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PODCAST OPENER
Welcome to the Inside Insight podcast presented by CR Solutions. At Consolidated Risk Solutions, we are taking our expert knowledge of the insurance world and using it to innovate the industry using technology, groundbreaking thinking and a personal touch. Join us as we talk to masterminds both inside and outside of CR Solutions about how the world of insurance is changing, and how we can be sure to grow along with it. If you have to manage insurance in your work, then you can benefit from the interviews, conversations and insights we’ll be exploring to elevate your business’s success.
INTRO (00:42 – 02:38)
Trevor Casey: Well, Beau, we’re back again with another episode. This time we’re bringing in some of the…
Beau Lunceford: Some of the in house experts.
Trevor Casey: The high tier managers.
Beau Lunceford: Those ballers.
Trevor Casey: The people we could not get on our podcast because they’re so dang busy.
Beau Lunceford: I mean, we’ve been trying to organize this for a hot minute.
Trevor Casey: Yeah, we’re finally there, finally got it, as Leah would say, pretty cool.
Beau Lunceford: Pretty cool. So today, we are very excited to share with you an interview that Trevor and I put together with two of our account managers here in CR Solutions to kind of give you a little bit of a behind the scenes look at what happens on these teams, what is going on, that’s making CR Solutions, such a hot commodity. So we’re going to be speaking to Kris Cannon, who is one of the account managers on the insurance tracking team. And then Taylor Zaganas, who is one of the account managers on our GL only Wrap-Ups. But he has such a great knowledge base that he actually is able to speak into both the GL only side of things as well as the Bi-Line side of things.
Trevor Casey: And what’s cool about this is what the CR Summer that we had just done, those are with the executives, so the top tier of each team, this is working down the pyramid a little bit. So you’re kind of diving more into the day to day and actually seeing what we truly do hear within these teams. And like you said, I think is really cool to see that Taylor got to speak to a little bit of both the Bi-Line and the GL only. And then Kris really focused on that awesome certify product.
Beau Lunceford: Woo, man, and there’s a lot that goes into both of those teams. But before we give away the whole interview, we are going to set you guys up, let you sit back, enjoy and listen to this conversation that we had with Kris and Taylor.
Trevor Casey: Let’s get into it.
Interview (02:42 – 20:44)
Beau Lunceford: Kris, Taylor, we’re really excited to have you here. Talking a little bit about what each of you guys do, what your teams contribute to CR Solutions. And we’re just excited to hear from some people who genuinely have boots on the ground experience with what it is that we do hear. So I’m super glad that y’all are here.
Kris Cannon: Thank you.
Taylor Zaganas: Good to be here.
Beau Lunceford: So just to give everyone kind of an intro to who you are. Tell us a little bit about who you are, what it is that you do here and how long you’ve been with CR Solutions?
Kris Cannon: Kris Cannon. I’ve been here for seven years. New Title is Senior Account Manager. Work on this insurance tracking team. I have about seven people under me that I manage throughout the day. Usually come in in the mornings, touch base with everybody, and make sure everybody is good. We as a team, we have like individual responsibilities, but we still contribute as a team with everyone. And I just make sure everybody’s in a good place throughout the day.
Beau Lunceford: And just for clarity, tell us what team you oversee?
Kris Cannon: The Insurance Tracking Department.
Beau Lunceford: So, Taylor, tell us a little bit about what you do and what team you work with?
Taylor Zaganas: My name is Taylor Zaganas. I’m an Account Manager on the GL only team. So we handle general liability, only Wrap-Ups. I’ve been with the company for five years now. We have an account executive on our team, two account managers and then three account associates. And my day, I’ve managed my own projects, but I also assist our other team members, whenever issues arise with their projects. I’m just helping to keep everything in line.
Beau Lunceford: Keep everything moving forward. Well, one of the things that I really want to touch on today is kind of the difference of what your two departments what your teams do for see our solution. So Taylor, you technically sit on the GL only Wrap-Up team, but I’m going to ask you to step a little bit outside of that zone and speak also into Wrap-Ups in general and kind of what those look like. And then Kris, I’m gonna ask you to speak a little bit into what it is that the insurance tracking is really looking like now, because for anyone who’s listened to the podcast recently, they might recognize that we’re seeing a big boom in the insurance tracking world and the kind of services that we’re offering through CR-Certify. So that’s what we’re going to kind of touch on specifically for the two of you as my leaders in those areas. So the first thing I kind of want to ask specifically is, for each of your departments, what would you say is the biggest contribution that you offer in your department in your area?
