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The Certificate and Evidence of Insurance forms which ACORD made effective in late 2009/early 2010 have raised alarm among insurance certificate holders and the insureds that must provide them. Unless insurers issue manuscript endorsements to their policies (which is unlikely), insurers no longer make any pledge that they will even attempt to notify most certificate holders if the policies are cancelled. The new certificate forms have eliminated the assurance that the insurer would “endeavor to mail __ days written notice to the certificate holder.” They simply state that “…should any of the above described policies be cancelled before the expiration date thereof, notice will be delivered in accordance with the policy provisions.”What does that mean to certificate holders under standard insurance policies?
Liability and auto – Even if a certificate holder is an additional insured, it will not be notified if the policy is cancelled. Only the First Named Insured will be notified.
Workers compensation – Certificate holders will not be notified of cancellation, since the policy requires the insurance company to notify only the covered employer.
Property – Mortgagees and loss payees on standard property policies will be notified – 10 days before the insurer cancels for nonpayment, 30 days before it cancels for any other reason and 10 days before it nonrenews the policy (unless modified by state requirements). Other certificate holders, even additional insureds, will not be notified.
All policies – Certificate holders, even additional insureds, will not be notified if the insured itself cancels the policy.How should insurance requirements in contracts be changed in order to respond?
Contract language requiring insurance certificates to state that “__ days notice of cancellation be given” and requiring that the “endeavor to” language in the certificate be deleted, is no longer applicable. Even if changes are made to the certificate, ACORD has made it exceedingly clear that changes to the certificate do not change the policy.
The contract should require that the insured party provide immediate notice to the owner, lessor, etc. if the insured entity receives notice of cancellation or nonrenewal from its insurer. This provision is especially important since many insurers will not be willing to comply with the recommendations below, especially for smaller insureds. Unfortunately, this has the obvious drawback of depending on the very party who is non-performing to report the non-performance.
Contracts should require that the insured’s policies be endorsed to meet the certificate holder’s reasonable requirements. (However, as stated above, not all insurers will be willing to cooperate.) If the insurer is somewhat cooperative, it may be willing to extending the same notification rights to the certificate holder that it gives to the first Named Insured. Below is sample manuscript endorsement wording that would accomplish that end. Very large insureds may be able to obtain even broader notification rights.”If we cancel or elect not to renew this policy, we will give written notice to ____________ at the following address __________________. We will provide the same notice of cancellation and nonrenewal that is required by this policy to the first Named Insured.”So if the certificate holder is given the same notice of cancellation and nonrenewal as the first Named Insured, what does that actually mean with standard policies?Standard commercial insurance policies provide the first Named Insured with 10 days notice of cancellation for nonpayment of premium. If the insurer cancels mid-term for any reason besides non-payment of premium, commercial general liability, automobile and property policies provide 30 days notice of cancellation. Workers compensation policies, however, provide only 10 days notice of mid-term cancellation. If an insurer nonrenews a policy versus cancelling it mid-term, it may nonrenew a commercial automobile or workers compensation policy without any advance notice at all. Property policies may also be nonrenewed without any advance notice to the insured, but if there is a mortgagee or loss payee on the policy, they must be given at least 10 days advance notice. General liability policies may be nonrenewed with just 30 days notice.State laws in most states change the above requirements, requiring more notice in many situations. For instance, Florida requires that carriers provide the first Named Insured with 45 days notice of cancellation in some circumstances. The provisions of the different state laws are often complicated, differing not only by line of coverage but also by length of time the policy has been in force, the specific reasons for the cancellation or nonrenewal, etc. The specific state requirements can be accessed through the IRMI Insurance Cancellation Guide published by the International Risk Management Institute.The larger the insured client, the more likely that it will be able to obtain additional concessions from its insurer. If possible, those additional provisions should require:
