Do you have business insurance problems and don’t know what to do?  Looking for a solution online to an insurance problem you have and just getting frustrated?

In this post and video, I’m going to talk about common business insurance problems and offer some ideas and solutions for them.

So, you’ve got a cancellation or non-renewal notice, or conditional renewal notice from your insurer.  Or maybe you’re facing a big premium increase on a renewal of your business insurance, or it could be any number of other problems that business owners face when it comes to their insurance.

What do you do?

How do you handle it?

Here are my thoughts on how to gain greater control, and what steps you should be taking when faced with a problem with insurance.  Keep in mind these are broad stroke ideas and every situation will differ, so if you want to run through your issues with me for my take on it, please reach out.

At first notice of an issue or a problem with your business insurance, get on the phone with your insurance broker and in a calm manner communicate.

• What is the situation here?
• Why am I getting a non-renewal,
• or a big premium increase,
• or my coverage is being reduced?
• You want to understand what is going on and then you’re going to ask what is the solution?

How can we fix Business Insurance Problems? 

It’s important that your tone in this conversation isn’t hostile or threatening.  I know you hate insurance to begin with, and the problem you’re facing is just adding to that frustration but it’s important to start off as constructive as possible.

Yelling and hostility will not fix this issue and it will cause your broker to put their head in the sand and procrastinate.

During this communication, you want to set some realistic time frames around resolving the problem.

For example, if your agent or broker says something like: “let me call the underwriter and I’ll be back to you” – you should say: “great, when should I expect a response from you?”

If the answer is something like “give me a couple of days” – you need to respond with: “that’s fine, if I don’t hear from you by Friday, I’ll circle back with you”.  Or whatever day is a couple of days from that conversation.

The point is that everyone is busy, and a couple of days will be a week or 10 days before you know it, and time is not on your side when you have a problem.

The other insider tip I’m going to tell you is that:

The pandemic-induced work-at-home environment combined with hard market conditions has reduced productivity and response times to a crawl.  YOU need to be in control of timing and not let it get away from you.

The next thing that is common in situations like these is that the business owner starts contacting multiple brokers to put their accounts out to market.

The thought process is the more agents and brokers working on my account, the better my chances are at getting a favorable outcome towards fixing my problem.

Unfortunately, this isn’t true, and shotgunning your account out to multiple brokers at the same time will actually lessen your chances of a good outcome.

Why? You can learn more about this here in this video “Why Quoting or Shopping Your Commercial Insurance is Ineffective“

the point is that multiple brokers working on your issue at the same time only lead to confusion and poor results in a very limited marketplace.

You need to focus on curing the problem that started this process first before getting multiple opinions on it from several brokers.

Here’s my take on most problems with business insurance.

Insurance underwriting is tricky.  There are so many variables in the marketplace that solving a problem like a non-renewal or a huge increase takes understanding and creativity.  Some insurance brokers can be creative, thoughtful, and intuitive in solving problems…. Some can’t.

That means you should work with an expert that can think outside the box.

Pushing your account out to market for quotes is not creative, nor helpful in my opinion.

You may need to assume more risk in the form of higher deductibles and you may need to install greater risk control strategies, or you may need to negotiate longer-term commitments to make an underwriter gain more comfort.

You also need to be upfront about the issues you’re facing and accept that if you have claim issues or unresolved risk control issues, you’re probably going to pay more on your renewal than you did last year.

Sometimes you can’t fix the problem or the rate increase prior to the upcoming renewal but need to work towards a solution for the next renewal.

These comments are especially true today given that we’re in a hard market.  Today is late 2021, and I think these hard market conditions will be with us for at least another 2 quarters into 2022 and maybe longer.

If you’re struggling with a problem and don’t know where to turn, give me a call or drop me an email and let’s chat – in fact, click the button below to get started.

I promise, no sales gimmicks or sales pressure at all.  Just some conversation to see if I can help you unravel your insurance problem and if we might be a good fit for your needs.

If I can’t help you directly, I may be able to point you in the right direction to someone who will.

I’ve been in the business for over 40 years and have seen my fair share of issues come up and I don’t think there are many problems I haven’t been able to fix when it comes to business insurance.

Thanks