What comes to mind first when you think of insurance?

Likely, something along the lines of “save 15 percent or more in 15 minutes or less.”

Or perhaps the image of Jake from State Farm, Flo from Progressive, or the GEICO gecko comes to mind.

It seems that every day, we are overwhelmed by insurance advertising with a primary message of saving money on our insurance policies.

If only it were that easy.

In fact, there is so much more to insurance than comparing quotes, and it starts with proactive risk management.

At General Insurance Services (GIS), we combine our collective experience and knowledge to proactively help our clients manage risk. In other words, we do not want to simply quote your insurance. We want to build lasting relationships where our team becomes an extension of your team.

Now think about your business for a moment.

How many claims did you have in the past year? How many of those claims could have been prevented?

If you just thought to yourself, “Well, definitely a few,” this is where we step in. It is where our passion shines and we deliver value to your insurance program.

Our advisory approach to business solutions is focused on preventing future claims rather than selling insurance.

While quoting insurance is an important part of what we do, we take it a step further by working with your business throughout the year to minimize potential losses.

Our goal is to protect your company from the risks of today and the emerging risks of tomorrow.

By working with you on a regular basis, we have an opportunity to review how things are going. We gain a better understanding of you, your goals, and your business.

With this information, we are armed to tell your story and negotiate for the best insurance options available. That includes finding the best possible price!

So now you’re probably wondering, “Great, but how does this apply to my business?”

Let’s take a look at a few recent scenarios.

Employee Well-Being

Your employees are your most valuable asset.

It’s true. Your people are your biggest resource and can affect the public perception of your brand. Successful companies know the value of their staff.

In our experience, hiring and retaining top-quality talent is top of mind for our clients, and we understand that it can be a challenge.

Value your employees and staff, and you can increase your company’s productivity and profitability while simultaneously building a positive reputation.

To illustrate with an example, we have a client who was struggling with low employee morale. We determined that their team did not feel safe in the workplace because of harassment due to several job-related injuries. Our client had developed a reputation for this in the industry. This made it hard for them to recruit and retain productive employees, resulting in high turnover. Considerable resources were being spent on human resource complaints.

After we had discussions with the client regarding past claim history, company culture, and hiring and retaining staff, we were able to offer our client a series of tools to help remedy their issues. This included an employee handbook as well as ongoing training in jobsite safety, harassment, and intervention. In addition, we also ensured that our client had the proper coverage in place to protect against these issues. As you can see, proactively mitigating the risk to improve circumstances in the future is an essential part of our agency’s approach.

After we implemented these measures, the number of injuries were reduced and feelings of retaliation and harassment for getting injured began to decrease. The culture in the business started to improve as did the company reputation.

Now, a couple of years later, the number of claims is down and employee morale is up. The company is also saving money on both insurance and the resources spent to hire and train a revolving door of staff.

Tailored Coverage

Recently, we were reviewing a lease with one of our clients. This business rents their space from another company. Upon reviewing the lease, we found there was an unusual clause in the lease agreement.

The clause stated that in the event of damages to the rental building, our client’s insurance would be responsible for repairs. Normally, tenants are only responsible for contents inside the building and not for the structure itself.

Other brokers may have assumed it was a standard lease and not provided the additional coverage for structural damages.

This example comes to mind because our client did end up filing a claim for structural damage to the rental property, and thanks to our proactive review of the lease agreement, they were fully covered for the damages they had incurred.

Industry Specialization

We don’t stop at basic understanding. We specialize. To design the most appropriate, comprehensive, cost-effective program, we need a complete understanding of your daily business operations, challenges, and opportunities.

Each of our advisors subscribe to trusted information sources and receive regular updates on the industries they are most involved with. During our weekly meetings, we share updates with the rest of our team and proactively contact our clients to ensure they are compliant.

I personally spend a lot of time dealing with the transportation industry, so the sources I subscribe to are related to commercial trucking companies. Earlier this year, I became aware of a regulation that took place in 2020. The deadline to comply was the beginning of 2021.

This regulation specified that every affected company needed to register drivers for a drug-and-alcohol testing program and run reports on all drivers by the specified date.

What was interesting was the new regulation applied far beyond just the trucking industry to school bus drivers, farm equipment operators transporting grain, and more. Failure to comply would result in up to a $5,833 fine per violation and the truck/driver would be taken out of service until compliance was met.

As soon as I heard about this, I shared the information with my team, reached out to all clients to whom the new regulation applied, and ensured they had made the appropriate changes to enroll in the program. I discovered that several of my clients were not aware of the regulation or didn’t think it applied to them.

Your Trusted Advisor

Why do we do all of this? Why not simply quote your insurance and move on?

It’s simple. Because we care.

Our mission is to secure the future of the communities we serve. When the businesses in Northwest Indiana grow and thrive, our communities flourish. Employees are happier, families are healthier, and our home is a safer place to live, work, and play.

This is our why. Why we go beyond the quote to become your trusted advisor. The scenarios you read about here are just a few of many.

Connect with us to start the conversation about proactively managing the risk for your business.

What do you have to lose?

Potentially everything.