Integrators across the country can relate to the difficulties that finding and maintaining business insurance presents. Because integration firms are considered a niche market, it can be time-consuming and challenging to find an insurance provider that understands the industry’s intricacies.
“A lot of the companies I contacted about liability insurance would respond, ‘You really don’t fit the mold,’ ” says Kevin Bauer, president of Evco Sound & Electronics Inc. “ ‘You’re not a retail shop. You’re not a true construction shop.’ They had a tough time trying to put us in a good category.”
So, for many years, Evco used the same local insurance company. When Bauer found out that the company was having a hard time keeping the same insurance carrier, however, he decided it was time to start looking elsewhere.
To get started, Bauer asked NSCA for insurance suggestions, which is how he learned about TrueNorth, an NSCA Business Accelerator. He gave the company a call and asked for examples of similar businesses that rely on TrueNorth for insurance. When the representative mentioned other integration firms Bauer was familiar with, he knew he had found an insurance provider that understood the industry.
“From the first moment, it was very professional,” says Bauer. “They understood our business, as well as the carriers. When their quotes came back, they saved us between 10% and 15%.”
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Although the savings were impressive, that’s not what ultimately sold Evco on working with TrueNorth. “Instead, it was the fact that I didn’t have to try to figure out how to explain our revenue to them,” says Bauer. “All the other companies we worked with would try to hide revenue. The carrier TrueNorth picked understood our business and works with NSCA-type businesses. That’s a win-win.”
At first, Bauer was a little skeptical of working with an Iowa-based company when Evco was located in Spokane, WA – he was used to working with a local insurance company. “But it’s like they’re right next door. TrueNorth provides an associate to manage your account just like your local insurance company would. Location is not an issue. The overall experience is first class.”
Evco also has another rider for employee risk insurance. Originally, the company kept that policy with its previous carrier. But, once it was time for renewal, Bauer asked TrueNorth for a quote to compare – fully anticipating that he would keep his old carrier.
“Once again, they got the quote out efficiently and on time, and they didn’t give me only one day to make a decision. TrueNorth was somewhere between 7% and 10% less. So I switched all of our company’s insurance over. There was no reason not to!”
