R&b bkifg spring14

BENSON KEARLEY IFG

SPRING 2014

Russ Mallard

Easier Said Than Done Gary Belding

Preparing Your Business Plan Verne Harnish/Andy Buyting

Maximizing Your Return on Luck Michael McQuaid

Human Capital Risk Management Heather-Anne MacLean

Business Impacts of Anti-Spam Law Feature:

What is a Customer Service Revolution?

John DiJulius

WWW.BKIFG.COM

CONTENTS Human Capital Risk Management - Michael McQuaid

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Branding with Distinction - Gair Maxwell

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Preparing your Business Plan - Gary Belding

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Interview for Success - Andy Buyting

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What is a Customer Service Revolution?

– John DiJulius

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Easier Said Than Done – Russ Mallard

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Maximizing your Return on Luck - Verne Harnish & Andy Buyting

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Flooded 22 - Luke Cain What Canada’s New Anti-Spam Law Means to Small Business 24 – Heather-Anne MacLean Blowing Away the Fog Surrounding Whether Cloud Computing is Right for Your Business - Douglas W. Grosfield

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Use Soft Credit Insurance Market to Reduce Bad Debt Costs 29 - Tom Leonard

17705 Leslie St., Suite 101 Newmarket, ON L3Y 3E3 Ph: 905-898-3815 www.bensonkearleyifg.com Benson Kearley IFG Risk & Business Magazine is published by Carle Publishing Inc. All content, copyright © 2014, Carle Publishing Inc.All rights reserved.

This publication may not be reproduced, all or in part, without written consent from the publisher. Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of all content in this publication, however, the publisher nor Benson Kearley IFG will be held responsible for omissions or errors.

Please address all editorial and advertising inquiries to Carle Publishing Inc., 60 Shayla Court, Fredericton, NB, E3G 0N3, Canada. Carle Publishing Inc. is not held responsible for the loss, damage or any other injury to unsolicited material (including but not limited to manuscripts, artwork, photographs and advertisements). Unsolicited material must be included with a self-addressed, overnight-delivery return envelope, postage prepaid.

BENSON KEARLEY IFG

RISK& BUSINESS MAGAZINE

Carle Publishing Inc.

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PHOTOGRAPHY Graphic Design and Layout Provided By: Carle Publishing Inc. Fredericton, NB

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Andy Buyting Carle Publishing Inc. Carle Publishing Inc. John Christenson Stacey Cowperthwaite Michael McQuaid Gair Maxwell Gary Belding Andy Buyting John DiJulius Russ Mallard Verne Harnish Luke Cain Heather-Anne MacLean Andy Buyting (National) Courtney Kearley (Local) All images sourced from Carle Publishing Inc. or thinkstockphotos.ca unless otherwise identified.

WELCOME TO RISK & BUSINESS W

elcome to our third edition of Risk & Business, a magazine with an array of interesting articles and insights we know you will find relevant.

Unlike most of our competitors, we act as a trusted business advisor by offering additional resources to support the commercial operations of our clients. As you peruse the pages of this edition I am confident you will benefit from its contents; articles about issues facing today’s business owner. In this issue: Risk Management for credit losses, and improving operational efficiencies through cloud technology.

At Benson Kearley IFG Insurance Brokers we offer more than traditional cost-effective insurance solutions. That’s expected. By providing our clients with risk education beyond insurance, we can truly make a unique contribution to their bottom line. This publication is purposely not an insurance magazine. Content is carefully selected to

be informative, innovative, and emerging on business challenges. Risk in insurance terms, is the possibility of a loss. Risk in business terms, is the possibility also for gain.

Success in business requires the acceptance of risk and making informed decisions to manage it, which sustains profitability.

We remain committed to risk education, providing valuable insights on emerging trends through regular print and electronic communication to our clients. I invite you to take advantage of our complimentary educational seminars hosted twice yearly, with relevant presentations by risk experts. Our next seminar is scheduled for May 2014; please contact our office to reserve your spot.

Please read on and continue to take informed business risks, and enjoy your success!

I welcome your feedback at skearley@bkifg.com.

Steve Kearley, President

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WHAT’S HAPPENING AT BENSON KEARLEY IFG! Don’t miss out on our quarterly ebullition or upcoming seminar, for more details please contact Courtney Kearley at ckearley@bkifg.com.

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tudents Making an Impact offers five $2,000 scholarships to students making a positive difference in their community.

The scholarship was created to reward and support students who show great initiative, or start a business while still in high school. Last year’s recipients of the award ran their own companies, created new positions at Southlake Regional Health Centre and raised thousands of dollars for charities around the world. For more information on our scholarship program visit www.studentsmakinganimpact.com

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his year we took our Home For Holidays contest to the Upper Canada Mall in Newmarket to film video submissions for the annual contest.

Every year we reunite a family during the Christmas holidays by covering the travel costs to bring them together. Our 2013 winner, Paola Villenaur, moved to Canada seven years ago from the Philippines, and will be reunited her Aunt who raised Paola after her parents passed away. Aunt, Uncle, and Cousin will travel from the Philippines to Canada for the first time. For more information on our past winning families, or to enter our 2014 contest please visit www.homeforholidays.ca

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n November 15th 2013 Benson Kearley IFG teamed up with Intact Insurance to play in the annual Hockey Helps the Homeless hockey tournament. The tournament gives men and women the opportunity to play hockey with former NHL players, all while raising money for the homeless. If you are interested in playing in upcoming tournaments alongside some of your heroes growing up visit www.hockeyhelpsthehomeless.com

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Human Capital Risk Management

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hat do executives think about when they consider their human capital? Hopefully they “look both ways before crossing the street”.

Inevitably a discussion around human capital management can move in several directions, depending on the perspective adopted. Considering its inherent nature, human capital represents an organization’s largest investment. Employees engage the organization on many levels: customers, fellow employees, potential employees, trading partners, regulators, investors, and the public.

Human capital engagement can either enhance or detract from these relationships. But to approach human capital as either an asset or liability is tantamount to crossing the street looking only one way, and the likelihood of successfully making it across is severely reduced. Our parents’ sage advice still holds true, “Look both ways!”

Managing your human capital as an asset and improving your ROI through Top Grading is more exciting; it ties directly into corporate strategy, research & development, exemplary customer service, market share and profitability goals. It is inextricably linked to any corporate Key Performance Indicators. However, to ignore the financial and legal liabilities of the employer/employee relationship can be more costly and undermine the Top Grading investment.

