We have all heard the old cliché “walk the walk”, but now more than ever before, it applies to how you manage risk and purchase commercial insurance. What exactly does “walk the walk” mean? In its simplest form, it means do what you said you would do. At this point you’re probably asking yourself “what the heck does this have to do with managing risk and purchasing insurance?”. The response is: EVERYTHING!
In today’s electronic world everything we do is captured, measured, evaluated and archived for future retrieval, review and use. We may be thinking that our signature on the world is limited if we don’t actively surf the internet, have a website or a blog, a Facebook or Twitter account, but the truth couldn’t be further from reality. Whether we like it or not, whether you have the aforementioned or not, each of us is leaving evidence of our lives and activities everywhere, as much as a herd of elephants walking through a muddy creek bed. It’s the new reality, and one we must acknowledge and embrace in order to position ourselves in the best possible light.
Ok, now to risk management and insurance world. We recently processed a coverage application on a new, prospective non-emergency medical transportation client. The application contained all the usual and typical information, and also included a written, standard policy statement from the owner of the company. Unfortunately, upon closer inspection by the insurance company underwriter, it was identified that the reality was different from the rhetoric contained in the owner’s policy statement. When this occurs it causes underwriters to begin to question everything else in the business owner’s application (the dirty restaurant bathroom scenario), which generally leads to suspicion and less than the best possible terms, conditions and pricing.
This prospective company had been non-renewed by their expiring insurer due to unusual loss activity and the best we could obtain was a tripling of their premium, which was exacerbated greatly due to reality not matching the written statement at application. The only thing worse than not having written risk management processes and protocols, is actually having them and blatantly not following them.
We recognize that financial restraints and other distractions may get in the way of operationally enforcing stated processes and protocols, however, if you want to protect your company and minimize your commercial insurance expense, you must find the time to review your operations to make certain you are “walking the walk”, not just “talking the talk”.
The Sovereign team is here to help in all aspects of setting up professional, usable, and enforceable risk management processes and protocols to be certain that you are protected, and that your costs are minimized.
Author: John Varner
