REPLY FACTS AND REQUESTS (made-up: Tallgrass Insurance Agency, client Joan Pruitt. The coverage terms are made up) Step 1. The email thread. Paste it, oldest message first. Leave out private numbers. ----- Here is an email thread between me, an account manager at an insurance agency, and a business client, oldest message first. Carla at Tallgrass Insurance Agency (Mon, Oct 12): Hi Joan, your commercial package renewal quote from Cascadia Mutual is attached. The new annual premium is $4,860, up from $4,120. The policy renews Nov 1. Let me know if you have questions. - Carla Joan Pruitt (Wed, Oct 14): Carla, an 18% increase?! I haven't had a single claim. Can you get it back to what I paid last year? Also, I bought a new $22,000 digital press in September. That's covered under the policy already, right? It's the same business. Joan Pruitt (Thu, Oct 15): Anything? I'm thinking about shopping this around. And if I don't sign right away I can just keep the old policy until I decide, correct? Joan Pruitt (8:31 AM): Carla, I need an answer today. Is the press covered, why did my premium go up, and can you get the old price? ----- Step 2. The facts. These are the only things the reply may promise. ----- Facts (only promise what is here): 1. The Cascadia Mutual renewal quote is $4,860 a year, up from $4,120 (18%). The quote lists the changes: the carrier's rate increase and a higher building replacement value. 2. I can't get the old price. If Joan raises the deductible from $1,000 to $2,500, the carrier quotes $4,550 a year, a saving of $310. She decides whether that works for her. 3. Joan can ask me to get quotes from other carriers. That takes about 5 business days, and any new policy would start Nov 1. 4. Her current policy ends at 12:01 a.m. on Sunday, Nov 1. There is no grace period. If we don't have her acceptance by Wednesday, Oct 28, the coverage lapses on Nov 1. 5. The new digital press ($22,000, bought in September) was never reported to the carrier. Our policy automatically covers newly acquired equipment for 30 days, and that window closed in mid-October, so the press is not covered right now. 6. To add it, I'll send an endorsement request to Cascadia Mutual today. Coverage starts only when they confirm in writing. I need the invoice and the serial number. 7. I won't tell her she's covered for anything until the carrier confirms. 8. We missed Joan's Thursday email. That's on us. 9. Sign it: Carla, Tallgrass Insurance Agency. ----- Step 3. The instructions: ----- Write my reply to Joan. Tone: calm, warm and direct, like an agent who has her interests at heart. Apologize once for missing her Thursday email. Answer all four of her questions clearly: why the premium went up and whether she can get the old price, whether the press is covered, and what happens if she doesn't sign right away. Say what she needs to do next and by when. Keep it under 220 words. No subject line, since it's a reply in the same thread. Don't invent details or promise anything that isn't in the facts. ----- Step 4. Check every promise: ----- Check that reply against my facts. Make a table of every promise or claim in it and the fact that backs it up. Flag anything the facts don't support. ----- Step 5. After you fix the flagged lines, ask for the final version: ----- Use all three of those wordings. Then give each of her questions its own short paragraph so the answers are easy to find, keep it calm and warm, and stay under 220 words. Keep every other fact exactly the same. Reply with just the email. ----- BLANK FACTS LIST (copy and fill in for your next reply) 1. The renewal quote and what changed: 2. What I can offer instead (deductible, other carriers): 3. Policy end date and the deadline to accept: 4. What is and is not covered right now: 5. What I will do about anything not covered, and what I need: 6. Anything we missed or got wrong: 7. Sign it: