Professional Liability Insurance Group's online newsletter for May 2018
The PLIG Professional’s PULSE
Volume #23
The 1 Relationship You Never Want to Take for Granted Your Clients Need Your Employees
When you have high employee turnover, chances are you have higher- than-average client turnover.This is a detail that too many companies overlook. If your business is client-facing, your employees must build relationships with customers, and these relationships are key to retaining your clients’ patronage. When a client-facing employee leaves your company, your clients have to start over and build a relationship with someone new. Not every client will be willing to do that.Their sense of loyalty has been worn down, and it gives the client the perfect opportunity to look elsewhere for similar products or services. And, as we all know, when clients leave, your business suffers.That’s lost revenue. But, by that same notion, your business also suffers when employees leave.Your employees are important for keeping those revenue streams flowing. While employee retention is not the sole factor in client retention, it does influence it, so examining your staff turnover rate is always a good idea. The costs associated with replacing an employee are high.You have to find the right candidate and train them. Couple that cost with losing a client, and your business suffers a significant amount. According to a 2015 ERE Media study, replacing an entry-level employee costs about 30–50 percent of that employee’s annual salary. Need to replace a mid-level employee? It costs about 150 percent of their annual salary. Get to senior or highly specialized employees and the cost reaches about 400 percent of their annual salary. On the customer side of things, a Bain & Company study found that it is 5–25 percent more expensive to get a new customer than it is to retain a current customer. Considering all of these costs, why wouldn’t you do everything you could to retain good employees? Employee retention is critical for morale.When you lose one employee, it’s not uncommon for others to follow or begin to consider a move elsewhere. Of course, it’s also critical to understand why employees decide to leave.
This is where in-depth exit interviews can provide valuable data. Know exactly why employees are leaving, and you can fix the problem. Additionally, consult with current employees on what the business can do better.The more you know, the more you can do. Right now, there are people on your team who are thinking about leaving your company.Whether you’re a group of four, 40, or 400 — people are thinking about what’s next. A 2017 Gallup survey found that 51 percent of workers are thinking about leaving their current company.The biggest reasons include a lack of advancement opportunity, poor work-life balance, and high stress. A 2017 Mercer’s Global Talent Trends study found that 34 percent of employees plan to leave their current position within the next 12 months. Realizing the value of your employees contributes to the success of your business.When you’re proactive and willingly cultivate a positive work environment, you retain employees. All you need to do is remember this simple equation: happy employees = happy clients. -Shayne
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Professional Liability Insurance Group • www.ProtectUsBetter.com
SCALEYOUR BUSINESS
Past Its Plateau
While business owners love constant growth and the excitement of success, the defining moment for every business is how it gets through its plateau, when growth stagnates.A company only has two places to go from this point. It can rise to find new success, or it can crash and burn. Here are three strategies to keep growing after you’ve reached your plateau. Innovation
make may not be in line with the original mission of your company, but they can push your company through its plateau. Many business owners look at a plateau and don’t see the stagnation as a threat. But there is nothing more defining for your business than this moment. While these three strategies can help, if you find your business plateauing, you should immediately call a meeting to define a personalized plan of a personalized plan of attack that works for you and your team.
excellence is developed. It applies to athletes and performers, but it also applies to business. Deliberate practice is a focused methodology of applying directed attention to your issue. Rather than just going through the motions or mindless repetitions, commit to applying yourself to your task. Focus on the quality of what you’re doing, not the quantity — this is key for stagnating companies. By committing to quality work and deliberate practice, your business can create a better product and have a more substantial impact. Revamp Your Business Model In some instances, businesses need to adapt to what is in front of them.This is often referred to as a pivot.You can find new revenue streams by shifting your business strategies.The changes you
Sheer will and work ethic can only take you so far. When you need to push through a plateau, one of the most pivotal qualities is innovation. Finding creative solutions to your company’s issues will help keep your employees energized and open new opportunities. By developing new and exciting ideas, your company will find a whole new frontier of possibilities.The key is understanding which ideas to pursue and which ideas to let go. Not every innovation is going to be great, but by committing yourself to the pursuit of creativity, you can find solutions to transform your business. Deliberate Practice This concept was brought to light by Anders Ericsson. Deliberate practice defines how human
What Our Clients Are Saying
“Shayne, you and your staff have been a great help to me in securing coverage to protect me against claims that might arise post- retirement from the practice of law, and you saved me a lot of money.” –Robert G. “Love you guys! You can always answer my questions, and you are there when we need you.The relationship we established over the years and the service we received from your office are great!” –Linda C.