These direct and indirect costs are typically unfunded, may damage employer brand (reputation), negatively impacts productivity and the bottom line. These consequences should be enough to turn an executive’s head.

In a 2013 Private Company Risk Survey conducted

by Chubb Insurance Company of Canada, 61% of respondents are concerned about a lawsuit for wrongful dismal, discrimination, sexual or workplace harassment or retaliation. Total costs ranged form $ 20,000 to $ 500,000 with an average of $ 122,000. Costs include discovery, defense expenses,

Michael McQuaid

fines and judgment or settlement costs.

There has also been a proliferation of legislative reforms with respect to employee safety and workplace violence, discrimination and disabilities that have elevated the standard of care to which employers must adhere.

The attendant regulatory compliance creates another administrative burden however, and the lack of workplace protocols can be detrimental to the defense of an employment practices allegation.

A proactive approach to managing these liabilities includes exploring Employment Practices Liability Insurance to fund defense costs and damages including costs for the frivolous fraudulent or groundless allegations. An alarming statistic emerging from the Chubb survey is that 42% of respondents believe their Commercial General Liability policy covers these exposures. In reality this policy is not designed to cover these liabilities.

Another source of financial liability arising out of human capital is employee theft or dishonesty. 39% of executives are concerned about employee theft of corporate or customer assets. Factors working against effective management of employee crime can be identified as: 1) Smaller companies lack the anti fraud controls of larger companies and are limited to scrutinizing inventory records and rumours; employee access to sensitive information via computers makes computer fraud a real “inside” cyber vulnerability.

2) Lax attitude, “it won’t happen to me”.

The proactive responses would be a heightened sense of vulnerabilities, tightening anti fraud controls and bolstering Crime insurance coverage. Most property policies offer packaged Employee Dishonesty limits under their Crime section that are automatic small limit extensions, with no bearing to the potential risk at hand and the various forms of employee dishonesty, including computer fraud.

A balanced executive approach necessitates a side to side, panoramic view of human capital, to maximize opportunity and minimize “blind siding” liabilities. “Looking both ways before crossing the street” is a proven way to safely navigate to one’s destination.

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Branding With Distinction Some people use Dells, HP’s and Acers, but other people are Apple.

Have you ever wondered why?

And how a similar approach to branding could be applied to your own business?

Think about it this way.

Dell, Acer, Samsung, HP, Toshiba and others represent “badges of ownership” in the product category known as personal computers.

“Badges of ownership” are common, ‘same old-same old’ products or services. They are by definition, interchangeable.

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alk in on a person working on a Dell, and offer to replace it with a Toshiba, Acer, HP or any other number of models. Assuming their files are transferred and technical specs are comparable; the other person would at least be open to the idea of trading their machine even-up. However, the same cannot be said if you attempted this experiment on an Apple user. Try offering to swap a Dell, Acer or HP for a Mac and prepare to be subjected to varying degrees of insult and potential bodily harm!

“Badges of ownership” exist in every product or service category and are nothing more than interchangeable commodities. However, Apple serves as a great example of a “brand of distinction” that commands a level of emotional attachment transcending price, products and the purchase itself. Look around and you will notice the same emotionally-charged dynamic surfaces in a wide range of other “brands of distinction”’ from luxury brands such as Rolex, Louis Vuitton and Ferrari, to otherwise ordinary products and services like Dove soap, Jack Daniels whiskey, Starbucks coffee, Tilley hats, Nike footwear and Dos Equis beer. A wide range of similarities surface when comparing extremely different ‘brands of distinction’ from a Harvard degree to yoga wear from LuLu Lemon; from a Harley-Davidson chopper to IKEA home furnishings; from American Girl to Zappos and 1-800-GOT-JUNK?.

Like Apple and other “brands of distinctions”, the NFL’s Pittsburgh Steelers command an unusually high level of loyalty, respect and profitability, due in no small part to having an unusual grasp of understanding “who” they are and the market they serve. While rival teams throw big money at pricey, showboating free-agents, the Steelers build quietly through the draft, refusing to go “Hollywood”. People in Pittsburgh aren’t flashy, don’t want to be flashy and don’t particularly like players who are flashy. As a result, you don’t see many Steelers in the tabloids or dating starlets or supermodels. The Steelers don’t employ cheerleaders and unlike any other team in professional sports have only employed three head coaches since 1969. By rejecting the cult of personality (which may help sell more souvenirs), the Steelers create a culture of success, where they believe it really counts.

Pittsburgh has won more Super Bowl titles than any other team.

By knowing “who they are” in terms of core identity, purpose

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Gair Maxwell, Co-founder, The Seamless Brand and how they measure success, Apple and the Pittsburgh Steelers are great examples of how a “brand of distinction” can serve as a guide to decision-making. This becomes so ingrained in leading organizations that they consciously ask themselves, “How will this decision impact upon the brand?” or “Are we on-brand?”

According to Shelly Lazarus, chairman of Ogilvy & Mather: “Once you understand what the brand is all about, it gives direction to the whole enterprise. You know what products you’re supposed to make and not make. You know how you’re supposed to answer your telephone. You know how you’re going to package things. It gives a set of principles to an entire enterprise.”

Co-founder of The Seamless Brand™, a marketing firm that transforms companies by sharpening their message and anchoring their story, Gair Maxwell is a sought after speaker as he facilitates branding workshops to the ‘best of the best’ in Canadian business. His highly-acclaimed book, NUTS, BOLTS AND A FEW LOOSE SCREWS provides the framework for his keynotes and seminars.

Vegas is selling “sin” not tourism; Mont Blanc sells “prestige” not pens; Harley-Davidson sells “rebellion” not motorcycles; Rolex sells “achievement” not watches; Dove sells “self-esteem” not soap; 1-800-GOT JUNK? sells “clean & hip, not trash removal . In other words, they know what the customer is really buying and how it connects to what they already believe.

In other words, you can’t just “copy and paste” the Apple or Steelers story and culture and pretend it’s your own. The brutal truth is that “brands of distinction” have something mere marketing can’t project or emulate; a brand built on a foundation of truth that exists deep inside the company DNA; a reason for existing beyond profit.

