more efficient and more effective at solving the puzzle in front of you.
Next time you’re reviewing a complex submission, ask yourself: Am I missing a small but critical detail that could change the entire picture?