“We know PLIG will always have our best interest at heart.They’re always responsive and extremely friendly and helpful.” –Darcea M. We love to hear what you have to say.These kind words let us know we’re doing our jobs right. As you know, stellar service is an important part of doing business — if not the most important part.They say business isn’t personal, but that isn’t true. As always, we’re here for you, your team, and your business. PLIG is only one phone call away.
2 Professional Liability Insurance Group • www.ProtectUsBetter.com
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We provide informative articles and topics that focus on information for businesses of all types. Recent blogs to check out: • 3 Problems Your Accounting Firm Might Have and How to Fix Them • Cadillac Tax, HIT Tax, Medical Device Tax and CHIP Extension • Congress Delivers More Relief From Burdensome Taxes — Cadillac Tax Delayed Again Until 2022! Take a look below to see a sneak peek of one of this month’s blog topics!
A CHALLENGE FOR BRICK-AND-MORTAR BUSINESSES
Abandoned Carts For every online sale, there is going to be two or three abandoned carts.With the right abandoned-cart technology, you can recover some of this potential business and increase sales. Ensure your online shop is user-friendly and the cart process is simple. Upselling and Cross-Selling In many brick-and-mortar stores, there are extras near the checkouts that encourage impulse buys. It can be harder to display these small products online, as they can get lost on the website.That’s why you need to consider cross-selling software. Delivering Products One of the biggest challenges for e-commerce sites is delivering products to clients. Courier companies don’t always have the best reputations, but it’s the e-commerce store that can have its reputation damaged when packages don’t arrive as expected.You must carefully select couriers and ensure they match your expectations. Conclusion E-commerce is an important market, and brick-and-mortar stores should move into this area if they want to grow. However, it is necessary for businesses to display good online and logistic skills. Ensure you know how to market your online shop and deliver your products successfully. This article recently appeared on the Professional Liability Insurance Group’s blog. For more great resources and insight from Shayne Bevilacqua, be sure to visit ProtectUsBetter.com/blog .
It’s getting tougher to make an impact in the world of e-commerce, yet it’s still seen significant growth. In 2015, online sales were worth $1.6 trillion. In 2018, that figure is expected to grow to $2.5 trillion. Every year, hundreds of thousands of new e-commerce stores open.Those most successful are likely to have a brick-and-mortar presence, too.This is because of two main factors:These business owners have experience with their products and know how to sell them, and they also have the infrastructure to support their growth. There are several challenges that brick-and-mortar stores need to overcome to be successful in e-commerce. Here’s a quick overview and some simple solutions: Being Found Online Online stores need traffic, and getting web traffic can be a challenge.You can get traffic through social media, search engines, and paid advertising. Search engines are one source of traffic you can’t ignore, but finding your way to the top of any search engine is an uphill battle. Good SEO is a must and includes the following:
• Website optimization for speed, content, and user interface
• A sticky site with a low bounce rate that encourages visitors to stay on the page for a long time
• Lots of inbound links from relevant pages
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3 Professional Liability Insurance Group • www.ProtectUsBetter.com
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Is It Possible to Align Business With Values?
THIS COMPANY THINKS SO
A number of high-profile businesses have made the news recently for their values-based decisions.This kind of decision-making brings up an interesting question: Can you promote your values through the way you do business? Take Row 7, a seed company founded by Dan Barber, a chef; Matthew Goldfarb, an organic seed grower; and Michael Mazourek, a professor of plant breeding and genetics. By cultivating a new brand of seeds that are grown for flavor, the company wants to change the way we think about food. Row 7 hopes they can produce seeds that will grow into produce that grocery stores likeWalmart will carry. The three men care a lot about food and how it’s grown.The first episode of Netflix’s “Chef’sTable” follows Barber from farm to table as he hand-selects the ingredients he’ll be cooking with for that evening’s dinner. Traditionally, seed companies develop seeds with adaptability in mind, such as a potato that can be grown in Idaho and on the East Coast.They cultivate breeds with the furthest reach and highest profit margins — it’s a one-size-fits-all approach.
