IRMI Update—Issue #178

An E-mail Newsletter for Risk and Insurance Professionals
ISSN: 1530-7948
February 20, 2008

In This Issue

• Message from the Editor
• Obtain a Complimentary Subscription to American Agent & Broker
• New IRMI Web Site Features Risk Management Search Tool
• What's New in The Risk Report
• New Expert Commentary
• Updated Edition of the Classification Cross-Reference
• Please Share This Issue with Your Colleagues
• How To Get IRMI Update E-mails

Message from the Editor

Colleague,

Exit interviews, where departing employees with little or nothing to lose are asked questions about how the company could improve its work environment or business practices, are an effective technique for learning ways to improve a business. A friend of mine recently asked me why agents, brokers, and insurers don't do formal exit interviews when they lose clients.

This is a great question. When a customer decides to no longer do business with you, a formal and nondefensive process focused on determining how client service could be improved by your organization could yield invaluable ideas for improvement. If conducted properly, it would also leave a favorable impression with the departing customer -- one that may lead the customer back to you one day.

What do you think? Does your organization use a process like this, or have you seen it from an insurance organization? If so, how is it conducted, and what types of questions are asked? If you haven't personally seen this, what do you think of the concept? [See reader responses].

I'm excited about our upcoming construction seminars. We are repeating two topics from last year (wrap-ups and construction defect) but with substantially updated and revised material. Our other two seminars are an opportunity for three days of learning about construction contracts. They will hit not only traditional contractual risk transfer topics, like indemnity, but also other contract provisions that substantially affect the risks associated with construction projects, like force majeure and flow down. And they will be held in great cities: San Diego, Miami, and Dallas. See the agendas and speaker biographies.

Thanks for subscribing to IRMI Update.

All the best,

Jack

Jack P. Gibson, CPCU, CRIS, ARM
President
IRMI

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New IRMI Web Site Features Risk Management Search Tool

Have you been to the new IRMI.com Web site yet? We just completed an extensive overhaul of the technology that powers it, and we updated the look and feel while we were at it. One of the new features is a new search engine using Google technology. It will search the 1000+ risk and insurance articles in IRMI.com, or you can use it to search over 600 websites handpicked by the IRMI research analysts for their applicability to risk management and insurance. Using the new IRMI risk management search tool will give you relevant hits every time. A search for "umbrella" for example will lead you to information about the insurance policy, not a device for keeping your head dry in the rain. Give our new "risk and insurance site" search a try.

What's New in The Risk Report

The March 2008 issue by Ed Armstrong discusses professional liability and errors and omissions issues for commercial banks. Read this and other articles on risk management and insurance.

For IRMI Online subscribers

For SilverPlume Sage subscribers

New Expert Commentary

There are over 1,000 risk management and insurance articles on IRMI.com. Below you'll find summaries of some recent additions with links to the articles.

• Redomiciling Your Captive Insurer—Thinking of moving your captive? Mike Mead explains why it pays to plan your move and think through the possibilities.
• Prospects for Patent Reform in 2008 and Beyond—Sanford Warren looks at the proposed radical changes to U.S. patent law being contemplated by the U.S. Congress.
• 2007 Defective Construction Insurance Cases—Pat Wielinski reviews litigation involving the CGL definitions of "occurrence" and "property damage."
• Insurer Must Go to Trial on Allegations of a Fraudulent Settlement—Barry Zalma shows why insurers who settle with a general release may not be able to close the claim.

Products and Services

Updated Edition of the Classification Cross-Reference—The 14th Edition includes all of the 2007 changes to the ISO CGL, NAICS, NCCI, SIC, and more. This IRMI best seller saves huge amounts of time in selecting or verifying the correct classification codes. Start from any point of origin to find the corresponding classification code you need!

Please Share this Issue with Your Colleagues

If you haven't already done so, please send IRMI Update to your business associates. Thanks so much!

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