Certificate of Insurance ( Acord 25 )

[gambrinus]

How many of these will you do for a client before you start charging a fee?

What is your "standard of service" for the amount of time for the client to expect a certificate?

I have a client that I'm about to fire if I can't either make more $ for the amount of work I'm doing, or change his way of thinking in that the certs just fall from the sky with 30 seconds of notice..

 

[infoe]

Sound's like a tough but smart business decision....come's a time you have to cut the client lose. Set the expectation with the customer, see if they will change....but make sure you realize what other possible implications could arise (bad press) if you get rid of him in a not so "nice" way.

 

[Bertolinoins]

It depends on the client and the amount of revenue their policies generate. I have one that I do 600+ for but it generates $30K in revenue and they are all at one time so it is easy to deal with because of the systems we have in place. I have others that need 50ish and I hit them with a pretty big broker fee because their revenue does not support that level of time and service.

I did fire one account that did a bunch of work for large property managers and we would battle back and forth with Compliance Depot and Registry Monitoring over his certs but he ended up coming back. He was grandfathered in on a very good rate with Zurich but we would always have to go to war over AI forms in a battled that would drag on for 4/5 weeks after every renewal. This year I told him to BOR the Zurich renewal to another agent or go with another carrier that offered the correct AI form and was 45% higher. He BOR'd it over to another agent and of course that agent had no idea what they were getting into. The insured called me back in a panic 30 days later as his PM's were withholding payment and his new agent couldn't figure how to get them to accept it. We placed him with a surplus lines carrier for 45% more but with the correct AI forms so he was paid quickly. Sometimes even big accounts are not profitable if you have to touch them frequently.

We pay for a program called CSR24 where the insured can do their own certificates. It is very helpful for Truckers, Contractors and Condo Associations. Some clients use it and love it and some don't. Those that don't may end up paying a significant broker fee. Before everybody freaks out about insureds doing their own AI's... there are many safeguards in place and you get CC'd on every Cert so you can rescind or correct them as needed. The people that use the program typically are insurance savvy and know what they are doing. I had one client get a quote from Farmers that beat me by 17% ($5100) but they stuck with me because they can issue their own certs.

 

[Guest]

How about some specifics, how much is your commission and how many certs are you talking about.

If you have the right programs, it should only take seconds to make up the cert....

 

[JCK818]

Very true. If you have a management program, it takes a second. You don't know how many clients I have stolen from competitors for charging fees like that.

 

[isgutah]

Certificates can take seconds, but when companies like Compliance depot and large general contractors get involved the cert requests can get a little outrageous with the wording they require.

I have an account that pays me about $1000 per year that is a pain in the a** to get certificate requirements met.

 

[gambrinus]

This is just a small electrician. GL Policy.. Generates to me... I kid you not.. and this is ANNUAL.. not monthly or weekly..

$115

He's needed 36 forms ( So far ) in 2011.


It's just nuts....


RW

 

[Bertolinoins]

This is just a small electrician. GL Policy.. Generates to me... I kid you not.. and this is ANNUAL.. not monthly or weekly..

$115

He's needed 36 forms ( So far ) in 2011.


It's just nuts....


RW

You need to either fire or fee him.

 

[gambrinus]

If I can't figure out a way for it to put no less than $250 in my pocket, I'm going to send him on his way.

 

[infoe]

this is a great thread...we rarely talk about broker fee's in this subforum. is there a standard out there or a "norm" being charged for these type's of miscellaneous fee's? anyone have a sheet they'd share?

I would think it would be a win win for gambrinus example to explain to the customer the new fee structure...he wins if the customer pays it and he wins if the customer leaves due to not wanting to pay the fee.