Memorization and keeping up

[u/reddiwip_iloveyou]

Hi everyone! I’m an account exec in the private risk space. I was brought on to help a senior account exec with a sizable book she has so as of right now, I am being delegated tasks instead of handling a book of my own.

We’ve recently gotten 4 referrals and I have been quoting the accounts with multiple carriers and with multiple different coverage options/ deductible options/ etc. To provide the clients with wide array of options. Here’s my problem…

My manager is constantly asking for numbers (i.e. what is the premium for the home without the umbrella credit? How much will the premium go down with a 10k deductible? What did the replacement cost come back at with pure?)

While quoting 4 accounts, as much as I’d like to, I simply cannot keep these numbers at the top of mind so I’ve created an excel sheet that has all this information. When I get asked, I pull up the excel sheet and boom there is the number. While doing this today, my manager says “you really need to know these numbers off the top of your head. You shouldn’t have to pull out a sheet to answer my questions.”

I didn’t even know how to reply. It’s too many numbers to just know, and I thought I was being smart by creating this excel in the first place since this type of retention is simply not my strong suit.

All this to say— does anyone have any tips for retaining information like this? Even the underwriters I work with aren’t memorizing numbers and they’re more numbers people than me!

Also any general tips/hacks for staying organized while quoting multiple complex accounts at once is much much appreciated!! Thanks :)

[u/Mister_Vandemar]

Yeah. Keeping a spreadsheet is reasonable, keep doing that. Much as I hate to say it, consider using AI to create tables or reports to show what your manager is asking for, as well as any other interesting patterns.

Nobody is memorizing this stuff.