Hey guys! Just landed Whole Foods and am super stoked. They have two locations here in my town. My question to you all is that they require me to have a 5 million dollar umbrella policy, workman’s comp ( right now have an exemption), one million in auto ( right now have 500 thousand), and one million in gen liability( I have this). I am a new company and don’t have a lot of resources at the moment so it is a big decision whether or not to go forward. Right now I have one location locked at 360/month but am not sure if the outlay for the extra insurance will be worth the trouble unless they can give me the other store as well. Even then it is a tough decision. How many larger commercial accounts will require a 5 million dollar umbella policy and one million in vehicle insurance for window cleaning. The other thing to consider if it may be worth it due to the prestige of the account helping me land other jobs bc of it. Thanks for reading this super long post! What do you guys think.
Congratulations on your victory. However, dont get sucked into poverty mindset thinking by worrying if the policy is too much or if you can or can’t get an extra store. Start thinking like a successful business person. Pay the price now so you don’t ever have to pay it later or you will pay it for the rest of your life with regret. What if this leads you into getting more stores or getting big stores with another company or by becoming a bigger company? You landed two Whole Food stores, your priority is to get that policy even if you don’t have the money now, find a way to get it. Then start getting more cashflow quickly so you can maintain the policy. If you don’t get it, you lose out on a terrific opportunity. Success follows success.
Here is what I am referring to. This doesn’t seem in excess of what other companies require?
At 360 dollars per month for one store that’s 4320 yearly. Think in terms of scaling if you have ten of these exact stores that’s 43200 yearly. If you have 100 that’s 432000 yearly. You will only keep growing, if you don’t grow you regress, contract and die. We all die anyways, so just focus on scaling in terms of expansion, yes you will lose money on getting this deal, you are an entrepreneur or one who takes calculated risks, this is a risk, you knew that going into this business and this deal. If you don’t pay the price now you will pay with regret for the rest of your life. Or pay it now so you can pay ANY price later.
Here’s a yes or no question for you. Would you spend 3000 a year on insurance if you knew you were 100% certain that the insurance you pay for would allow you could become a six figure business inside of 2 maybe three years?
Either way don’t sit and do nothing. Take massive amounts of action. Find what the policy would cost, start getting more stores. When I get a new sign up I immediately go look for 10 more even if I don’t get them because chances are if a store will buy, their neighbors are not that far off. I can always leverage the fact their friends next door bought my service and are already receiving tremendous benefits from it.
This is a great example. I take care of a dental office in a strip mall with 3 other stores. After I cleaned the dental office, the nail salon popped their head out and said we are next right? Now after they did that, I am working on the other two stores now. The 3rd is nibbling. I say go for it! They way I started looking at this is I am at the bottom now, I can only move up, and grow. 1st year moves are important. Hope it goes well for you!
Doesn’t seem excessive. They are trying to protect their own pockets. If you accidentally back up your work vehicle over a grandma in a wheel chair in their parking lot, they know the lawyers are coming for them more than you simply because of their deeper pockets.
What was the outcome of this? Is this deal a go?
I am currently negotiating with their insurance people. I think we will be able to do the store w what we already have for the most part. I also am waiting to get with the DM as I have offered to get all the insurance requirements up to date if they allow me to cover the region. It is now all up in the air but if I lock the region down it will be a huge win for myself and my company. We
Now when you say region what do you mean by that? Is the region those few stores you
mentioned or is it more than those stores?
Regional Managers can be helpful, and can be annoying also as they are the middleman for the owners. Go get em bud. Great for you to be able to lock down a region. Hope it works out.