Buyer Beware! CG2144 or CG2136?

Written by Eric Petersen, CIC

Understanding the nuances of your insurance policies may not be your top priority, but the fine print deep inside the language of your policy can make all the difference when it comes to a claim. 

Since we have been insuring tree care companies and analyzing their insurance coverage for over 20 years now, we’ve seen a lot of different policy forms and endorsements over the years. However, the two most common and dangerous endorsements we see on General Liability policies that tree care company owners are not aware of are…

CG2144 – Limitation of Coverage to Designated Premises or Project

CG2136 – Exclusion – Designated Work

Let’s dig into each of them below…

CG2144 – Limitation of Coverage to Designated Premises or Project

This endorsement changes your General Liability policy to ONLY cover certain locations and or operations that your company performs. If you have this endorsement on your policy, you will see a box showing what premises or projects (operations) that the General Liability will be providing coverage for. If your company offers any other services that are not listed here, there will not be General Liability coverage when you need it. 

We often see tree care companies that do some landscaping or snow/ice removal who do not have coverage for those services because they do not have those services listed on this limitation of coverage. 

CG2136 – Exclusion – Designated Work

This endorsement changes your General Liability policy to EXCLUDE coverage for certain operations/services that you may provide. Like the CG2144, if you have this endorsement on your policy, you will find a box with a number of services or operations included inside. These are operations that the insurance company will not cover you for.

The most common and perhaps problematic of the services that are listed in this endorsement would be for crane operations. Unfortunately, we see crane operations excluded from policies all of the time using this endorsement. So whether you own a crane or rent one or subcontract a company with a crane to assist in a large removal, please, please, please, make sure you do not have this on your policy!

Of course with most insurance coverages, if you find that you have either or both of these forms on your policy talk with your insurance agent to have them edited or removed all together. 

If your current agent has never discussed either of these policy forms with you, click here to request an Insurance Coverage Review from an ArboRisk team member.

Effective Sales Meetings

Written by Eric Petersen, CIC

Raise your hand if you love sales meetings.

I bet not many readers of this article actually raised their hand and I don’t blame them for that. Most sales meetings are not an effective use of the sales person’s time. Sales people do not want to be stuck in a meeting, they want to be out seeing their customers and prospects and their frustration with meetings compounds when they don’t feel that they get any value out of the meeting itself. 

What is the objective of a Sales Meeting? 

It is simply to help your sales team sell more.That’s it. Don’t overcomplicate this during your meetings. 

So how do you make sure you are having effective sales meetings? Here are my six tips to getting the most out of your sales meetings:

1. Define purpose to all involved – The “Why” – Make sure everyone knows why you are holding sales meetings; to help them sell more! This sounds elementary, but this simple purpose must be stated fairly regularly to keep sales people engaged before, during and after the meeting. When they feel that they have your support, salespeople perform better and are more likely to help offer suggestions for improvement. 
2. Set an agenda and stick to it – Without an agenda, sales meetings meander around hoping to help someone in the meeting while undoubtedly wasting most people’s time. No one wants to sit in a meeting and not know what is going to be talked about next or worse yet, not know how long the meeting will last. An agenda that is sent out in advance of the meeting also allows the participants a chance to prepare beforehand to be more effective during the time spent together. For a few sample meeting agenda types, check out this article. 
3. Start AND end on time – This also is pretty basic, but when you ask a sales person to take time out of their day to spend in a meeting versus with their customers/prospects, you need to start the meeting on time and end on time. Respecting your sales people’s time should be a foundational part of any organization. Most tree companies are good at starting on time, but need to work at ending on time. To properly end a meeting on time, your agenda must keep you focused and have a built-in option to table certain items until the next meeting.
4. Celebrate wins – Everyone likes to feel victorious and sharing success stories with your sales team are a great way to do this. Not only does the individual salesperson get recognition for a job well done, the others may learn a thing or two on what went into closing that sale and be able to apply that the next time they have a similar situation. 
5. Ensure collaborative environment – It is easy for a sales meeting to turn into a competitive bragging session between your sales people, especially when you are celebrating individual wins. Ensure that you create a collaborative environment by focusing on team goals throughout the meeting and building in time for everyone to contribute something that they’ve learned/experienced. It’s amazing to hear the sales ideas you get from your team when you foster a team environment in your sales meetings.  
6. Keep meeting minutes – This last tip is probably the hardest for every sales manager, but it is so critical to keep your meetings as effective as possible. Before the meeting starts, someone should be assigned to take the meeting minutes. They do not have to be an entire log of everything that was said, but they should reflect; who was in attendance, summary of each agenda item, goal updates and most importantly who will do what by when. The last part is the crucial accountability part that is often missed with sales meetings. Remember, the purpose of the sales meeting is to help your salespeople sell more, so build this into your meeting structure so there is more accountability for everyone involved.

If you are struggling creating a sales meeting format that works for your team or need help developing a better sales process, reach out to an ArboRisk team member today to get started in our Thrive Sales & Marketing Package.

