Why Most Business Insurance Programs Are WRONG

In this video and post, I want to tell you about how I came to the conclusion that most of your business insurance programs are wrong and what you can do about it without costing you a ton of money.  I want to start by saying that I understand that no business leader really loves talking about or buying insurance.

The whole process is difficult, it’s complex, it’s a big pain in the ass.  I know that.

But getting your business insurance right is important for your firm’s protection and sustainability, and I’m obsessive about helping businesses of all sizes get it right.

So for many years – probably the last 25 years I have worked with a number of advisors in a variety of fields – accounting, private banking, law, private equity, investment banking, and so forth to provide a risk and insurance review service to these advisors’ clients.

It could be in advance of an M&A transaction, or just a pre-insurance renewal service to make sure the client has the right protection and that it’s optimized.

During these reviews, I am startled by the inaccuracies of the various insurance programs I see.

Sometimes it’s a very serious issue, sometimes, it’s a minor inaccuracy.

But these inaccuracies just don’t need to exist.

The fault sometimes lies with the insurance broker who isn’t stewarding the insurance program properly, and other times it can be the client’s fault – they don’t respond to surveys, they don’t engage in pre-renewal discussions, or they just say things like “just renew like last year”.

Whatever the reason for the mistakes, errors, gaps, or overlaps, this is concerning.

Why?

Because it only takes a minor error to be a big problem when a claim occurs.

I can give you dozens of examples of errors we found that could have led to a client’s bankruptcy if the wrong claim occurred.

Who is most susceptible to business insurance problems like this?

The larger the account, the more complex it is, and it’s more prone to errors and gaps.

But that doesn’t mean that small businesses are always properly insured.  In fact, quite the contrary.

Because many small businesses are buying insurance online without human interaction these days, many smaller firms are incorrectly insured since no expertise is being applied at the time of sale.

What’s the impact of a poorly written insurance program?

Regardless of the size of the client, a poorly written insurance program is going to have gaps in coverage, missing coverages, or overlaps in coverage which will lead to additional costs in the form of higher premiums, paying out of pocket for some claims, and paying more for incorrectly rated or structured policies.

As mentioned earlier, the worst impacts are when claims occur and coverage is limited or non-existent.  That could trigger profits being spent to remediate claims, or worse, bankruptcy.

What does it generally cost to correct the business insurance problems I find?

I know cost is always on the minds of decision-makers.

My goal is to help educate that client so they can be a more informed buyer, not to sell the client more insurance.

The bottom line is that

Business insurance is supposed to provide a business owner peace of mind, clarity, and decision-making confidence.

If it’s not doing that, it’s not doing its job.

Now, to directly answer that question about what does it cost to fix problems I find? 

In many cases, the cost increase is minimal – especially if it’s just adjusting limits, deductibles, and structures.

If there are missing coverage parts like not having cyber insurance that’s going to be a bit higher.

But as I mentioned earlier – it’s up to you whether you want to make that investment or not.  My job is to show you where improvements can be made and why I would recommend those improvements.

Last point.

How difficult is it to find out what problems you may have and have them fixed?

I do the heavy lifting. 

What I need to get started is a copy of all your policies.

With this information, I am not going out to the market to shop for a better price or anything like that.  This review is entirely confidential, we don’t speak to anyone outside our firm about your coverages until you want us to.

Once our review and report are completed, we will schedule a time to go over it together during a zoom call.

If you wish us to fix the problems we find we would be happy to do that and be assigned as your broker of record.

So that’s it in a nutshell.

Want to find out more?  Let’s have a conversation – you can start by clicking below or you can give me a call, or send me an email.

I promise no high-pressure sales gimmicks, no tricks, no-nonsense.  Just some conversation to see if we can help you gain greater confidence in your protection program and make sure you’re well protected.

Thanks

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