A risk interview is not an application recital
Applications matter, but clients do not always recognize how their operations map to insurance questions. A good interview translates the business into exposures: what it owns, where it operates, who performs work, what could injure someone, what could interrupt income, and what contracts transfer or create obligations.
Understand the business model
Ask how the company makes money, its major products or services, customer types, geographic reach, seasonality, subcontracting, online activity, and changes planned during the next year. Review the website and public information with the client rather than treating them as automatically accurate. Identify operations that are incidental in revenue but significant in severity.
Map people, places, and property
Discuss employees, owners, temporary labor, volunteers, remote work, travel, and safety responsibilities. Review owned, leased, or occupied locations; construction; occupancy; equipment; stock; mobile property; utilities; protective safeguards; and valuation. Consider dependencies on landlords, suppliers, cloud providers, and key equipment.
Follow vehicles, contracts, and data
Identify owned, hired, borrowed, and employee vehicles; driver selection; radius; maintenance; and unusual use. Ask what contracts the business signs, who requires insurance, and whether the client assumes another party’s liability. Discuss payment data, personal information, network access, backups, vendors, and incident response when cyber exposure exists.
Use losses to improve the story
Review loss runs and near misses. Ask what happened, why it happened, what changed afterward, and whether the control is documented and used. Do not hide a difficult loss. A clear explanation and credible corrective action can be more useful than a vague statement that the issue is resolved.
Turn the interview into a submission plan
Summarize exposures, controls, requested coverage, unresolved questions, and supporting documents. Match the risk against current carrier appetite and note why a market may fit. Send updates when facts change. Preserve the client’s representations and the agency’s follow-up in the file.
Important note: Carrier requirements, policy language, compensation arrangements, licensing rules, and state requirements can change. Use current carrier and regulatory materials, document the source reviewed, and consult appropriately licensed or qualified professionals before acting on a specific situation.