Negotiations can be daunting, but most business leaders understand the need if they want to save money with vendors, clients, investors and more. Believe it or not, business insurance is no different. Here are four tips for negotiating your way to better business insurance rates.
- Get multiple quotes from different carriers – The business insurance industry is stacked against the buyer, as the more you spend, the more money your agent makes. This is rarely transparent and clearly won’t motivate your agent to do extra work to save your business money on insurance policies. Even more alarming is the fact that most business insurance agents are incentivized to work with certain carriers and, again, typically aren’t upfront about this process.
With the industry set up as it is, business insurance agents don’t typically do the work to actually get rates from as many carriers as they should. This is a critical step! As the saying goes, knowledge is power. Your best negotiation tool is to get a vast range of quotes from different carriers, evaluate them with someone who truly understands the ins and outs of business insurance policies, and use the quotes to push for even better rates with the carrier you want to work with.
- Evaluate changes for more savings – In 2020, many businesses faced major changes due to the pandemic, transitioning to remote workforces, furloughing employees and decreasing certain roles altogether. In 2021, insurance rates are expected to increase across the board – from property/liability, workers’ compensation, auto and cybersecurity insurance policies – making it that much more important to evaluate what your current corporate insurance needs are versus what they’ve been in the past. Make sure you proactively discuss these changes with your agent to help identify current business insurance savings you can take advantage of now. There are many ways to save – check out our Tool Kit to learn more – don’t be afraid to put your foot down if your agent isn’t looking into these savings on your behalf.
- Don’t just wait for your renewal period – Many business leaders don’t realize they can evaluate and change most commercial insurance policies at any time, not just during the renewal period. Often, when renewals are approaching, you’ll feel rushed and pressured to make a decision, without necessarily having all the options. Give yourself the time to do due diligence to get the best insurance rates for your company.
- Don’t go through it alone – Get help from someone who is truly looking out for your best interests. We’re not talking about insurance brokers and agents, who are ultimately driven by their relationships with carriers and even kickbacks for selling certain business insurance policies. A third-party insurance advocate, like our team here at RateCraft, can evaluate your current and proposed policies to identify areas for even more potential business savings. Our advocates are not tied to specific insurance companies or agents, we do not sell insurance directly, and we do not ever take kickbacks. Instead, we only get paid based on if and how much money we can save your business.