A “reason for existing” translates into a crusade or story where the brand either plays or supports the role of protagonist or hero.

The best examples are rooted in fundamental human truths; Virgin believes ordinary people are often abused by big, faceless corporations and becomes a modern-day Robin Hood with irreverent pokes at the “establishment”. Apple believes the power of individuality should always triumph and people should be free to create what they want. Disney believes we should hold on to our childhood imagination and just be kids for a day. The Steelers believe you should take your hard hat to work and focus on fundamentals like running the football and playing great defence.

The best brands in the world transcend their actual product or service and create an emotional bond by knowing at the deepest level why they exist in the first place.

Starbucks sells the spirit of community through a “third place” between work and home; Pike’s Place Fish Market in Seattle is selling “whistle while you work”, not fish. Las

A “brand of distinction” is not something you buy off the shelf. It’s what you know and feel deep in your bones in terms of who you already are, why your business exists (beyond the making of money) and who you are determined to become for the whole world to see. A “brand of distinction” resonates with audiences because its “story” comes from a very real place. Dig into your own history, rediscover why your company was created in the first place, find out its reason for being and determine the greater purpose it serves. Introspection, patience and getting honest feedback will be essential to discover an Apple-worthy branding gem of your own.

What is the one thing you want your company to be known for?

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Preparing your Business Plan

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business plan is often misunderstood and prepared only when seeking financing when in fact, the business plan is a working document and a management tool and should be updated periodically. The business plan can be valuable in succession planning. In many situations, when exploring new financing which is time sensitive, the business plan is prepared in haste and mistakes are made resulting in delays and negative results.

The plan needs to be flexible and address the key elements of the business and does not have to be a lengthy document. The length and complexity of the plan is relative to the size of the business. The plan for a small business can be addressed in less than 10 pages and accompanied by attachments. Schedules or appendices could include historical financial statements, financial projections, cash flow statements, a marketing plan (optional), photographs, graphs, illustrations, tables, and a SWOT Analysis. (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) The plan needs to be kept current and updated as the business expands or even changes direction.

When the business plan is used in the pursuit of financing, the plan should provide a table of contents allowing the readers and users, including lenders and investors, to go directly to the information needed to make a decision. It shouldn’t be a surprise that many readers seldom read the entire business plan cover to cover. Readers may simply skim through the plan hitting the highlights and if you capture their attention may read in more detail. The plan should include a Title Page, Table of Contents, Executive Summary, Business Description, Management, Products and Services, Operations and Production, Marketing Strategy, and Financial Information.

A few of the key categories of the business plan are set out below: Executive Summary: Remember, this is a summary and is one of the most important elements. You will need to attract the attention of its readers immediately. The Executive Summary should be no more than 1-2 pages in length and provide information to answer basic questions to its readers, “why am I reading this” and “what do you want”. Avoid a detailed history lesson. When seeking financing, be clear and precise, an example is the Source and Application of Funds:

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Source: Application: Bank term financing $ 50,000 Purchase of Equipment Equity Investment 100,000 Marketing / Promotion Government Support 50,000 Hiring - Marketing Manager

$ 50,000 75,000 75,000

Total

$200,000

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$200,000

Total

Gary Belding, Belding Business Financing Solutions

The summary needs to address where you have been and where are you going. If the business is overcoming past challenges and possibly poor management decisions, you need to focus on a “go forward plan� and how you have addressed past decisions, what you have learned, and how the plan will address any of these issues from re-occurring.

Some of these topics can also be covered in the Business Description.

Management: The Management of the existing business is important, resumes can be included in the appendices. A brief description of the management can include their working title, experience and strengths, years with the business, key responsibilities, and ownership interests. The human resource component is becoming more relevant in recent years along with ongoing training and professional development to keep current in their respective responsibilities.

Business Description: The Business Description will outline the nature of the business, brief company history, the project or new direction the business is pursuing, products and services, company ownership, location and facilities, an organization chart, (depending on the size may be best included in the appendices) and plant layout, if applicable. This section may outline if the assets are owned, financed, or leased.

Marketing Strategy: The Marketing Strategy needs to address your market presence. It is important that you determine the customer/ client acquisition cost. How much does it cost to acquire and maintain a customer/ client? You will need to identify your competitive position in the market place, size of the market locally and beyond, how to maintain and obtain new market share, and identify the competition.

You may have a unique competitive advantage however, someone is always filling the void. Your competition may have an inferior product or service but you need to identify how you are different.

Gary Belding has worked in both the public and private sectors for in excess of 39 years and understands the world of financing. Gary has the experience and knowledge and is able to navigate through the financial landscape and now operates his own business, Belding Business Financing Solutions, Your Solution for Access to Capital, www.beldingsolutions. com

Financial Information: This is an extremely important element of the business plan. It needs to contain historical financial data along with forecasts. Summary excerpts from the actual financial statements will be sufficient. This section is of interest to lenders and investors who wish to determine the return on investment and debt servicing abilities of the existing business and proposed plan. You may wish to show historical statements compared to financial projections. The detail can be contained in the appendices.

The pro forma cash flow can also be included in the appendices. Three years historical data and three years financial projections are deemed acceptable along with a detailed cash flow by month for the next 12 to 24 months (each year shown separately). It is imperative that the statements correspond to each other so a prudent lender or investor can follow a trend and everything is balanced.

Close attention to detail is necessary when preparing the financial information.

Summary: Other information can be contained as appendices in the business plan such as letters of interest, testimonials, contracts, purchase agreements, cost quotations, references, etc. You may prepare the plan yourself or work with an advisor/consultant but it is your plan and you need to take complete ownership.

The business plan is your company road map

Plan your Work and Work Your Plan

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Interview for Success Not all interviews are created equal. It’s a common challenge;

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aybe your organization is expanding, perhaps you find yourself suddenly short staffed, however here you are, as the hiring manager you’re responsible for hiring a new employee. And unlike your last hire, this time they better be good!

If this dilemma sounds too familiar, you’re not alone. Hiring right is one of the most significant success factors in any organization. However it continues to be one of the most difficult competencies to master on a consistent basis inside most companies.

Countless studies have been done regarding the success rate of “good hires” versus “bad hires”. In one study, conducted by hiring experts Brad Smart and Geoff Smart, on average the success rate of companies hiring or promoting an employee into a new position is less than 25%. So how is the average operator expected to beat those odds? One way is by using a systemized hiring process.

