Brokers reveal their best ways to strengthen their businesses

You have to spend money to make money, say brokers responding to Canadian Underwriter’s 2026 National Broker Survey.

The Top 3 investment areas (for both money and time) that produce results for broker-owners are digitization of documents (57%), changing carriers a brokerage works with (35%), and using artificial intelligence (AI) or machine learning tools (35%).

In verbatim comments, brokers confirm offering products from new carriers and through MGAs boosts business. “Staying on top of changing coverages and offerings, so clients know that we have their best interests in mind,” says a woman at a small brokerage with fewer than 20 employees who’s been in the business fewer than 16 years.

Success rates for the first two tactics are statistically consistent with prior surveys, but use of AI rises to 35%, from 24% in 2025 and 17% in 2024.

Verbatim comments around AI show a tentative adoption of the technology, with several brokers saying they’re successfully using AI to generate targeted leads for niche product lines. There are still questions, though, about measuring AI’s usefulness. One broker says firms need to quantify whether it’s really helping individual brokers serve more clients.

Related: Brokers see rapid digital change as a major challenge for the channel

A broker at a smaller firm says AI is actually driving her comittment to the personal touch. “The public is screaming for people – real people. And the more the consolidators are falling into the trap, the more their customers are coming to me,” she tells the survey. “AI in 90% of the uses is costing them and will not actually save them in the long run. My growth this last year was 22%. The AI might help in the background but every phone tree and chat bot pushes clients my way. So…they can keep doing [that] and I will keep the growth.”

Rounding out the Top 5, 31% of broker owners say spending on Application Program Interfaces to improve brokers’ connectivity to carriers strengthen their businesses (again, consistent with past surveys), and changing up the brokerage’s mix of product offerings works for 29% of respondents – down from 34% last year and 35% in 2024. Another 28% say a change to their broker management system is working – generally in line with prior surveys.

Less than one third of broker-owners say mergers and acquisitions (28%) are driving growth in 2026, and an additional 25% say geographic expansion is leading to a stronger business. Those results are relatively consistent over the past five years.

Related: What commercial brokers think about their carriers

Geographic diversity is a necessity for brokerage survival, some brokers in the survey say. “Diversify geographically…it is imperative to do this in order to survive,” says a woman at a large firm with more than 100 employees. “Always, diversify in every possible way. Diversify in product lines, diversify in client groups, diversify in carriers.”

Other written comments express similar views, although one broker surveyed strongly disagrees. “M&As are the death of the insurance industry,” he tells the survey.

Asked for their opinions about the best internal operations tactics to strengthen their brokerages, 76% of brokers report seeing results from product training and education in 2026, up from 70% last year. Consistent with prior years, 60% say customer service and education is working, and 58% say the same for sales training and education. Finally, 51% say investments in customer service technology is helping firms make headway.

Newer brokers are consistently more receptive to the three training offerings (83% favour product training, 68% customer service, and 66% sales) compared to their more experienced colleagues. Those at mid-sized forms with between 20 and 99 employees are most enthusiastic about product training (81%), followed by those at large firms (76%) and small firms (65%).

“Customer service training and education…directly impacts client satisfaction and retention, handling difficult premium conversations, complaint reduction and overall brand experience. In today’s environment, strong service skills are critical,” says a younger male broker at a large firm.

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Related: Brokers less optimistic about growth in 2026

Other brokers cite the need to enhance customer skills to keep AI from taking their jobs.

“AI might be able to learn to attach a document, [but] it can’t learn how to actually replace a real human doing real human things,” says a mid-career woman working at a smaller brokerage. “If we focus on the customer service in our industry, the rest will come. And unfortunately for carriers, they are still in the customer service industry. The companies that really bring service to the forefront, with actual flexibility, will be the winners.”

Looking at other customer-service enhancements for 2026, brokers’ Top 5 starts with after-hours service (38%), followed by online quoting (35%), online binding (17%), online chat with human operators (16%) and online chat using automated systems (12%).

Canadian Underwriter’s 2026 National Broker Survey heard from 169 brokers, with 32 identifying as brokerage owners or principals. The survey was conducted in February 2026, with support from Sovereign Insurance.

Phil Porado

Phil, an award-winning journalist with over 30 years of experience in financial topics, has been managing editor of Canadian Underwriter for more than three years.