Business management tips – risk insurance
9 myth-busters on personal insurance in Australia
You hear it almost every night on TV. Buy insurance direct and avoid the unwanted medicals. Well here is the other side of the story – some business management tips, and tips for all individuals considering insurance. When you purchase personal risk insurance through a licensed adviser, you will have a product recommended to you that suits your needs. You will also have someone to explain the fine print to you, and to arrange everything for you.
So here is what really happens when you seek advice from an insurance adviser in Australia:
- Very few people are required to have a full medical for insurance purposes
- Most policies are accepted on the strength of your medical disclosure in the application and the report from your regular doctor (you agree to that in the initial application)
- You do not have to go to a doctor and pay for medical testing to get insurance
- If an insurance company wants you to undergo any medical test, they pay for it. Because it is an expense to them, they try to keep all medical testing to a minimum
- Occasionally a blood test or other test is required. If so, a registered nurse or other qualified professional from a specialist insurance medical testing service will arrange to see you at home or at work at a time convenient to you. It takes 5 minutes.
- Most insurers have a tele-underwriting service where an underwriter will talk to you about your medical history over the phone in about 20 minutes. You don’t spend hours filling in forms.
- If you apply for insurance that is personally underwritten, you will get a very competitive price because the insurer knows exactly the risk you represent to them. You will also know up front what you are covered for and not covered for.
- Underwriting at application stage generally means that unless you fail to disclose information or you tell a lie, you are certain to be paid at claim time. If you are not underwritten when you first apply, you may have the insurer asking these same questions when you make a claim.
- Insurance medical testing saves lives. Many people have had their lives saved by finding out through an insurance requested blood test that they have a serious medical condition
Yes it is true that you will pay a fee to an adviser or the adviser will receive upfront and ongoing commission from the insurer. It depends on the adviser however, every professional is entitled to be paid for what they do. However, you will not necessarily save that cost by going direct, and you certainly won’t receive unbiased advice.
Personal risk insurance is must for business owners. One final comment in this week’s business management tips:
“Ownership of an insurance policy is a crucial issue. In the event of a claim, the money needs to be paid to where the protection is needed. That could be to you the owner or your family; or to the business (company or trust) if your business equity or a key person in your business is the subject of insurance protection.”
Make your superannuation commission free!!
Why pay an adviser you never see?
It can be a very costly mistake to assume what customers want. The smart strategy is to first find out what the needs are and then to set about finding a solution to satisfy it. It is easy to fall into the trap of being a ‘supply pusher’, where you peddle what you have available to sell instead of responding to what customers actually want.
Understanding your customer is paramount and technology is beginning to play a bigger part in this throughout the retail sector. For business owners looking for business management tips to improve customer targeting skills, and the bolster the bottom line, it is worth taking a look at the uses of IP cameras.