Sales Meeting Types and Agendas

Written by Eric Petersen, CIC

Ah, the dreaded sales meeting. Every tree care company that has a sales team holds these meetings, yet, not many companies know how to best utilize the time spent together. The largest improvement a tree care company can make to their sales meetings is to create and stick to a set agenda. 

But when creating an agenda, many sales managers realize there are a lot of topics they wish to cover and not enough time to do it. Because of this, I recommend getting your sales team on a regular schedule of three types of sales meetings to be held weekly, monthly and quarterly. 

At ArboRisk, we recently moved to this structure and it has helped our sales team keep their focus during these meetings and has allowed us to be more effective with the time we spend together. 

**Pro Tip** Select a set day of the week and at the same time to hold these meetings every week so everyone becomes comfortable in the cadence of the meetings. 

Weekly Prospecting Meeting – Just Sales Team – 30 mins

This meeting should be brief and focused on the tasks that are needed to be performed to achieve results. These meetings keep your team aligned and on track. 

Agenda

• Introduction (5 minutes)
  1. Icebreaker
  2. Outline goals for the meeting
• Team Brief (5 minutes)
  1. Go over new company updates or policies
  2. Review questions or concerns from the previous meeting
• Prospect Pipeline Updates (5 minutes)
  1. Discuss open Opportunities in the pipeline
  2. Identify challenges or bottlenecks
• Review Goals and Metrics (5 minutes)
  1. Evaluate progress
  2. Review key performance metrics
  3. Discuss trajectory
• Celebrate Wins & Share Ideas (5 minutes)
  1. Recognize individual and team achievements
  2. Highlight specific successes
  3. Exchange ideas
• The Wrap Up (5 minutes)
  1. Action items to be completed before next meeting
  2. Confirm next meeting time and agenda

Monthly Sales Meeting – Just Sales Team – 1 hour

This meeting is a little more strategic than the weekly meetings. While you still focus on tasks that need to be done, reviewing the past month and setting the course for the coming month are important here. 

Agenda

• Introduction (5 minutes)
1. Icebreaker
2. Outline the goals for the meeting
• Performance Review (5 minutes)
1. Analyze overall team sales performance for the month
2. Review key metrics for team and individuals
3. Discuss areas of success
4. Discuss areas of improvement
• Goal Progress (10 minutes)
1. Assess progress toward our quarterly sales goals
2. Discuss any challenges and bottlenecks identified during weekly meeting
• Strategy Evaluation (10 minutes)
1. Reflect on the effectiveness of sales strategies and tactics
2. Identify opportunities for refinement or new approaches
• Training and Development (25 minutes)
1. Sales Training Topic 
2. Brainstorm for next monthly sales training topic
• The Wrap Up (5 minutes)
1. Action items to be completed before next meeting
2. Confirm next meeting time and agenda

Quarterly Sales & Marketing Meeting – Sales & Marketing Teams – 1 hour 

Quarterly Sales Meetings need to focus on more strategy items and incorporate your marketing team. This is when Sales & Marketing come together to make adjustments and ensure the marketing messaging is being utilized by the sales team. 

Agenda

1. Introduction (5 minutes)
• Icebreaker
• Outline the goals for the meeting
2. Review the Last Quarter (15 minutes)
• Evaluate the team’s performance
• Identify successes, challenges, and areas for improvements
• Discuss lessons learned
3. Plan for the Next 90 Days (15 minutes)
• Set new goals and objectives
• Define specific action plans and targets
• Establish clear expectations
4. The Health of the Pipeline and Strategies (10 minutes)
• Assess the status of ongoing deals in the sales pipeline
• Identify any bottlenecks or opportunities
• Review the effectiveness of current plans and tactics
• Discuss new marketing approaches or initiatives
5. Review the Annual and Long-term Plan (10 minutes)
• Revisit the annual and 3-5 year goals
• Evaluate progress towards these goals
6. The Wrap Up (5 minutes)
• Action items to be completed before next meeting
• Confirm next meeting time and agenda

Lastly, it’s important to note that the Monthly and Quarterly meetings will take place instead of the Weekly meetings, so as not to overburden everyone with extra meetings. For example, let’s say you make Tuesday morning your meeting time, here is this basic cadence for the first quarter in 2024. 

Jan. 2nd, 2024 – Quarter 1 – Sales & Marketing Meeting

Jan. 9th – Weekly Prospecting Meeting

Jan. 16th – Weekly Prospecting Meeting

Jan. 23rd – Weekly Prospecting Meeting

Jan. 30th – Weekly Prospecting Meeting

Feb. 6th – Monthly Sales Meeting

Feb. 13th – Weekly Prospecting Meeting

Feb. 20th – Weekly Prospecting Meeting

Feb. 27th – Weekly Prospecting Meeting

Mar. 5th – Monthly Sales Meeting

Mar. 12th – Weekly Prospecting Meeting

Mar. 19th – Weekly Prospecting Meeting

Mar. 26th – Weekly Prospecting Meeting

April 2nd – Quarter 2 – Sales & Marketing Meeting, and so on…

If you are struggling creating a sales meeting format that works for your team or need help developing a better sales process, reach out to an ArboRisk team member today to get started in our Thrive Sales & Marketing Package.