Why Speed-to-Quote Wins More Business Than Price

The phone rang at 10:47 AM. It was a referral from an existing client — always the best leads.

“Hi, I’m looking for a quote on business insurance. My friend said you were great to work with. I need general liability and property coverage for my HVAC company. Can you help?”

The CSR took down the client’s information: business name, address, revenue, employee count, operations description. “I’ll work on this and have quotes for you by end of day.”

She hung up and started the quoting process.

Log into Travelers portal. Enter business info. Submit. Wait for quote. Screenshot premium. Log out.

Log into The Hartford. Re-enter the same business info. Submit. Wait. Screenshot. Log out.

Progressive Commercial. Same process. Then Nationwide. Then Liberty Mutual.

By 1:15 PM, she’d quoted five carriers and compiled the results into a spreadsheet.

She emailed the client: “Here are your options, ranging from $3,200 to $4,800 annually.”

Radio silence.

She followed up the next morning. No response.

Two days later, the client replied: “Thanks, but I already went with another agent who got back to me within an hour. Appreciate your time.”

The agency lost the deal. Not because their pricing wasn’t competitive. Because they were too slow.

The Speed-to-Quote Reality

Here’s the uncomfortable truth about new business quoting:

You don’t win on price. You win on speed.

Clients don’t just call one agent. They call 3-5 agents and go with whoever responds fastest with a competitive quote. If you take 6 hours to get back to them, they’ve already moved forward with the agent who responded in 90 minutes.

This is especially true for personal lines (auto, home). The client is shopping for insurance because:

• They just bought a car and the dealer needs proof of insurance before they can drive off the lot
• They’re closing on a house in 48 hours and need a homeowners policy
• Their current policy is canceling for non-payment and they need coverage immediately

They’re not doing a months-long procurement process. They need insurance now. And “now” means whoever gets them a quote first.

Even for commercial lines, where the decision cycle is longer, speed still matters. The agent who responds within 2-3 hours sets the anchor price. Everyone else is compared against that first quote.

The Four Quoting Bottlenecks

Bottleneck #1: Sequential Carrier Quoting

You need to quote 5 carriers to give the client competitive options.

Manual process:

1. Log into Carrier A portal. Enter data. Submit. Wait 60-90 seconds. Screenshot quote.
2. Log into Carrier B portal. Re-enter same data. Submit. Wait. Screenshot.
3. Repeat for Carriers C, D, E.

Total time: 40-60 minutes for 5 carriers.

Now imagine if you could submit all 5 quote requests simultaneously and have the results come back into a single comparison view. Same data entered once. All quotes retrieved in parallel.

Total time: 8-12 minutes.

That’s a 75% time savings. And on a day when you’re quoting 10-15 new business requests, that’s the difference between responding same-day vs. next-day.

Bottleneck #2: Data Re-Entry Across Carriers

Every carrier portal wants the same information:

• Client name, address, DOB (or business name, FEIN, address)
• Vehicles (VINs, year, make, model)
• Drivers (names, DOBs, license numbers)
• Property (address, year built, square footage, coverage limits)
• Coverage history (prior carrier, claims)

You’re entering this information 5 times — once per carrier.

On a personal auto quote with 2 drivers and 3 vehicles, you’re typing:

• 2 names, 2 DOBs, 2 license numbers
• 3 VINs, 3 vehicle descriptions
• Prior carrier info, claims history

That’s 20+ data points × 5 carriers = 100+ manual data entry fields for a single quote.

If you enter data wrong on carrier #3 (typo in the VIN), the quote comes back incorrect and you have to re-run it.

This isn’t automation. This is digital busy work.

Bottleneck #3: Manual Quote Comparison

You’ve run quotes from 5 carriers. Now you have 5 sets of results, each in a different format:

• Carrier A: PDF with premium on page 2, coverage limits in a table on page 3
• Carrier B: Email summary with premium in the subject line, full quote attached
• Carrier C: Portal screen showing premium but requiring you to click “view details” to see coverage
• Carrier D: Excel spreadsheet with premium, deductibles, and limits
• Carrier E: Quote returned via fax (yes, some carriers still do this in 2026)

You manually copy each premium into a Google Sheet. You try to normalize coverage limits (Carrier A quoted $1M liability, Carrier B quoted $2M — is that apples-to-apples?).

