Burand Agency E&O Blog: Tip #4
Do you ever advise your clients the company issued their policy with errors so you’ll send it to them once the company reissues the policy with corrections? The exposure this seemingly good customer...
View ArticleBurand’s Agency E&O Blog: Tip #5
Minor items do cause E&O claims and sometimes your carriers exploit these minor items. Almost every agency occasionally receives law suit papers and every agency knows they have to forward these...
View ArticleBurand’s Agency E&O Blog: Tip# 7
Voice mail disclaimers. Most agencies today have standard voice mail disclaimers that state something to the effect of, “No coverage can be bound or obtained by leaving a voice mail.” I support this...
View ArticleBurand’s Agency E&O Blog: Tip #8
Certificates of Insurance. Certificates are probably the most frustrating aspect of processing commercial insurance today. A blog is not the place to detail the entire universe of certificate E&O...
View ArticleBurand’s Agency E&O Blog: Tip #9
Certificates of Insurance, Part 2. Last week’s blog covered the reason certificates cause so many E&O mistakes due to processing errors. This week’s blog covers the second reason certificates of...
View ArticleBurand’s Agency E&O Blog: Tip #11
Unexpected Staffing Issues do cause E&O claims. Staffing is not usually the title of a PowerPoint slide in an E&O class but staffing is at the heart of many E&O claims. The simplest way in...
View ArticleBurand’s Agency E&O Blog: Tip #13
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...
View ArticleBurand’s Agency E&O Blog: Tip #14
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...
View ArticleBurand’s Agency E&O Blog: Tip #15
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...
View ArticleBurand’s Agency E&O Blog: Tip #16
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...
View ArticleBurand’s Agency E&O Blog: Tip #17
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...
View ArticleBurand’s Agency E&O Blog: Tip #18
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...
View ArticleBurand’s Agency E&O Blog: Tip #19
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...
View ArticleBurand’s Agency E&O Blog: Tip #20
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?...
View ArticleBurand’s Agency E&O Blog: Tip #21
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...
View ArticleBurand’s Agency E&O Blog: Tip #22
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...
View ArticleBurand’s Agency E&O Blog: Tip #23
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...
View ArticleBurand’s Agency E&O Blog: Tip #24
Out of Office Expectations Does 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...
View ArticleBurand’s Agency E&O Blog: Tip #25
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...
View ArticleBurand’s Agency E&O Blog: Tip #26
Bond Specifications & Company Ratings. Do you check? When commercial clients need a bond, they almost always have a contract that requires the bond meet certain specifications. Among those...
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