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 Is only one employee accountable for each procedure in your office? Do all customer service procedures begin and end with the customer service representative? Often with errors and omissions, all the weight lies on one person. To protect the agency from unnecessary errors and omissions, make sure that more than one person is accountable for each office procedure. Let's look at a few areas: the expiration report, the suspense system, and the accounts receivable.
THE EXPIRATION REPORT
Many agencies depend solely on the expertise of customer service representatives to ensure that all renewals are up-to-date. Wrong! If you're doing this, stop immediately! Are you that confident that expirations are being completed on time? If so, I beg to differ! Your agency can't afford to miss a renewal!
Set up checks all over the place! Run the following expiration reports at the end of each month:
- A report for the current month to ensure that all renewals have been handled (This report is blank, and all dates have been changed.)
- A report for the following month to check on what renewals still need to be completed (Remember, by this time, customer service reps are working from a two-month to three-month-old paper expiration report with lots of notes marked throughout.)
- The 90 to 120-day report to work ahead of renewals
Furnish these reports to everyone involved: the producer, the customer service rep, agency principals, and accounting. Always make sure that there's a person giving reports a final check at the end of the month, that more than one person is accountable for each procedure; and that there's a plan against errors and omissions.
THE SUSPENSE SYSTEM
The suspense system plays a crucial role in running your agency successfully. This system details each transaction that needs to be further worked. It includes everything from awaiting information from the insured, to following up on an invoice or a Commercial line audit.
Recently one agency found almost 300 past-due suspenses in its Commercial lines area. No agency can afford this kind of processing delay. Delegate the job of checking the suspense system every week to someone outside the department. Make sure crucial suspenses are handled the same day they're accounted for and that all other suspenses are handled quickly to prevent a very unnecessary error or omission.
ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE
Some agencies designate only one or two employees to be responsible for accounts receivable. You better start getting more employees involved and accountable if you have a problem with receivables climbing to the 30-, 60-, or 90-day mark.
In most cases, the producer is responsible for collection. If there's a consistent problem in this area, it's best to hold bimonthly meetings, that include the producer; the customer service representative, who can clarify invoices if necessary; agency principals; and accounting. Again, make sure there's always a final-check person to review receivables on a weekly basis and follow up with staff.
Check out all of your agency's procedures! The expiration report, suspense system, and accounts receivable are only three out of a possible 70 procedures for just the customer service rep to handle. Make sure at least two employees are responsible for each area - the employee accountable and the final-check person. That way, all areas within the agency will be doubly protected, and the exposure to unnecessary errors and omissions will decrease substantially!
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