Insurance Becomes a BIG Issue in Small Business
Insurance Becomes a BIG Issue in Small Business
As a recruiter and an owner of a few other small ventures, I found out recently that my clients expect a new level of insurance in order to do business with me in any way. Until recently, I have not run into any issue where I felt I needed insurance, but the firms we are dealing with are starting to gear up for protecting themselves from liability by requiring every business to provide them with proof of coverage. And these are not small policies.
Now you can look at your business practices and say “I don’t need that type of coverage because I don’t ___________________.” (Fill in this blank with anything such as ‘go onsite’, ‘personally hire employees’, ‘drive for my clients’, ‘have visitors in my home office’, ‘have any paperwork that wasn’t written by an attorney’, etc.) You’ll find out the hard way that you are under insured.
In the last 2 months, I have had several clients delay paying invoices because their ‘Insurance Compliance Officer’ had not been notified of me being a new vendor for their firm and the ICO had a list of requirements for me. What a great time to find out that I have a list of things to do in order to get paid monies that I have already earned. Now my receivables get stretched by the time it takes to comply PLUS 30 days! If you are starting from scratch with getting some types of insurance, it can take 2-3 weeks just to get a rate quote. And all of these delays don’t necessarily happen the day that you bill the client. The other delay that comes into play is the time that your invoice sits in Accounts Payable and they are waiting to have the ICO contact you about compliance. I have had 2 invoices go over 120 days out for this issue. Can you imagine how it feels to have a client company owe you $45,000 for over 120 days on a single invoice? I can tell you personally – IT SUCKS!
Here is a recommendation:
1) Find a BUSINESS insurance agent that you can get along with and treats you professionally. Ask if they have dealt with your type businesses before. You will want to have a first name relationship with this person because they will have more work to do on the backend of your policies than you would expect. Make this person a friend.
2) Plan on a minimum of:
· $3,000,000 Liability with $1 mil per occurrence
· $1,000,000 Umbrella
· $1,000,000 Automotive (in the business name, not your personal policy)
· $1,000,000 to 3,000,000 Errors & Omissions coverage (depending on client demands.
· Proper amounts of Worker’s Compensation Insurance for yourself and any employees. (In some cases, if you are a sole proprietor clients will let you waiver this – but I don’t think it’s a good idea.)
3) When you start to deal with a new client – call into their Accounts Payable and find out if they have an ICO. Contact the ICO upfront and get a compliance package sent to you. This will save you the lag time in payment when you are invoicing them for services. If you have the above named policies and they pop up with wanting more – explain what you do for their company and ask if they can waiver down your expected coverage’s. Sometimes the ICO can do this – sometimes they look at their jobs as to be very firm and you won’t get any flexibility. But it’s worth trying. I have had some requirements lowered for me when I’ve asked.
Typically a client is going to ask for a form from your insurance company disclosing your coverage and naming them as an ‘Also Insured’. A picky ICO will have the EXACT phrase or address that they expect to have on this form. I had one where I had the local office address for my client and the ICO wanted the PO Box for the corporate office on the form. (This is when having a friendly relationship with you agent comes in handy.) It had to be changed and my agent had a new version of the form for me in less than 2 hours.
My wife is a health insurance agent – so I’ve heard enough horror stories to understand the value of insurance. I do feel over insured for the type of services I perform, but I also sleep better at night understanding my coverage. And I really like getting my invoices paid!
JR Fent
IT Recruiter
www.jrfent.com
Insurance Becomes a BIG Issue in Small Business - To learn more about this author, visit JR Fent's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
Are you properly insured? If you are a sole proprietor or small LLC your opportunities to do business are about to shrink unless you are covering your business in a blanket of insurance.
As a recruiter and an owner of a few other small ventures, I found out recently that my clients expect a new level of insurance in order to do business with me in any way. Until recently, I have not run into any issue where I felt I needed insurance, but the firms we are dealing with are starting to gear up for protecting themselves from liability by requiring every business to provide them with proof of coverage. And these are not small policies.
Now you can look at your business practices and say “I don’t need that type of coverage because I don’t ___________________.” (Fill in this blank with anything such as ‘go onsite’, ‘personally hire employees’, ‘drive for my clients’, ‘have visitors in my home office’, ‘have any paperwork that wasn’t written by an attorney’, etc.) You’ll find out the hard way that you are under insured.
