Rising Star Michelle Landver Talks How Becoming a Subject Matter Expert in Retail Helped Shape Her Career

Come see the Stars! As part of our ongoing coverage of the best brokers in the commercial insurance space, Risk & Insurance®, with the sponsorship of Philadelphia Insurance, is expanding its coverage of the Rising Stars, those brokers who represent the next wave of insurance brokering talent.

Look for these expanded profiles on the Risk & Insurance website and in your social media feeds throughout the year.

For this edition, we spoke with Michelle Landver, senior vice president, Newfront and a 2024 Retail Power Broker winner.

Risk & Insurance: What are some of the keys to your success as a commercial insurance broker?

Michelle Landver: Developing and focusing on an industry vertical, with mine being the retail/wholesale sector.

While I work with some clients in other industries as well, becoming a subject matter expert has propelled my success faster than I think it otherwise would have occurred.

Another factor is building a network of other professionals from the legal, banking, accounting, and M&A sectors with whom I build trusting relationships with over time and where I can be a referral source and receive referrals from. Reaching out cold or approaching prospects from the standpoint of selling on price does not work in the current market with more sophisticated buyers who want a trusted advisor and partner in their risk management and insurance provider. 

R&I: In the economic sectors you work in, what are some of the biggest challenges insureds face? 

ML: In retail and consumer goods, inflation and employment rates can impact how well those businesses are doing. When consumer spending contracts, the essential products are stable however anything deemed as a luxury or ‘nice to have’ consumer good gets cut as consumers look to conserve money.

We also saw drastic fluctuations in consumer spending during COVID and in the subsequent years, where buying tangible items for yourself or home was trending in 2020/2021, but in the past couple of years people have shifted back to spending on experiences and travel.

R&I: If you could name one thing the commercial insurance industry could improve on, what would it be? 

ML: Educating buyers on the process of transacting insurance (challenges in the market are, what is challenging potentially about their risk, underwriting, pricing, etc.) and the reasons why they should take a proactive role in managing their own risk, which would meaningfully benefit them in the products available to them in the market.

Transparency is critical as well, and it ties into education, but also being above board with what companies should expect from a service standpoint and how partners are being compensated. 

R&I: Where do you find the most joy in your work? 

ML: Building relationships with people and learning how they run their business, why they do what they do, how they support and empower their employees and communities and why it matters. &