Is Your Broker Asking the Right Questions?

By Scott Watkins, Account Manager

I’m a firm believer in learning. Furthermore, in 99% of cases, I agree with my elementary school teachers in that there are indeed no stupid questions. Questions make the world go around! If 5 year olds never asked “Why?” a hundred times, how would they learn? What if Sir Isaac Newton never asked why the apple fell? Or imagine if Henry Ford never was curious about faster travel and then curious again about how we can improve this process! I can go on and on but I believe you get the point. Questions are such an important part of everything we do.

So you might be asking- “I’m on an insurance blog, why am I reading about questions?”

Great question! The fact of the matter is- Questions are one of the most important factors in insurance and even more important when insuring complex industries such as Scaffold & Access or Crane & Rigging!

If your broker is not asking you the RIGHT questions, you should question whether or not you’re working with the right broker. I’ll explain what I mean by the RIGHT questions.

Every broker will ask you the industry standard questions of– What lines of coverage do you have in place? Have you had any claims in the past? Can you tell me more about your operation? The list continues, but I’m sure you’ve heard all these and in fact they are necessary questions. However, they are not the questions that get down into the nitty-gritty of how that broker can most effectively cover your specific business within your specific industry regarding your specific risks. The questions your broker asks should tell you 3 key things:

1. Do they know your industry? If their questions don’t give you 100% assurance that they live and breathe your industry, then they may not know how to best apply their insurance knowledge to it either. If they can’t speak your lingo, you may want to look elsewhere. You don’t want to end up with gaps in your coverage because the broker didn’t understand what specialty coverages were needed.
2. Are they service oriented? Furthermore, does their service line up with your industry? These questions let you know that not only do they treat insurance as a service and not as a commodity, but they also know what services they can provide to make someone’s life, in your industry, easier. More so, does their service include tools and other materials that are specific to your risk management needs? That’s a good question to ask.
3. Lastly- Do they really care? Listen for questions that truly show they care about the growth, success and well-being of your company and its employees – The question every broker should ask, whether to you or themselves is “How can we help?”

Long story short, if you haven’t heard questions like these during conversations or you’ve reflected while reading this and have doubts; you need to ask yourself a big question- Are you working with the right broker?