My 11:30 appointment didn’t show (till I checked the calendar…) it was for this Friday at 11:30….My 1:30 did show..but she spent the afternoon downstairs….I left early …the CPAP didn’t seem to do it’s job the night before…stopped and got another bad haircut…and

As I walked through the door, my cell rang…. It was “Idea Guy”….”what’s up with the Patent Infringement Liability for my client?”…. I was at a short loss…I knew what he was talking about..and had made some inquiries on is behalf…. as did “Motivated Gal”..but none of our standard carriers wanted anything to do with this coverage… I was surprised at Travelers and Chubb said no…but clearly this is an Excess & Surplus Lines issue…that means you have to go to a non admitted carrier who charges more and provides less coverage….

I “suggested” to “Idea” that since it was his account it was his responsibility to follow through for his client for whom he is paid a commission……this was apparently like slapping him in the face…for what ensued what a increasingly heated debate over the way “I used to do things back at MY agency”, vs what we do at THIS agency….back and forth with “The staff is new”..to.. “It’s your job to train them”….to “that ain’t gonna happen”…which was erroneous because the staff is weekly involved in one form of training or another..so I seized upon one of our great differences of opinion about sending our staff to the CIC and CISR curriculum..a rather expensive but first class training alternative…(a far less expensive alternative than me doing it)…..

As the discussion got hotter and hotter…(I was the one getting hot)…something happened… We probably both realized we wouldn’t get anywhere with the direction we were headed…and a calm settled in…..”I’m not trying to change the agency..Grouchy”…. and “well then, lets find a way to “improve” the agency”….this then ended one of the rarer disputes we have had for quite some time…I hung up..

Then I called RA Schneider and asked if they would send a policy form and an application for Patent Infringement..Cindy was very fast..and game me a one minute tutelage on the coverage…..The email came within minutes and I forwarded all to “Idea Guy” and his trusty assistant “Motivated Gal”….then a phone call of thanks….

All was good…..after all that… a simple phone call to an E&S Broker….but I’m left wondering..still….without intent to re light the flame of contentiousness…if it were my account, and I would simply have made the call myself…..and then trained my CSA.??? none of this would’ve happened.

We can get better…..but we have to lead….not push….that means knowing ourselves what we expect our staff to know….we can and will improve and largely because of “Idea Guy’s” Ideas…..