Kris Cannon: For me, I know all of our clients inside and out that we handle, some are larger, some are smaller. And then we’re gaining new clients as we go on in through the future. So I know a little or I know, ins and outs of each of our clients, because our account associates that are below me, they have their individual clients that they take care of. So if they are out, or if they need assistance, I can jump in and I can help them. Or, as our team as a whole, I describe it as we individually has tasks. But at a team, we come together to make sure all those tasks are handled at the end of the day. Or our goals are handled at the end of the day. Some of our AA’s have multiple clients, some have just one big client that they can handle. So I try and know all the ins and outs about them all so that if there’s a question that arises, I can jump in and I can handle that specific client. Now we also have to know about endorsements and policies and exclusions. And I try and learn as much as I can about all of those. So that when the AA’s have questions about reviewing a certificate or reviewing one of the endorsements or exclusions, I can give them the knowledge that they need or help them learn where that knowledge can be like a databank.
Beau Lunceford: Oh yeah, that segues really well into my second half of the question is, so you’re overseeing these account associates. So what is their day to day kind of look like, high level?
Kris Cannon: They come in. So we have multiple email inboxes, or shared email inboxes that we work out of, and they come in, they look at their numbers, they post them in our team’s channel. And they there have a certain number of tasks or goals that they try and accomplish throughout the day.
Beau Lunceford: So when you say task, or goals they tried to accomplish, is that like they’re trying to review so many pieces of insurance?
Kris Cannon: Yes, so it’s kind of twofold. They try and look at so many certificates or pieces of insurance a day. And then they also try and get so many people compliant throughout a day. Or if there are certain other little tasks that we assigned to them that they try and get there.
Beau Lunceford: And it’s funny to specify or have to say pieces of insurance. Because kind of like you mentioned, you’re not just looking at certificates of insurance, you’re reviewing endorsements, you’re reviewing waivers, all sorts of different documents that fall under pieces of insurance that have to be reviewed?
Kris Cannon: Yes, we have some clients that want to serve you their entire policies. So we do policy reviews, we break it down to even doing just endorsements and exclusions or just certificate of insurance, a combination of all them. And then we have to know when it is appropriate to ask for a waiver for anything that a subcontractor is not able to comply with.
Beau Lunceford: So you and your team really have to know the ins and outs of these documents and the language that builds up an endorsement or a piece of policy. So, gosh, that’s so much.
Kris Cannon: It is. And it’s an ever changing world. Insurance is ever changing. There’s new policies that come out. There’s new endorsements, new exclusions. There’s different endorsements and exclusions, no two are the same. And we have to read and reread to make sure that we are understanding what it actually says
Beau Lunceford: Read, reread. Read, reread. Gosh, that’s a lot.
Kris Cannon: Because we want to make sure those have contractors have the right coverage.
Beau Lunceford: I mean, and they have to base on those different project requirements. And it sounds like you have different sponsors and project teams who are asking different things all the time very specific to whatever it is their needs are.
Kris Cannon: Each client has their own nuance that we have to accommodate too. And that’s why we again read and reread to make sure we’ve got it all right.
Beau Lunceford: Wow, that’s very impressive. We’ll, Taylor, let’s jump over and let’s talk a little bit about the Wrap-Up world. Tell me about what you bring to the CR Solutions team. What you and your team accomplish?
Taylor Zaganas: So our focus is on, I mean, primarily getting people enrolled in the Wrap-Up, that goes for both teams GL only and Bi-Line.
Beau Lunceford: So for people who may not know what a Wrap-Up is, can you give us a little high level overview of what that is?
Taylor Zaganas: It is a controlled insurance program. It can be purchased by a project owner or general contractor. So you could have an owner controlled insurance program, or a contractor controlled insurance program. And they provide various types of coverage. Like we said, on my team, it’s a general liability and excess liability. But they’re also available for workers comp, it could be a worker’s comp only, or it could be general liability, excess liability and worker’s comp included. So it covers enrolled subcontractors for the work that they’re performing on that specific project.
Beau Lunceford: Great. I mean to cut you off, so tell me more about what it is that you and your team do?
Taylor Zaganas: So like an account associate, their primary goal is to get subs enrolled in the program, and to track them for compliance as well. So we also do certificate tracking. And that’s kind of where this new department stemmed from that original entrance tracking, for the Wrap-Up programs. So that’s what account associates are mostly doing, they’re going to reach out to subcontractors. Try and help them out in completing the enrollment that’s done online, follow up with them, continually trying to get them to complete that enrollment. And then they process enrollments. Like I said, review certificates and just pretty much do all the day to day to make sure that work on site keeps going. And then as far as account managers, we’re often stepping in, when we’re having trouble subs, people aren’t getting enrolled, passing that to the project team and working with them to push those subs along and get them to complete the enrollment.