In the early 1990’s, Jack Welch, CEO of General Electric (later named “Manager of the Century” in 1999 by Fortune Magazine), realized that a key determinant of corporate success was going to be in their ability to attract, hire and develop top talent. To infuse the changes needed, he retained the services of human resource expert Brad Smart.

Smart worked closely with GE for 5 years developing and instilling an employee recruiting and management process that was pivotal in transforming GE into one of the most successful talent magnets and leadership development organizations in the world.

Following his five years with GE, Brad Smart collaborated with his son Geoff Smart and the two of them co-authored a book titled; Topgrading – How to Hire, Coach and Keep A Players. This book instantly became the bible of hiring and developing top performers inside of companies across North America, and the world.

Topgrading is defined as; “The practice of creating the highest quality workforce by ensuring that talent acquisition and talent management processes focus on identifying, hiring, promoting, and retaining high performers, A Players, in the organization at every salary level.”

Within the pages of Topgrading, the authors go into great detail about their interview technique that is unlike many interview processes commonly used and taught by so-called “hiring experts”. Instead of using behavioral type questioning, Topgrading takes you through a Chronological In Depth Structured Interview process (C.I.D.S. Interview for short).

With a C.I.D.S. Interview the hiring manager takes the candidate through a series of questions focusing on their professional work history, chronologically from the beginning to the present. It starts with their schooling, and then goes through each job that they’ve held until their most recent.

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Andy Buyting is the developer of the Hiring Right Recruiting System. Andy works with organizations of all sizes to develop and successfully implement customized recruiting processes as well as coach managers on all types of HR issues. Learn more at www.AndyBuyting.com

Andy Buyting, Carle Ventures

So what types of questions do you ask, and why? Here is a series of questions you could walk through with the candidate for each job: 1. Details; Company, dates of employment, type of business ,etc. You want to have feel for the business, the size, etc.

10. What was your supervisor’s name and title?

Confirm the spelling of their name with the candidate. a

2. What were you hired to do? Did your responsibilities change while working there? What were you doing when you left? These help to establish what they started doing and what their path was while there.

Advancements and more responsibilities indicate that they are performers.

3. How many subordinates did you have? How many did you hire? How many did you consider to be A-Players?

You want to get a sense of their management experience and success in building teams.

4. What was your beginning and ending wage / compensation package? Again, look for advancements.

A-Players will move up in almost any company, which also means higher pay for higher performance.

5. What were your achievements in terms of successes and accomplishments? Get specifics, such as individual versus shared accomplishments, barriers overcome, bonus, promote-ability, performance review.

6. We all make mistakes – what were your mistakes on this job? If you could wind the clock back, what would you change? Again, get specifics. Find out what their biggest blunders might have been and how they fixed them.

7. What were the high points of the job? Look for achievements, challenges, accomplishments, working on a team, etc.

8. What were the low points of the job? Look for being passed up for promotions, personality conflicts, boss being too demanding, etc.

9. What was the reason you left/are thinking of leaving that job? Always probe for other reasons. Was/Is it their decision or the decision of their supervisor?

Now, we’ll jump into one of the more powerful tools in the C.I.D.S. Interview; the T.O.R.C. Technique. T.O.R.C. stands for Threat Of Reference Check. By setting these questions up right, it’s amazing the information you will glean from the candidate, information you can then later use during your actual reference checks in order to make a better decision.

11. Where is that person now? May I contact him/her? Get permission to contact the reference – also shows you are going to make that call.

12. What is/was it like working for him/her? What were his/her strengths? Did they inspire the person to be better?

13. What were his/her shortcomings from your point of view? Watch out for boss haters.

14. When I talk with <supervisor’s name>, what is your best guess as to what he/she honestly felt/feels were/ are your strengths? Dig for details.

15. When I talk with <supervisor’s name>, what is your best guess as to what he/she honestly felt/feels were/ are your weaker points or areas to work on? Don’t settle for fluff answers. Dig for details.

16. What is your best guess as to where <supervisor’s name> will rate your overall performance on a scale of 1-10? Again, information that you will reference against during the reference check itself.

By properly setting up that last line of questioning you will gain great insight into the candidate’s actual performance at previous jobs. Once they know that you will be making reference calls with their former supervisors, and that you will be asking them the same questions, they will most often be more truthful than not. The T.O.R.C. Technique is the best way to gain truthful feedback from the candidate.

Then with that information in hand, it will make your reference checks much more productive – but that’s for another article.

The typical C.I.D.S. Interview can take between 2-3 hours to properly complete. It is not a quick process. However it can be a huge time saver in the long run. All too often, hiring managers are too quick to hire, and then have to deal with managing a B or C Performer, which can easily consume 3 hours in a day.

Hiring the right people can make or break a company. So the next time you’re getting ready to hire a new employee, remember that you’re making a significant (quite often critical) decision for your organization, and quite often a life-changing decision for the person you’re going to hire.

The least you can do is spend at least 2-3 hours getting to really know the person before making that decision.

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What is a Customer Service Revolution?

“When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all your thoughts break their bonds; your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction, and you find yourself in a new, great and wonderful world.

Dormant faculties and talents become alive, and you discover yourself to be a greater person by far than you ever dreamed yourself to be.”

--Patanjali

The Great Recession From 2008-2010, the U.S. experienced some of the worst economic times in our lives. The housing bubble burst, the stock market plummeted, we saw the demise of financial institutions, foreclosures, and job loss and bankruptcy were rampant. What became known as the great recession ultimately affected the entire world economy. While much of it was devastating, some good came out of these troubling economic times. Believe it or not, there were many companies who survived significantly better than their competition and businesses in general, and as a result they emerged better and stronger than before. How? Because in any economy - especially a down economy -customer loyalty is your strongest asset! It took the recession to shine a spotlight on these thriving companies and what they had in common: a fanatical obsession on the customer experience.

Customer service became hip, and more and more smart leaders and management teams started focusing on improving the experiences their companies delivered. As a result, over the past several years, customer service satisfaction overall has improved. A revolution started, a Customer Service Revolution, and it has gained incredible momentum. It is not only changing the way businesses operate, but it is also having a profound ripple affect in numerous other areas.

