For Cameron Linder, chief executive officer of Rednil Insurance Brokers, having a market niche is about more than succeeding at business. “You do make more money,” he says, “but you also get to do something that I think is of incredible moral value, which is, if you do it right and if you do it with a philosophy that really cares about your customer, you actually get to make a meaningful impact on these people’s businesses and you truly get to protect them.”
Increasingly, insurance agency principals are abandoning the generalist business model, following Linder’s lead, and focusing on one or more market niches. They find that having niches sets them apart from the rest of the field and provides lucrative rewards.
“I think having a niche helps you stand out in a very crowded marketplace,” says Amanda Twomey, business developer for Risman Insurance. “It allows you to develop deeper expertise, build stronger relationships, and earn trust in areas where clients really need guidance.”
Linder is the second generation to run his agency, taking over from his father who carved out a niche in the 1980s with bowling centers. A few years ago, he added a second niche in pickleball centers, capitalizing on that sport’s growing popularity. His agency now administers the Western Bowling Proprietors Insurance (WBPI) and Pickleball Insurance Program (PIP). They are the largest insurer of bowling centers in the country and a leading insurer of pickleball centers. Having grown into a managing general agency, they have underwriting, loss control, and claims teams.
Twomey’s agency focuses on several classes from convenience stores to car washes and auto dealers. However, the agency did not just wake up one morning and pick a bunch of niches out of a hat. “I wouldn’t say we ‘chose’ them so much as they evolved,” she explains. “When you’re active in your community and engaged with your clients, you start to see patterns — certain kinds of risks or industries that gravitate toward you. Over time, those common threads become focus areas. It’s less about sitting down and picking a niche from a list, and more about leaning into what’s already working and what feels authentic.”
Linder is even more emphatic. “The niche chooses you, you don’t choose the niche.” His father grew the bowling center book by forming strong relationships, getting an appointment with the right carrier, and learning fast.
A good niche has certain characteristics, according to Linder:
- A very large number of homogenous potential clients.
- Little competition for the class.
- The opportunity to develop an intimate knowledge of the loss exposures and controls.
For example, with bowling centers “we pay very close attention to video cameras and video surveillance. I know exactly where to tell them to put their cameras.” Centers typically end up freeing some cameras to plug blind spots.
In addition, “Passion matters,” says Twomey. “If you don’t genuinely enjoy learning about a certain type of client or coverage, it’ll show.” She recommends examining community demographics, identifying coverage need patterns, and playing to the agency team’s strengths.
Both agree that, if the agency can demonstrate its value in a specialty, clients will come to them. Linder has found some potential clients holding almost worthless liability policies, such as a policy insuring a pickleball center that has an athletic participants’ bodily injury exclusion on it. Twomey says, “It’s about refining your expertise, building resources that make you indispensable in that space, and letting your reputation do the talking.”
Linder’s agency has found success by being very good at serving a couple of classes of business that others have neglected. That kind of expertise breeds client respect and makes retaining business far easier. That may be the best argument for having market niches – the agency can become the “go-to” place for quality coverage. As Twomey says, “At the end of the day, niches grow because clients recognize your value — not because you tell them you have one.”