Advance notice to the certificate holder even if the insured initiates the cancellation or nonrenewal and
Minimum cancellation and nonrenewal provisions, regardless of what is provided by the standard policies or various state laws.Why not just require the old form?You may ask, “Why doesn’t the certificate holder simply require the insured and its insurance agent to provide the old certificate of insurance form?” What certificate holders and insureds should know is that if an agent does modify a standard certificate or signs a custom one that provides notice of cancellation, it is almost certainly doing so against the explicit direction of the insurance company. So while the certificate holder may have a paper in its hand which states that the insurance company will provide notice of cancellation, the insurer will not stand behind it. If coverage is cancelled, all that the certificate holder has probably gained is the right to sue the agent and its errors and omissions carrier. Since the agent is probably executing the modified certificate with the full knowledge that it is not authorized to do so, coverage under its errors and omissions policy is suspect. For a fuller understanding of why an agent executing modified certificates is engaging in a practice which may be unauthorized, deceptive and potentially illegal, please see the article written by Bill Wilson of the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America at http://www.iiaba.net/eprise/main/VU/NonMember/WilsonCancellationNotice.htm.Vendor solutionsI am aware of about 20 different vendors who provide some form of insurance certificate and verification service. I have found only one vendor that provides a certificate service that completely bypasses ACORD certificates and their problems. I pass on their information as a service to readers. Their name is Ins-Cert Corporation, and information on their services can be found by doing an Internet search under that name. Their system is Web-based and requires the agent/broker to agree to make a “good faith effort” to enter notices of cancellation into their system. The system then automatically sends cancellation notices to all certificate holders by email. Their system appears to offer a solution to both the problem of cancellation notices and also the problem of fraudulent ACORD certificates. From my investigation I believe they offer a legitimate service and are worthy of consideration. Readers of this paper who have found other workable solutions to this problem are asked to contact me.Why the “Good Ol’ Days” Weren’t Really So Good -Certificate holders certainly wish that the insurance industry would find a way to notify them when an insurance policy is cancelled. But in reality, they may not have lost much in this change besides the illusion that the insurer would notify them.
Many insureds have a “blanket additional insured” endorsement on their liability policies. That means that anyone that the insured agrees to name as an additional insured in a contract is automatically given that status in its insurance policy. But that also means that the insurance company does not obtain the names and addresses of those additional insureds, so the insurer does not know who they are or how to notify them.
Certificate holders would reasonably assume that as a matter of good faith, insurers would require that the agents/brokers send them a list of all of the certificates that they issued so that the insurer could “endeavor” to give notice of cancellation. Incredibly, that is not the case. Many carriers have explicitly told the agents/brokers not to send them copies of the certificates.Since many insurance carriers have not made the good faith effort to comply with the notice requirements of the old certificate forms, not much is lost by eliminating the notice requirements altogether. At least false promises are no longer being made.Closing thoughtIn writing about these changes on its own Website ACORD explained that it had to change its certificates because they sometimes contradicted or expanded the duties contained in the underlying insurance policies. Unfortunately, they were not able to cooperate with the other players in the insurance industry (the insurance companies, ISO and NCCI) to craft a solution which solved that problem while also meeting the legitimate business need of certificate holders to receive a cancellation notice. The outcry from the business community may need to get much louder before a better solution to this problem is reached.The information presented here is necessarily general and is not intended as legal advice.