What a Customer Service Revolution really is The DiJulius Group is a customer service-consulting firm. TDG’s purpose is - To Change the world by creating a Customer service revolution. We are so proud of the fact that hundreds of organizations all over the world have adopted this as a key part of their strategy of how they want to build their business and distance themselves from the competition. However, for it to be truly successful, for it not to be just another mantra, annual theme, platitude, or flavor of the month, it is critical you understand what creating a Customer service revolution really means.

A radical overthrow of conventional business mentality designed to transform what employees and Customers experience. This shift produces a culture that permeates into people’s personal lives, at home and in the community, which in turn provides the business with higher sales, morale and brand loyalty - making price irrelevant.

Let’s break that definition down to its core: A radical overthrow of conventional business mentality – This is an approach or mindset to business unlike what anyone has ever thought about previously.

It’s radical and unconventional. This unique concept consumes them, energizes them, and ultimately inspires them to create breakthrough companies, products and services.

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John DiJulius, The DiJulius Group

designed to transform what customers experience – Revolutionary companies create “experience epiphanies” that fill a gap customers didn’t know they had. WorldClass customer service companies creating enduring relationships and personal connections. and employees experience. – Experience it forward. What employees experience, customers will. The best marketing is happy, engaged employees. Your customers will never be any happier than your employees.

This shift produces a culture that permeates into people’s personal lives, at home and in the community – Genuine hospitality is not something you do, it is something that is in you. It is something in all areas of your life -- to your customers, employees, family, and neighbors.

Service is the rent we pay for the privilege of living on this earth. It is the very purpose

John DiJulius - known as The authority on World-Class Customer Experience. He is a best selling author and works with companies like The Ritz-Carlton, Starbucks, Pwc, Nestle, Norstrom, Chick-fil-A, and many more.

John can be reached at john@thedijuliusgroup.com

20% tomorrow and you won’t lose a customer. What it does mean is that, based on the experience your business consistently provides to your customers, a significantly less amount of customers will not be price shopping you. Every one of us is price sensitive to some degree. Typically, with the majority of companies where we do business, we know how much they charge versus how much we can get the same thing for somewhere else. However, all of us have a few businesses we are loyal to because of something that they repeatedly do for us or give us, or some way make us feel, that we have no idea what their competitors charge, nor do we care. Where do you compete, in the price wars or experience wars?

Think about the companies that literally revolutionized their industries: companies like Zappos, Amazon, Starbucks, West Jet Airlines, and Apple. Each line of that quote applies to their radical approach to trashing the traditional industry mold and re-writing history.

of life, and not something you do in your spare time. which in turns provides the business with higher sales, morale, and brand loyalty - The only businesses surviving with longterm sustainability are the ones fanatical about differentiating themselves through the customer experience they deliver.

I invite you to join the revolution!

thus making price irrelevant - Based on the experience your customers consistently receive, they have no idea what your competition charges.

Making Price Irrelevant I love this phrase, especially because it sparks conversation and debate. Is it possible to actually make price irrelevant? Absolutely! What it does not mean is that you can double your prices or even raise them RISK & BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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Easier Said Than Done!

Russ Mallard, Mallard & Associates Ltd.

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sk questions, then listen! It may be the best sales advice ever, but it is so much easier said than done.

For generations, sales reps have been taught to find things in common with their prospective customers, get appointments, know product features and benefits inside and out, do presentations, handle prospect objections during the presentation, not to forget to ask for the order and not to take no for an answer.

Common complaint prospects have about sales reps? “They don’t listen; they talk too much; they are only interested in making a sale and getting paid” or; perhaps most bothersome of all… “sales people don’t care about anyone but themselves”. No wonder prospects are so wary of sales people!

Here are 5 important points sales reps should keep in mind when working with their prospects. We call them Sandler Rules™!

1) A prospect who is listening is no prospect at all. If, as a sales rep, you are doing most of the talking, how are you supposed to learn about what the prospects’ needs are? Have a plan to let the prospect do 70% of the talking and then at the end of the sales call, estimate how you did with your plan.

Chances are, if you kept to your plan, you know a great deal about the prospects needs and concerns. You have most likely either found reasons to do business or have discovered that the prospect would not be a suitable customer. Either outcome is a good one.

2) Learn all you can about your products or service, just don’t tell! The more you know about your products or service, the better the quality of questions you can ask your prospects. Take time in advance to write down the problems your product features and benefits solve from the customers that currently buy from you. Form questions to determine if your prospect has any of the same problems as your customers and if they do, make note of all the reasons you find to do business. You can select the strongest reasons later in your presentation, if you determine that your prospect also has a sufficient budget to fix their problem(s).

3) If you feel it, say it – gently! If you are uncomfortable during a sales call, there is a pretty good chance, the prospect is uncomfortable as well.

Surprise your prospects with honesty, something they don’t always expect from a sales person. For example, if a prospect is not genuinely engaged during your appointment, why not let him or her know that you feel badly that you may have made them uncomfortable talking about a particular subject and offer to talk about a different issue? In my experience, chances are pretty high that the prospect will offer an apology to you for making you uncomfortable as well and may even provide insight into why he or she are uncomfortable, often getting the meeting past the roadblocks.

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Russ Mallard is an award winning trainer, the president of Mallard & Associates Ltd., and is the authorized licensee for Sandler Training. Sandler Training is a global leader in sales and management training and development. To contact the Sandler Training Center nearest you, please visit www.sandler.com

4) Selling is not the place to get your needs met. As a sales rep, you may have a lot to win or lose depending on the outcome of your sales calls. That’s too much pressure to bring to a sales call and put on a prospect.

Remember that sales is about meeting the needs of the customer. Sales is a high rejection business. The brutal truth is that prospects really don’t care about you at all until they feel that you can take care of their needs. You need to be secure in your own skin or you may try too hard to make your prospects like you and end up being just another typical sales person. In the end, shouldn’t it be more important that they buy from you rather than if they like you? Keep the focus on the prospect!

5) Go for the no! If you are going to get a “No”, wouldn’t you prefer it sooner than later on a sales call? It will save both you and your prospect time. Typical sales people try their best to pressure their prospects into saying “Yes”. Do the unexpected and keep a healthy skepticism about whether or not the prospect will really be a good fit or not for you. Get and give permission early in the meeting to say “No” if either party feels that there may not be a good fit. Also take away potential prospect fears by telling them what “Yes” means, should they want to move ahead. Make it as easy as possible for your prospects to tell you No or Yes. Either answer sure beats another unclear “ I’ll think about it” - wouldn’t you agree?

