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to To The Point list To the Point/July/2005 • It isn’t something that happens to other people. When identity theft surfaced a few years ago, few people were interested in protecting themselves by having insurance coverage. Identity theft is what happened to someone else. That’s changed. According to the Federal Trade Commission, one in 10 of us have been affected and the cost to businesses and individuals is up to $50 billion in 2004 alone. And that same year, credit card fraud accounted for 28% of the total. To show the extent of the problem, those who have been “hit” are now eligible to receive new Social Security numbers. Cleaning up the mess left by an identity theft occurrence is expensive. While insurance can cover incurred actual expenses, there are the “extra costs” of lost wages, cost of reapplying for a mortgage and credit cards and other types of fees. It can be many, many times more painful than replacing lost credit cards. Particularly frightening is the rash of incidents in which hackers compromise what were thought to be secure databases. An intruder gained access to the Social Security numbers of 120,000 Boston College alumni and ChoicePoint has reported it sold information on 145,000 U.S. residents to illegitimate business operations. And then Bank of America lost tapes of 1.2 million federal employees. The list grows by the day. While there are homeowner’s policies that now include identity theft coverage, it’s far better to tailor the coverage to your specific needs, whether individually or as a business. If you would like guidance, please contact our office at 715-693-2100 • WorkComp Cost Reduction Workshop. With three Certified WorkComp Advisors at Mosinee Insurance, we want to share our experience with you for reducing your Worker’s Compensation Costs. We’re partnering with The Business News in sponsoring the workshop on October 20 from 8:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. There’s no charge, but you must register in advance. ere are the reasons why anyone in your company who has anything to do with Workers’ Compensation should attend:
There’s more but this gives you an idea that this is a serious session about dropping more to the bottom line. You can register now. Contact Judy Jacobs at our office 715-693-2100 judyj@mosineeins.com. • Garbled sales messages. We all know what we sell or at least we think we do. But we often forget that prospects and even customers don’t have the same background that we do. They’re focused on what they need to accomplish. So, it should be no surprise that what we say and what they hear may be quite different. In fact, you can go to the bank with that one. How to solve the problem? Here are three steps: 1) Be prepared to describe your strengths and capabilities and what sets you apart from the competition in ways that resonate with the listener. 2) Focus special attention on your value proposition. Be sure you have one! 3) Spell out what your company stands for and where it’s going. In other words, create a memorable, exciting experience for your prospect or customer. • Expensive electronic gadgets everywhere—and many of them may not be insured. Those great gadgets are so common, we don’t think about checking to see if they are insured. The demand for GPS navigation systems is so great that they can disappear fast. Leave your portable GPS in the car for a few minutes and it will be gone. You can count on it. The same is true for expensive cell phones, PDAs and of course, flat screen plasma TVs. What makes these glorious gadgets vulnerable is that they are moved around. They don’t stay in one safe place. That includes laptop computers. We are buying more of them than desktop models. When your laptop is lost or stolen, it isn’t just the computer that’s the problem. It’s what’s on it. By the way, how often do you back up your laptop? So, don’t take a chance on having to shell out a lot of money to replace a stolen digital camera or other gadget because it wasn’t covered. Tell us what you have and we’ll suggest how to protect them. • Absenteeism on the upswing. If you have had the feeling that absenteeism is on the rise, you are right. The 14th annual Unscheduled Absence Survey by CCH, Inc. climbed to a five-year high of 2.4% in 2004. Last-minute no-shows cost organizations an average of $610 per employee. It may not come as a surprise that most of those who fail to show up for work are not physically ill, according to the survey. Only 38% of the absences are due to illness, while 62% are due to other reasons, including family issues (23%), personal needs (18%), stress (11%), and entitlement mentality (10%). • A “from” line factoid. Little things can make a big difference. Here’s a little one that’s worth passing along to everyone in your company. Because of that busy “delete” button on the computer keyboard, it’s more important than ever to use a “from” line in your email that customers recognize instantly. Just under 70% of customers say they only open email from people or companies they recognize. Sincerely,  Tom Helbach Back to To The Point list |
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