To assist you to grow your insurance sales, environmental Strategist® has developed this competitive environmental intelligence series on executing a TEAM SPORT strategy.
After more than 25 years of operating a specialty environmental insurance wholesale operation, I have observed one common denominator successful insurance professionals share, they are continually looking for new opportunities.
Since every business is impacted by environmental exposures and fewer than 15% of licensed insurance professionals are actively selling environmental insurance products there is huge upside for insurance professionals looking for opportunities.
environmental Strategist® has developed this five-part educational resource specifically for you to coach up “business professionals” (i.e. attorney’s, accountant’s, banker’s, realtor’s) on the value you can add to their business model. Through this process “business professionals” will bring you insurance sales opportunities to make sure they are better protecting their E&O exposure while executing environmental “Best Practices” with their client’s.
As a simple example let’s look at attorney’s that draw up contracts for real estate buy / sell agreements. It’s hard to find a buy sell agreement that does not contain an environmental indemnification. However, if a financial assurance mechanism (letter of credit, monies in escrow, insurance, bond…) is not put into place to back stop the environmental indemnification and there is a default, the contract may not be worth the paper it is written on. This can create and E&O exposure for the attorney since the attorney put the environmental indemnification in the contract, billed their client, but did not back stop it by making sure a financial assurance mechanism was in place to support their contract. Attorney’s clients have been coming back to their attorneys for the financial solution since the indemnifying party defaulted on the “attorney’s” contract.
In Series One of our five part series, we are going to review why “business professionals” will bring you sales opportunities utilizing a TEAM SPORT strategy.
eS TEAM SPORT Strategy:
Every insurance professional knows referral business is an excellent source for new business sales. An insurance professional can either ask for referral business or they can produce referral business while assisting “business professionals” to leverage their business model. A Win / Win strategy and much more professional than asking for referrals to generate new business.
Producing referral business creates a higher success rate than asking, while at the same time positioning the insurance professional as a trusted advisor and strategic partner.
Let me digress, the only constant we have is change (opportunity). The environmental industry has created change (opportunity) in the way businesses operate. This also creates change (opportunity) for the way business professionals leverage their products or services to proactively address environmental exposures impacting their client’s / prospects. By following the environmental Strategist® (eS) www.estrategist.com holistic TEAM SPORT strategy you move beyond asking for referral business to “business professionals” asking you to assist them in helping their clients.
Fortunately, the complexities of addressing environmental issues means there is no one stop shop to be able to get all your answers. Therefore, the success a business professional has in addressing environmental exposures impacting their client’s, depends upon the TEAM that business professional surrounds themselves with.
environmental Strategist has branded this a TEAM SPORT strategy. TEAM SPORT stands for Together Everyone Accomplishes More because Strategic Partners Optimize Resources and Time.
Who are your TEAM members?
To answer that, let’s look at what a typical environmentally reactive business does when they find out they have an environmental problem. Keep in mind, since the business is reactive they are managing the environmental problem after it occurs.
Probably the first business professional an environmentally reactive business will call is their attorney. After they call their attorney, they will contact their insurance agent to see if they have any environmental insurance coverage. When their insurance agent informs them, they do not have any coverage, the reactive business generally will call their attorney back to sue the insurance agent’s E&O.
Since the environmentally reactive business is unknowingly self-insuring their environmental liabilities, they will need financial resources to correct the problem and pay legal fees, cleanup cost, third party bodily injury, third party property damage…, so they need to involve their financial institution. However, most financial institutions, once they find out they have a client with an environmental problem, their strategy is to call all obligations due and sever the relationship.
Since the reactive business has an environmental liability, they need to involve their accountant to accurately express their current financial position.
If the business owns, buys, sells or manages property they will want an environmentally knowledgeable realtor as part of their TEAM.
You include the businesses environmental services providers (environmental engineers, remediation contractors, waste haulers, etc.), and some of the businesses employees. This rounds out your typical eMS TEAM.
In Series Two we will review TEAM SPORT strategies for working with attorney’s to generate insurance sales.
environmental Strategist (eS) business leverage strategy: In achieving your environmental Strategist (eS) certification @ www.estrategist.com you position yourself as the TEAM leader the other TEAM members report to. The www.estrategist.com Collaboration Portal is designed to position the eS as the TEAM leader. Each time you develop a TEAM to assist a client to leverage their business model, other TEAM members will ask you for assistance in helping them with some of their client’s. The eS producing referral business strategy is a win / win/ win / win for your clients, your TEAM members client’s, TEAM members and you.
www.estrategist.com educates business professionals how to leverage their business model by moving beyond asking for referral business.