It's Time to Get Ready for Hurricane Season

A major part of this plan should involve how you can help your agency's employees to be prepared and include them in your disaster plan. Develop a continuity plan so each employee knows specifically in advance what they are supposed to do in the event of a storm and review it with them periodically to make sure everyone is clear on their duties.

Form a hurricane team within your agency and assign duties to each staff member. Remember to update the plan and the team each time a staff member leaves your employ and be sure that those duties are reassigned so you don't lose a critical part of your recovery plan at the worst possible time.

Prepare a list of all of your employees that includes their duties when a storm is approaching, during the storm, and in the aftermath. Your producers and sales team members should be trained be able to assist customers who come to your office after the storm. They need to be aware of company contact information and how to help policyholders file claims to help expedite relief for those in need of help. This is critical because your clients never need you more than in these difficult situations and you can gain their long-term loyalty by performing well and helping them when a disaster strikes.

Develop a phone tree system to contact all of your employees after the storm. This will enable you to assess their individual situations and allow you to arrange to help them quickly if necessary. Getting your employees back on track quickly will, in turn, allow them to get back to work to begin assisting customers. Some employees will be in worse situations than others and you may have to adjust your disaster plan to transfer the duties of employees who have significant personal issues or injuries related to the storm. This phone tree system should be tested occasionally so that you can be assured that everyone is on the same page before the storm hits and that everyone is contacted.

Provide a hard copy of the agency disaster plan to each employee. When power is out for an extended period, your people still need to know how to operate from their homes if necessary.

Alternative Phone Systems

Have your telephone vendor who installed your phone system provide you with a crossover that would allow you to transfer to a direct phone line from where it enters the building directly to a phone jack. This could be useful if phone service is restored before electrical service. Without main electric power your PBX or standard phone system may not operate. This fix would enable you to make and receive calls.

Unfortunately, cell phones cannot be entirely relied on during these emergency situations because high call volume can disrupt service. Of course, the best alternative for this is to be sure to have a back up generator for your agency to avoid this problem altogether.

Computer Concerns

Have all of your agency's computer information backed up and forwarded to a place well outside of the storm area. This could be to a server located several states away. One good place to do this is with your agency management system provider. They already handle your system so ask them to act as a back-up system in case you would ever lose your database information during the storm.

If your agency is not fully automated, this would be a good time to consider upgrading your system. In the meantime, a good alternative to make sure you are ready would be to run lists of your clients, their policy numbers, contact information, and insurance company claim numbers to have them ready in advance.

Call Center Arrangements

Pre-arrange to have your agency's telephones forwarded to a call center outside of the storm zone before the storm hits. Provide the call center with a script and information that includes the most up-to-date phone numbers of your carriers' claim contact numbers. Have a special referral number to senior management or to the agency principal ready in the event of extreme situations involving emergency problems for important customers or any of your policyholders that may need special attention. As we all know, the days following a major hurricane can be very stressful and people can become upset quickly if they do not feel they are receiving the assistance they deserve.

Web Site Continuity

Have your agency web site hosted by a service provider that is outside of the storm zone and preferably in another state. This way your web site will remain in operation throughout the disaster and it will serve as the main information source for your clients who may need help. Your web site can also provide lists of emergency contact numbers, claim numbers, and information on what to do to preserve damaged property. It can also show people where you can be reached if your agency office is damaged.

This is one of the main things we learned from Hurricane Wilma. Many businesses had their web sites hosted by someone nearby or in the same city. When a storm devastates an entire region, the building for the company that is hosting your web site can also be damaged or be without power. This could jeopardize an extremely important information source for your clients, especially if your agency phones are also down and people cannot reach you. Your clients could feel abandoned if they cannot reach their insurance provider in a serious situation as people faced with Hurricanes Rita and Katrina two years ago. This could severely undermine your credibility with your client.

Alternative Business Site

Arrange for an alternative site to house your business if your main agency building is damaged. This can be an RV, tent, another building, or whatever works for you. If you are forced to move to temporary facilities, be sure that your agency call center's voice message and your web site gives this information so your policyholders can contact you or come to the alternative site if necessary.