Beau Lunceford: So what would you say is the biggest asset that you provide to our clients?
Taylor Zaganas: Me personally, or as a team?
Beau Lunceford: Both.
Taylor Zaganas: I think we just have a lot of experience and a lot of education in the market. A big part of my day to day is getting new projects started. So working with sponsors, whether that’s an owner, or a general contractor, and the CIP broker, to get documents created, such as the procedures, manual instructions to bidders and things like that, to educate the project team that’s going to be on site to make sure that we have a smooth process. And I’d say as a whole, that’s what our team really brings, it’s like just an ease, we try to make the process as smooth as possible. We don’t want to impede work on site at any time. Our system is just smooth, it’s easy, and it’s quick. And when we get notified that a sub has been awarded. I mean, we’re reaching out, we’re a phone call away. We have a lot of automated processes, but we also have a human touch to everything as well, that just makes the process smooth and efficient.
Beau Lunceford: Great. All right, so this question extends to both of you. So how do the insurance tracking department and the Wrap-Up departments? How do you all work together? How do you all have crossover? How does that these two worlds come to make CR Solutions what it is?
Taylor Zaganas: We asked them a lot of questions.
Kris Cannon: True. I think it actually is more of a question answer basis as to where at one point, we were reviewing all insurance for the entire company. And then we slowly gave back insurance reviews to the wrap up teams and just reviewing our own for our certify clients now. But every now and again, the Wrap-Up teams will have questions for us. And we will give our best answer to make sure that they are reviewing the insurance correctly and making sure that the subs are compliant.
Beau Lunceford: Fantastic. Taylor, anything else to add to that?
Taylor Zaganas: I think that’s it. I mean, like Kris said earlier, things are constantly changing. And we’re obviously part of that world, but we’re handling some different stuff. So it’s good to have experts right next door that can help us out. And I feel like they’re also a training grounds of sorts, a lot of our new hires start there, develop their skills, and then as positions opened up, they could join one of the other teams to keep growing and learning as well.
Beau Lunceford: So you’ve talked about how each of your clients have very different specific needs. You’ve touched on it a little bit, but how is it that you cater each of your projects to the requirements that they’re asking for?
Taylor Zaganas: I think our software’s set up really good to address that from the get go. When a new project comes in, we’re going to ask first, “Are they going to want to track insurance credits? Do they want to see those values in reports and things of that nature, and figuring out how projects had been bid over the bid net, or gross?” So if it’s gross, we’re going to be doing deducts and need to work through that process with them as well. Some clients are really, really interested in the deduct portion, others not so much. They’re really just looking for the risk avoidance that the program brings. And from there, I mean, you just kind of get to know your client from kickoff calls. And then conference calls, kind of just ask questions and learn what they’re looking for and what they’re most interested in. And we kind of can adjust our processes and procedures accordingly. We have a lot of different reports that can answer questions and provide information and details in regard to the project. And then with our system. If we’re looking at insurance tracking from the wrap up side, and I’m sure on the certificate side as well, or insurance tracking side as well. We can track an endless number of endorsements, if needed that can easily be added. All requirements are fully customizable. So the sky’s the limit for that.
Beau Lunceford: Taylor’s really touched on a lot of those pieces. Kris, is there anything you want to add? Because he didn’t, I was like, “He stepped on your toes a little bit? He went ahead and took on some of those certificate tracking pieces.” Can you tell me a little bit about from your side of things, how do you work specifically to do great things for your clients?
Kris Cannon: I mean, if they have specifics on the certificate itself on the limits that they want tracked, we definitely do that. And then with endorsements, and exclusions, if there are specific ones that they want tracked, or if they just want us to review the form schedule that list the endorsements and exclusions that a subcontractor has, and look for specific ones that could potentially take away coverage from that subcontractor. We can do that and request those at that time.
Beau Lunceford: So you’re even looking for reviewing endorsements that aren’t there basically.
Kris Cannon: From the beginning, we can do that. It’s whatever the client would like for us to do, we can settle on an agreement and get it done.
Beau Lunceford: It’s just sounds entirely customizable.
Kris Cannon: It is. It’s very customizable, because like I said, we want to make sure that those subcontractors have the coverage that they need to work on site.
Beau Lunceford: That’s great. So CRS is really big on innovation and growth and customizing something new for the future. So from each of your perspectives, how do you see your department growing in the future? What kind of enhancements? And what kind of outlook do you see for each of your areas?
