Policy Consulting
We can also act as your Insurance Consultant—with or without placing any insurance policies on your behalf. For a very reasonable fee we will conduct a sophisticated audit of your current coverage, give you a detailed coverage analysis and deficiency report, and assist you in correcting any gaps or deficiencies.
Why might you need an Insurance Consultant?
Here is something that might surprise you: Most insurance agents are not really qualified to be your agent.
How can we make a statement like that? Simple, over the last 25+ years, we have evaluated hundreds of insurance programs, and conservatively 8 out of 10 times we find glaring coverage gaps and deficiencies. What’s worse, often these mistakes are so significant that they can literally be business-ending, and often they can be fixed at little or no cost.
So what exactly is wrong with the way most insurance agents operate? In our opinion, there are 3 areas where most agents fall short:
- Structuring proper coverage
- Providing solutions to non-insurable risks
- Delivering meaningful service
More detail and solutions:
Structuring Proper Coverage
As mentioned earlier, 80% of the insurance policies we evaluate are seriously deficient, and in fact those deficiencies can literally be business ending in the event of a major loss. We’ve been doing this a long time, yet we’re still shocked at the mistakes we see over and over again.
Take a step back and think for just a moment: Why do you purchase insurance for your business in the first place? Isn’t it to assure that you won’t have to pay a major loss out of your own pocket, or even actually lose your business entirely?
The true cost of an insurance policy can only be realized at the time a claim occurs. Even a relatively small coverage gap can significantly increase the cost of your insurance. Let’s say your current annual premium is $60,000 and you suffer a loss that turns out to be uncovered for $40,000 – the cost of your insurance program just became $100,000!
THE SOLUTION: We conduct a thorough analysis of your exposures to loss and the adequacy of your current insurance program to address those exposures. We do this via a state-of-the-art software system of our own design. After presenting our findings, some clients have told us that for the first time ever they feel they truly understand their insurance program!
Providing solutions to non-insurable risks
Most insurance agents completely fail to address the non-insurable risks you face. Think about it for a minute – Is business tougher today than it was 25 years ago? Are there more laws and regulations that you need to be in compliance with today? Are there more risks and threats of all types facing you today?
Many of the liabilities facing businesses are actually not insurable. Therefore, most insurance agents completely ignore those risks and focus only on exposures that can be addressed by insurance (i.e. something they can sell you!)
THE SOLUTION: We realize that business is more complex today, and feel that we’d be doing our clients a disservice by ignoring non-insurable risks. Therefore, many years ago we helped create a unique business consulting consortium that provides extensive consultation and help – FREE OF CHARGE – to our clients in diverse areas such as:
- Labor / Employment Law
- Human Resources
- General Business Legal
- Employee Handbook Review
- Business Consultations – including Accounting, Strategic Planning, etc.
Delivering Meaningful Service
Most insurance agents are indistinguishable from one another! Have you ever asked an insurance broker what makes them truly different, and why you should do business with their agency instead of anyone else? Here’s what almost every agent will say in response to that question:
- “We represent a lot of good carriers”
- “We tailor coverage to meet your needs”
- “We give really good service”
Impressed? We didn’t think so. The next time an agent makes a statement like that, try asking them to define exactly what they mean by “good service.” After some hemming and hawing, they’ll probably tell you that they return phone calls promptly and issue certificates quickly. Isn’t that great?
THE SOLUTION: We’ll tell you exactly what we mean by “good service,” and in fact we’ll put it in writing. We’ll give you a customized written Service Plan designed to address all insurance cost drivers, so you’ll know exactly what to expect from us. In addition, numerous non-insurable risks will be addressed as well. Our Service Plan will probably be unlike anything you’ve ever received before.