How would you take that “so close and yet so far” ending to what may have been a prolonged and serious effort?

And more importantly, what are you doing to apply that same sense to effectively serve your client accounts?

Consider: A client may have a multitude of possible exposures to loss, plus needs for coverages mandated by law or contract; all affected by personal preferences, business goals and marketplace realities (theirs and ours). Their complete coverage “puzzle picture” may be made up of dozens of different pieces. And just like our family jigsaw puzzle, some pieces will be obvious and some will sit there and drive you crazy. Others may be totally overlooked, especially if no one ever checks the box top to see exactly how the final solution is supposed to appear.

Don't think this is only about those few, highly complex accounts with which only major brokers are concerned. While the number of pieces may vary, the idea is to successfully complete the puzzle without any of those glaring missing pieces.

For example, pull up the file on one of your Main Street BOP accounts. Using the ISO BOP 00 03 01 10 coverage form, let's consider two example pieces of that puzzle, and thus the possibilities for contented completion or glaring gap.

First, business income coverage is a key need for any business, and one of the major bonuses of the BOP. How much better can you get than, “We will pay for the actual loss of Business Income you sustain due to the necessary suspension of your 'operations' during the 'period of restoration'”? Actually, quite a bit, when you consider the following provision: “We will only pay for loss of business income that you sustain during the 'period of restoration' and that occurs within 12 consecutive months after the date of direct physical loss or damage. We will only pay for ordinary payroll expenses for 60 days following the date of direct physical loss or damage, unless a greater number of days is shown in the Declarations.”

While 12 months may seem like a long time, many businesses face even longer periods of restoration, especially if the loss is due to a major area catastrophe (Katrina, anyone?). Even though we still see businesses along the Gulf Coast just getting back on their feet after years, whatever BOP coverage may have been available walked after 12 months.

Is that 60 days going to be sufficient? How key are those “ordinary payroll” employees to your client hitting the ground running after getting back into business? What if the client feels a personal responsibility, or simply believes it is good business to keep those folks on the payroll for longer than two months?

Another nice BOP inclusion is the Business Personal Property Limit— Seasonal Increase coverage. Basically an automatic 25 percent peak season endorsement is built in. Not too shabby. Unless, of course, your client needs more than 25 percent. But the real missing piece here may be a math problem. Have you considered this provision?

The increase described in Paragraph 5.a will apply only if the Limit of Insurance shown for Business Personal Property in the Declarations is at least 100% of your average monthly values during the lesser of:

1. The 12 months immediately preceding the date the loss or damage occurs; or

2. The period of time you have been in business as of the date the loss or damage occurs.

Consider a simple example. Your client averages $100,000 in business personal property (BPP) from January to September. In October, November and December he ramps up BPP for Christmas sales to the tune of $125,000. Perfect—you can write him a BOP with limits for BPP of $100,000 and the 25 percent seasonal increase coverage automatically gives him exactly the additional needed coverage and it's Merry Christmas to all!

Except it doesn't and isn't. Do the math. If his average monthly values for the last 12 months were the same as this year, we get 9 months at $100,000 and 3 months at $125,000. Add those up and you get a total of $1,275,000. Divide that total by 12 and you get an average monthly value of $106,250. So how much automatic seasonal increase does your client get? Nada, zippo. Note again the wording from the form: The increase will apply only if the limit is at least the 100 percent average. That isn't a coinsurance or insurance to value clause, that is an either/or. Either the BPP limit meets the average or there is no seasonal increase.

These are but representative of the myriad puzzle pieces in a simple packaged account. Consider the plethora of possibilities to be uncovered when dealing with multiple policies or working to fully round out current accounts.

Let us return briefly to our family puzzle-solving scenario. Perhaps one person could have solved the puzzle, but it would have required a massively larger time commitment and focus, while also depriving others of a chance to contribute as their individual resources allowed. Result of laying it out for all to see and contribute? The leveraging of efforts and inputs, gained insights and partnering, plus the satisfaction of sharing both effort and the ultimate thrill of victory or the agony of defeat. Have you considered leveraging your staff in the same way?

Here's a thought. Take one of your developing client accounts. Figuratively spread the account's current puzzle pieces on the table (whiteboard, computer screen or a literal table). Don't forget to provide a picture of the box top—how you envision a fully developed, well-rounded client protection plan should look. Then turn your folks loose to assemble, reconfigure, sort, sift and note what appears to be missing. Don't worry about age or expertise or availability. At our family gathering, the puzzlers covered four generations and the individual time committed ran from minutes to hours. But in the end, a better job, better accomplished, and success for all.