Use Your Laptops

Load your agency management system and file information onto laptops so you can get them running as soon as possible after the storm. This will give you access to your insured's policy information that may be vital during the disaster. This will also enable your employees to get back to work more quickly to help your clients after the storm hits. Your performance and response to your insureds after a bad storm is the most critical thing you can do after the storm. This is when your policyholders are counting on you and you need to be there for them with the information they need to begin the rebuilding process once the storm has passed.

If your agency has a default generator as suggested, your computers should remain up and running, but laptops are a good backup because they can be recharged quickly and are portable.Miscellaneous Supplies

Have plenty of hurricane supplies available. Make sure your agency is stocked up on batteries, bottled water, snacks, canned goods, bleach, paper towels, trash bags, and cleaning supplies. Have a good stock of these supplies available to provide to clients that may come to your office for help. These supplies could also be invaluable for your agency employees as well to help them become stable enough in their personal situations in dealing with the storm to return to work more quickly. Other items would include fans, extension cords, battery-powered lamps, radios, and a two-week supply of bottled water.

Have Plenty of Cash in Reserve

Another lesson from Hurricane Wilma was that with an extended long-term loss of electric power, ATM machines were not available, and what few stores that were open could not accept credit cards. This meant that the stricken area became a cash-only economy. Be sure to have a backup supply of cash on hand to purchase supplies, gas, and to help your employees if need be.

By doing the things summarized above, your agency will have computer access, electricity, telephones, and your web site will still be in operation after the storm. You will be much better prepared to handle your client's claims with these tools in place.

Prepare Your Policyholders

Get your policyholders ready when a storm is approaching. Process all pending endorsement and renewals with effective dates current to the impending storm before it arrives. One good thing about hurricanes is that you do get a few days advance warning that they are approaching. Try and get all renewal requests and endorsements submitted to your carriers prior to the storm so that your client's policies are up to date when the storm hits. This could also go a long way in reducing the chances of suffering an E & O claim after the storm.

Provide all of your policyholders with a letter on hurricane preparedness at the start of hurricane season. This letter should advise your clients to review their policies, coverages, limits, and deductibles so that they are aware of their protection and to put their policies in a safe place for use after the storm if needed. This letter should also let your policyholders know that flood coverage is not offered under most policies and offer them a quote. This may be an important area that your policyholder may not have considered in the past.

The letter should not just provide a list of numbers, but also some information spelling out what they should do in the event of a disaster. This could be information on how to protect their property from further damage, who to contact, how to obtain supplies, and where to go for further help. The more assistance you can provide your clients, the more they will rely on you in the future.

Some agents provide a list of all of their insurance company claim office telephone numbers along with this letter so their insureds have this information in hand in case they need to report a claim. It is best to try and get your insureds to contact the insurance companies directly to report their claims if possible. This expedites the reporting and handling of the claim and the insured can then speak directly to the claim adjuster about their specific situation.

The letter should also state that new coverage, new locations, and current limits cannot be increased or bound once the storm is approaching. That is why it may be a good idea to send this letter out at the beginning of hurricane season to give everyone time to get their policies in order before the wind starts to blow.

Get Emergency Contact Numbers

Make it a practice to obtain the cell phone numbers of each of your clients as an alternative contact number so you can reach them in the event of a disaster when regular phone service is not available.

With the above items in place as hurricane season begins, you should have your clients' policies up to date, have provided them with their claim contact information, and have emergency numbers to contact them. Additional information can also be provided to them on how to protect their properties from further damage until help arrives.

The above information is provided as a guide to get you started on how to get your agency and policyholders ready to survive a direct hit from a hurricane. For more information on disaster preparedness, you can go to www.FAIA.com and click on catastrophe for listings on how to formulate a viable disaster plan and much more information.

Making these ideas part of your hurricane disaster plan will put you in a position to be up and running and ready to help your clients immediately after the storm. Even your most difficult customer will be forever indebted to you if you can respond quickly and professionally in getting them the help they need in a crisis situation.

We are all hoping for a mild hurricane season, but we must be prepared for the worst. The best way to have peace of mind going into the season is to be ready for what Mother Nature might bring.

Robert Briggs is the marketing director for Hull & Company, www.hullco.com.