COVERAGEDECREASES

Documentation is the key

This mantra is always true in the E&O world, but it bears extra attention when a client decides to decrease or go without coverage. Agents should document EVERY communication with the policyholder in these situations. Emails should be easy – just drop them into your Agency Management System. Other channels may take a little more work, but they can be equally important. If a client texts you that they’re considering going without coverage, be sure to export it to a format that can be saved in your AMS. If you hear about it on a phone call or talking in-person, make a record of the conversation in an activity in your AMS, or –even better send the client a follow-up email wherein you recap the conversation as you understood it, and document the follow-up email in your AMS.

Any E&O defense lawyer will tell you: documentation is THE best thing for their defense case in any lawsuit. For a perspective on how

Continued from page 14 important it is, consider Swiss RE –IIABL's exclusive E&O market for members. Any Swiss RE policyholder that has sufficient documentation in their AMS come claim time, gets their deductible instantly cut in half. The carrier is willing to reduce your retention by HALF just for documenting the file.

Coverage recommendations

Another challenge for agents in this market is recommending appropriate coverage. Like any good agent, you want your client to be fully covered in the event of a claim, but the realities of this absurdly hard market can make that impractical. In some cases, the policyholder can’t afford their renewal. In other cases, you may be completely unable to find a company willing to write the full limits because capacity is so limited in certain areas. In either case, how do you square the desire to secure full coverage for the policyholder against the realities you’re facing?