Managing the insurance marketing process to achieve the best possible financial and coverage outcomes, reviewing leases and construction contracts, reviewing policies to make certain they have been issued as proposed by the broker and/or insurance company, negotiating the best possible claims settlements, and properly allocating premiums are among the tasks that professional risk managers do for the large corporations that employ them. Many corporations have risk management staffs of five or more persons. Medium sized companies that do not need a full-time person can also benefit from this kind of professional expertise. We have provided part-time professional risk managers to large publicly and privately owned retailers, financial institutions, real estate and technology companies. These professionals have worked from one to four days a week for the clients and, although some clients have eventually hired full-time risk managers, all have retained our employee for at least five years. In each case our client has saved premium dollars and benefited by achieving broader coverage than if they had relied solely upon the services of a broker.

Our prospective clients find us because they are having difficulty assessing the services they are receiving from their insurance broker and need help in doing so. Our first priority is to determine the needs of the client; we follow this with a review of the insurance program and the services provided by the broker. Often our first task on for a client is to work with them towards selecting a broker that will provide them with the best combination of technical expertise and service. Because of our experience as insurance brokers and our knowledge of the brokerage firms in the Bay Area, we are able to guide a client through a very focused and orderly broker selection process.

The process consists of the following steps:

Of course, the actual selection of a broker is the final step in this process. We have found that a client and a broker establish a much stronger relationship following a selection process.

A bank client asked us to examine their exposures to loss, determine whether those loss exposures were insured or uninsured, and report our findings to senior management. We accomplished this task by working with a member of their auditing staff and interviewing every department manager of the bank: trust, loan servicing, information technology etc. We developed a matrix that outlined their exposures and by which policy it was insured, to what extent, the limitations of coverage and, if not insured, whether insurance was available. The client was then able to make a conscious decision whether to insure, self-insure or simply remain uninsured. This matrix was updated annually to reflect changes in exposures and changes in the insurance program.

We are the consultant to the owner/operator of a very large light industrial park in the Bay Area. They have a high concentration of values within a few square miles and they purchase a significant amount of earthquake insurance because the properties are very near an important fault. We were called in because most of their insurance was and still is placed with a reputable direct writer that also placed the earthquake in the non-admitted market which the client felt was too costly. We confirmed that they were paying too much and recommended that they allow the direct writer to continue underwriting only that part of the risk they insured in-house, i.e., everything except the earthquake. We arranged for the client to engage the services of a broker to place the entire earthquake program, which resulted in a material premium savings to the client.

A large food processor asked us if we could help them control and reduce their rising cost of workers’ compensation insurance. At the time they were paying well in excess of one million dollars a year. After reviewing their past payrolls and losses and doing a cash flow analysis, we advised them to self-insure their workers’ compensation; this involved posting a bond with the State, outsourcing claims handling and safety and purchasing excess workers’ compensation insurance. It has allowed the client to exercise greater control over their workers’ compensation program, eliminated insurance company-related fixed costs, and has resulted in substantial savings since implementing the program.