Kris Cannon: We are continuously growing, we are gathering and acquiring more clients, more certify users, and we’re out there making a name for ourselves. And our team is constantly growing, because the need is there. Like I said, we have a lot of certify clients that it’s taking time to review their insurance. And so we want to make sure that we have the right amount of people on our team to be able to get all of those reviews accomplished. And then we’re our Account Executive, Amy. I mean, she is constantly coming to us saying we have this potential client on the horizon, we have this potential client on the horizon, and that’s great to hear to know that our name is out there, and people want to use our service.
Beau Lunceford: Fantastic. Taylor, what about you? What about Wrap-Ups? How are y’all growing? What do you see for the future?
Taylor Zaganas: I think what something I’m really excited about is our software rewrite that we have going on. We have an excellent software as it is. And we’ve been using it for quite a few years, and have learned a lot from that on how things can be more effective, easier to use and just better all-around for us to work in for clients to sign into and review things. And then for subcontractors to get on and do their part as well. And I know that’s coming out first for certificate tracking. So that team will get to primarily use that and then we’ll be working on the full Wrap-Up version as well. And just excited to see where that goes and what we can do with that.
Beau Lunceford: Michelle was mentioning the monetization on her episode of CR Summer, where she got to talk a little bit about the things that she’s excited about and it sounds like that it’s gonna be big. I’m really excited to see what comes out of that. Well, guys, y’all have given us a great insight, I think into what each of your departments do, how it is that you contribute to CR Solutions, and making us so great and so wonderful. And really, it comes back down to people like you guys who help lead these teams and help build up this fresh bunch of people who are future insurance nerds, and gonna go out and do great things in the world. So is there anything that we didn’t talk about that you want to make sure that you mentioned?
Kris Cannon: No, I think we got it all.
Beau Lunceford: Great. Well, guys, thanks for coming on. We really appreciate it. And we hope we will see you guys on here again, soon.
Taylor Zaganas: Thank you very much.
OUTRO (20:50 – 23:32)
Beau Lunceford: I love these guys so much. And like, I don’t know if you can tell in the conversation how much I enjoy both of them. But I truly do. And they’re both just so incredibly smart. And I think that actually is a reoccurring thing for people that we have on this podcast, we only have really smart people.
Trevor Casey: I mean, that is true. One of the things that is nice to see speaking with them and said there is that true human touch. And then that’s one thing that Amy speaks about in her episode, and really everyone has spoken about is that that’s the thing that sets your solutions, apart from all other administrators and people that are in this space is that you’re hearing from a real human, you’re making a relationship with somebody, it’s not just 1-800 number that you’re calling a 24 hour service line that’s overseas, you’re actually speaking to somebody here in our office, you’re building that rapport. And it really speaks volumes to what our clients are looking for.
Beau Lunceford: That beautiful combination of our proprietary software, and that personal touch of having someone literally look over and review your insurance documents with their own eyes.
Trevor Casey: I mean, super cool. One of the things that we always talk about in the demo for the certified product of that Kris’s team leads is, there’s a phone number and an email and signature and every single email that’s being sent out, and that’s a real person in our office. You don’t have to go searching for “Who do I talk to? What am I doing?”. They’re right there, front and center. Holla at me.
Beau Lunceford: Holla at me.
Trevor Casey: So super awesome. If anybody wants to learn more about the products, as always, you can request a demo on our website, you can request more information. We have all kinds of great downloads, brochures, cool things on there.
Beau Lunceford: Anything and everything. And we’re gonna have Kris and Taylor’s contact information, if you want to reach out to them, and ask them any specific questions, find out more about what it is that they offer, being a part of their teams and a part of CR Solutions for as long as they have been. I’m sure that they would love to give you the inside scoop. So, Trevor, I think that’s it. I think that we did it.
Trevor Casey: Yeah, I think we did. I think we kind of hit it all. I think Kris’s team is hiring too.
Beau Lunceford: I will say that is one of the cool things about CRS is that we’re almost always hiring. We are almost always growing in some way that’s ready to bring on new people. So if you know people who are looking to get started in insurance, this is a great jumping off place.
Trevor Casey: Hit us with a resume. Anyways, I think that’s everything. Until next time, stay covered.
Beau Lunceford & Trevor Casey: Stay covered.
PODCAST CLOSER
Thanks for tuning in to Inside Insight presented by CR Solutions. If you like anything that you heard today, subscribe, follow and rate the show so that other industry pioneers like yourself can find it. Maybe even share it with someone you think might benefit from this episode. Do you have a question that you want answered or a concept that you need explain, you can email us at info@c-r-solutions.com with the subject line “Podcast Question”, and maybe your question, we’ll make it onto one of our episodes. You can also submit a question via our website at c-r-solutions.com/podcast. There are no dumb questions, only opportunities to learn something new. Now that’s a wrap on this episode. Join us next time on Inside Insight presented by CR Solutions. Stay covered.
