The Bull Stops Here Blog

What small businesses can  do right now to start 2010 with the upper hand?

Small businesses  notoriously overpay for their insurance due to lack of risk management  strategy.  If you were to commit to a strong approach to your  insurance, safety practices, risk management and forecasting, you would  be able to save money in 2010 on your premiums, as well as improve efficiency  and profitability.

Here are a few tips that you can implement today that will minimize risk and maximize profit:

1 – Get a  complete diagnostic of your safety program.  Injured employees cost  small businesses money in increased workers compensation premiums, loss of  time, and hiring or moving people to replace the injured worker.  Offices  have a huge issue with ergonomics, as this accounts for 50% of workers comp  claims in the country.  Being able to identify exposures and put safety  practices into place to alleviate them will have a direct impact on their  bottom line.

2 – Bid out insurance.  The insurance market is still  “soft,” meaning that premiums are down and competition for business among insurers is up.  Not looking at all possibilities is simply not prudent  and can be expensive.  Regardless of when their renewal is, they should  make a commitment to aggressively bid out their insurance.

3 – Get a  complete diagnostic on your property and casualty insurance.  I rarely  find a policy that can’t be adjusted to save money.  Normally, business owners leave the programming of their policies to the agent or broker without  getting involved.  This is an area that with proper attention could  immediately improve the program by cutting costs and/or preventing uncovered  claims.

4 – Consider Health Savings Accounts (HSA) for medical  insurance.  The programs will vary among states and insurers, but this is  a real option to save money for the employer and actually provide a flexible  policy for the employee.  I had a client that saved $6,000 a month making  the switch last year.

Start off this new year and decade the right way for your business. Minimize your risk and maximize your profit by implementing these strategies today!

© 2010 Dan Weedin - All Rights Reserved

I just finished a new position paper on insurance for home based business entrepreneurs.  It’s free for the asking.  Just e-mail me your request and I’ll send you the paper.  If you’re a home-based business of any kind, this is information you must have to protect your business.

My e-mail is dan@danweedin.com.

Be safe and be well.

I had an associate read my recent post on certificates of insurance and ask about the term surplus lines.  My apologies for using insurance gibberish without an explanation.

Surplus lines is an insurance term that means non-preferred or special when it comes to insuring difficult to place risks.  For instance, Safeco, Firemans Fund, Liberty, and Travelers are all examples of standard, preferred companies.  Surplus lines markets include Lloyd’s of London, Scottsdale, and National Fire and Indemnity to name a few.  Most surplus lines you’ve never heard of.

Surplus lines companies are generally very financially sound and niche driven.  They normally insure to business that the standard companies won’t touch with a ten-foot pole.  They can be more difficult to deal with, though and much more inflexible.  If your business must be in a surplus lines company, make sure you talk to your agents about exclusions and limitations to make sure you don’t have unwanted gaps in coverage.

Be safe and be well,