By the time you’re done, you’ve spent 15-20 minutes just organizing the data into a presentable format.

And if the client asks “why is Carrier B $800 more expensive?” you have to go back and compare coverage line-by-line to figure out if it’s a deductible difference, a limit difference, or an endorsement difference.

Bottleneck #4: Follow-Up Tracking

You send the quote at 2 PM. The client doesn’t respond.

When do you follow up? Tomorrow? Three days? A week?

Most agencies don’t have a systematic follow-up process. The CSR follows up “when they remember” or “when they have time.”

Meanwhile, the client has received quotes from 4 other agents. The one who follows up most persistently often wins the business — not because their quote was cheapest, but because they stayed top-of-mind.

Automated follow-up sequences ensure no quote request falls through the cracks:

• Send quote immediately
• Follow up 24 hours later if no response: “Did you have a chance to review the quotes? Any questions?”
• Follow up 3 days later if still no response: “Just checking in — are you still looking for coverage, or have you moved forward with another carrier?”
• Mark as “lost” after 7 days of no response and move on

This doesn’t require more work. It just requires remembering to do it consistently — which is what automation handles.

The Speed-to-Quote Math

Let’s run the numbers on what quoting speed is actually worth.

You write $2 million in new premium annually across personal and commercial lines.

Your current quote-to-close ratio: 20% (you quote $10M to write $2M).

Scenario 1: Manual Quoting (Current State)

• Time to quote 5 carriers: 60 minutes
• Response time: 4-6 hours (you batch quote requests and send them out end-of-day)
• Quote-to-close ratio: 20%
• New premium written: $2M
• Commission at 14% avg: $280,000

Scenario 2: Automated Quoting

• Time to quote 5 carriers: 15 minutes
• Response time: 1-2 hours (you can quote immediately when requests come in)
• Quote-to-close ratio: 28% (40% improvement from faster response)
• You can quote more leads with the time saved → quote $12M instead of $10M
• New premium written: $2.8M ($12M × 28% close rate, vs. $2M before)
• Commission at 14% avg: $392,000

Difference: $112,000 additional annual commission income — just from quoting faster and converting more leads.

And that’s without spending more on lead generation. You’re just converting more of the leads you already have, because you’re responding faster.

What Automated Quoting Looks Like

Here’s the workflow at agencies that have automated new business quoting:

Step 1: Quote Request Comes In

Client submits quote request via:

• Phone call (CSR takes notes)
• Website form (auto-captured)
• Email (“I need a quote for…“)
• Referral (existing client provides intro)

The CSR enters the client’s information once into a central intake form or the AMS:

• Name, address, DOB (or business info for commercial)
• Drivers, vehicles, property details
• Coverage requirements
• Prior insurance and claims history

Step 2: Submit to Multiple Carriers Simultaneously

Instead of logging into 5 separate carrier portals, the system:

• Auto-populates quote forms for all selected carriers
• Submits quote requests in parallel
• Monitors for quote results

The CSR doesn’t log into any portals manually. The system handles it.

Step 3: Retrieve and Compare Quotes

As quotes come back (typically within 60-90 seconds for personal lines, 5-10 minutes for commercial), the system compiles them into a comparison table:

Carrier	Premium	Liability Limit	Property Limit	Deductible	Notes
Travelers	$3,450	$1M	$500K	$1,000	Best overall value
The Hartford	$3,820	$2M	$500K	$500	Higher liability, lower deductible
Progressive	$3,210	$1M	$500K	$2,500	Lowest premium, higher deductible

The CSR reviews the comparison, adds any notes (“Progressive is cheapest but has $2,500 deductible — might not be right for this client”), and selects the top 3-5 quotes to present.

Step 4: Send Quote to Client

The system generates a professional quote presentation (PDF or email) with:

• Summary of client’s coverage needs
• Top 3-5 carrier options with premiums and key coverage highlights
• Recommendation (if appropriate): “Based on your coverage needs, I recommend The Hartford option for the higher liability limits.”