The term online network marketing gets tossed around casually by different people meaning different things. No doubt you came across the term (and search for it) because someone told you that taking your MLM business online was a guaranteed path to success. We’ll let’s be realistic, there are no guarantees (especially not in network marketing), but there are a lot of positive thing happening with online network marketing that you should be aware of so you can figure out it that direction is right for you.The term online network marketing really encompasses at least 3 totally different realms – Products, Lead Generation and Social Proof – and we will explore each of these separately. Contrary to popular opinion online network marketing isn’t just for online products and services. If you provide a physical product or offline service, keep reading to understand how online network marketing factors into your lead generation and can be used to establish credibility.Online Network Marketing: Online Products and ServicesIf you provide an online product or service you already know it. For everyone else, the types of MLM products that we are talking about in this section are products such as discount programs, travel programs, financial services or training programs. All of these products and services are intangible. There is no physical item to hold, touch and smell.If you promote an intangible product, you can use online network marketing techniques across your entire marketing, sales and delivery process. You can generate the lead online, explain the product online, close the transaction online and deliver the purchase online. An online product or service allows you to build a truly virtual company that you can operate from anywhere and that doesn’t require your physical presence. If you are an introvert or are tired of home-meetings occupying your evenings and weekends, an intangible product is the right choice for your online network marketing endeavors.With a physical product, you can use online network marketing tactics for lead generation, education and transaction processing, but there will typically be an intermediate in-person step. No matter how much online education is available, almost all new customers will want to taste any edible products, try on any fashion products or feel and home decor products. Note that we say “new” customers in the previous sentence. For existing customers and are familiar with the product quality or taste, online network marketing can be highly effective for reorders or introducing a new seasonal product line.Online Network Marketing: Online Lead GenerationNo matter what product or service you are promoting, lead generation is universally the central focus of your online network marketing program. One 2011 study found that 900 million people access the internet from a PC at home and a whopping 1.6 billion active mobile phone subscriptions. In his 2011 State of the Union address, President Obama committed to providing 98% of all Americans with high-speed wireless internet access in the next five years. There has been no other time in history where a new, solo entrepreneur could use technology and a little savvy know-how to reach a market of millions from their home.The power of online network marketing is best applied toward lead generation. You put your offer in front of hundreds, thousands or millions of people, they self-select in our out. You’ve probably heard your upline sponsor refer to the practice of “sifting and sorting”. The internet is the most powerful way to automate the front-end portion of this process. Allow automated systems to screen prospects and pass you only the most qualified leads for further personal follow-up.Online lead generation applies equally to product and service sales and to finding new downline distributors. While the message and the offer will be different, the concepts and technical aspects of the online network marketing system are the same. Once you learn online lead generation you can apply it to any company and any product line.Online Network Marketing: Social ProofThe unique role of the internet as a validator of claims is often over-looked in discussions of online network marketing. When people encounter new information and aren’t sure whether to trust the information (or the source) they look for validation from sources that they DO trust. Trusted sources might include impartial newspapers, research publications, parents, long-time friends or credentialed experts. The more reinforcement of the central message they get from the sources they trust most, the more they believe the original claim.But does the opinion of one expert really outweigh the opinion of 1 stranger. How about 1 expert versus 100 strangers. What about a 10,000 ordinary strangers all saying the same thing? At some point the qualifications of the source become somewhat irrelevant and sheer numbers take over.The internet can make or break your company or product based on social proof alone. This has nothing to do with lead generation or sales, this aspect of online network marketing is about brand reputation. Even if you are not generating leads online or selling online, you need to be aware of the online chatter about your company and its products or services and whether it is trending negative or positive.Online Network Marketing: Getting StartedWe have looked at three aspect of online network marketing to give you a sense for its diversity. While there are a handful of networkers that succeed 100% online, the vast majority are using the internet for specific strategic objectives which support their offline efforts. Some might use the internet for lead generation, others for social networking, others for team training and yet others for record-keeping and administration. In fact, the most effective business systems we have ever seen, combine online and offline methods to reach the prospect through multiple modalities.That’s why we have one primary online network marketing training system that we recommend. The creators of this program a wicked-smart about all the advanced online tactics, but are keenly aware that they are most powerful when combined with offline print, radio or mail strategies. Also, the creators of this online network marketing program were beginners themselves not long ago and are able to teach as if they were in a beginner’s shoes. If you are ready for advanced, that’s in there too.

