Burand’s Agency E&O

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 …

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 are out that you are out …

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 expiration date, arguing differently is difficult …

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 …

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 casualty related …

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 here is that if an agency follows the …

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 and never more so than now. When I came up …

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 binding authority has become …

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 payment already exist, but this …

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 can and do communicate with clients, vendors, and carriers using …