The quote is emailed to the client within 1-2 hours of their initial request.

Step 5: Automated Follow-Up

If the client doesn’t respond within 24 hours, they receive an automated follow-up:

“I sent over your insurance quotes yesterday. Did you have a chance to review them? I’m happy to answer any questions or adjust coverage if needed. Let me know!”

If still no response after 3 days, another follow-up:

“Just checking in — are you still looking for coverage, or have you moved forward with another option? If you need anything adjusted or have questions, I’m here to help.”

After 7 days of no response, the quote is marked as “lost” and the CSR moves on.

This follow-up doesn’t require the CSR to remember or manually send emails. It’s systematic and automatic.

The Comparative Rater Advantage

Some agencies use comparative rating engines (EZLynx is the most popular). These tools let you enter client data once and quote dozens of carriers simultaneously.

When they work, they’re game-changers.

Personal auto quote that would take 60 minutes manually? Done in 5 minutes with EZLynx.

But here’s the catch:

1. Not all carriers have API integrations — you can only quote carriers supported by the rater
2. Commercial lines support is limited — comparative raters work great for personal auto/home, less so for complex commercial accounts
3. You still need to review and compare — the rater gives you raw quotes, but you need to normalize coverage and add recommendations

Even with a comparative rater, agencies benefit from automating the follow-up, presentation, and tracking parts of the quoting process.

The Houston Agency Fix

I worked with an agency in Houston that was quoting 40-50 new business requests per week. Their average time-to-quote was 4-6 hours (they batched quote requests and worked on them end-of-day).

Their quote-to-close ratio: 18%.

We implemented automated quoting:

• Standardized intake form for capturing client data
• Automated carrier portal population (for carriers without EZLynx integration)
• Quote comparison table generation
• Automated follow-up sequences (24 hours, 3 days, 7 days)

Results after 3 months:

• Average time-to-quote dropped to 1.5 hours (they could respond same-day instead of next-day)
• Quote-to-close ratio jumped to 26% (44% improvement)
• They quoted 20% more leads with the same staff (time savings freed up capacity)

The owner told me: “We didn’t hire another producer this year because we’re converting so much more of our existing lead flow. That’s $60K in saved salary, plus the additional revenue from higher close rates.”

The math: writing an additional $600K in new premium annually at 26% close rate (vs. $500K at 18% before). At 14% commission, that’s $84K additional commission income — just from quoting faster and following up consistently.

The Speed Perception Effect

Here’s the psychological impact of fast quoting:

Slow quoting (6-hour response):

• Client: “I called this morning and still haven’t heard back. I wonder if they’re even working on it.”
• Client: “Another agent already sent me quotes. I’ll probably just go with them.”

Fast quoting (1-2 hour response):

• Client: “Wow, they got back to me in an hour. They must really want my business.”
• Client: “I haven’t heard from the other agents yet. I’ll go with the one who responded fastest — they seem more responsive.”

Speed creates a perception of competence and attentiveness. Even if your pricing isn’t the cheapest, clients often choose the agent who demonstrated the fastest turnaround.

Because if you’re this responsive on a quote, they assume you’ll be this responsive when they need a COI, an endorsement, or help with a claim.

You’re not just selling insurance. You’re selling confidence that you’ll be there when they need you.

And fast quoting is the first proof point of that promise.

The Bottom Line

New business quoting is a race. The agent who responds fastest with a competitive, well-presented quote wins the majority of the time.

Manual quoting — logging into 5 carrier portals, re-entering data, copy-pasting results into a spreadsheet — can’t keep up with the 1-2 hour response time that modern clients expect.

Automated quoting isn’t about replacing the agent’s judgment. It’s about eliminating the repetitive data entry and portal toggling so the agent can focus on reviewing quotes, making recommendations, and closing the sale.

If you’re losing 50% of your new business quotes to “we went with another agent,” the problem probably isn’t your pricing. It’s your speed.

Fix the speed problem, and your close rate will follow.