Sometimes in business, it’s not what you know, but who you know that makes the difference between chance and opportunity. Liability insurance can be a huge cost for contractors, and insurance agents seem to want to get the most out of a snow contractor. Despite being stuck in a high-risk business, a contractor and agent can build a relationship that benefits both parties. Not every agent is going to want to spend weekend afternoons with your family, but any business relationship can go farther than that annual renewal. Here’s how Tom Canete of Canete Snow Management in Wayne, N.J., built his relationship with his insurance provider.

From the start
Tommy Nastasi is a little bit younger than me. We work out at the same gym. We hit it off on a personal basis and became friends outside the business. It just so happens that he was a liability agent. I was working with another firm at the time, but I got started with Tommy in 2006 because we fit a lot better together. I knew I could talk about business with him and he wanted to learn about the snow removal.

Working together
We can get together a lot more often. He’s more available when I have a question. With my old agent, when I would call him, sometimes it would be a couple days before he would answer me if I didn’t have a lot of business with him. In business, I want to work with someone who’s going to get back to me no matter how much work I have with them. I know if I call Tommy on a Sunday, he’ll answer his phone for me. He’ll get back to me right away. One good thing is that we can get together to review things for the policy. When it comes time to renew every year, we go over the policy and he’ll let me know what I’ve got to pay for it. He’ll tell me, “This is nothing to get nervous about.”

Helping your agent
He wanted to learn about the industry. He went with me to a show and picked up lots of information about contractors. He learned about what we do and that helped him find the best ways to sell insurance to other contractors and make sure they have the right coverage for what they do. He ended up getting some nice business from that trip.”

Rewards
He really helped me figure out ways I could lower my costs. He gave me some tips for bringing my experience mod down. I was able to put some really good managers out watching my crews. We put safety notices up in both English and Spanish. We have GPS units in all of our trucks. We were able to get some discounts on our rates doing things like that.

Tommy let me know different ways that I could watch costs. He can’t do me any favors or anything, but he can always give me good tips. He can tell me things that I can do to lower my premium, which is awesome.

He helps me determine the kinds of claims that I should turn in, too. The medical ones you always turn in, but for other things, a broken window or something, he’ll help you determine which ones to turn in and which ones you don’t. You’re always going to get one or two of during the season. You’ve got to report it, but some you can take care of out of pocket.

He’s always telling me what’s going on in the business. He’ll watch the insurance industry for me and tell me what’s happening. He’ll cover different regulations for me and break it down, like stuff that you can’t really do anything about but that you really need to know. There are parts about the policy I still don’t comprehend, but I’ve learned a lot more since I’ve started working with him. He’s always steering me in the right direction.

You don’t have to be personal friends for any of this, but they should anyway. If they’re a good agent and they want your business, they’ll do it.