This competitive environmental intelligence will give you the best way to improve your insurance sales in today’s business environment.
Before delving into why environmental Strategist™ (eS) is the game changer for insurance professionals I think it’s important that we all understand what a pollutant is.
If you look at a standard property and casualty insurance policy, pollutants are described smoke, soot, vapors, fumes, acids, alkalis, etc., etc.
However, due to the way the insurance industry has responded to past insurance claims, environmental strategist™ (eS) has fashioned a definition of a pollutant that is more palatable for your insureds.
A Pollutant is, “a material, substance, or product, introduced to an environment for other than it’s intended use or purpose.” In other words, something ends up where it does not belong.
Let me offer you several examples.
In one instance, fresh water was accidentally introduced into a salt water aquarium. This resulted in a die off of aquatic life. When a claim was filed with the GL carrier, they denied coverage stating the fresh water was a pollutant.
In another situation, cheese! A cheese delivery truck was in an accident and caught on fire. The cheese melted and went down into the sewer system. Once in the sewer system the cheese hardened, creating sewer backups. When the insured filed a claim with their insurance carrier, the carrier denied coverage saying the cheese was a pollutant.
I could also share examples of milk, beer and even cooking oil being classified as pollutants. Bottom line, something that ends up where it is not intended can be a pollutant.
Now that we are all on the same page about what a pollutant is, you have a better understanding why eS points out that every business can be impacted by environmental exposures. You can’t operate a business without being impacted by environmental exposures which means every business has a need for eS services.
Understanding the demand for eS services is quite simple. The analogy I use is how the computer industry created demand for IT professionals and today’s environmental industry has created the demand for eS professionals.
eS research shows that fewer than 5% of licensed property and casualty insurance professionals are actively working with environmental insurance products and less than 10% of potential insureds currently purchase environmental insurance. This all adds up to huge opportunities and the question is how can an insurance professional take advantage?
Enter, www.estrategist.com. After more than two decades of development and field testing, www.estrategist.com offers insurance professionals the opportunity to earn their eS designation. The mission of a certified eS is to assist businesses with managing and transferring environmental risk. The eStrategist (www.estrategist.com) gives an insurance professional everything they need to go from novice to environmental specialist.
eS brings a revitalizing strategy to insurance professionals. Why? Because certified eS do not sell anything, we educate. eS deliver resources insurance professionals can share with commercial businesses so the first thing a commercial business can determine is whether eS can add value to their business model. And why is this so critical? Because people are tired of being sold and when you sell, the majority of the time it becomes a commodity based transaction.
Let me give you a simple example. It’s common knowledge in the property and casualty insurance industry the majority of insurance agents collect expiration dates, so 90 days before the renewal of an insurance policy the agent can try to make an appointment to work on an insured’s renewal.
At eS we call this the “90 days and pray” insurance sales which creates lower success rates and encourages commodity based selling with reduced profit margins. Why? because you are competing against several agents all essentially trying to sell the same product.
The eS educational business strategy for insurance professionals reverses this sales strategy by contacting a prospect 90 days after renewal of their commercial P&C insurance. Why 90 days after renewal? Because the smoke has cleared and the commodity based insurance agent are gone chasing expiration dates with low success rates.
When the certified eS insurance professional calls and shares with a business how they would like to meet and strategize on managing and transferring their environmental exposures to better compete in today’s’ business environment, they have a better chance of getting the business’s attention.
The first response back from a business likely is, “what type of environmental exposures”? This is when eS utilize the environmental Risk Assessments (eRA) resource at www.estrategist.com.
The eRA can be hand delivered or emailed and allows the eS and their prospect to get on the same page about the environmental exposures impacting their operations. eRA’s are accessible to eS in a cut and paste format so eS can customize the eRA to compliment their agencies marketing presentations.
The eRA comes in three parts:
1. Review of specific environmental exposure impacting a particular class of business.
2. Environmental loss examples
3. Environmental insurance coverage’s that are appropriate for that class of business to consider.
Once the eRA has been delivered to their prospect, the eS follows up to strategize in more detail about the educational information offered in the eRA. The vast majority of the time, the eRA educated prospect is open to meet and strategize on managing and transferring their environmental exposures.
After the initial meeting a business generally wants to meet internally to discuss the eS strategies offered to improve their operations. When they call back the eS to move forward with assisting in the managing and transferring their environmental exposures the eS has now been elevated to a trusted advisor and team member.
Another benefit for the eS is 90 days before the renewal of their new client’s insurance, when all of the commodity based “90 days and pray” insurance agents start calling, the business naturally reaches out to their eS insurance professional team member for assistance with their P&C renewal. Why, because the eS is a trusted advisor and all of the “90 days and pray” insurance agents did not demonstrate any value in assisting the business to succeed.
The eS educational business strategy allows business transactions to naturally move forward while solving problems, growing profits, improving product quality, services…. With more than two decades of development and field testing www.estrategist.com is the game changer for insurance professionals looking to gain a competitive edge.
Chris Bunbury, President of environmental Strategist points out, “insurance agents not discussing environmental exposures with client’s, may find the only coverage their client has when they experience an environmental loss is the insurance agents E&O policy.
Certified eS are able to use the environmental Strategist™ name and logo on business cards, letter head and advertisements identifying them as an environmental specialist and industry leader.
A certified eS not only distinguishes themselves as an industry leader but they can better contribute in pro-actively addressing the most critical issue impacting the planet earth, human beings and the global economy, our environment.”
In conclusion, utilizing the eS educational business model the bar is raised on the level of the business transaction and eS position themselves as a trusted advisor, strategic partner and team member. eS insurance professionals utilizing the eRA find it an excellent way to leverage their insurance sales.
eS business lead strategy to leverage your insurance sales: The term “Brownfield site” means real property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant. There are millions of Brownfield sites in the United States. Most municipalities (counties, parishes, cities…) have Brownfield redevelopment boards and their meetings / minutes / website is public information. From the public Brownfield information you can find out who is involved in a Brownfield, what the development plan is, how much it will cost to clean up, what the end use will be and so much more. eS understand that Brownfields are like an annuity for eS insurance professionals because you assist to manage and transfer the environmental exposures for the Brownfields developer and once the cleanup and build out are completed, the end use industrial, retail, office, residential…, occupants will also have a need for your insurance products. eS understand that the best way to sell standard property and casualty insurance products is to develop the relationship by delivering value. For business operating in today’s business environment, managing and transferring environmental exposures is part of “Best Practices” and insurance professionals that can assist will be strategic partners and trusted advisors.
Contact: environmentalstrategist@gmail.com or call 231-218-1041 for questions or more information.
ERMI utilizes environmental Strategist brand resources because they have proven they will increase insurance sales for our retail insurance agents.