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News & Views: All I do is travel?
Newsletter – Tuesday, September 18, 2018
ou may think all I do is travel, but really it is work! Yup, last week Teri, Robin my nephew, and I all headed for the great state of Arkansas for a meeting with a small group of like-minded peers. We were in for a real treat – you know there is more to Arkansas than Tyson’s chicken, Walmart, and Razorbacks!
I was fortunate to be with a great group of Independent MGAs who are part of a loosely- organized association called the USA Alliance. We meet a couple times a year and this year our meeting was hosted by a member from Bentonville, Arkansas. Bentonville was not on my radar nor on my list of places I wanted to visit before I die; however, I soon learned that this little town is a real gem. Of course, the influence of the Walton family legacy is huge in this town owing to the original Walton’s five and dime. The family seems to have invested heavily in their community, which I am a big fan of. If you ever make it to Northwest Arkansas, I’d highly recommend visiting the Crystal Bridges Museum.
I doubt Tuscano will ever make it to the size and scope of influence as Walmart, but it sure would be cool to have that much clout!
So what’s more important to you? Money or influence? (And after I made a big deal about not being controversial in the last newsletter!). I don’t know about you, but my influence extends about 10 feet outside my office door! I’m not so important that people will do whatever I say, but because I love to engage with people and I’m sincere in my interest in what they have to say, that folks care what I think. This seems like a pretty good formula for business. Being in the insurance business is all about Influence for good. I’ll bet this week you are pretty grateful you were able to influence some of your customers to buy flood insurance, or perhaps purchasing that add-on Backup of Sewer and Drain endorsement to their policy!
There are a lot of coverages and policies that we need to offer explicitly any time we can, and a personal umbrella policy is definitely on that list. I was reading an article in the Independent Agent magazine and saw this quote, “If you think you’re not rich enough to have an umbrella, are you rich enough to pay $1 million out of your own pocket?” According to this article, there are 3 emerging demographics that should be buying a Personal Umbrella – millennials, parents with teens, and multigenerational households. After all, whether the kids move back in or adult children move their elderly parents in to live with them, insurance on the underlying auto may end up with multiple carriers. That’s when a stand-alone PUP market can be a real benefit. Tuscano has three markets to offer a solution for that risk on your desk! Even better, we have an online Personal Umbrella rater that gives you a comparison quote with all 3 markets. I think you will find it is easy to use and easy to sell. I think it’s time you checked it out!
Asking for business is part of being in business. Which brings me to my last point: Tuscano is an expert at writing vacant property. I’ve asked you for this business for over 25 years now! In fact, we’ve written this line of business since Bill Tuscano first became a Coverholder at Lloyds. And, after all these years, I’m pretty proud to say that Tuscano still has the secret sauce for this class of business! First of all, we have an easy-to-use online rater, our Small Business Unit is second to none in their responsiveness and fast turnaround, and we have a broad appetite and coverage for the class. We see everything from your typical dwelling to your high-value dwelling, properties that are partially vacant, very vacant and very large vacants! The point is, we love this class of business and would be happy to talk through an account and make recommendations on how to best insure it. Give us a call the next time you have a risk land on your desk.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to our friends in the Carolinas and hope they stay safe and are able to recover quickly.
Rain, rain go away…