Keeping Your Strategic Plan Alive

Written by Kevin Martlage

Over the past year, ArboRisk Insurance has published numerous articles about how to strategically advance your company. Primarily we have focus on developing a strategy around supporting  your team, your leaders, and the business culture necessary to successfully advance your tree care company. In an article ArboRisk published on October 28, 2021, “Why is Strategic Planning Important”, I wrote about the importance of developing a strategic plan that not only validates the “why” of your organization, but also the steps you can take to achieve the “why” and your goals.

An impactful strategic plan is one that helps to ensure your current path is sustainable, profitable, and most importantly helps you achieve all that you can as a company. When developing a strategic plan, you must ensure you have clear goals in place for the next 1-3 years as you continue to build your company and your team? If not, you will certainly end up somewhere in the future, but is that where you want to be and have you achieved all you can achieve as an organization?

Before we talk about how to keep your strategic plan alive and relevant,  I’d like to recap the process we recommend following as you develop a strategic plan. When leading organizations through the strategic planning process there is typically focus on five key areas:

• Confirming the “Why”
• Reviewing performance and current state
• Identifying what is possible and where we want to go
• Determining how we will get there
• Implementation and monitoring

The outcome of the strategic planning process is several short term and long-term goals that will help the organization achieve the overall mission, or “why,” of their organization. Additionally, you then must develop an operational plan and budget that supports the goals that have been identified. This is done in numerous ways, but usually by focusing on the following key questions that will help you dive into your company to see what is needed to achieve each goal:

• What resources are necessary, and do we currently have those resources?
• Do we currently have the staff needed to make these goals happen?
• What are some potential roadblocks that we need to proactively identify?
• What are some other outside resources and knowledge that we may need to engage?

Whether you go through the strategic planning process internally as a team or have someone help facilitate the development, every organization is then left with the question of “now what”? As an organization you have spent time developing this iron-clad strategic and operational plan that will take you to the next level, but other things always seem to get in the way of making it happen. Those things are what I like to call unintentional noise which always seems to interfere with the implementation and effectiveness of the plan you just spent time creating. So how do we eliminate the unintentional noise and effectively implement and carry out your plan?

A Harvard Business Review article, “4 Common Reasons Strategies Fail” published June 24, 2022 outlines some reasons why strategic plans fail. Specifically, it notes:

“…60-90% of strategic plans never fully launch. The causes of derailment vary widely, but execution consistently bears the blame.”

I cannot tell you how many organizations I have worked with, and have worked for, where the strategy was not understood, and therefore never fully executed across all levels of the organization. In some instances, the developed strategy and operational plan is not even understood among the leadership team that developed the strategy in the first place. All too many times a strategy is developed, and the plan gets put on-the-shelf  to be dusted off 3 years later or when it is determined that the organization is not heading in the right direction. When it is finally dusted off, it is realized that the answers were right there all the time. If the plan would have been followed the organization would be closer to where they now think they should be than where they are. This may sound extreme, but it happens all the time and creates lost time, extra expense, negativity towards the business culture, and a negative impact on your ability to serve your customers. So how as an organization do you ensure execution and delivery of the strategy that you and your leadership team so carefully developed? The answer starts with communication and understanding.

Every company has their own resources, budget, team and “why,” however how they keep their strategy and operational plan alive can be the same regardless of the size and direction of your organization. Here are a few steps I recommend you consider for implementation to ensure you keep your plan alive once developed:

• Communicate your plan to the entire organization and ensure their understanding
• Determine operational champions/leads for each functional goal to assist with oversight
• Develop, communicate, and review key performance indicators (KPIs) for each goal
• Review expectations and confirm understanding of key deliverables
• Integrate KPI monitoring, updates, and performance review into all staff meetings
• Align meeting agendas to include strategic plan performance and general updates
• Align impact areas and KPIs to each specific job or functional position within the organization
• Integrate strategic categories and updates into your annual review process
• Review the validity of your plan annually and adjust as necessary ensuring changes are communicated and understood

The more you can integrate some of these items into your standard operating procedures, the more effective they will become in helping to keep your plan alive. Integration of some of these items can be easy depending on your company. For instance, can you create a standard meeting agenda template that always includes a strategic plan performance and impact update? Depending on your IT capabilities, can you create a KPI dashboard that is updated in real time and aligned with the strategic categories and goals of the organization. How about a weekly or monthly, CEO/Owner newsletter, webinar, or lunch and learn focused on strategic plan performance and updates.

How you approach keeping your plan alive is up to you and your company leadership. However, the most important thing is that you implement the plan and then keep it alive through consistent and intentional communication and follow up. Ensuring that a solid strategic and operational plan is kept alive will help your organization continue to have the support and ability to achieve your goals. Communication is key in this phase of implementation and monitoring. The entire team must be aware of the plan that was created to ensure that everyone is driving to the same place on the map and understand where they are on that map. It is up to the leadership of the organization to ensure that a clear understanding of the plan is in place and that everyone on the team is aware of how they impact the plan daily, weekly, monthly, and annually.

