Many businesses love their existing insurance broker, have great relationships with them and are reluctant to consider a different option. I always feel so happy when I hear someone say "I have complete faith and trust in my insurance broker".
It's not those people that I want to help, it's the ones that feel a bit lost in the insurance world, aren't sure they are getting the value they thought they were, and don't have confidence in the service levels and expertise of their current insurance advisor. After all, buying insurance is simply a process of buying confidence.
There are two ways you can obtain greater confidence in insurance arrangements:
Engage a broker specifically for an independent review and advice on the existing insurance program.
Appoint a new broker that is technically strong and has a reputation for acting for the customer, never the insurer. This has the effect of ending the relationship with the current broker and allows the newly appointed broker to gather background information from insurers, advise and place any existing or new insurance programs.
Why review your current insurance arrangements?
Insurance is a busy world, lots of fires to fight, lots of deals to be done, and lots of business owners who aren't overly interested in risk and insurance. The same old insurance program can roll over year on year without much attention or oversight, most of the time it doesn't matter until it does…
You have an insurance claim and suddenly, insurance has become the most important thing for your business, have you got the right insurance policy in place, do you have any nasty exclusions on the policy, are your limits of indemnity going to be high enough? Do you have a locally based insurer or will you have to deal with an overseas claims team?
My time as an insurance lawyer showed me countless examples where someone thought they had X insurance to then discover they had Y insurance and it wasn't going to respond to their particular claim. It's pretty devastating to witness, especially when with some solid insurance advice from the start, a lot of those issues could have been avoided.
Part of my role for companies isn't just to understand their business and find the right insurance solutions but also to advise on aspects of insurance coverage and its suitability. I want to share my knowledge and help people get the most out of their existing insurance program.
A recent case study
One of my favourite clients reached out to me to say they had been appointed as an independent director, and would we conduct a review of this organisations insurance program?
Being recommended by a client or my network is hands down the best feeling ever and also the most nerve-wracking! You want to do an excellent job for this new client AND the person who recommended you. Double the joy and double the risk!
Drafting this advice, I was in my element! Advising on the nuances of directors & officers insurance (D&O) and taking a deep dive into investment managers insurance (IMI), heaven! Best of all, I got to team up with the property insurance specialists at Frank and tap into their knowledge. Bouncing ideas off another person is dream and having both of us work on this advice gave it that comprehensive edge. It was genuinely a lot of fun, and on many occasions, I lost track of time being in the flow of researching and drafting.
In my previous roles, there was always another department that ran marketing/document design or a grad who would produce the first draft of any advice. One of the aspects of working for a boutique company is that there are only a handful of people who can assist. This means you have genuine oversight and input into each detail, including design. For this particular piece of advice, I was so proud of the effort we all put into it and the finished product I wanted to frame it! I love that hands-on aspect.
And then comes the wait from the client…has it met their expectations, is it what they wanted, is it easy to understand and does it help them make decisions? To hear that our insights were of value to that organisation, and that changes will be made off the back of our advice is all we could ask for.
What should you pay particular attention to with your insurance?
Here are a few to get you started:
Are your business activities adequately defined in the policy documentation?
Does your insurer understand what you do
Have you got the appropriate insurance policies for your risks
Are there processes, agreements and steps you are taking to mitigate these risks (does your insurer know about these)
Are there things you could do to mitigate other risks
What is the maximum probable loss you could face
Do you know what the exclusions on your insurance policy are and what they mean?
Are the insured values and limits enough?
If confidence is knowing exactly what happens if it all goes wrong. If confidence is having the faith to deploy your new product to market, and if confidence is knowing you have transferred significant business risks to insurers, then insurance is confidence.
