One of the best videos on the interwebz is below.  The simple lesson is be yourself and be about the idea.  Thanks to Lisa Duncan from Dogwood Arts Festival for the video.

June 24, 2011 is take your pet to work day and John Bailey Company has decided to participate this year.  To promote this fun idea we have decided to share with you our pets:

Buddy, “A Prince among dogs - a sentiment I believe anyone who has ever met him would agree with.  I like to think of him as a German Shephard with a bad haircut.” (Anne Bilbrey - Commercial Lines Dept).

A Prince Among Dogs

Prudence aka the Prudog - 7 months.  “She likes chasing sticks, riding in the back of my truck, and drinking spilled Miller Lite.”  (Joe Morelock - Commercial Lines Dept)

This is Prudence, aka the Prudog

Maggie, “Trusted and true, always vigilant and yet great with the kids, she’s never met a person she didn’t like, or anyone she wouldn’t beg from.” (Craig Runger - Commercial Lines Dept)

Guard Dog Maggie

Angel thinks she is Garfield….lazy!  “She is about 15 years old.” (Felicia Caldwell - Home and Auto Insurance Dept)

Angel thinks she is Garfield…lazy!!!!!

Felicia’s Dog - Winston, he is a good little dog.  We rescued him at 4 years old a month after my other dog had passed away; so in a way he rescued me!  Winston is now 16, blind and can not hear, but still has some pep in his step!

This is Winston, he is a good little dog.

McKenzie is 7 1/2 years old and she has changed my life in such a great way…I never knew I could love a pet so much.  She knows my routine better than I do. (Missy - Home and Auto Insurance Dept)

McKenzie has changed my life

Murphy, our daughter’s best friend and partner in crime.  (Brandon Clarke and Lauren Clarke).

Is my name "Down" or "No?"

photo credit: Verino77

I have been reviewing the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey.  After reading a few chapters I stumbled upon something that intrigued me and I simply wonder what our clients and friends of our blog think about family mission statements.

I really think a family mission statement is a little bit too much; I mean it’s kind of silly to think about your family in this way….But then I considered my own mission statement for life…and realized how much a family mission statement can bring your loved ones together and how this idea can bring about success within your family.  The journey can be tough if don’t know where you are going and it’s important to have the right people on the bus, including your insurance agent.

Read Stephen Covey’s blog post and consider the following:

1. Does your current plan for insurance protection include a comprehensive family insurance plan?
2. What do you want coverage for? Do you even know anything about insurance… do you want an independent insurance agent to help you plan, or a big box franchise insurance company, maybe you want a web based company?  Which option meets your family’s needs and mission?
3. Have you quoted higher auto liability limits…for example in lieu of $300,000 liability limits; we recently quoted a couple at $500,000.  The extra cost was only $15 a year.
4. Have you really thought about your assets and how much liability coverage you need?  Do you have enough? Did you know that an extra umbrella limit of $1 million usually only cost $100 to $200 a year.
5. Have you thought about your deductible limits?  What if you raised or lowered your home and auto deductible.  Where is the most bang for your buck?  Some people assume a $1,000 deductible is saving them a ton of money..have you really looked?
6. Do you want to cover jewelry, wedding rings, family heirlooms, watches, silverware, firearms, pieces of art, or antiques, etc..?  Do you have these things covered?  Does your current policy include this stuff?
7. Do you work from your home; do you have business coverage while at home?
8. Do you want identity theft coverage, which will cover repair of your family’s costs and time to fix their credit history?
9. What about Flood or Earthquake policies?  Did you know homeowner’s policies do not cover those natural disasters?
10. Do you or your spouse have life insurance? Have you thought about cost saving ways to insure your children?

These are just a few examples of what we do, but they are also a look into the makeup of how you and your family live life.  They capture the true meaning of a family mission statement.  Where does your compass point, what are you prepared for, is your family prepared to bounce back from possible loss?  Your insurance agent is a large part of who you are.  At the end of the day, your insurance agency relationship should give you peace of mind.  We are in a strange industry full of negative connotations and hard sells.  The reality is……this industry is full of people who want you to succeed. We encourage you to review your family mission statement and ask questions, then find insurance solutions to help you accomplish your goals.

Slay it!

