Being an NY Insurance Agent can be a lot like being a basketball referee, everyone has an opinion about your industry and most of those opinions are not positive and the vast majority of those opinions are based ill-conceived theories and misguided perceptions.
There are days when it is hard to listen to these opinions…
If an architect demands he doesn’t need commercial general liability insurance or a NY homeowner explains why $35 a year for Water-Backup Coverage is not a good investment, as caring, quality NY insurance agent it’s our duty to help them understand their insurance buying decision.
Those days are hard because, though well meaning, architects and homeowners and everyone else who is not an NY independent insurance agent doesn’t know what the Heck their talking about when it comes to NY insurance.
They are making bad decisions based on things they’ve “Heard” or “Had a friend experience” or just plain and simple don’t want to pay for it. But the issue is architects NEED commercial general liability insurance and homeowners really SHOULD have water-backup coverage.
The big problem for me, for the entire staff of The Murray Group, is that we care about their business and family and that their risks are properly covered.
So there are days that I sit at my desk frustrated and annoyed, not at the client, but at myself, wondering if I’m really making a difference.
Am I the NY Insurance Agent I want to be? Am I stepping outside the commoditized insurance world that so many agents fall into and providing a professional, valuable service that will allow my clients to succeed in both their personal and business life?
This is the crap that keeps me up at night…
But Then Are Days…
But there are moments, days even, like today, when perseverance to always doing the right thing pays off, when a client who would have been screwed during their worst day, is instead properly covered for a loss… Well on days like today I fell like a Stone-Cold Insurance Gangster…
Before you read this little story please understand that I am not happy that my client had a loss, understand that to a certain extent, the loss was inevitable and I’m glad she had coverage.
Every Insurance Policy Should Have Water-Backup
I had a client send me an email this morning (Saturday) that with a subject line that simply read “HELP!”. Her message went on to explain that over night her sump pump had failed and her finished basement was covered in water.
She had recently had a friend in her neighborhood have a similar issue and the loss was not covered under the friends NY home insurance policy. She was upset and worried that she was going to have to come out of pocket for damage to carpets, furniture and dry-wall.
She had no idea whether she was covered or not. All she knew is that there was a chance she wasn’t. Its not that she didn’t care or didn’t listen when I sold her the home insurance policy, its just that insurance can complicated and confusing and she trusted me to take care of her.
The Rub
I’m glad she did trust me because it was very nice to tell her that we had added $7,000 in Water-Backup and Sump Pump Failure coverage to her home insurance policy when we began our relationship.
In New York State, Water-Backup and Sump Pump Failure coverage, is not covered on a standard, un-endorsed policy. So by adding the coverage, whether she was aware of it at the time or not, I was able to be a hero for the day…
Damn it feels good to be a gangster…
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