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Vol 1, Issue 1 |
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The Bull Stops Here
Saving You Time, Money, and Frustration on Your Insurance
March 2009 ed. # 45 |
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Thank you for subscribing to my newsletter.
It's purpose is to offer you strategies and suggestions that will save you time, money, and frustration on your insurance.
This month's edition has a lot of new and important information for you. You're encouraged to read all the articles.
Please forward this newsletter to anyone you feel will find this information valuable. Use the "Forward e-mail" link below.
Be safe.
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The Hidden Cost of Your Insurance
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How much do you pay for insurance?
Most business owners stop after calculating their premium. This is a mistake. If you've followed any of my writings, you will recognize the term Total Cost of Insurance. There are several factors that go into determining this cost. Let's take a look at each of them.
1 - Premiums
This is the most obvious one. When you calculate your out-of-pocket premium cost, make sure you consider ALL your premiums. These include the following policies - Commercial Property; General Liability; Commercial Auto, Business Income; Umbrella, Workers Compensation, Technology; Inland Marine; Crime; Fiduciary; Group Medical; Business Life/Disability; Errors & Omissions, Directors & Officers, and Bonding. Whew! Are you dizzy yet?
Depending on your industry, you might find even more. If earthquake and flood are a factor for you, these might need to be included. Watercraft and airplane liability may be needed if you have these exposures. The list is not meant to be all-inclusive, but a sampling of what is most common. If your business is international in scope, this adds to your pot. Finally, insurance companies are finally factoring in identity theft. What's your exposure to employees' and clients personal and confidential information?
Step 1 - Add up all the premiums you pay.
2 - Deductibles and Uncovered Losses
Now you have to consider your deductibles. Your risk tolerance may be such that you choose higher deductibles. If you suffer a claim, regardless of whether it surpasses your deductible, you have a cost to your insurance. For instance, if you have a small theft claim of $1,500 and you have a $5,000 deductible, you will need to add this to your cost. The easiest way to do this is to go back through last year's loss history for all lines of coverage and add up every time you had to pay a deductible. Talk to your CFO or controller and include any deductibles that didn't reach a claims status.
Have you ever suffered a claim that was uncovered? Maybe you had a backup of water that caused flooding in your building and your policy excluded it. That's an out-of-pocket cost.
Step 2 - Add these costs to Step 1.
3 - Time
Too many people don't adequately count their time as a cost. In the end, it may be one of the biggest. How much are you worth an hour? What about your staff? Think how about the time you put into a claim - talking with company adjusters; sitting on hold; locating and completing paperwork; disrupting normal operations; interviewing employees; investigating the claim; and worrying about consequences as you lie in your bed at night. These all take a toll on your time. I can't judge what you value your time or your employees' time at. What I do know is that the time would be more efficiently and productively used doing other things to grow your business.
Step 3 - Add these "hidden" costs to the other two steps.
Bottom line - you have a total cost of insurance. You can more accurately determine what your real cost is by adding premiums, deductibles, uncovered claims, and lost time together. Now you can develop a game plan of risk management to proactively work at reducing this cost and improving your bottom line. That bottom line will improve by lowered premiums, and reduced hidden costs. It will also be affected by improved efficiency and use of time. Finally, your peace of mind may also improve!
Remember this - If you don't take the time to determine what your total cost of insurance is and how to manage it, you will be throwing money away without even knowing it. But, if you commit to properly planning and managing your insurance costs, you will spend less money, less time, and have less frustration. The return on that investment is priceless.
© 2009 Dan Weedin - All Rights Reserved
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What's Your Recovery Plan if the BIG ONE hits? |
 "What do you do with 50 employees tomorrow if a disaster strikes today?"
Ask yourself that question and input the right number of employees for your business. The ramifications of being unable to continue operations is a very real danger to survival in the event of a claim. I am proud to be an Agility Recovery Solutions team member. My goal is to make sure you and are able to not only survive, but prosper in case of a disaster. Find out how you can get a 60-day free trial with Agility. No obligation. No risk. Huge reward. |
Changing the Face of Your Business: How to Avoid Employee Lawsuits
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Do you ever worry about the consequences and financial ramifications of being sued by an employee? Think it won't happen to you?
Recently, I had an article published by Resource Nation on the topic of Employment Practices Liability. There are three key ways to avoid this peril and they are spelled out in the article.
To learn more, click here to read my article titled, Changing the Face of Your Business on Resource Nation.
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February Articles |
Learn how to reduce your exposures to loss, decrease your costs, and save valuable time. Read these new articles available on my blog.
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Changes Are Coming
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In the next month, you will be seeing changes to my web site. Just like a house, renovations seem to be constant and in this case I needed a full remodel. The design is done, the copy is in, and soon I will have a brand new, easier to use site that will provide you with greater value. As soon as it's past its BETA testing, I will send out a press release so you can be one of the first to log on and check it out.
The new site will include new features line typical client results, case studies, and more free resources. You will also find it easier to navigate.
Please note one other item. Since I also do coaching, I'm creating a landing page for all my services through www.DanWeedin.com. I will have a new URL doe the insurance consulting side and will provide that when it launches. Don't worry, I'm going to keep the old URL's for those of you who might forget to switch. Regardless, I'm hoping that you will all change my e-mail address in your address books to dan@danweedin.com. This will be the best way to contact me. I will still be getting all the others, but my hope is to consolidate everything to one place.
I'm very excited for the changes. I'm certain you will find them beneficial for you, too.
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Clearance Sale Means Extra Value for You
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Speaking of change, since I'm making revisions to a lot of my branding materials, I'm also making changes to my resources. Currently, I have two booklets available on my store - 8 Really Cool Rules for Better Insurance Buying and Your Personal Insurance Survival Guide. I am coming out with a new and improved edition with new names and different branding. These booklets still have the same value for you, however I'd like to clear them out to make space for the new models. Sound like a car dealer, huh?
Here's my "deal" for you. These booklets normally are $25 and $10 respectively. They are on sale for only $15 and $5, while they last. I've only got a limited number left, so act fast. As an added bonus, I will pay for the shipping.
In 8 Really Cool Rules for Better Insurance Buying, you will learn eight easy steps to saving money on your insurance renewal or if your buying business insurance for the first time. Your Personal Insurance Survival Guide offers everyone a guide to your personal insurance and how you can save money while maximizing your coverages to protect your personal assets.
To take advantage of this opportunity - click here.
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Rave Reviews for Toro |
"Dan Weedin has the rare capability of helping customers by turning abstract concepts into tangible benefits, bringing an entirely more dramatic sales process to insurance sales and related services."
- Alan Weiss, Summit Consulting - Author of The Million Dollar Consultant (R)
"Dan has handled our multi-state insurance contract renewals for several years as an independent consultant, not as a broker or agent, and assists us on a wide variety of issues relating to insurance coverages, safety, training, and workers compensation. His integrity and ability are of the highest quality and we have achieved measurable results in the form of dramatically lowered insurance premiums and accidents."
- Kyle Kincaid, Vice-President, Parker Lumber Company
"Dan is the type of person you can trust in any capacity to make sure things are done right. That's why we hired him to take care of our corporate insurance. He has gone beyond the call of duty..."
-David Rill, President- Rill Tribute Center
How can Toro help your business? | |
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Thank you for your subscription to The Bull Stops Here!
Warm regards,
Dan Weedin
Toro Consulting, Inc.
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