Showing posts with label Commercial. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Commercial. Show all posts

Sunday, 16 June 2013

Insuring Your Restaurant Can Prevent Unnecessary Hassles

If you are starting your own business, one area you can never avoid is insurance. By insuring your restaurant you can avoid facing a number of problems ranging from legal issues, accidental fires to broken equipment. Restaurant insurance can be of various types. One of the most common type of restaurant insurance which protects you in case someone falls accidentally in your restaurant, or falls ill after eating there. Liquor liability is another important type of restaurant insurance. If you have a liquor license, you need to have liquor liability as part of your insurance. One of the major benefits of this insurance is that it protects you incase one of your customers gets drunk and ends by injuring himself or others. You can go for property insurance in order to make sure that in case of an accidental fire you do not suffer huge financial loss. But you should remember that such a property does not cover any type of natural disasters. It includes any type of mortgage or equipment.
As a restaurant owner, the welfare of your workers is your top priority to get the best out of them. Therefore you should go for workers compensation. It provides protection if one of your employees is hurt while working in the restaurant. Most restaurants these days provide compensation to workers if they are badly injured while working. Unemployment Insurance is for those employees who don't work for you anymore till they find a suitable employment. A life insurance policy is a must. Insuring a big amount as life insurance policy can ensure that your lenders are pleased in case you owe a large sum to them. Moreover life insurance can protect your family from unnecessary hassles related to payments in case something serious happens to you. There are a number of insurances which can be of great help in times of crisis once you start your own restaurant. But remember that you will have to pay a bigger amount than what you are already investing.
Loss of business insurance falls in this category. Incase your sales go down for any reason, this policy will help you recover some of your investments. The premiums and deductibles you pay under this policy can help you reach at least the break even point. This however depends on the amount of money you have lost. Food contamination insurance can very useful if you are facing power problem and all fillings of your freezer get spoilt. This policy will pay in order to replace the contaminated food. Equipment breakdown coverage provides protection from damages incurred by power surges or motor burnout. By going for this insurance you can make sure that if some major fault occurs in your fridge, oven or credit card machine, the repair costs are covered.
Keeping in mind the types of insurances mentioned above, you should select the food shop insurance which suits your requirements as well as budget. Since this type of policies require big budget you should be wise to choose the ones which you can pay for. Once you buy this type of insurance, you will have enough time to devote to your restaurant and help it grow. There is no need to pay from your own pocket if any type of accident or mishap occurs as mentioned above. You should opt for takeaway insurance to have protection from all types of damage or harm to your restaurant, employees and clients.

Is Business Interruption Insurance the Answer to the Threats Which Could Put You Out of Business?

What risks could be potentially serious enough to put you out of business, at least temporarily? How long would it take to recover? How much money would you lose during that time?
Here are some examples of risks which have done serious, even in some cases permanent, damage to some businesses.
· Property damage, caused by anything from fire to severe weather or deliberate malicious acts.
· Access to your property, caused by any of the above, or by disruption to transport.
· Machinery breakdown, and difficulty in obtaining replacements or repairs.
· Cyber-risks, including loss of computing facilities, loss of data, or misuse of computers, data, the internet or social media.
· Power cuts.
· Employee absence, caused by sickness, strikes, or difficulty recruiting following departures.
· Damage to reputation caused by a public relations catastrophe.
· Intervention by a regulatory body due to non-compliance.
When did you last spend any time thinking about how to prevent or limit the effects of, each of the above? It may be time you discussed them with col,leagues or independent persons. In addition to these, there is the question of the supply chain. Many businessmen look carefully at the risks threatening their own businesses but have no idea how well other organisations are managed, whilst in the present global economy we are all increasingly interdependent. Floods in the Indian Subcontinent a few years ago seriously disrupted the provision of certain minerals used in manufacturing computer parts. Some British business owners thought they would be able to switch suppliers fairly easily, but found that all supply routes led back to a few mines in one small area.
Some people think the answer lies in Business Interruption Insurance, and I certainly recommend looking into the cost and the extent of cover available to your business.
However, this type of insurance covers only the interruption of your business resulting from damage to property or machinery, and also the loss of computer services, and even there, the cover is usually quite limited in scope. It follows that losses arising from the other risks listed cannot usually be insured. Therefore, the only way to protect your business is to have procedures in place to reduce the chances of such events occurring, and to have plans for recovering quickly from whatever does occur.
Given the effects of stress on people's decision-making abilities, the best time to make your contingency plans is before the contingency happens.
You may also find that the cost and availability of Business Interruption Insurance is influenced by your ability to provide evidence of your risk management and disaster recovery policies, so even those risks you can insure against need to be managed as positively and effectively as possible.
If you are in rented property, you need to look into the arrangements your landlord has for insuring it and for rebuilding in the event of a major loss. His loss of rent may be much less than your loss of turnover. Similarly, you need to look at the insurance and disaster recovery arrangements of anyone providing machinery or computers on which you depend.
In summary, do not let all your hard work in building up your business be wiped out by events which you may wrongly think are beyond your control or influence. Look into the practical measures you can take to reduce the risks or at least to reduce their potential severity, and look into the different insurances there may be available to help you contain the costs if the worst does happen.

