You Can Feel Confident and Still Be Vulnerable

A new survey found that most small-business owners feel good about where their business is headed. It also found that barely a third of them have actually done anything to protect it. Two facts that feel misaligned, but exist side-by-side more easily than you'd think.

A recent ThinkAdvisor piece by Michael S. Fischer reviewed survey results from The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America:

• 86% of small-business owners say they're on track to meet their financial goals, yet only 34% have a succession plan in place
• Just 30% carry key person insurance
• 24% have a buy-sell agreement, and 19% have a disability buyout, despite two-thirds saying they've discussed at least one continuity topic with an advisor.

The survey's most interesting detail isn't the low numbers on protection. It's the 55% who said they'd like to discuss succession planning with an advisor. The interest is there. The follow-through isn't, and that's a systems problem. That gap between "we talked about it" and "we did it" is the whole story: With so much ready-made interest, are solo insurance practices able to capture and deliver to a market ready for solutions?

What systems and safeguards are in place to make sure a qualified lead is contacted? Did the buy-sell policy delivery include a follow-up to discuss disability protection? Is there a reminder to reach out for another discussion before the medical exam expires?

Producers are small-business owners running a book of business that depends entirely on one person's continued presence. You feel confident about your practice, but couldn't say with certainty whether your commission, referral or follow-up tracking actually exists in a usable system. That is where the confidence-vulnerability gap becomes more useful than a statistic: it's a diagnostic. Closing that gap starts with visibility, current, accurate books and case records that make business decisions and continuity conversations concrete instead of aspirational.

Confidence tells you how you feel about your practice. It doesn't tell you if the business is ready to grow with you.

Source: ThinkAdvisor