With this method, you can get seeds that will grow anywhere, but you may not get much flavor from their produce.Think of the watery, flavorless tomatoes you often find on sandwiches or burgers at fast-food restaurants. Row 7 hopes to change the status quo by developing seeds that burst with flavor and nutrients. By collaborating with chefs and farmers, Barber hopes to cultivate the flavorful foods that people want.
Row 7 targets an audience of people who enjoy good-tasting food — in other words, all of us.The company hopes to capitalize on intrepid farmers who’ve been overlooked by the large seed companies and work with them to breed plants for flavor. Row 7’s seeds are all organic and have not been genetically modified. Not only will these plants add much-needed biodiversity back into the seed world, they’ll also grow into more nutritious food.“The goal of the company is not only to increase the flavor of vegetables, it’s to look at how we, as chefs, can change the culture of eating,” says Barber. We’ll have to wait and see what Row 7’s success looks like, as the company was only unveiled this year. Row 7’s goal to change the food culture in America is not in conflict with their goal to be inWalmart, and that’s pretty radical.
T he R adical T ransparency of RAY DALIO’S ‘PRINCIPLES’
Recognize How to Get Beyond Disagreements.
Dalio’s transparency extends to creating an open forum for disagreement. In an earlier 2011 draft of Dalio’s “Principles,” he wrote of the importance of “creat[ing] an environment in which everyone has the right to understand what makes sense and no one has the right to hold a critical opinion without speaking up about it.” From the outside, it might seem that such an uncompromisingly honest vision would create problems. After all, Bridgewater employees describe “public hangings” of those who don’t rigorously follow Dalio’s rules and meetings that sometimes stretch for hours due to disagreements about a single item on the agenda. But Dalio argues that creating this fluid back-and-forth is a vital component of a healthy organization. Systematize the Decision-Making Process. Aside from his trademark transparency and sometimes brutal honesty,“Principles” has one thread that runs through the whole book: Everything can and should be boiled down and understood with a simple system. By acknowledging how reality operates, you can transform your business and achieve clarity in every aspect of your life.
If you grew up in an ordinary, middle-class neighborhood on Long Island, proceeded to found an investment firm out of your apartment in NYC, and went on to make more money for your clients than any other hedge fund in the history of the industry, you would assume there was something uniquely special about you, right? Not according to Ray Dalio, founder of Bridgewater Associates and one of the most successful — and influential, as 2012’s Time magazine attests — men in the world. He’ll be the first to tell you that there’s no secret to his genius. Just open his book and memorize the 200-plus “Principles” he honed over his career. Dalio believes these are the real reason he stands in such a prominent position today. Trust in Radical Truth and Radical Transparency Since its publication last year, Dalio’s book has risen to No. 5 on Amazon’s charts, become a No. 1 NewYork Times best seller, and been touted as revolutionary by some of the most successful businesspeople of our time. It’s a thick volume of just under 600 pages but
nonetheless compelling. Dalio’s dedication to the idea of openness in all things is evident through the organization of his life’s work into a detailed and actionable program.
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Professional Liability Insurance Group • www.ProtectUsBetter.com
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How it works All you have to do is tell a friend, a colleague, or any professional you know about us and make sure they tell us you sent them ... that’s it! Remember, protecting professionals is our specialty! You can refer any commercial business of any size, big or small, such as an accounting or law firm, a physician’s practice or health care facility, an architecture or engineering firm, or even your local restaurant or dry cleaner. What you win 1. For each referral, we will automatically send you a $10Wawa gift card! 2. Each referral automatically enters you into the quarterly drawing for a $50Visa gift card! 3. Each referral also enters you into the annual drawing for your choice of an iPad Mini or an Amazon Kindle Fire HD. 4. For each referral we receive, we will also donate $20 to a charity * of your choosing. *Charity must be a registered 501(c)(3) Remember, without your referrals and much-appreciated testimonials, we would not be where we are today.Your words encourage us to do our best and help other professionals decide to do business with us.You can call 856-692-7702, fax 856-691-0059, or email your referrals and kind words to info@ProtectUsBetter.com. And, as always, we want to say “Thank you!” for the professional relationships we have with each of you!
