Why SaaS Companies Should Hire More AEs from the Commercial Insurance Industry

In the hyper-competitive SaaS market, companies are looking for the best possible sales talent to drive revenue growth, handle complex deals, and cultivate long-term client relationships. The most obvious choice may seem to be sales professionals with deep SaaS experience—but there’s a highly skilled, yet often overlooked, talent pool: Account Executives (AEs) from the commercial insurance industry.

Commercial insurance sales and SaaS sales share key similarities, most notably the subscription-based model that both industries rely on. However, insurance brokers often face even more complex challenges than their SaaS counterparts. Let’s dive deeper into why hiring AEs from the commercial insurance industry could be the game-changing strategy that SaaS companies need.

1. Mastery of Subscription-Based, Relationship-Driven Sales

At the core of both SaaS and commercial insurance sales is the subscription model. For SaaS, success depends not only on customer acquisition but also on renewals and upsells—long-term relationships are where revenue compounds. Commercial insurance brokers are experts in this type of sales model. Their entire business revolves around establishing, maintaining, and growing multi-figure client portfolios through regular policy renewals and cross-selling additional coverage.

A study by Forrester highlights that 76% of SaaS companies cite customer renewals as their top revenue driver. This mirrors the insurance industry, where brokers depend on ongoing relationships and recurring revenue to thrive. Insurance brokers know how to maximize lifetime customer value by nurturing relationships, navigating complex needs, and providing personalized service year after year—skills that are highly transferable to SaaS sales.

Where SaaS companies often focus on securing multi-year contracts, brokers work under even more stringent timelines with annual renewals and cyclical policy changes. These frequent touchpoints with clients sharpen their ability to retain and upsell in a much faster, more demanding sales environment. As SaaS companies shift to more customer-centric models, they would be wise to consider insurance professionals who are already thriving in this capacity.

2. Handling Complex, Multi-Figure Portfolios

SaaS sales teams often focus on managing large accounts with diverse needs, typically through annual subscriptions with potential for add-ons or upsells. Similarly, commercial insurance brokers manage multi-figure portfolios for clients, balancing several policies, ensuring coverage adequacy, and staying compliant with industry regulations. However, the complexity of an insurance portfolio often surpasses that of even the most sophisticated SaaS accounts.

Unlike a SaaS product, where pricing and feature sets are relatively stable, insurance brokers deal with a constantly shifting landscape. Premiums fluctuate, carriers change their offerings, and new regulatory requirements emerge almost yearly. According to the Deloitte Global Insurance Outlook, over 70% of insurance executives expect increased regulatory changes, which translates to brokers managing client portfolios with even more moving parts.

For SaaS companies looking to hire AEs, this complexity is key. AEs from the insurance world know how to juggle multiple policies, ensure every aspect of the client’s portfolio aligns with their needs, and adjust strategies mid-contract when external factors demand it. They don’t just sell a single product; they craft personalized risk management solutions that involve piecing together coverage across multiple carriers and product lines. In comparison, selling and maintaining a SaaS subscription can seem relatively straightforward, making former insurance AEs especially adept at quickly understanding and managing SaaS client accounts.

3. Stronger Client Relationships Built on Trust and Expertise

Commercial insurance AEs are relationship builders by nature. Their success hinges on becoming trusted advisors to their clients, which requires deep expertise, the ability to anticipate client needs, and ongoing consultation. SaaS sales increasingly rely on this same relationship-driven approach. Customer success has become a focal point for SaaS companies, and retention is now more crucial than ever, particularly as the cost of acquiring a new customer is five times higher than retaining an existing one, according to Harvard Business Review.

Insurance brokers spend years, sometimes decades, working with the same clients. They understand how to maintain and deepen relationships in the face of changing circumstances, fluctuating prices, and emerging risks. They often serve as the first point of contact for their clients in times of crisis, which creates a level of trust that transcends the typical vendor-client relationship.

This ability to establish long-term trust directly translates to SaaS, where the post-sale experience is equally as important as the initial transaction. Whether it’s managing renewals, ensuring product adoption, or solving problems before they escalate, commercial insurance AEs already operate in a high-stakes environment where client satisfaction isn’t just a priority—it’s a necessity for survival.

4. SaaS is Simpler to Sell and Manage than Insurance

While both SaaS and insurance operate on subscription models, managing an insurance portfolio presents significantly more challenges than maintaining a SaaS contract. Insurance brokers deal with a staggering number of variables—regulatory changes, shifting market conditions, new risk exposures, and multiple carrier constraints. Brokers must continuously monitor and adjust policies to fit evolving client needs, often with little warning.

Compare that to SaaS, where pricing and products tend to be more stable. In SaaS, once a solution is integrated, the focus shifts to support, product updates, and upselling additional features or seats. This is not to say that SaaS sales are easy, but in comparison to the unpredictability of insurance, it offers a more straightforward playing field.

Accenture reports that 82% of insurance customers expect tailored solutions, a demand that often results in AEs spending time reshuffling coverage across carriers. This complexity makes insurance AEs especially well-prepared to handle SaaS sales processes, where customer needs may be diverse but are less subject to sudden external shifts. Transitioning to SaaS allows former insurance AEs to apply their high-level portfolio management skills to an environment with fewer variables, enabling them to focus more on expanding client relationships and revenue.

5. Cross-Industry Expertise and Consultative Selling

Commercial insurance brokers don’t operate in a vacuum—they sell to clients across industries, from tech startups to large-scale manufacturers. This cross-industry experience equips them with a nuanced understanding of how different sectors operate and the unique challenges they face. In SaaS, where companies often sell into verticals, this broad expertise is invaluable.

By hiring insurance AEs, SaaS companies gain salespeople who are adept at consultative selling—learning the ins and outs of a client's business before offering solutions. The insurance industry requires AEs to engage in deep discovery, often taking months to understand a client’s risks, exposures, and operational complexities. In SaaS, this consultative approach is critical when selling solutions that need to integrate with existing systems and processes.

An AE from the insurance industry can walk into a SaaS role with the ability to immediately connect with potential clients, ask the right questions, and position the product as a tailored solution. Their ability to pivot between industries and adapt to a variety of client needs will prove invaluable as SaaS companies expand their market reach.

The Overlooked Opportunity

SaaS companies are missing out on an extraordinary talent pool by not actively recruiting AEs from the commercial insurance industry. These professionals bring experience managing complex portfolios, building long-term relationships, navigating unpredictable variables, and selling high-value solutions across diverse industries. Most importantly, they excel in subscription-based sales models, making them an ideal fit for SaaS.

If you’re a SaaS hiring manager or sales leader, consider this: The skills that make an insurance AE successful—multi-figure portfolio management, client retention, cross-selling, and renewals—are the same skills that drive SaaS revenue.

It’s time to tap into this hidden goldmine of sales talent.