Selling The "Idea" Of Cyber Insurance

As cyber threats grow in sophistication and frequency, the demand for robust risk mitigation strategies, including cyber insurance, has skyrocketed. However, selling cyber insurance to your clients requires more than just explaining its benefits—it demands a tailored approach. Therefore, I have created this article to help assist in effectively selling the idea of cyber insurance and ensure your clients understand its importance.

Firstly, we will look at the various steps or aspects to look at when discussing a cyber policy with a client and what will help provide value to the client when deciding whether to add cyber to their existing insurance portfolio.

Understand the Current & General Cyber Threat Landscape

In order to sell the idea of adding cyber to a clients portfolio, you must firstly understand the exposures that your clients can face when transacting business in the modern environment and these can include things such as Data Breaches, Ransomware, Social Engineering & Invoice Fraud, Phishing and Malware. You would also need to understand how these exposures can impact a business financially as well as the reputational and regulatory impacts should the business experience any of these exposures.

Convey The Value Of Cyber Insurance Within A Portfolio

Now you understand the exposure a business faces, the client will need to understand the value that Cyber Insurance can bring to the portfolio, as we all know an additional cost to clients at renewal is never an easy sell and for the client to understand why it is of value, Cyber Insurance must be conveyed as an investment and not an additional cost.

Conveying Cyber Insurance this way can be done in various ways such as highlighting how it can help protect business continuity and highlighting business interruption losses that could be had, explaining the costs surrounding a cyber attack and not just the headline figure (for example, a ￡50,000 ransomware demand could end up being over ￡100,000 or more when you include forensics, PR and restoration costs) and indirect or intangible costs to the business such as reputational damage and loss of potential income.

Tailor Cyber Insurance to You Client

As we all know insurance isn’t one size fits all and the same goes for Cyber Insurance, as a blanket policy will not fit the needs of a client therefore, you will need to tailor your approach to the client in respect of their industry, the size of their company to really understand what covers they needs and the limits they require.

Also having industry specific examples that illustrate the value of adding Cyber Insurance to a client’s portfolio will help the client understand how their peers are protecting against exposures and make cyber insurance seem much more relatable than at first thought.

Simplifying Cyber

Everyone has Home or Car insurance, therefore when discussing this with a client it’s a much easier conversation to have but when it’s regarding Cyber all the fancy words and complex terms can throw a client off at the first hurdle – So why not break it down like a Home or Car Policy?

We can break down a Cyber policy into it’s simplest parts but turning it into 3 core pillars of coverage as follows:

First Party Coverage – This will provide cover for the client’s own losses such as business interruption, ransom payments, invoice fraud and more.

Third Party Coverage – This provides cover for any legal action against the client or regulatory investigations and fines such as data liability claims, funds transfer liability claims and GDPR fines and penalties (if deemed insurable)

Incident Response Services – This provides cover for any cyber related services to help mitigate an attack and establish a path back to recovery (this can be incredibly costly if not insured)

Address Objections

As with all additions to a client’s insurance stack, there are always objections especially if it is a new product and the exposure is not fully realised. Some of the most common objections we see and the responses to those are:

“We already have strong cybersecurity.” Explain that even the best defences can’t guarantee 100% protection. Insurance is a safety net.

“It’s too expensive.” Highlight the cost of potential losses versus the policy premium. Use industry data to back your points.

“We won’t be targeted.” Debunk this myth by emphasizing that cybercriminals often target small and medium-sized businesses, which they perceive as easier prey.

Education, Education, Education

Educating clients on cyber risk is key to keeping cyber exposure on the mind of your clients and keeping them informed on the latest updates and emerging cyber risks helps when having a discussion on adding cyber into their risk transfer strategies.

Here at Jensten, we provide educational content through Newsletters, Video Content, Webinars and Website Blogs to help our clients really understand cyber risk and why it is so important to protect against these exposures whilst transacting business in the modern world.

Selling cyber insurance is about more than pitching a product—it’s about providing peace of mind. By understanding your client’s unique needs, demystifying policy complexities, and positioning insurance as an essential part of their risk management strategy, you can help your clients secure their businesses against cyber threats.

Get in touch to see how the Jensten Technology, Media & Cyber team can help you with client’s Cyber Insurance strategy!

George Grimshaw

Senior Account Executive (Cyber & Technology)

Jensten Insurance Brokers

07900 598771

[email protected]

[email protected]