I recently had a conversation with a Knoxville, TN father who called our independent insurance agency.  He was interested in  commercial insurance for his lemonade stand.  At first, I was taken back a little…and then I discovered the brilliance of his vision.  The Lemonade stand is the truest form of entrepreneurship and the best model to teach your children how to learn business.  As I discussed with him his vision to teach his sons, I decided to help out.  Below is a break down of our discussion..hitting just a few of the insurance high points…or should we say interesting examples:

photo credit: rachaelvoorhees

1. Liability Coverage – This coverage is designed for property or bodily injury resulting from the lemonade stand’s negligence.  So…trip and falls, or a lemon gets thrown out onto Gay Street by an employee; Lil’ Bobby comes rolling down the street on his skateboard hits the lemon and busts his face open on the pavement. Which also breaks his skateboard..
2. Product Liability – Lemons tend to rot in the hot sun…
3. Property Coverage – Building coverage for physical damage to the stand/office that you lease or own. They also would need coverage for the business contents of their stand:  ice maker, blenders, cash register, and let’s not forget lemons..
4. Business Income Insurance – What if the stand burns to the ground?  Well the lemonade stand may lose some money from sales of lemonade.  This coverage would help them replace revenue lost and pay expenses until the building was replaced, or another solution was found.
5. Hired and Non-Owned – Suzy an employee is 16 she drives her Honda accord to the local farmers market to pick up lemons. She is in a car accident, this coverage offers auto liability coverage for the lemonade stand business; since Suzy was on the clock.
6. Spoilage including Equipment Breakdown – If the food spoils as a result of the breakdown of equipment…
7. Worker’s Compensation – What if an employee cuts a finger? Or lemons blind him for life?
8. Employee Practices Liability (EPLI) – For these times: Wrongful Termination, Age Discrimination, Sexual Harassment….
9. Data Breach Insurance – These guys were going big, they were saving up to purchase a credit card machine…PCI Compliance will be right around the corner, but all they had right now was carbon paper and the old slide for credit cards.  What happens if someone steals those receipts?
10. Employee Dishonesty/Theft – It happens everyday, coverage is cheap.

Slay it!

Every now and then I crash, both mentally and physically.  This last week led me into an energy crisis.  My family and I had plans to get out of town and explore…I had plans of a 3 day weekend renewal. 

It is inspiring how life sends you in different directions and how family can center you again.  Escaping to the mountains of NC, we hiked, played in a waterfall, ate cookies, ran up mountains, cooked out, spoke to strangers, asked questions, listened, laughed, and we played, we had fun…and honestly I think fun has been missing from life recently…I just hadn’t taken the time to be.  Escaping from the riff raff nonsense, (the stuff that does make sense, until you are away from it), I had many renewal moments, but the one that really needs to be shared is when I met Marcus Thomas:

Marcus loves outdoors and recreation, according to his website he wanted to be an activities director for a reputable resort.  One day he fell and slid head first into the base of a tree, breaking his neck at the fourth cervical vertebrae. The crushed spinal cord left him completely paralyzed from the shoulders down. After one year of recovery and a determined pursuit for a fulfilling life, he discovered the art of painting.

 His picture is below:

Give his website a view, you will not believe his art and love of the outdoors.  This man gets life, he wants to know your name, he wants to know your wife’s name, your child’s name, he wants to know where you are from…why you are here, he wants you to meet his dog, his wife, he wants to invite you to ask questions. He is calm, patient, enthusiastic, charming, centered.  I enjoyed meeting him, he sparked renewal in my life and for that I am grateful.

photo credit: Care_SMC

After the seventh phone call Missy was about to give up. It was evident that

Mrs. C was suffering from memory loss and the phone calls kept coming.

Missy LeQuire, head of personal lines and a twenty year employee, had

called that morning in January to let our customer know that her homeowner

policy would cancel the next day. She knew that Mrs. C was a long time

customer, but not until she looked back in file that day did she realize that

she was 99 years old and had been a customer for over 30 years.

We had no contact information about other relations. Missy knew

that if the policy cancelled it would difficult for a ninety nine year old

to obtain a homeowners policy. Missy made the decision

to pay the $250.00 on line and worry about the payment later.

After much discussion with our insured Missy went out to the

insured’s home and collected the premium. Since January she

has returned to collect two additional premiums.

Forward four months to April and the massive hail storm that

hit Knoxville. Mrs. C called and said that someone had told her

she might have hail damage. The claim was turned in to Hartford

Insurance Company. With the thousands of claims that the companies were

handling we were concerned that this claim would be put aside after their

contact with the insured.

Several days later Hartford claim adjustor Pat Farster called the office and

said that she had been in touch with Mrs. C. She felt that under the

circumstances that it would be best that Hartford handle this claim

differently. So Hartford has hired a contractor and will replace the roof

without the insured having to be bothered with the contracting process.

Thank you Pat for evaluating the situation and making the professional

call.

This is who we are: An Independent Insurance Agency locally own

and operated by local professionals for 65 years who have a stake and love

of our community and people. It is not always about the Money.