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You don’t have to be a client to receive your freeWawa gift card.
There is absolutely no limit to how many times you can enter.
• Our contest is not in direct relation to any insurance sales.You’ll be rewarded simply for the lead. • You do not have to be present at the drawings to win. • Your referrals do not have to become our client for you to claim your prize. • We are not responsible if the law says you can’t win due to age or any other restriction.
BRAIN TEASER
The PLIG P u z z l e Challenge
524127 Add mathematical signs ( +, - ,),( *,/ ) in between all or some of the above digits so the result of the created mathematical equation will be 100.
At the Professional Liability Insurance Group, we know just how bright and intelligent our newsletter readers are, which is why we are happy to challenge you with this puzzle! All you have to do is answer the puzzle challenge correctly and send your answer to us. Email your answer to info@ProtectUsBetter.com, fax to 856-691-0059, or call 856-692-7702 to read off your answers.The winner will be selected from a random drawing of all correct responses submitted prior to printing our next newsletter and will win a $20Wawa gift card! Good luck!
LAST EDITION’S PUZZLE ANSWER: The seventh child will be namedTilly.The pattern in the children’s names is “do re mi fa so la ti”: Dominique, Regis, Michelle, Fawn, Sophie, Lara, andTilly.
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Professional Liability Insurance Group • www.ProtectUsBetter.com
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One RelationshipYou Never Want toTake for Granted Keep UpWithYour 2018 Business Goals Hear From Our Clients Check Out New Content on Our Blog! A Challenge for Brick-and-Mortar Businesses Aligning Your Business With Values The ‘Principles’ of Ray Dalio Referral Contest The PLIG Puzzle Challenge Travel Often? Get TripIt
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The Best in Itinerary Management For most business owners, travel is constant. From conferences to client visits, many of us spend almost as much time out of the office as we do inside of it.Travel often involves managing all sorts of information, including flight details, accommodations, dinner reservations, and rental cars. Now, almost all of these services come with digital apps you can use to track relevant information, but that requires cycling through a handful of programs and trying to remember how all the pieces fit together.Wouldn’t it be easier if all that information was in one place? Well, that’s exactly what TripIt offers. TripIt is a desktop and mobile service that aggregates all of your travel plans into one convenient location. All you have to do is forward your confirmation emails to TripIt.The data will automatically be assembled into an easy-to-read itinerary that’s accessible from any of your devices. The interface is organized and clear, with a detailed schedule of where you need to be and when. Even better, you don’t need Wi-Fi to access an itinerary once it’s been created. So, if you end up stuck underground or in the air, you can still keep tabs on upcoming events.You can also sync your itinerary with your favorite calendar app or share your entire travel plan (or select parts of it) with team members, friends, and family. IFYOUTRAVEL,
YOU NEED TRIPIT
All of these features are included in TripIt’s free tier of service, but TripIt Pro takes this level of convenience a step further.With this additional service, which costs $49 per year, you get real-time alerts and reminders. TripIt Pro can also locate alternative flights in the event of a delay, track reward points, look for better seats, and more. Anyone who frequently travels knows that you need to have a backup plan if a flight gets canceled. TripIt Pro will let you know the second that happens, giving you more time to find an alternative. If we lived in a perfect world, nobody would ever experience a travel headache. As we know, that’s simply not the case. At least with TripIt, you can be sure that managing your itinerary won’t be an issue. As the company’s slogan succinctly states,TripIt gives you “All your travel plans, in one place.”
Professional Liability Insurance Group • www.ProtectUsBetter.com.com 6
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