Good Selling!

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Maximizing Your Return on Luck: The Key Strategic Insight

Verne Harnish and Andy Buyting

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unkering down in year-end strategic planning sessions, you and your team are probably thinking hard about what’s next for the economy and how that will affect your business.

Slow down. You should really be laser focused on maximizing what Jim Collins, in his book Great by Choice, calls your “return on luck” – what I consider one of the most important business concepts ever articulated.

As Collins points out, great companies don’t have better luck than other companies. Sometimes, they get a bum deal. After all, they’re subject to the same economic forces as any other companies competing within the same regions.

But what differentiates the great companies is their attention to maximizing their return on luck. They look for opportunities in whatever hand they’ve been dealt—and then find ways to grow from the situation exponentially.

This point often comes into my mind when I am talking with growth-company CEOs. The standouts among them—the folks I consider the next Steve Jobs or Michael Dell—don’t view their companies as victims of economic uncertainty or market forces. No matter what the economy does, they will find opportunity in it.

They think like one of my mentors, who made a fortune in commercial real estate. He invested in an empty, commercial high-rise in Houston during the depths of a severe recession—and turned it into a thriving storage facility at a time when no one could find ways to rent out commercial properties in that market. That smart move enabled him to ride out the recession and, once it was over, make a bundle when he sold the building.

Rapid changes in the global economy can shake up your company’s current situation at any time, so we all need to be prepared to maximize our return on whatever lucky, and unlucky, breaks we face. Once you and your entire leadership team start consciously thinking about doing so, every day, you will be surprised by how much power you can unleash by simply asking this question.

Your strategic planning sessions are an ideal place to do this. When you’re thinking about your goals for your organization, it’s important to take a look back at your luck over the recent past. Ask yourself and your team: Where did we maximize our return on luck? And where did we fail to do this? This will give you some ideas on what to continue doing – and lead you to untapped opportunities to act upon.

Then look at the situations you’re facing currently. Where are you experiencing good luck—and bad luck? How can you make the most of your current fate, and turn the situation to your advantage? By incorporating your ideas into your plans for the year, you will find it easier to execute them rapidly.

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But strategy sessions will only get you so far.

Execution is key when it comes to maximizing your return on luck, as I’ve seen time and time again with fast-growth companies. You’ve got to be ready to act on your ideas for maximizing your luck all the time, or you will miss out on valuable opportunities.

To execute your ideas successfully, however, you need to create the right environment. I came across some great ideas for doing so in a recent post by Sardek Love, president and founder of Infinity Consulting and Training Solutions, on his Think2Success Now! Blog.

Love, also a fan of Great by Choice, suggests building a “luck network.”

By bringing more successful people into your professional network—perhaps by taking a leadership role in an industry organization or through social media—you can add to the pool of opportunities available to you, he explains.

Perhaps Love’s most valuable piece of advice is to create a “luck investment account.” Often, it takes capital to invest in new ideas. If you don’t have any cash on hand, you’ll miss out, which ties to one of the other findings in Great by Choice – the winners had multitudes more cash reserves than the comparable companies – and thus had enough staying power to weather the bad luck and capitalize on the good luck.

Verne is founder and CEO of Gazelles, a global executive education and coaching company, Verne has spent the past 30 years educating entrepreneurial teams. He’s the author of Mastering the Rockefeller Habits which is endorsed by over 100 CEOs of mid-size companies and is published in ten languages.

companies on the brink of failure because they did not have proper cash reserves to manage properly through such devastating circumstances.

Other companies thrive because they develop the discipline within the organization to store cash that enables them to manage through periods of bad luck, and take advantage of opportunities when good luck comes. He has seen this strategy pay dividends when one company he works with successfully acquired three former competitors following the 2008 / 2009 recession.

They had the discipline and cash reserves to jump on opportunities and successfully grow their trades business by over 200% in four years, now employing over 200 people.

The time to start tucking money into your account, of course, is long before you find yourself with a great idea to pursue. Once you get in the mindset of maximizing your return on luck—whether it’s good luck or bad luck—you’ll be surprised by how quickly you can grow your company.

This “luck investment account” is a strategy that Andy Buyting pushes hard with all his clients. The question is always asked, “What happens if one or two of your top customers cancel their contracts with you? Can your company survive that kind of bad luck?” He has seen

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FLOODED? Here’s What You Need to Know How to protect yourself and your property Water damage can happen at any time in any place so it’s important to familiarize yourself with the area which you live. If you live in a flood-prone area, contact your municipality for a flood plain map (if available) and flood reduction tips. Review your current home insurance policy and speak with your insurance representative about any questions you have.

Luke Cain

Key Facts A 2004 Pollara survey conducted for IBC found that nearly two-thirds of Canadians (61%) mistakenly believe that their home insurance provides coverage for overland flooding.

Water damage to cars is usually covered if comprehensive or all-perils car insurance coverage has been purchased. This coverage isn’t mandatory so check your policy.

Many Canadians think they’re insured against all types of water damage. The truth of the matter is that home insurance in Canada does NOT cover storm surges and overland flooding (overflowing rivers or lakes).

Why isn’t overland flooding covered?

The purpose of insurance is to spread risk among many policyholders. But the overland flooding is a risk for only the small percentage of the population who live in flood plains or flood-prone areas. Since most homeowners aren’t exposed to this risk, they cannot be expected to share in the cost. This means the price of flood coverage would be very high for the small number of people who might need it.

What’s Covered?

There are some types of water damage, not resulting from wear and tear and lack of regular maintenance, that are typically covered by home insurance policies including: • Indoor plumbing, heating, sprinkler or air conditioning systems.

Water damage caused by indoor plumbing, heating or air conditioning emergencies is usually covered, though the cost of repairing the original problem is not.

• Indoor or outdoor domestic appliances on your property.

Water damage caused by the malfunction of appliances such as washing machines, dishwashers or water beds is usually covered, although the cost to repair the appliance that caused the problem usually is not covered.

• A broken water main This covers the escape of water from a public water main whether it occurs in or outside your home.

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• Wind and hail.