If you are interested in learning more about how strategic planning can enhance your organization,I encourage you to look at our Thrive Risk Management Strategic Planning package. In just four short weeks we can help you identify who you are as a company, what you want to become, and what strategic milestones will be needed to achieve your goals and ensure your team is all driving to the same destination.

Business Income for your Tree Service

Written by Mick Kelly

I’ll start this week’s tip with a question: Do you have a piece of equipment or a vehicle that you can’t operate without and would be hard to replace in the current market? 

If the answer is yes, you do have an essential piece of equipment or vehicle and you know it would be hard to replace today, then Business Income coverage is something you should consider strongly.

What is Business Income Coverage?

Business Income Coverage (BIC), otherwise known as Business Interruption Coverage, will replace lost income, in the event of a covered loss to your business property, business vehicle(s) or equipment. 

Who needs it?

Anyone who relies on a certain building, vehicle or piece of machinery in order for their business to operate and generate income. 

How much do I need?

This depends on how much you need the damaged/lost building, vehicle or equipment, how difficult it would be to replace them and how much revenue they generate for you. 

While the calculations can be pretty extensive, I’ve provided an outline at the end of the article. 

Business Income Coverage for Buildings:

In the tree care industry an example of Business Income Coverage for buildings is when a building that you use to kiln dry timber for firewood/lumber sales burns down and you don’t have another kiln to dry out your wood. Thus, you would be losing income for this shutdown in operation until the building is repaired or rebuilt. Coverage applies to loss of income suffered during the time required to repair or replace the damaged property. The Business income Coverage will take your pretax income and, based on the insurer, will pay out a replacement for that income until such time the building is repaired or the indemnity term is reached (usually 12 months). 

How do I know if I have this coverage?

When looking at your declarations pages for the coverage, look under the property section for either: “Business income and extra expense coverage” or “Business income coverage form without extra expense”

Business Income Coverage for Autos:

BIC isn’t typically included on auto policies and probably isn’t necessary for all the vehicles in your fleet. To get paid out for loss to a vehicle, you will have to prove that another similar vehicle wasn’t available for rent/purchase and that there was a loss of income due to not being able to complete a certain job because you were without that vehicle. 

While this would be a hard claim to make on a Ford F150, the same cannot be said for the grapple saw truck in your fleet or a specialty crane. These vehicles are very hard to rent or replace quickly and a tree service could very easily lose jobs if they don’t have this truck operating. 

How should I apply for this coverage:

There are 2 options when applying for this coverage: 

• Listing specific vehicle(s) on your policy with separate limits of insurance for each item (example – 5 trucks, each with its own limit).
• List two or more items under a single limit of insurance that applies to all losses to any or all of the listed vehicles damaged in a single occurrence. The insurance world calls this blanket coverage. This is typically more favorable and acts similarly to blanket property coverage allowing for a higher limit per vehicle.

Business Income Coverage for Equipment:

Again, BIC isn’t typically included on your Inland Marine policies or on scheduled mobile equipment and, just like with the auto policy, it may not be necessary on all equipment.

In the current market we have clients who are struggling to replace chippers and mini-lifts and unfortunately, without those pieces of equipment, they lose jobs to their competitors. The same two options are available for the equipment as are available for the vehicles. 

Waiting Periods:

Instead of having a dollar amount deductible, BIC is subject to a time deductible, which is called a Waiting Period. This is where the insurance company does not pay for the first 72-hours after the incident happened. For an additional premium, the insured can select a 24-hour waiting period or no waiting period.

How to Calculate Business Income Coverage

Again, the calculation of Business Income Coverage can be complex, however, the minimum items to consider when choosing a BIC limit are: Operating Expenses (such as: Taxes, Payroll, Advertising), Fixed Expenses (for example: Utilities, Mortgages or Rent) and your Profit Margin. Follow the three steps below to calculate your coverage limit.  

• Calculate your total revenue.
• Subtract your business’s expenses and operating costs from your total revenue. This calculates your business’s earnings before tax.
• Deduct taxes from this amount to find you business’s net income. Your net income will be the limit that you can insure on your business income policy.

The world of insurance is full of little nuances that can make a huge impact on your company’s success and Business Income Coverage is one of them. If you have any questions on Business Income Coverage for your tree service, please contact an ArboRisk team member today or sign up for our Free Insurance Coverage Review to ensure you are protecting your business as best as possible. If you are ready to take the next step, check out ArboRisk’s Thrive Risk Management New Heights Package! Our most robust risk management package, our team of industry experts can help you focus on key areas to successfully grow your company.

Insuring Your Property & Equipment

Written by Tom Dunn

A couple of areas of insurance that tree care companies probably don’t spend as much time considering as some other exposures is commercial property and equipment insurance. Those who deal with insurance for their companies are probably more likely to lose sleep thinking about property damage their crews might cause to a client’s property or an auto accident or perhaps a work related injury to one of the crew members, before they think of property and equipment insurance. 

However, you should pay attention to this area of your overall insurance program and be knowledgeable on what these policies protect and how losses are paid out. It sounds pretty straight forward based on the names, but as anyone who has to deal with insurance on a regular basis, coverage is not always as it seems. 

