An insurance trade group in Virginia has added a feature on its website, giving its member agents a new way to find markets for unusual or difficult-to-place insurance risks.

The Independent Insurance Agents of Virginia said when member agents enter the type of risk for which coverage is sought, the group’s associate members and managing general agents automatically receive notification. The Richmond, Va.-based group’s membership includes about 5,000 agent and agency employees in Virginia.

“IIAV was quickly able to direct me to several markets for a very hard-to-place commercial building; a building in which property coverage had been declined by seven other carriers,” Stephanie Martin, owner of Stephanie Martin Agency in Glasgow, Va., and an IIAV member, said in a statement. “Alone, I had exhausted all my options.”

Bob Bradshaw Jr.

IIAV President and CEO Bob Bradshaw Jr. said the functionality is “an especially beneficial tool for our smaller and mid-sized agencies who have fewer internal resources to track and keep up with today’s fluid and highly competitive non-traditional insurance marketplace.”

He added, “This new feature will more efficiently and effectively make all of our associate and managing general agency members aware of our member agencies’ placement needs. It’s a win, win and win.”

Laurie Bruinooge Gray, a wholesale personal insurance broker with The Sadler Insurance Agency in Richmond, Va., said in a statement that the new service will help “when time is of the essence and agents struggle to find the quality help they need to quickly service their clients.”