This includes damage to your home’s exterior, excluding antennas and satellite dishes and damage to your home’s interior due to water entering through openings caused by wind or hail.

What’s NOT covered?

Insurance is meant to cover damage that is sudden and accidental. The following events are either not covered or are covered in limited circumstances: • Damage arising from the freezing of indoor plumbing.

If you’re away from your home for more than four consecutive days during the normal heating season, you must drain the plumbing or have your home checked daily by a competent person to ensure that heat is maintained. If freezing-related damage were to occur despite these precautions it will be covered under most policies.

• Damage arising from freezing outside the home This includes melting or moving snow and ice, and heaving frost. Additional coverage for damage caused by roof ice damming may be available for purchase.

• Leaking roof.

If your home suffers water damage due to a leaky roof, the damage to the roof itself is not covered as this is usually deemed to be a home maintenance issue.

Sewer backup coverage may be available for purchase as an add-on to your existing home insurance policy but as with any optional coverage, it is subject to the underwriting guidelines set out by individual insurers.

Also, speak to your insurance representative regarding the specifics of your policy. If you have a swimming pool or hot tub, ask about options to insure it.

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What Canada’s New Anti Spam Law Means For Small Business

Heather-Anne MacLean, TaylorMade Solutions

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o you email your customers?

Thinking about setting up an email campaign for your customers? Now is the time to learn about the new Canadian Anti Spam Law that comes into effect this July (2014) in Canada, and yes this applies to companies based in the United States.

This new law is expected to have the most severe penalties for violators. The maximum penalty for an individual that sends out spam is $10,000 and $1,000,000 for an organization.

Here is a synopsis of what you need to know: 1. Existing Email Lists If you have an existing relationship, it is expected that you will have a very clear process for opting out if the recipient decides that he or she no longer wishes to receive email.

Implications: If you do not have a very clear (and easy) process for customers, you are at risk for violating the anti spam law.

AND very importantly the email MUST be relevant to the recipient’s role and/or duties.

Implications: This is an important nuance that marketers must be aware of.

2. Buying New Email Lists While this new law does not prohibit the buying new email lists, it is very clear that all parties must adhere to the existing Canadian Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA). Additionally, the same rules apply for having express consent and also having a clear opt-out process.

Implications: There will be an extra level of due diligence required for companies both selling and buying lists. The question you need to ask yourself in order to protect you and your organization is: Will you be able to determine if Canadians are included in the lists?

3. Text Messages and “Cellphone” Spam Think you can still text or reach out by cellphone? Think again. The same conditions for email apply to these marketing/communications tools as well as other social channels.

With email marketing making a resurgence of sorts, this new legislation will make it far more difficult for companies to employ new marketing tactics to reach customers and even more difficult to reach prospects. With 2014 really being the year of mobile (in my opinion), this will definitely throw a wrench into the mix. Businesses are going to have to come up with new ways to get the coveted attention of the audience.

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Implications: Your text messages now need to have an opt-out option AND you need express consent. From a personal standpoint I can relate to this. Organizations texting me and I never signed up to receive texts. This will be an interesting scenario for travellers to the US. How will phone companies be handling sending text messages to Canadians when we have not expressly consented? What will happen as a result of unwanted text messages?

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Heather-Anne MacLean is the founder and CMO of TaylorMade Solutions (www.taylormadecanada.com), an Inbound Marketing and Management Consulting organization that helps management teams obtain measurable results. You can connect with Heather @MacLeanHeather on Twitter.

4. When exactly does this new law come into effect?

While the key provisions will be effective July 1, 2014, the full effects will not be in place for 36 months. In fact, small business and not-for-profits are being given this grace period to accommodate the changes that this means for them. Realizing that they might have the technology and/ or resources of larger and for-profit organizations, the government is providing more time to these organizations to make the change.

Recommended Reading Nuts, Bolts and a Few Loose Screws

by Gair Maxwell

NUTS, BOLTS AND A FEW LOOSE SCREWS allows readers to recognize recurring patterns of greatness, but does so in a way that allows one’s imagination to determine how, when and why they might be applied.

Drawing from a wide range of disciplines — from advertising and airlines to rock bands and real estate – these principles can be leveraged in many aspects of our business and personal lives.

Using powerful and personal, real-life stories, Maxwell weaves together 33 essays (plus two bonus chapters!) designed to share insight into human and organizational behavior.

To make a reader think. And dream. http://gairmaxwell.com/the-book/

Secret Service

HIdden Systems that Deliver Unforgettable Customer Service

by John DiJulius John DiJulius’ masterpiece Secret Service embodies a methodology used by only the top organizations in the world. Did you ever wonder how The Ritz-Carlton delivers consistently on their service? Find out what some are calling “the bible of Customer service.” http://www. thedijuliusgroup.com/shop/ item/secret-service/7/ RISK & BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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Blowing Away the Fog Surrounding W. Grosfield Whether Cloud Computing Douglas President & CEO, is Right for Your Business Xylotek Solutions Inc. Just like its namesake, Cloud looks solid from afar, all soft and fluffy. Up close however, the vapour is difficult to grasp, much less see clearly. I’ve seen many differing articles and opinion pieces on the technology called Cloud Computing over the last few years, and it’s no surprise that clarity still escapes Canadian businesses.

Cloud Computing can be defined as using a network of servers and storage, located on the Internet, to house and run your applications and data, rather than doing so on your own premises with your own IT infrastructure.

If you think Cloud Computing is a new concept, think again. Consider how long ago many of us used an aol. com or yahoo.com email address! Email and backups hosted on the Internet have been around for a very long time. In recent years the concepts behind delivering those technologies as a service are being extended to include almost any conceivable IT need!

Some of the many benefits to adopting Cloud Computing to any degree would include: • Changing IT expenditures to operating expenses rather than capital expenditures • Significant cost savings from eliminating the need to invest in the physical infrastructure, software licensing, or the costs of housing and operating the IT environment • Performance levels of applications could far exceed what you could afford internally, as it runs on an infrastructure designed to run hundreds or thousands of times the workload Unfortunately, in the tech world, “ease” for the consumer almost always means higher cost to support and maintain.

Complexities on the back-end are immense in order to configure, implement and maintain the massive infrastructure a Cloud provider requires. Guess who pays for that? That’s right-the consumer. Do your homework, or work with an organization that can help you to fully understand the total cost of “ownership” as it applies to Cloud versus more traditional in-house methods.

