How to Select the Best Insurance Agent? Ten Topics Every Business Must Inquire When Choosing an Agent

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How to Select the Best Insurance Agent? Ten Topics Every Business Must Inquire When Choosing an Agent


Finding the very best insurance coverage agent is essential. My e book, PayUP! Avoiding A Disaster With Your Own Insurance Company, stresses that step one policyholders ought to take is to make a major relationship with an incredible insurance coverage agent. The journey to seek out an incredible insurance coverage agent will not be straightforward. How do you establish who the very best agent is?

My analysis to assist reply that query uncovered a unbelievable 2017 article, Ken Hale’s Profile and Philosophy: Changing The Culture. Ken Hale is a industrial insurance coverage agent. His paper defined what he thought was unsuitable with insurance coverage businesses and what was wanted to alter insurance coverage company tradition. If an business insider can clarify what to keep away from and what must be modified in an insurance coverage company, policyholders can actually be taught what to search for when choosing an insurance coverage agent.

Hale defined his motivation for the article:

My mission is to by no means promote insurance coverage to anybody, however slightly to alter the tradition of the insurance coverage shopping for and promoting course of.

I occurred onto the insurance coverage career considerably accidentally. In 1959, after serving within the United States Marine Corps, I sought employment by an employment company and was positioned by likelihood with an insurance coverage firm.

Over the following a number of years I finally was skilled by three totally different insurance coverage carriers as a Property and Casualty underwriter and in 1968 was employed by a big insurance coverage brokerage agency as senior vice chairman of Michigan operations. All of those positions concerned Property and Casualty insurance coverage which, in brief, pertains to defending belongings from loss by hearth, windstorm and different perils and insuring an entity’s belongings from loss by lawsuits arising out of harm.

In 1972, I used to be capable of obtain a legislation diploma which finally led to opening a legislation apply. Because of my Property and Casualty background, I gravitated as an legal professional to helping purchasers with their insurance coverage wants. This entailed reviewing their Property and Casualty insurance coverage packages and searching for an insurance coverage agent or dealer to position their insurance coverage and repair their accounts.

After itemizing all the issues with the standard insurance coverage company, Hale finally listed ten core values that an insurance coverage company ought to try to keep up:

CORE VALUES

  1. Add worth earlier than we do the rest.
  2. Employ solely the very best associates.
  3. Represent solely the very best insurance coverage corporations.
  4. Place our consumer’s pursuits above our personal.
  5. Become a trusted advisor to our purchasers in insurance coverage and danger administration considerations.
  6. Utilize insurance coverage attorneys as crew members on each industrial or private account.
  7. Require coveted skilled designations and persevering with training of our crew members.
  8. Act with the best stage of integrity and equity to our purchasers, our insurers, our rivals and our associates.
  9. Concern ourselves every day with insurance coverage business market circumstances and pursue options for purchasers each time accessible and acceptable.
  10. Maintain a way of urgency as to all consumer and insurer wants.

Based on Hale’s article, listed below are ten matters that each enterprise ought to ask in writing to a potential agent:

  1. Experience and Credentials: “Can you describe your experience and credentials, and those of everyone else who will work on this account, in the insurance industry, particularly in property and casualty insurance? How do you train your staff?”
  2. Service Approach: “How do you approach servicing accounts? Do you prioritize efficiency over personalized service, or vice versa? Give me examples of what I can expect regarding the activities that your agency will provide for this account.”
  3. Client Needs Analysis: “How do you assess and analyze the specific needs of your clients to ensure their coverage is appropriate? Will you only meet with us just before renewal? When do you start the renewal process?”
  4. Policy Customization: “Do you offer customized policy options such as coinsurance waivers, replacement cost valuation clauses, or extended business interruption coverage? What kinds of customization are available for my type of business?”
  5. Document Review: “Do you review relevant documents, like leases, purchase agreements, and significant contracts, as part of your service to ensure comprehensive coverage? How and when do you do this?”
  6. Value-Added Services: “What value-added services do you provide, such as risk management advice or employee manual reviews? What do you do to make our account more appealing in the marketplace?”
  7. Insurance Carrier Relationships: “How do you select insurance carriers for your clients? Is it based on the client’s needs or other factors like volume commitments? How do you know you are obtaining great quotes for coverage?”
  8. Policy Clarity and Education: “Do you provide clear, plain English summaries of policies? How do you go about educating clients like me about their insurance options?”
  9. Professional Designations: “What professional designations or certifications do you hold, such as CPCU, CIC, AAI, LIC, etc.? What about others working on my account? How do you keep up on new insurance products and issues that may impact my business?”
  10. Client-Carrier Relationship: “How do you facilitate a relationship between your clients and the insurance carriers? How do you help facilitate claims issues?  Do you suggest underwriting interactions that can make our account more appealing?”

As famous in How To Pick An Insurance Agent, the very best insurance coverage agent for one enterprise or individual is probably not the very best for one more. The greatest insurance coverage brokers will demand that the connection be a two-way road. The greatest insurance coverage brokers are on the forefront of stopping a catastrophe with your individual insurance coverage firm. Choose correctly. Do not be afraid to repeat this text and ship it to the brokers you think about hiring.

Thought For The Day

The purpose as an organization is to have customer support that’s not simply the very best, however legendary.

—Sam Walton

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