GREAT JOB MIS AND PAT

Hail from 04/27/2011 Tornado and Hail Storm

As storm one ripped through Knoxville, TN my family and I braced for what sounded like a freight train coming through our house.  We were fortunate enough to be one of those with power and thanks to Todd Howell at wbir and the good ol’ Doppler readings we were able to target and plan to take cover if needed.  The real time Doppler forecast predicted the golf ball hail immediately and the skies opened up to produce a blanket of hail at least an inch deep on our deck.  My 3 year old daughter startled, scared, and curious said to my wife and me “Is that the tomato?”  Laughing, I reached down to hug her and say no its ice falling from the sky and everything is fine.  With power still in tact, the storm passed….and I became aware of what tomorrow would hold.  Through the entire night from 5:30 till 2 am I had facebook and twitter open; when I returned to my laptop; I decided it was time to assess the damage.  As I read the tweets and constant flourish of updates, I realized the social media component would serve as my tool to help John Bailey Company clients and others to get started with their claims and help answer questions.  So I started at 8:38 pm during the storms.

Within a few minutes I had folks messaging, texting, calling, tweeting, and emailing me.  Watching the Doppler I felt comfortable starting the claims process for them.  In what seemed to be the second wave of hail, we again took cover as round 2 of hail and heavy tornadoes began.  This time it was stronger and to be honest I was concerned a tornado would approach. We took cover in the closet with my wife, my daughter, a laptop, and 2 cell phones with Twitter/Facebook Apps, and the TV as loud as possible.  My wife was worried that we would lose power and not know what was going on…then I remembered through AT&T Uverse we had a battery pack that would keep our laptop power and internet signal if power was lost.  Within minutes, the TV turned off, the lights went out and we lost power.  From there we reviewed WBIR and WVLT online, as well as facebook, and twitter on our phones.  Getting updates by the second, the noise became worse as the hail pounded and shook the roof.  As the storm passed, we became worried as our cell phones would not pick up a signal and would not dial out….but don’t forget we had facebook and twitter.  Using those social media tools, we were able to check on loved ones by checking their updates.  Again I started to collect claim info and work into the night using AMS360, a Vertafore insurance agency management system.  Ten minutes later power was restored and the storm seemed to calm.  From there moving forward the 3^rd hail/tornado storm lost its steam..at least in my neighborhood and I continued to work into the night monitoring, noting, and preparing for the home, auto, and commercial insurance claims process the next day.

Because of the social media component our agency was able to service our clients, getting a few of them in early the next morning to have windshield repairs to cars that would otherwise have owners who would be without transportation.  It also allowed for us to find out which homes needed immediate cleanup and restoration; as well as organize the claims process early and be ready to run a smooth ship in the morning.  One of my facebook post asked if power and Comcast internet was running smooth at our office location.  It was confirmed within 1 minute that it was working, and that was a big help because if it had not, then we may need a few laptops and internet access..maybe a satellite office.  That night we had 11 car claims, and I think around 8 to 9 home claims.  The next morning, we started answering the phones at 7:30 and had 150 claims turned in by noon.  I lost track after that but currently we have around 500 claims.

The social community in Knoxville, TN excites me, because they are just so helpful.  I received a text from a friend, who had a colleague with several inches of flood damage. I decided to post on facebook asking if a friend could borrow a generator to pump water out of a basement.  Two local businesses Misty River Campground and Event Rentals by Rothchild offered to help, but we were a few minutes late; as they had found a solution.  You could say that this time social media failed, but the reality was the size of the generators and manpower/truck needed to move the machines hindered our success. If only I had a truck…

In the days that followed, I had a few people contact me via direct message on twitter, one of these people was a friend of mine that needed some advice on how to handle an adjustor visit.  Twitter also allowed me to retweet information about our insurance companies, possible roofers and dent repair folks located in the Knoxville area, and other insurance pointers.

I was so impressed with the use of Twitter by @TRV_Insurance @TheHartford these guys helped my agency with a few issues and efficiencies in the claims process….as I had questions about the most efficient way to submit different types of catastrophic claims. I also received a phone call from one Hartford’s Southeastern Head Catastrophic managers.  She said they were monitoring twitter and asked if we needed anything.  With all of this information at our fingertips, and real time contact to our clients…there was no way I was shutting down facebook and twitter; I left it on all day.  The constant source of up to date information and communication was extremely beneficial to our agency.

The independent insurance agency model really came together with all of the new social media components.  Furthermore, we had companies coming in our office and checking in to see how they could help.  Safeco offered to bring us lunch and even bring some people to answer phones.  State Auto Insurance Company and Central Insurance Companies were in our office that morning and Auto Owners called to ask us how our families were and what they could do to help.

Our agency focuses on clients who want to succeed, we want to help our client achieve their goals;  social media is our new tool, and I think we truly understand it now.  As claims continue to come in, it is apparent to our agency that personal communication with your insurance agent is the number one reason to select an independent insurance agency.  These days personal communication seems to represent different things.  It’s not about just phone calls anymore; it’s about accessibility, being helpful, and being yourself…

Slay it!

Email me:  brandon@johnbaileyco.com