WC Primary Class Code vs. SIC Codes
Published 07-29-2018 into Prospect Targeting & Search Tips
I always recommend agents to use the Class Code option for industry targeting when it is available, which is good advice about 80% of the time. Some industries get shafted by the class codes though. If your markets want to write office exposures in the traditional sense (BOP policies) then you’re in luck, there’s a lot of them. For example, in CO there are 160k+ active WC policies. A little more than 20k classified 8810 (Clerical Office Emp).
But if you have a cyber liability program for software developers, you have a lot of shit to sift through. SIC codes on the other hand will let you drill down to the 7k software development opportunities available. (Tip: use ONE industry option, SIC OR Class, not both.)
If you do business in a lot of different states, you may have realized not all data sets are created equal. Some states give you WC policy #’s, primary class code, WC Standard Premium, and are kind enough to make LCM filings somewhat accessible. Other states are just assholes about it. In fact, the only commonality that all states share is that they will ALL spell a given carrier’s name in a different way. Example? Acadia Insurance Company, Acadia Ins Co, Acadia Insurance Co, Acadia Ins. Co. – it goes on.
While data availability and its variance by region should and will be its own post, my point is SIC codes are not plentiful in all states. Consider the fact that the average number of Mod rated accounts in a given state range from 27% to 35% (based on states w/ available Mod data or std. WC premium, using a $5k premium requirement for Mod rating). 2/3’s of businesses that carry WC are REALLY small. This makes it (really) hard to find verifiable (multiple sourced) data, but we do. And if we don’t one source will do.
If SIC codes are not generating the results you need, the first thing to do is make sure it’s not user error. Using Sales AND Employee figures at the same time, Class code AND SIC code, etc. I’m an advocate of smaller, focused lists, but if you only get a handful of results there’s a good chance you’ve got to much going on with your search. Mess around with difference criteria. Don’t worry, you won’t break it.
If this doesn’t do it, you may be able to do a keyword search (e.g. search the word ‘church’ to pull up a list of churches). Didn’t know you could do that? We just added a new feature to the Company Name search that acts like a keyword filter, check out Part 2 for some examples. Oh, it also works with the other search criteria too – check out Company Name Search Enhancement in the Prospect Search Tips section for more info.