As business-insurance premiums rise and coverage decreases, building service contractors must choose insurance providers who will provide them excellent service, at a reasonable and fair price.

“Finding an insurance provider is all about value,” says Scott Simmonds, CPCU, with Insurance Consultants of Maine, a consulting firm in Saco, Maine. “The best way to find an agent is to talk to folks you respect: business associates, friendly competitors, and industry associations.”

“Look for an agent with a reputation for trust and respect in the area. It helps to have an established agency with a track record of 25 or more years and involved in their community,” adds Robert Stewart, president of Major Commercial Cleaning Company in Nashville, Tenn.

There are two types of insurance agents — independent agents and company agents (also sometimes called direct writers), says Simmonds.

“An independent insurance agent has different insurance companies they access,” he explains. “Company agents or direct writers tend to be employees of the insurance company or they’re contracted with the insurance company in an exclusive arrangement.”

Betsy Evans, owner of Evans Janitorial Contractors in Cleveland, Tenn., prefers independent agents.

“We have always gone through independent agents because they can shop around and get the best prices,” she explains. “Bottom-dollar cost is the most important thing for a small cleaning company.”

Stewart agrees.

“I think an independent agent is preferable because they have the flexibility or freedom to connect with the best insurance products and they are not limited to one in-house product line,” he says.

However, there are advantages to using a company representative over an independent agent. Higher quality claims, loss prevention, rehabilitation, and similar services are typically provided by company representatives according to Jack Gibson and William McIntyre in 1001 Ways to Cut Your Business Costs Without Sacrificing Protection.

Honesty is the best policy
Regardless of whether they represent one insurance company or many, BSCs should choose a responsive, knowledgeable firm — and individual — with whom to work.

“Agents provide me with knowledge of the marketplace,” says Stewart. “They also need to provide me a high level of service and response when there are claims.”

“Honesty is the most important thing that a cleaning professional should receive from an agent. They also need to let you know when coverage needs to be expanded or dropped,” says Evans.

Evans speaks from experience.

“We had some bad experiences with several insurance companies,” she explains. “The larger they are and the smaller you are, the less they care. We had some workers’ comp claims that were paid and they didn’t let us know that they paid them. It hurt our credit rating and some of them that were paid, we honestly felt that they were bogus claims.”

Avoiding problems
Once you choose an agent, Gene Barger, owner of JD’s Maids in Chattanooga, Tenn., suggests going over the new policy in detail with your agent to make sure that you know and understand everything that is declared in the document.

Then, as the policy’s term progresses, be sure to stay on top of your policy and your needs. Ask yourself:

• Is the agent knowledgeable about the latest commercial insurance?

• Does your agent ask you questions about the cleaning industry? Is the agent knowledgeable about the cleaning industry?

• Are telephone calls returned and quickly?

• When you call the agent for a Certificate of Insurance, do they provide it to you the same day or several days later?

• Are policy updates on time? Are there monthly, quarterly, and yearly follow-ups on claims?

Affirmative answers to these questions may help you to build trust and confidence in your agent.

Further, The Buyer’s Guide to Business Insurance by Don Bury and Larry Heishchman detail 10 rules to avoid insurance problems:

• Check back to make sure things get done.

• Follow up requests for actions.

• Read insurance-related mail on a regular basis

• Correspond in writing.

• Document phone calls.

• Keep orderly files for reference.

• Write your account number on your checks.

• Ask for premium quotes before authorizing coverage changes.

• Understand how your policy premium is developed.

• Never plan to cancel a policy in the middle of a term.

Three to four months before a policy comes up for renewal, the insurance buyer and agent should meet and talk about the coverage, expectations, and what bits of communication are missing between agent, insurance company and client, suggests Simmonds.

At that point, if you can’t come to an agreement, it may be time to start the process over — insurance is too expensive and too important to leave to an agent you don’t trust.

Ken Fracaro is a business writer in Hixson, Tenn.


BOOK REVIEW

 

Leading And Winning

By Stacie H. Whitacre, Editor

In few fields is the Peter Principle better exemplified than sales; top salespeople get promoted to sales management and find they don’t know what to do. In his book, Leading Your Sales Team: How To Manage A Winning Sales Team (available only through the author or at issa.com), Jim Pancero offers solid advice for sales managers of various personality types and in each stage of their career.

There is a lot of information packed into 240 pages, including charts, graphs and even fill-in-the-blank exercises. And it’s a dense 240 pages, with little extraneous information and few of the incomplete analogies or disjointed anecdotes that tend to be found too often in this kind of publication.

This isn’t a book that can be easily divided into 10-minute chunks — readers will need a block of time, as well as a pen and paper, to get the most out of Pancero’s advice. Still, new managers who feel they’re treading water, as well as experienced leaders looking to improve, will find something for them in this book.

Editor’s note: Jim Pancero will be speaking at the ISSA/Interclean show in New Orleans on Nov. 17. His presentation, “The New Rules of Selling: Are You Good Enough to Get Better?” is part of the Facility Service Provider track sponsored by Contracting Profits.




POSTED ON: 10/1/2004