Let’s briefly summarize what the coverage is meant for and some considerations you need to be aware of.  

Commercial Property Insurance covers damage to businesses’ buildings (Real Property) and contents (Business Personal Property) due to a covered cause of loss, such as a fire. The policy may also cover loss of income or extra expenses that result from the property damage. 

Most commercial property policies cover buildings and personal property situated at your premises or within a short distance thereof (such as 100 feet) and include a number of coverage enhancements, for example accounts receivable, outdoor signs and property of others that will have their own sub-limits.  

There are different methods for valuing and assigning coverage limits to a commercial property that determines the amount an insurance company will pay at the time of loss. Two of the most common follow. 

• Actual cash value (ACV): The amount equal to the replacement cost minus depreciation of a damaged or stolen property at the time of the loss.
• Replacement cost (RCV): The cost to replace the damaged property with materials of like kind and quality, without any deduction for depreciation. Insurers typically will not pay on a replacement cost basis for any loss until the loss or damaged property is actually repaired or replaced. 

Key differences in these two valuation methods are the scope and cost of the coverage. Replacement cost coverage will obviously cost a lot more as your limit will need to be listed at the value to replace the insured item, but will be worth it if you have a major loss and have to rebuild a property from the ground up. 

Why else is ACV and RCV important?  Insurance companies have taken steps to make sure their policy holders are insuring their property to value or at a level to generate enough revenue to pay for any losses that may occur. This is called co-insurance. Basically, the amount of coverage purchased must be equal to at least the co-insurance percentage times the value of the property. If it is not, the policy holder becomes a “co-insurer” for that portion of the value they didn’t insure to. A standard co-insurance percentage used is 80%, but again everyone will have different needs.  

Causes of loss forms establish and define the causes of loss (or perils) for which coverage is provided. The special causes of loss form (CP 10 30) provides what is referred to as all risk coverage or coverage for loss from any cause except those that are specifically excluded.

Commercial property insurance policies will commonly have exclusions for certain perils like earthquakes and floods, unless those perils are specifically added and listed on the policy. Additional coverage for these contingencies can be obtained depending on where you live and the risks in your area of the country.

Other considerations: 

• Business Income coverage: Also called Business Interruption coverage. This covers the loss of income suffered by a business when damage to its premises by a covered cause of loss causes a slowdown or suspension of its operations. Coverage applies to loss suffered during the time required to repair or replace the damaged property. 
• Extra Expense: Covers expenses beyond the normal day to day operating expenses that are necessary to keep a business going when recovering from a loss. For example, leasing equipment. 

Notice I mentioned earlier that commercial property insurance may cover business income and extra expense. Talk to your agent to make sure it is properly addressed in the insurance company forms being used. Commercial businesses should operate with a Business Continuity Plan (read a past weekly tip on this topic here) Develop an action plan for catastrophic disasters and keep accurate records or prior year’s income and income results. 

Equipment insurance is a generic name that is more appropriately called tools and equipment, contractor’s equipment, equipment floater, and/or mobile equipment. The common theme is they are all names for a type of insurance called Inland Marine insurance.

Why all the different names? Inland Marine insurance originally derived from ocean marine insurance, which protected property transported over water. Once on land, the coverage form changes to Inland Marine. It is also sometimes referred to as an equipment floater, because it covers property that “floats” or moves around, as opposed to staying in one place like the commercial property insurance. Think of your skid steers, stump grinders, and chippers here. Ok, enough of the name game. We will stick with Contractor’s Equipment going forward. 

Most Contractor’s Equipment is written on an “all risk basis” and provide coverage for direct physical damage and loss for exposures like theft, fire, floods, equipment breakdown and vandalism. Contractor’s Equipment is also written on either a replacement cost or actual cash value basis and provides coverage on either a scheduled basis for larger pieces of equipment or blanket coverage basis for items like miscellaneous tools. 

Other Considerations

When looking at Contractor’s Equipment policies, tree care companies should consider the following additional coverages, which may already be included in a policy or may need to be added through an endorsement:

• Coverage for equipment leased, rented or borrowed from others. For many tree care companies, it doesn’t always make sense to own all of their equipment. Sometimes a business will lease equipment from someone else. An equipment lease typically makes the tree care company liable for damage to the equipment that occurs during the term of the lease. 
• Rental reimbursement and continuing expenses. If equipment is damaged by a covered loss, many insurance companies will provide coverage for additional expenses related to the claim, such as rental or lease of similar equipment, overtime wages needed to complete the work and transportation of the rented equipment.
• Coverage for expediting expenses. Specialized or customized equipment that is compromised may not be easily replaced. To keep work on schedule, contractors often incur additional labor or freight costs to expedite delivery of replacement tools and equipment. Some forms of contractor’s equipment insurance can help cover these expenses.

Suffice to say, insurance coverage for a tree care company can be pretty technical but is critical to help keep your company in business. Knowing a little more about what it is and how it is covered can help you when you review your overall insurance program with your insurance agent. 

If you are wondering whether or not you are properly covered, contact the ArboRisk team to set up a free Coverage Review or check out our Thrive Risk Management New Heights Package for more information on developing and growing your business.