We have a property management client who has been with us for almost 10 years at this point. He is your typical armchair owner who you only hear from every so often when something irks them. Those clients are often not super responsive to your requests either. For about 10 months we have been trying to get added as an additional insured to his policies and also we have attempted to get him to send us copies of said policies.
It is not only our client who has been unresponsive. His insurance company has straight up ignored our calls, emails, ravens, messenger pigeons, smoke signals, telegraphs, and late night HAM radio reach outs.
We were stymied. Until a lightbulb went on when my colleague Karen asked me if there was anything else I thought we could do. “Let’s just go visit the office!” I exclaimed.
So we did. They have a physical office in Skokie. We popped out on a Thursday morning and lo and behold had the policies and were listed as additional insureds within minutes.
Such a simple solution and frankly one that would have been second nature 20 years ago, probably even 10 years ago, and maybe even 5 years ago.
So often we forget about the simplicity of a human connection as a means to get something accomplished. We are so focused within our bubbles, we forget there is another person (and for now an actual human) at the other end of our requests. I am not excusing the insurance company for ignoring our attempts at communication. I am saying that we should continue to consider the power of the face to face meeting for profound or mundane discussions.
A huge bonus to this excursion was that I introduced Karen to Sarkis!
