What to have ready before the conversation.
Renewal conversations don't stall on decisions. They stall on paperwork that has to come from somewhere else, and on the week it takes to arrive. Five things do nearly all of the stalling.
None of this is something we ask you for. We only ever want the month. This is for the conversation you have with someone licensed, whether that's the person you already use or someone new.
1. Your business, exactly as it's registered
Legal name, trading name if it's different, entity type, state registration and the address the state has for you. If any of it has changed in the last year and the paperwork hasn't caught up, that's the first thing to fix — mismatched names hold up more renewals than anything else on this list.
2. Your people, by what they do
How many work for you, what each of them actually does, and which of them are on your books rather than someone else's. Your bookkeeper or payroll provider has the records; you just need to know who's who and be able to describe the work in plain words.
3. Your claims history
The report of what's been claimed over the past few years. You almost certainly don't have a copy, and you don't need to — whoever handles it now can pull it, usually the same day you ask. Ask early anyway, because "I'll request it" is a week you don't get back.
4. A list of what you run
Trucks and trailers with their VINs, or the machines on your floor, or the equipment on your trucks. One list, kept current. Most owners have this somewhere already; the job is finding it, not making it.
5. The date
The one thing that makes all of the above worth gathering. If you don't know it, it takes about five minutes to find.
And one thing that isn't paperwork
Decide who signs. If that's you, fine. If it's a partner, a spouse or a board, get them into the conversation at the start rather than at the end — the single most common reason a renewal conversation runs out of time is that the person who could say yes joined it in the last fortnight.
How long to allow
| Your business, as registered | You have it. Ten minutes. |
|---|---|
| Your people | Your bookkeeper. A day or two. |
| Claims history | Whoever handles it now. Same day to a week. |
| What you run | You have it, somewhere. An hour. |
| The date | Five minutes. |
Add it up and it's a week of waiting inside a job you're already doing. That's the argument for starting three months out rather than three weeks out, and it's the only argument we'd make.