Stop asking what they want you to ask

If you are reviewing or shopping your insurance portfolio and really want to uncover the differences in your choices:

Stop asking:  Who has lower premiums?  Who has the best discounts?  Should I bundle my policies?  Who provides good customer service?  Which insurance company gets good reviews?  Can I pay monthly?

Start asking:  How will I be judged when they calculate my premium?  How can I improve how I’ll look to this insurance company?  Does this insurance company have a human being ready to work with me, or is it a computer doing all the judging?  Does this insurance company have an interest, experience, and an ability to deal with my wealth and lifestyle?  What’s the future premium curve going to look like if I have a claim?  How committed are they to the future with me?  Are they increasing or reducing their product offerings?  Can they articulate who their ideal client is and does that look like me?  In what way do they stand out against their competition?

Photo:  Rachael McGraw, Seljalandsfoss, Iceland

darrenmcgraw

Diminishing abilities of insurance companies

Sometimes it makes sense for insurance companies to say “no thank you” to a potential customer.  Some factors relate directly to the expectation of losses where it’d no longer help the insurance company keep rates competitive for the rest of us.  Taking on as a customer someone who doesn’t care about safety and has 10 speeding tickets and prior accidents to prove it might be a good one to not insure, for example.

But I’ve got to say that it seems more and more that unless the black boxes and algorithms that drive insurance quoting and qualifying these days approve you automatically, your chance of getting an insurance company to provide you with what you need is diminishing.  Rapidly.  There used to be an old-time partnership between the agent and the insurance company where out-of-norm issues could be resolved with a discussion, a weighing of options, and sometimes a negotiation.  We wonder if those days are done.

And while this automation is awesome for many situations (thank goodness) every single day  we find families who need something that falls outside of what some programmers can design.  And every single day we find it harder and harder to have common sense discussions with common sense people with the authority to make decisions that lead to providing an important financial product to a family in need.

darrenmcgraw

Specialist vs. generalist

When you are interviewing an insurance advisor for your family, I think the first question should be whether you want an insurance generalist or an insurance specialist.  There’s no “right” answer, but I think there is a difference.

On the one hand, a generalist could handle a whole basket of insurance needs, like those for your homes, cars, liability, life, disability, annuities, health, business, travel, professional liability, non-profit, etc.  A one-stop shop, if you will.

On the other hand, a specialist can get you exactly what you need and nothing more. That’s because they’re an expert at one thing.  And an expert knows more than a generalist, by definition.  An expert has more power and influence with insurance companies, too.  An expert has no Plan B, so they’re all-in with whatever you need them for which might be necessary when something really bad happens.  And lastly, an expert has no distractions or divided attentions so they’ve got nothing else to do but practice their craft for your benefit.

We’re proud to claim to be experts at one thing – protecting personal wealth against unfortunate events, lawsuits, and unscrupulous people.  We believe consumers are treated better and get better results when an expert is on the case.

Photo: Rachael McGraw, Snow Lake, WA

darrenmcgraw

Death of the (lazy) middleman, please

A recent online business journal’s headline: The Death of the Middleman.  Maybe so when what’s available for sale and what is wanted by the consumer is obviously, easily, and profitably matched.  I don’t think we’re there yet with risk management and insurance.

On Monday I told a family what I thought they needed in order to be financially protected. On Tuesday I listened to an insurance company tell me what they’d require from that family in order to qualify for their insurance.  The two didn’t match.  So I’ve got a willing consumer who needs X and an unwilling insurance company who will only provide Y.

That happens a lot.  And what also happens a lot in response to that, unfortunately, are agents who a) give up looking for creative solutions, or b) don’t tell the truth and try to sneak an insurance company into providing insurance they don’t want (you can imagine this doesn’t work well if a claim occurs, by the way).  So there are a whole bunch of families out there with bad insurance because too few agents are willing to go find improved solutions.

And on the other side, insurance companies keep lopping off the ends of what counts as “good business” in their eyes.  They keep slicing thinner and thinner what defines an acceptable client with things like pricing algorithms, “no-more-than” guidelines, and “only-if” scenarios.

That’s fine – it’s their business.  But my business is showing how a good middleman is valuable.  Insurance companies are governed by boundaries and generally limited thinking and being a middleman able to find the differences among them can make a difference between “you’re covered” and “nope, sorry”.

darrenmcgraw

Your bad claim experience begins now

One of the most frustrating moments in my job are the times when I hear of a family suffering an insurance loss and then realizing that the claim-handling experience with the insurance company didn’t match their expectation of how they wanted to be treated.

The reason it’s difficult is because I’ve got to think of a diplomatic way of saying that the bad experience is probably because there was a moment years prior where they decided to pursue an insurance company based on cost or some other reason unrelated to pursuing the best fit for them.  It’s my belief that a bad claim experience actually begins the moment you buy the wrong insurance from the wrong insurance company through the wrong agent (or buy it direct because you thought you could).  It just may take awhile to show up.

Insurance. Is. Not. A. Commodity.  Among the insurance-purchasing factors there are differences in needs, differences in pricing, differences in coverages, differences in claims handling, differences in client appreciation, and differences in talent and experience.

darrenmcgraw

Leaving the choice to you makes for a bad agent

Would you accept your tax accountant presenting you with 3 options on the filing of your tax return?  What about your doctor giving you a choice of different ways to fix your broken arm?  No way!  Experts are supposed to know what is best for you, recommend a specific course of action, then get it done for you.  Why else would you hire someone?

So it pains me every time I see an insurance agency presenting families with multiple insurance-portfolio options.  It always makes me think either a) they haven’t done enough work to really know the customer, b) they don’t have a clue which alternative they should recommend, c) they lack confidence to take a stand, d) they’re lazy and want the customer to do the work, or e) they care more about running their business than caring for their clients.

I am all for consumers being the boss and having a final say in things, but it should be only after an expert has worked hard enough to make a recommendation they’re willing to stand behind.

darrenmcgraw