In the last 2 months, I have had several clients delay paying invoices because their ‘Insurance Compliance Officer’ had not been notified of me being a new vendor for their firm and the ICO had a list of requirements for me. What a great time to find out that I have a list of things to do in order to get paid monies that I have already earned. Now my receivables get stretched by the time it takes to comply PLUS 30 days! If you are starting from scratch with getting some types of insurance, it can take 2-3 weeks just to get a rate quote. And all of these delays don’t necessarily happen the day that you bill the client. The other delay that comes into play is the time that your invoice sits in Accounts Payable and they are waiting to have the ICO contact you about compliance. I have had 2 invoices go over 120 days out for this issue. Can you imagine how it feels to have a client company owe you $45,000 for over 120 days on a single invoice? I can tell you personally – IT SUCKS!
Here is a recommendation:
1) Find a BUSINESS insurance agent that you can get along with and treats you professionally. Ask if they have dealt with your type businesses before. You will want to have a first name relationship with this person because they will have more work to do on the backend of your policies than you would expect. Make this person a friend.
2) Plan on a minimum of:
· $3,000,000 Liability with $1 mil per occurrence
· $1,000,000 Umbrella
· $1,000,000 Automotive (in the business name, not your personal policy)
· $1,000,000 to 3,000,000 Errors & Omissions coverage (depending on client demands.
· Proper amounts of Worker’s Compensation Insurance for yourself and any employees. (In some cases, if you are a sole proprietor clients will let you waiver this – but I don’t think it’s a good idea.)
3) When you start to deal with a new client – call into their Accounts Payable and find out if they have an ICO. Contact the ICO upfront and get a compliance package sent to you. This will save you the lag time in payment when you are invoicing them for services. If you have the above named policies and they pop up with wanting more – explain what you do for their company and ask if they can waiver down your expected coverage’s. Sometimes the ICO can do this – sometimes they look at their jobs as to be very firm and you won’t get any flexibility. But it’s worth trying. I have had some requirements lowered for me when I’ve asked.
Typically a client is going to ask for a form from your insurance company disclosing your coverage and naming them as an ‘Also Insured’. A picky ICO will have the EXACT phrase or address that they expect to have on this form. I had one where I had the local office address for my client and the ICO wanted the PO Box for the corporate office on the form. (This is when having a friendly relationship with you agent comes in handy.) It had to be changed and my agent had a new version of the form for me in less than 2 hours.
My wife is a health insurance agent – so I’ve heard enough horror stories to understand the value of insurance. I do feel over insured for the type of services I perform, but I also sleep better at night understanding my coverage. And I really like getting my invoices paid!
JR Fent
IT Recruiter
www.jrfent.com
Insurance Becomes a BIG Issue in Small Business - To learn more about this author, visit JR Fent's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
| |||
 |
No article feedback found. | ||
|
Leave Your Feedback | ||
|
|||
 How to Sell Insurance – Really
| |||
| Here’s the million dollar secret. Stop selling insurance. No one wants to buy insurance. |
|||
|
Insurance FAQ's
| |||
| What is Workers' Compensation Insurance? |
|||
|
Insurance Programs and You
| |||
| Discussing the benefits of group insurance coverage for health/dental, home and auto insurance and professional liability Insurance. |
|||
|
Five Key Insurance Programs for Small Businesses
| |||
| Everyone knows you need to have auto insurance to drive a car. Most people know you need homeowners insurance if you own a home. Small-business owners, however, sometimes overlook the importance of insuring their bu... |
|||
|
Insurance Becomes a BIG Issue in Small Business
| |||
| Are you properly insured? If you are a sole proprietor or small LLC your opportunities to do business are about to shrink unless you are covering your business in a blanket of insurance... |
|||
| |||
David BarrDavid Barr is the President of Venture Opportunities, Inc. David has been a professional business broker/intermediary since 1980 focusing on General Business Brokerage and Mergers and Acquisitions representing client transaction value from $400,000 to $20,000,000. Mr. Barr has handled the sale of over four hundred and fifty companies. David earned a university degree from the State University of New York majoring in economics and business. David holds the Mergers and Acquisition Master Intermediary and the Certified Business Intermediary designations from the International Business Brokers Association. He is also a Senior Business Analyst and a Texas licensed Real Estate Agent. For more information about David and Venture Opportunities, visit www.bizdealmaker.com. - Visit David Barr's Website |
|||
