Five weeks ago, our agency received a call from a long-timeclient ordering loss runs–a firm's three- or five-year losshistory. When a client orders a report, it usually meansthey're looking at other providers.

After 15 years with our agency, I don't blamethem. Checking the market is prudent for every business owner,and the client had been approached by a specialist in theirspecific class of business.

When I met with the firm's executive director a coupleof weeks later to touch base and review our coverage, Iasked him who they were looking at for the comparison. Henamed another agency I knew quite well. They wereheadquartered in Indianapolis, very polished, they wear suits, andtheir office is in the high-rent district.

I decided to ask a couple of questions–such as how theywere going to compare coverage. ”We're getting anapples-to-apples quote,” he said.

“So how are they looking?” I asked.

“Really good. They're much lower than you.”

I asked if I could review their proposal.

“Just come to our board meeting next month at 7 p.m., andyou can review at that time,” he said.

At this point, lots of agents go into scramble mode. Theybegin getting alternative quotes, knowing they have to lower thatprice to match a competitor. I did nothing.

The day of the board meeting, I pulled together the client'sinformation, wrote a two-page summary, and headed to themeeting. I figured that the competition would be thereand it would be a good, spirited debate.

I entered the board room a little early and grabbed myseat. At 7 p.m. we said the Pledge of Allegiance and themeeting began. I kept looking for my competition, but no oneever showed up.

I was asked to speak and before I did, I handed each boardmember my two-page summary. I reviewed my agenda, asked ifthey had any questions, then proceeded with myreview.

I explained that our agency process is to check the renewalpricing of each of our clients 90 days before renewal. We haddone this with their account and found that premiums were going upabout 3% to 4%. Because our agency is seeing average premiumincreases of 5% to 8%, we decided not to market theiraccount. The fact that they give small increases or decreasesprovides stability and their coverage forms are some of the best inthe industry.

I reviewed the amount of coverage, talked about various keycoverage points, and concluded with their pricing increase, whichwould bring their annual premium to roughly $12,000.

The president thanked me for the review, then said, “Why don'tyou let us hash this out and we'll call you.”

I smiled and said, “I've got all night, I'll stick around whileyou hash.”

“We have a competitive proposal from XYZ Co., and it's apples toapples,” he said. “Their premium for the same exact thing is$8,000.”

Two-thirds of my premium. I smiled again.

As the president began reviewing the competition'spresentation, we noticed their values were considerably lessthan ours on every building. The competing agency was givenold information so their apples-to-apples numbers wereincorrect.

“I wish he was here to review this with us,” I said.

“He was supposed to be, but something came up,” thepresident said.

After we debunked the “apples-to-apples” claim, I askedabout the carrier. It turned out to be a carrier that was famousfor getting into the market at a low price point and then making itup the following year. Our agency chose the markets withconsistent year-after-year pricing, which I explained.

The board had a few more questions. We discussed specificinsurance components like retroactive dates, blanket and agreedvalues, and other fine points of the coverage.

In the end, the board made the motion to keep our firmas their provider. They didn't trust the competitor's proposaland appreciated my stewardship of their insurance needs.

The client agreed to pay my firm one-third more inpremiums. Why? There is no such thing as anapples-to-apples proposal and half of one's success is merelyshowing up.