Over more than 25 years of operating a specialty environmental insurance wholesale operation, I have observed one common denominator among successful insurance professionals: they are continually looking for new opportunities.

Every business is impacted by environmental exposures. But fewer than 15% of licensed insurance professionals are actively selling environmental insurance products—and that’s a huge opportunity.

Environmental Risk Managers, a national insurance wholesaler, conducts research and educates businesses on environmental efficiency and risk management in conjunction with environmental Strategist® (eS). They developed a strategy specifically designed to help independent insurance agents coach a variety of business professionals on the value you can add to their business model.

Throughout this process, business professionals such as attorneys and accountants bring you insurance sales opportunities to make sure they are better protecting their professional liability exposure, while also executing environmental best practices with their clients.

The TEAM SPORT Strategy

Everyone knows referral business is an excellent source for new business. An insurance professional can either ask for referral business, or they can produce organic referral business while assisting business professionals in their business models. It’s a win-win strategy that’s much more reliable—producing referral business creates a higher success rate than asking, while simultaneously positioning you as a trusted advisor and strategic partner.

The environmental industry is constantly changing the way businesses operate, creating opportunity for business professionals of all kinds. The complexities of addressing environmental issues means no client has a one-stop shop where they can find every answer. Successfully addressing environmental exposures depends on the TEAM a business professional surrounds themselves with.

That’s where the TEAM SPORT strategy comes in: Together Everyone Accomplishes More because Strategic Partners Optimize Resources and Time. 

Spot Your TEAM Members

To determine your roster of TEAM members, consider the professionals a typical business calls on when they find out they have an environmental problem. Keep in mind: Most businesses are environmentally reactive, meaning they manage an environmental problem only after it occurs.

Most likely, the first call will be to their attorney, followed by their insurance agent to check whether they have any coverage.

Since the environmentally reactive business is unknowingly self-insuring their environmental liabilities, they need financial resources to correct the problem and pay legal fees, which means they need to involve their financial institution. However, when they find out they have a client with an environmental problem, most financial institutions call all obligations due and sever the relationship. The business must then involve their accountant to accurately express their financial position.

If the business owns, buys, sells or manages property, they will also need access to an environmentally knowledgeable realtor. Environmental services providers, such as environmental engineers, remediation contractors and waste haulers, round out your typical TEAM.

As the environmental strategist, you are the leader of the TEAM. Each time you develop a TEAM to assist a client, other TEAM members will ask you for assistance:

• Insurance agent
• Attorney
• Financial institution
• Accountant
• Realtor
• Environmental services providers

To learn more about TEAMing with attorneys to drive environmental sales, keep an eye on IAmagazine.com and upcoming editions of the Markets Pulse e-newsletter.

Chris Bunbury is president of eS and Environmental Risk Managers.