The Best Insurance Connection Ever: Hunting

It’s the opening morning of bow season, and a few weeks back, your buddy saw a monster buck on your land while clearing brush.  You’ve got on your new ScentBlocker® jacket, Tree Spider® harness, you’re covered from head to toe in cover scent, and you’re out in the woods with your Mathews Solocam bow that is spot on from 50 yards.  And you’re waiting.  And waiting.  Hours go by, and before you know it night falls and you do the same thing again the next day.  Thanks to modern technology, you are completely invisible to everything in the woods, but again you see nothing.  Every weekend, every night, same thing, same result.

What’s the problem?  You know this deer is out there, and you know it wouldn’t stand a chance if it walked anywhere near your stand.  It turns out that this particular deer spends his time on the complete other side of the woods, has plenty of does around, and has distinct patterns he follows every day meaning he’ll never come remotely close to you.  While you have the best gear and equipment available, you’ll never get a chance to actually use it because you’ve ignored one of the most important parts about hunting – scouting.  You can’t get close to a deer if it never walks by your stand.  Had you spent some time in the woods pre-season, you could have set yourself up for future bragging rights.

What in the world does hunting have to do with insurance or risk management you might ask?  Here we go…

By now you’re likely very well-versed in how to protect your business from Hazard Risks which you probably review with your broker yearly.  Whether it’s the sprinkler system in the production area, the GPS in the vehicles, safety training, formal safety policy and program, etc., you’ve got it covered.  You also bought a Cadillac insurance policy to protect yourself from anything you and your broker could gin up during hypothetical discussions. 

But when was the last time you reviewed your Strategic Risks?  Have you spent time mapping out your long term business plan?  How do you get where you want to go?  If something should happen to one or more of your owners or employees, what is your succession plan?  Will you have the access to capital you need to grow, merge, or acquire businesses as part of your long term planning?  How do you develop new leaders?  Etc.?

Or how about your Business Risks?  How often do you review the productivity of your employees?  You’re paying them a lot of money between payroll and benefits, so how are you tracking the return on your human capital investment?  How about compliance with local and federal laws, regulations, etc?  What’s your plan for profitable growth?  Etc.?

Risk management, like hunting, requires a lot of preparation and planning to be successful.  You can have the best program in the world to protect yourself from Hazard Risks, but if you ignore the other two areas you’re setting yourself up for failure.  What’s more likely to happen – your building burning down or losing a key employee to a competitor?  A catastrophic liability claim or losing market share because your products or services have become obsolete?  What would these things do to your business?  You buy an insurance policy to protect yourself from the building and liability, but what have you done to protect yourself from the others?

The entire process is called Enterprise Risk Management.  Chances are if your business isn’t large enough to hire an employee to do this, you may be ignoring some of these key areas.  You pay a lot for your insurance.  If your broker is truly a risk management professional, shouldn’t he/she be helping you with the process?

No one goes into business to fail.  Perhaps it’s time to do some scouting yourself!

Andy Bertram CPCU, ARM-E
Risk Advisor
620 Main St
Red Wing, MN 55066
Phone: 651-800-6173
Fax: 651-388-8443

www.cobrown.com