As a busy entrepreneur, you may often find yourself wondering how you can continue to juggle a seemingly endless number of balls successfully. Keeping the lights on and your customers coming back is a full-time job in itself that hardly leaves you with much bandwidth to think about mundane subjects such as insurance. Even so, it is crucial to understand the importance of monitoring and upgrading your coverage from time to time.
When Your Current Coverage Leaves You Flat
Of course, the most obvious reason for modifying your coverage occurs when you are no longer happy with what you have. Perhaps it costs too much; maybe you are disgruntled with the company’s customer service. On a more positive note, your operations may have outgrown the scope of your current coverage.
If you are experiencing any or all of these scenarios, it’s time to compare the various options that are out there. Thanks to online tools, doing so can be accomplished quickly and easily.
When Your Needs Change
Remember way back when you set up your current business insurance coverage? You and your broker went over all aspects of your business and tailored a package that protected you against all of the most likely situations that could arise including injury, property damage and theft. If your company has grown or changed, it makes sense to revisit your coverage just to be sure that it is still providing you with thorough protection.
If you have made staffing adjustments, modifications may be necessary. For instance, adding employees may mean that you need to tweak your workers’ compensation package. If you have let people go, you might be able to change to a less expensive package.
If your profits have increased substantially, you probably have more assets and equipment to protect. Even though it may cost you slightly more in premiums, you will thank yourself a thousand times over should a catastrophic event occur.
When You Change Locations
Another reason to review your current policy occurs if you move your business. After all, your coverage is based partly on the number of square feet your establishment occupies. If that number increases or decreases, your agent needs to know. Furthermore, your new digs may be more or less vulnerable to natural disaster and may pose an added or reduced security risk. Changing your policy to fit your current needs will help to ensure that you are fully protected in your new location.
When You Update or Discontinue a Product or Service
Finally, think carefully about the goods and services you are offering. Are you providing customers with something new? If so, you need to make sure that your errors and omissions insurance protects you in the event that that particular item or service fails and injures a third party. Considering that these situations can often lead to hefty lawsuits that could bankrupt a small business, it is definitely in your best interest to beef up this coverage.
Business insurance may seem as boring and mundane as an unpainted wall, but the reality is that having excellent coverage is akin to working with a conscientious partner who always has your best interests in mind. Don’t wait until an unforeseen event makes you realize that your business insurance coverage is lacking. Talk to your broker and do some independent investigations of your own to learn how the coverage landscape has changed since you last studied it. You might be surprised.