When it comes to dealing with individual consultants and small mom-and-pop vendors (not by my choice, my customers'), my staff almost always get some sort of grief from the vendors--and even from my customers--when it comes to insurance.  The vendors call the customer and cry and moan about the requirement for insurance, how expensive it is, how hard it is to get insurance, how no one else has ever asked for insurance before, etc., etc.

My customer then calls me or my staff wanting to know why the heck we're so hard to do business with, why can't we be reasonable, and so on.  We then explain why insurance is so important and that the customer's vendor is essentially judgment-proof because they have no assets.  We typically question the customer on whether they think it's odd that someone would have a business yet not be insured (is that good business?), how comfortable they would be if they had a business with no insurance, and so on.  I can get my customer to come around, but it's usually a painful process.

Out of desparation and necessity, I created the attached slide for both the vendors and my customers.  In a somewhat over-simplified way, it explains the usual types of insurance, how much coverage we require, what's covered, when its needed, how hard it is for the vendor to get, and about how much a vendor can expect to pay for the required insurance.  Whenever I give relevant internal presentations for my customers, like an internal workshop, I include and discuss the slide.  We also send it to vendors so that they understand what's needed and why.  Maybe you're having the same problem--if so, feel free to try my Insurance Slide

Played: 18 | Download | Duration: 00:01:44