Jeff FosterWebBizIdeas.com is a Minneapolis website design company founded to help people start an internet business by providing them with website, business, and internet resources that help foster the growth of successful online businesses and develop innovative Internet business ideas. - Visit Jeff Foster's Website |
|||
Anne BarrAnne Barr has over 26 years experience in sales and marketing, six years as a franchisee. She has assisted over 367 business owners and purchasers to achieve their goals in career change, transition and exit strategy. She holds the designation of Certified Franchise Executive from the International Franchise Association, Certified Business Intermediary from the International Business Brokers Association and Board Certified Broker from the Texas Association of Business Brokers. Anne is active in professional organizations, networking groups and volunteers for non-profit entities. As owner/operator of four successful businesses, Anne has proven people skills and enjoys helping clients find the right "fit" in business ownership. Visit www.FranchiseOpportunitySpecialist.com for more information about me and my company. - Visit Anne Barr's Website |
|||
Casey GollanCasey Gollan, Business Coaching & Mentoring Programs. Add $1 Million to $10 Million in the next 1 to 3 years. Since 1996 Casey has to added hundreds of millions of dollars to businesses. Watch a free video see client results Business Coaching website. - Visit Casey Gollan's Website |
|||
Kim CastleWith nearly two decades in the advertising and design business, with clients like Domino's Pizza, General Motors, Direct TV, Pedigree, Wolfgang Puck, Higher Octave Music, Hollywood Celebrity Products, Disney, and Paramount, as well as thousands of entrepreneurs around the world define, structure, communicate, and position their business for greater profits, BrandU(R) co-creators Kim Castle and W. Vito Montone discovered that entrepreneurs could experience the same power that big brands command for a fraction of the cost with the world's only process-based results-drive Integral approach to business creation. BrandU(R) is helping entrepreneurs grow with the power of extreme clarity from idea...to brand...to market(TM) and helping one million entrepreneurs become successful and whole so that they can make a difference in the world. Are you one of them? If you want to experience clarity all the way to the bank(TM), get started now at http://www.brandu.com. - Visit Kim Castle's Website |
|||
Bernard ReberBack in late 1992, MS Access hit the streets. About that time the company I managed needed new software to handle their growing client base and I decided to try this new product. I had little difficulty writing and adapting a database to suit us and discovered a hidden talent for programming. A business was born. With business studies and 25 years of management experience in three different countries under my belt, I could offer a unique combination of skills and my customers agreed. From these humble beginnings my software 'invoiceit' emerged in 1999 and has since been taken to 49 states (hello Wyoming, won't you join us?), all across Canada and more than 70 other countries. From the very beginning the program included cashbook accounting, the simplest form of keeping financial business records. The Dictionary.com defines 'cashbook' as "A 'book' in which to record money received and paid out". For 'book' substitute 'simple software' and that's what I'm about. Now I have published Simple Accounting, an inexpensive spreadsheet solution which even you can master. For just $14.95 it costs less than a takeout meal! More at http://www.scrambled-card.com/simple_accounting_main.htm - Visit Bernard Reber's Website |
|||
Dr. John OdaJohn Oda Ph.D NLP is a business peak performance expert, an author, and speaker frequently called upon to provide corporate training, workshops and seminars for many companies in the United States. He is an expert in coaching sales and business professionals in overcoming the behaviors and obstacles that may impede their sales results and affect their bottom line. Since 1995, John has created a speaking bureau such topics, which include: time management, sales training, human diversity, leadership programs and etc. He provides companies with a strategic plan to increase their bottom line by over 25 percent yearly. - Visit Dr. John Oda's Website |
|||
Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
|||
|
To learn more about the Evan Elite Author Program please contact us. | |||
 | |
 JR Fent (Visit JR's Website)
|  |
 |
|
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
| Modeling the Masters: Learn the true secrets behind Walt Disney's business success factors & grow your company! Video produced by Phanta Media |
|
|
 |
| Have you written articles that would be of value to entrepreneurs? Become an expert on our site by publishing them! Expose yourself to a wide audience, drive more traffic to your website and get more sales! Click Here for details. |
 |
 | ||
|
||
 |
||
 |
||
|
| ||
|
|
|
Get advice & tips from famous business owners, new articles by entrepreneur experts, my latest website updates, & special sneak peaks at what's to come!
|
|
|
 |
 How To Select Keywords CAN-Spam Checklist Making It Happen Instant Classified Advertising Leadership Training Hospitals |
|
 | ||
 |
Top 50 Business Plans
Top Business Plan Blogs | |
 |
The Top 10 Guy Kawasaki Posts
Best Posts for Entrepreneurs | |
| ||
 |
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|
|
||||||||||
