Travis Gensler

Archive for the ‘Business’ Category

As a business owner, do you know if your employees understand the true value of the benefits that you provide to them?

Chances are they do not understand the true value of the total package.

When I am sitting down with someone who has either lost or quit their job for what ever reason, the biggest coment I hear when looking at the cost of health insurance is:

I only paid $150 per month at my old job, why is it $600 per month now when I am getting it on my own?

There are some that do understand that their employers pay half, if not most of their health benefits, but most of them do not.  This is where the education factor comes in and why we use an employee benefits statement.

Using an employee benefits statement not only shows how much their compensation is, but it can also show how much their total compensation package is for working at your business.  You know that what you pay them every week or month is not the total cost and by your employees knowing what their total benefits package is makes them appreciate you and their job that much more.

By using a statement like the one above, your employees now feel more valued because they understand it’s not just the $23,000 that they take home, they actually are being compensated almost $31,000.

Now wouldn’t you feel more appreciated at a job that pays you almost $31,000 as apposed to a job that only pays you $23,000?  You are already paying them that, let us help you communicate that to them for free.

One of the biggest questions I get when reviewing someone’s insurance program is:

Why is my dwelling coverage so much? I didn’t even pay that much for my house.

When I evaluate your protection program, to be honest, I really don’t care how much you paid for your house.  I mean I do, but I don’t, because if your house was damaged my goal is to make sure there is enough coverage for you to rebuild it the way it was before it was damaged.  Your homeowners policy should have the proper coverages and be updated at least every other year because building cost change.

The easiest way I can explain it is if you think about how close the fire department is.  Now lets say your house catches on fire, what are the odds that the fire department won’t get there in time to put the fire out?  Whats going to happen?  Most of the time, they are going to be able to put the fire out, but that is just the damage from the fire.  If you have ever been around a fire, you will probably notice that the smoke causes just as much damage, not to mention the water damage from the fire hoses.

It is a simple fact that the cheapest way to build something is from scratch, however if you are unlucky enough to experience a fire in your house or business, it will cost you much much more to cover the clean up of the smoke and water damage than the actual fire itself.

So if you happen to experience a situation like this, there is a really good chance that the clean up and fix it costs could run higher than what you paid for your house.

This is just one type of situation that could cause your repair bills to exceed the price you paid for your house, and there are many others.  So the message of the story, is to make sure you review your coverages with an educated professional that can explain what is going on.

Each company uses a slightly different evaluation method, so get an idea from a few different companies and make sure you are covered to your actual replacement cost.

Just to help clear up some of the confusion, back in May I made the decision to terminate my contract with prior insurance company.   During the first few days of May, I turned in my 90 day notice that I after that timeframe I would no longer sell their insurance.  On May 5th, just a few days later they accepted my request and terminated my contract that day.

To my prior farmers clients, I am sorry that I did not get a chance to let you know that I would no longer be able to serve your Farmers policies.  It was my choice, I did not get fired!

Why did I go independent?

For the past year or so, I started feeling stuck.  There were many clients that I wanted to work with, but with the limited products and options that I had available to me through Farmers, the coverage was either too expensive, or I could not even provide the options that my clients were needing.  These were people that I personally wante to work with, but couldn’t because of my situation.   Therefore I made a decision to terminate my contract and find an opportunity where I could decide who I wanted to work with not who the company wanted.

At that time, I left and went fully independent, which is what my health and medicare supplement clients had benefited from.  I had many companies to choose from and finally got away from the “stick everyone in this same box” mode.

Needless to say, it has been much easier to find a solution that works for my clients with the options I have available to me now.  I now have over 100 life insurance companies to find a solution from, over 20 auto and or home companies, around 10 health insurance companies, over 20 medicare supplement companies and around 20 companies who provide commercial insurance.

I am happy to say that I am back to being an advisor and not a salesman.  I can now find a solution!