So you have decided what your online business model will be. So now the question is, how are you going to get your business in front of consumers? The answer is the ever so talked about, internet marketing. The word internet marketing covers quite a bit of ground. So in this article I want to break down a few things that are all considered internet or online marketing. This is not the how-to, rather it is the what-can be done with internet marketing. Some of the things we are going to cover will work as supporting internet marketing tools, while other can function as a complete business for those who only do internet marketing like affiliate marketers for example. In part 4 of this article we will go into building traffic to your site, we will also discuss other aspects of internet marketing in parts 5, 6, 7 and 8.If you are ready to start looking at doing some internet marketing for your business you should have already done all the basic research. Your site should be up with all the basic marketing tools on them, and you will know what your target market is. Since I am going to assume that you do not have the marketing tools on there yet, I will go over a few of them as well.So what internet marketing tools are available for you to use, both on your site and as additional support. The basic ones that you should be aware of and hopefully have on your site is either a newsletter or auto-responder. This requires an opt-in form somewhere on your page that allows you to get a persons email address if nothing else. Most will ask for both a name and email since it allows you to personalize your correspondence with the user. Some other basic tools are of course your copy, images and other content that you can have on your site, but that is pretty much a given. Other tools that can be used on your website as part of internet marketing are for example auctions, coupons, membership areas and of course informational pages. Even though you are not selling the information, it can still be a very valuable tool. Another thing you can do on your site as part of your internet marketing is offer an affiliate program, which of course only works if you are selling something and you are not an affiliate marketer yourself.The next thing I want to mention as part of internet marketing is SEO. This is what makes the search engines deliver your website as a result when people do specific searches. SEO is a big part of generating traffic to you website, or should we say, it can be a big part if you do it right. SEO has two aspects that are both important and need to be done right in order for your internet marketing to be effective. The two aspects of SEO are on-site and off-site optimization. If you approach your marketing on the internet in a well thought out way, you will automatically be doing off-site optimization, but the on-site will require your direct attention, research and work. SEO does not happen over night and is an ongoing process on your behalf to make sure that your site is steadily climbing up the results on the search engines. If you do your research and understand SEO you will not need to focus specifically on it, rather it is something that is built along side your online business.Now here is a brief look at some tools that you can use that are not directly related to your website, or on your website. These are the internet marketing tools you can use in combination with your website in order to increase traffic, exposure, brand recognition and if done right you can use some of these tools to increase your turn over rate of lookers to buyers. A few marketing tool you can use are of course the obvious ones like plain advertisements. This can be PPC, PPM or banner advertisements. In addition you can use classifieds, paid registration with directories and local business registration with some of the search engines. This type of internet marketing can vary extremely in price and depending on what kind of investments you are willing to make, may be over your internet marketing budget. This form on internet marketing is extremely effective, if of course they are done right.Some other forms of internet marketing you can use are things like squeeze pages, social media marketing and email marketing. Squeeze pages are becoming very popular with internet marketers, because you can use them in several ways. This includes using them on your website and/or setting them up to work as a stand alone tool in your internet marketing campaign. A squeeze page or opt-in page as they are also known as is a fundamental tool that requires the use of either a newsletter or auto-responder. Without either of those a squeeze page is useless, because a squeeze page or opt-in page is really nothing more than a tool used to “harvest” names and email addresses of your users. This is done so that you can start utilizing email marketing and establish a relationship with your users, both those who did not buy and those who did buy. Another form of email marketing is buying an email campaign. This can be a very effective way to give your internet marketing campaign a boost. There are vendors out there that offer to do email marketing. This service is provided by companies that normally have spent years building an opt-in list of users that are interested in certain products or services. Email marketing campaigns are normally sold by millions of emails sent and have a pretty good response rate. This means that you can create an email that will be sent to several million users at a time, so if you only get a small fraction of people clicking through to your website it could potentially mean that you get several thousand users to take a look. The last part we want to briefly touch on is a phenomenon that had been up and coming over the last few years. Social media marketing has started to become an internet marketing field of it’s own, with companies often spending quite a bit of the marketing funds focusing on social media marketing. Social media marketing is the term used for internet marketing done on all social networks. A social network is anything that allows users to interact, either in writing, with videos or audio, so as you can guess the term covers almost just as much ground as the them internet marketing does.All of the terms and the tools we have covered in this part are extremely valuable tools. Even though this list is not complete and does not cover all of the tools available for internet marketers, an internet marketing campaign will consist of a combination of these tools. There are several variations that you can use in order to maximize your marketing efforts and I suggest that you educate yourself about how these tools can be used effectively. Once you learn how to use these internet marketing tools in an effective way, you could be the next internet success story.