Sunday, 2 June 2013

Insurance Sales Leads Key to Marketing Plan

Marketing is essential for any insurance agency business in generating sales leads. Effective marketing captures the attention of people looking for a particular product or service and informs them of why the one sold by this company is better than the competitor's.
The idea behind any marketing strategy is to make a profit, so it is wise to consider the return on investment (ROI) before spending money on advertising and marketing. If done properly, marketing will produce the anticipated results, which will generate more money than what was originally spent. However, a bad or poorly executed marketing plan could have a disastrous effect. Here are some tips for getting the most ROI out of an online insurance marketing budget to generate insurance sales leads.
Doing sufficient research is essential
Research is needed for two very important reasons. First, one must know and understand their target market in order to reach them effectively. The primary benefit of the Internet is that it gives a person access to millions of people as well as the tools necessary to research their buying needs and behaviors. If done correctly, online marketing will produce a wave of leads and can thereby increase sales and profits.
Second, keeping up with current trends in Internet marketing is equally important. Things that worked before, and provided lots of leads and new business may be less effective today, as those marketing methods may have become outdated.
Make wise advertising choices
Research should reveal the best places to invest advertising dollars based on what target markets want to be reached and where those individuals spend their online time. Options include web banners, classified ads, and site back links, to name a few. Therefore, make wise advertising choices based on statistics and replace unproductive means with other options until the right combination is achieved which brings the best ROI.
Getting proper exposure is another key factor
For instance, when placing a banner ad on a popular website, insist that it is placed above the fold (this means that the ad is visible at the top of the webpage and visitors don't need to scroll down to see it). Many sites will provide discounts on an ad package of three, six or twelve months.
Design the ad so that it catches the viewer's attention. Something catchy and easy to remember will help the brand to grow and remain in the minds of shoppers. Good insurance sales leads, doing the proper research, eliminating those venues that are not producing, and enhancing opportunities through negotiation and sharp marketing techniques, will achieve success and a good ROI.

Commercial Auto Insurance Basics To Consider

Running a service oriented business will most likely require you to use a vehicle in order to complete basic tasks. As your business starts to grow you'll probably add more vehicles so that others can get basic tasks done, that requires you to have a special insurance policy that will protect them and the vehicles from issues that can occur out on the road. You may not think you need a commercial auto policy because many people around you may use their regular auto insurance instead. Personal policies do not always cover what you need them to. A commercial auto insurance policy can protect you from a great number of perils, keeping your business safe against issues that may arise.
Liability insurance is an extremely important coverage to have when operating a business vehicle, it's very crucial that you're protected. If you have employees or you're driving on the open road and are involved in an accident while using a company vehicle other drivers can sue you and take the assets of your company with relative ease. That's why these policies exist, to cover damages, health care, and much more to ensure that the business doesn't get levied to a point where you are out of business.
There are a lot of things that you can protect yourself from in these modern times, but one thing that you can never really prepare for is what someone else is going to do. Even if you and your team are great drivers, someone could easily slam into your vehicle and that could cause a wealth of issues. Not only will you have to deal with the hurdles that are placed by others, you'll need to fix your vehicle and help employees get back on their feet. This can definitely hurt business flow and revenues can become diminished as a result. For this reason you should be looking into getting a well rounded commercial auto policy that protects you.
When you start going through commercial auto insurance basics, you'll realize that you can get coverage from just about any sort of accident that can occur on the open road, whether you're driving the company's vehicles or an employee is. This is one of the main issues that many find to be amazing about policies of this type. Commercial policies can cover the damages that you're liable for and help you maintain a sense of ease during any trial and tribulation that could result.
When it comes to dealing with accidents, it's best to have coverage limits that reflect the needs of your business. With this in mind, you'll need to consider commercial grade protection. Driving vehicles specifically for commercial purposes requires more coverage than the average motorists, this is due to the higher amount of risk you're exposed to. Don't leave this to chance and assume your basic coverage is going to help you when something outside of your control happens to the company's fleet. Gain peace of mind, talk to an agent and understand options available to you.