All the headlines from our Chris Burand Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Mar 2 2013 // Binder Knowledge. What is a binder?I ask this question of most agency staff and many producers I interview. Less than 10% of staff and probably less than 25% of the producers I interview know what a binder is. An amazing...
Feb 25 2013 // If you haven’t heard the news, the federal government is a little short of money after racking up multiple annual trillion-dollar deficits. A trillion here and there, and after a while, someone might figure out the...
Feb 22 2013 // Out of Office ExpectationsDoes your voice mail tell callers you are out-of-office and will return their calls when you return? Of course it does. Does your email advise people emailing you when you are out that you are out...
Feb 15 2013 // Do you put an expiration date on all your proposals? If not, when does the proposal expire? Some consumers, most usually commercial insureds, are arguing proposals without expiration dates are good forever. Without an...
Feb 8 2013 // Is it smart to sell insurance to prospects that do not speak English? In an earlier blog, I emphasized the need for employing bi-lingual CSRs if an agency is to sell insurance to people that do not speak English. Two...
Jan 30 2013 // Do you always verify exposure changes at renewal? The genesis of a common E&O claim is when a commercial client changes their operations and the agency does not catch this at renewal. These claims can be property or...
Jan 28 2013 // Almost every agency owner I’ve ever met, and I’ve met maybe thousands, has wanted to grow his or her agency. Many, maybe most, have been stuck. Whether they are stuck at $300,000 revenue, $500,000, $6 million...
Jan 23 2013 // Do you have standardized procedures? One of the terms key to understanding E&O exposures is, “invariable practice.” In other words, does the agency invariably follow the same procedure every time? The point...
Jan 16 2013 // Knowledge. E&O risk management knowledge can be generally divided into two categories. The first category is coverage knowledge. The second category is procedure knowledge. Coverage knowledge has always been important...
Jan 14 2013 // Many advisors suggest agents simply jettison small commercial accounts. But sometimes small is good. When small accounts are processed and serviced efficiently, these books can be much more stable in tough times than a few...
Jan 9 2013 // Know Your Binders. Improperly written binders are one of the most significant exposures agencies have to being sued by their own carriers so knowing how to write binders correctly is imperative. One of the issues is...
Dec 5 2012 // Is Your Agency Still Accepting Cash Payments? Relatively few agencies today, at least relative to ten years ago, are accepting cash. Technology will reduce cash payments even more. The means to never accept another cash...
Nov 28 2012 // Have You Updated Your Procedures to Cover Handheld Devices?Without question, handheld devices, whether they be simple phones, pda’s, or smart phones, have transformed agency communications. Agency producers and staff...
Nov 19 2012 // Very often in agencies I see, parents and their child/children make a spoken, but not formal, agreement for the child/children to buy the family’s agency when the parents decide it is time to retire. No one talks...
Nov 5 2012 // Below are four agency E&O tips, taken from Chris Burand’s E&O Blog found exclusively on InsuranceJournal.com.Divorce In personal lines, it is important to verify that the person requesting a change in...
Oct 31 2012 // Review Your E&O Carrier’s Requirements for Carrier Writing Standards. There’s a myth going around that if an agency writes with a carrier rated B+ or better by A.M. Best, their E&O policy will cover...
Oct 24 2012 // Proper Authorization. I recently saw a situation where, in a divorce, one spouse deleted the prized vehicle of the soon to be ex-spouse to spite that person. Not knowing of the divorce, the agency complied. Of course the...
Oct 22 2012 // I have spoken at more than 200 insurance industry events. I have met with thousands of agency owners, producers and CSRs. In more than two decades of working with insurance agencies, the No. 1 need has never changed:...
Oct 17 2012 // Binding Summaries. A significant risk unrecognized by most producers and CSRs is the risk of being sued by the agency’s own insurance companies. A large proportion of E&O suits that make it all the way to court...
Oct 10 2012 // Discussing Claims with Insureds. A common and often key personality trait of CSRs and producers is that they are people pleasers, especially relative to customers. When it comes to claims, being a people pleaser can get...