These dos and don’ts can be all too easy to overlook.
Every agency is concerned about protecting itself against E&O claims. This list of E&O issues and recommendations can help you and your staff do the job.
IDENTIFICATION CARDS
Although this might sound a little strange; last year an agency told me they had an E&O claim because someone in the office issued an ID card without covering the car on the account. Make sure an auto is covered before issuing an ID card.
LETTERS
If you haven’t checked your form letters lately, review them for duplications, grammar, spelling, conciseness, and a thank-you. We tend to place a lot of letters in our system without assigning anyone to maintain the listing. You might also check some of the general letters sent by the staff. You could be surprised!
LIENHOLDERS
Agents tend to keep entering lienholders into their system creating duplicates, duplicates, and more duplicates. Consider having one person in the office maintain this listing. If it were my agency, I’d enter as many lienholders as I want. Just as long as I have space, who cares? Its way too time consuming to have to keep track of an accurate lienholder listing.
MAIL
Consider giving unopened cancelled checks to an agency principal for review before reconciliation to make sure that they’re all company checks. It’s better to be safe than sorry!
MARKETING PLAN
If you don’t have an agency marketing plan, consider developing one. If prospects are coming to you, you might have a plan without knowing it. On the other hand, if you aren’t getting prospects, you have a serious problem.
MEETINGS
Hold weekly meetings to review such items as company issues, how the agency is doing, employee concerns, and the marketing plan. Several years ago, an agency I worked with suffered a mutiny, with three employees leaving at once. The first thing I asked was if the agency held weekly meetings. The answer was “no.” If weekly meetings were held, they would’ve at least known why the employees left. Make sure to check the temperature of your staff.
MVR's
Most agencies are now making sure that they receive a signature from the insured as well as the employee when processing MVRs. However, other agencies have just stopped processing MVRs and put the responsibility on the company. Make sure your agency is in compliance under the Fair Credit Reporting and Graham-Leach-Bliley Acts.
Graham-Leach-Bliley acts.
NOTES
Document everything — including phone calls, in and out visits, and internal notes into the agency management system. NO EXCEPTIONS!!
PHOTOGRAPHS
Make sure that all photos are taken by agency, company, or service staff only. You might pick up something that the insured wouldn’t see or want to see in a photo.
PRODUCERS
Train producers to document all phone calls, visits, and internal transactions. Some agencies have their producers keep pads with them for this purpose. The producers then give the customer service representative their notes to scan into the system.
PROPOSALS
Get all producers to agree on using a single set of proposal forms.
QUIET TIME
Create some type of quiet time within the agency. Customer service representatives need this time. With the number of phone calls, interruptions, and paperwork, it’s a wonder that agencies don’t experience more E&O claims.
SCANNING
Although scanning takes time to plan and implement, once the system is up and running, most agencies love it. As a rule of thumb, scan each document, hold it for 30 days, and then toss it.
SUSPENSE
Review each employee’s suspense activities at the end of the week. Then have these reports double-checked. A suspense that isn’t taken care of in time is an E&O claim waiting to happen!
THANK-YOU CARD
Our insureds long for that personal touch. Start using thank-you cards today. Most agencies (and for that matter, most businesses) today seem to have forgotten that they even exist.
E&O dangers lurk in every office procedure. These recommendations can help you inoculate your agency from that dread disease — “E&Oitis.”