Absolutely Deadly…
There are a lot of things that can hurt your business. Too much debt, excessive expenses, bad hires, and poor planning are a few that leap to mind. I’ll bet you can easily add to that list!
But there is one thing that is guaranteed to kill your business—flying in the face of reality. Yep, if you continue to accept the burden of too much debt, indulge in excessive spending, perpetually excuse lack of performance in your staff or simply “live with” ineffective planning, these things—and more—will kill your chances of success.
Put another way, if all you do is aggressively hope for things to get better, if you don’t take assertive action at the ripe moment, your business days are numbered.
I find it very useful to take the temperature of every key function of our business on a regular basis. When a fever begins to rise, it is time to act.
In fact, there’s a fever I need to starve right now.
You see, a sound insurance program requires a good spread of risk arising from relatively homogeneous exposures. In the case of our home insurance program, that translates to insuring homes of similar types across the diverse geography of the state. While we have done a good job of that, I do see areas where we insure homes with higher-than-average exposure to natural hazards, in the general vicinity of nearby moderate-hazard homes. This raises the risk profile of our program to the detriment of all insured homes. It is time to act.
Two groups of policies will not be renewed when they expire in 2022.
- Homes located within five miles of coastal waters
- Homes located in areas with a history of extreme hail events
Together these groups account for about 13% of our total policies in force. Their removal from the book of business will lower the book’s overall risk profile, strengthen its financial results and reduce the chance of adverse experience arising from the notorious Texas weather.
The individual risks affected by this action are in the following 9 counties:
- Collin, Dallas, Denton, Tarrant, Wise
- Potter, Randall
- Harris, Orange
Every agency with 12 or more affected policies will be contacted individually with details of the non-renewal process.
We are taking action to reduce the threat posed by rising hazard levels. Thanks for understanding the imperative to act, not to fly in the face of reality associated with this turn of events.
We greatly appreciate your partnership. Be well and stay safe.
Dave Lacefield shares lessons learned in 40+ years working in the business world. His struggles and successes as a stockbroker, insurance agent, actuary, president of a Texas MGA, and CEO of a publicly-traded insurance company have informed him on a wide range of issues and circumstances confronting business leaders, and leaders-to-be. Dave’s views are his own and do not represent the positions of his employer or any affiliated entities.