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Interest in Cloud Computing has been increasing among Canadian businesses, but many have been slow to adopt due to uncertainties. Here in The Great North, a recent study undertaken by CA Technologies shows that the US Patriot Act is among the top concerns for Canadian businesses reluctant to adopt Cloud Computing. The fear is that due to heightened security throughout the US, if we allow our data to reside in hosting facilities or data centres in the US, government/officials could adversely affect our businesses by seizing or locking out our access to our data as part of an investigation or reaction to a serious event there.

While this concern has merit, it is typically overstated.

The advent of solely Canadian owned and based Cloud Service Providers is helping to allay those concerns. The very best protection you can have is technology that encrypts your data before it even gets to the Cloud. This allows you to remain in control of how, and how well, your data is protected via encryption, and if it was to end up in someone else’s hands for any reason, it would therefore appear as gibberish. Security becomes even more critical when you consider that hackers/attackers are starting to move to the cloud to take advantage of the scalability that is possible.

The Cloud is rapidly approaching! Understand the technology and associated risks and work with your IT advisors to determine if/when/how your business can benefit from adoption.

Douglas W. Grosfield is President & CEO of Xylotek Solutions Inc., a full service IT solutions provider serving clients’ needs throughout North America for hardware, software and professional services. Xylotek helps clients to augment their internal IT department to be more effective and efficient, reduce their IT spend as well as outsource all of their IT requirements from helpdesk to CIO and everything in between. Winning awards such as Best Tech Workplace (1st place in Canada), and 3rd overall in North America, placing in 2008 and 2009 on the Profit HOT50 Emerging Growth Companies lists, the 2011, 2012 and 2013 Profit 200 and Profit 500 Canada’s Fastest Growing Companies list, and the 2011 and 2012 North American Service Providers Fast Growth 100 list, as well as being a 2011, 2012 and 2013 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year nominee, Xylotek continues to achieve recognition as a trailblazer providing best-in-class offerings to its diverse client base.

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Use Soft Credit Insurance Market to Leonard, Reduce Bad Debt Costs Tom Indemnis Trade Risk Management After coming out of the worst recession since the Great Depression, credit insurers have shifted their focus from risk mitigation to top line growth. Credit insurer results are closely tied to the ups and downs of the economy. With improved risk management and the decline in bankruptcies over the past couple years, loss ratios have improved. Most credit insurers in Canada and the USA now have the flexibility to reduce rates in an effort to grow and to retain existing clients. New North American market entrants such as Equinox (a Lloyd’s Syndicate) are bringing new capacity and putting further pressure on rates.

Europe’s slow economic recovery remains fragile. The European bank’s weak balance sheets are restricting the bank’s ability and willingness to lend new funds needed to facilitate economic growth.

New rules released by the Basel committee on January 12th weaken the original capital requirements.

Credit insurance is a very specialized market with only 8 underwriters in Canada. Indemnis, with over 45 years of specialist credit insurance experience, works on behalf of the policyholder to ensure the client achieves the absolute lowest pricing for the coverage and structure required. At no cost to the client (underwriters pay commissions to the broker as a normal course of business), your credit insurance program is marketed to all underwriters through a single application. If coverage is not available in Canada, USA and London markets are accessed.

Protect One of the Largest Assets Trade receivables are one of the largest assets on the balance sheet. Often the customer credit risk is unknown because most customers are privately-held companies that share minimal, if any, financial information. Customers grow over time and companies end up with large credit exposure based on the receivable payment experience only. This can be a problem when larger company bankruptcy filings are orchestrated well in advance and receivables are typically current at the time of filing. To mitigate this risk, many companies are putting in place tax deductible credit insurance programs at a cost less than their historic bad debt write-offs. The risk transfer benefits are material: more accurately forecast bad debt costs removing variability; cap bad debts avoiding any material one-time loss from a large customer default or deterioration of a specific foreign market or industry segment; and eliminate the credit and political risk uncertainty of credit sales to higher risk foreign markets.

Ancillary Benefits of a Credit Insurance Solution The process to consider credit insurance will not only provide valuable feedback from third party professionals on the quality of a company’s receivables, but also identify how credit insurance will support some other company strategies: • Improve bank financing. Increase margining on receivables and in some cases reduce interest rates. Lenders continue to take a conservative approach providing funding. Credit insurance enhances the quality of the bank’s primary security and gives them the comfort to increase advance rates to as much as 90% of

qualifying receivables. It also mitigates the lender’s concern with customer concentration risk. This is especially of benefit for export receivables where banks often provide little or no margining of foreign receivables.

• Increase revenue in even the most difficult markets with the confidence of getting paid. Letters of credit are an inefficient and expensive means of trading that tie up the operating line of the foreign client. Offering open terms to foreign clients can be a competitive advantage or necessity that can contribute to increased revenues. As well holding down coverage, on a new customer or where limited customer financial information is available, could result in lost sales. A credit insurance program can help you expand these credit lines.

• Leverage the expertise of a credit insurer which can lead to a higher quality customer portfolio and lower overall credit losses.

Most underwriters have on-the-ground credit risk underwriting in every major country in the world. This includes the information, systems, people and sophisticated risk management tools of the underwriter to manage and mitigate risk.

• Reduce the bad debt allowance to bring this reduction back into income and allocate this reserve more productively. Selfinsurance is an inefficient means to prepare for potential bad debt losses relative to the well capitalized credit insurers that can better spread the credit risk of many clients. Most companies do not have sufficient reserves to deal with the default of one of their largest customers.

Consider all of the options to mitigate customer credit risk There is minimal effort to consider credit insurance. It is as simple as a 2-page application and a short discussion to understand the other potential strategic benefits of using credit insurance. At no cost to the client, the client will have a clear understanding as to how credit insurance can support their business.

For non-users of credit insurance: • Identify and quantify the major credit and political risks of your customers, • Outline the alternative approaches available to you to mitigate these risks and • Quantify the strategic benefits of the alternate credit protection solutions.

For credit insurance users: • Market your program to reduce costs and improve structure, • Resolve your buyer coverage shortfalls, • Audit your program to identify any structural deficiencies or uncovered risks, • Work closely with clients throughout the year to secure the coverage required and • Coordinate and consults with clients with respect to claim filings and policy compliance.

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