Business and life coaches: why do you need professional indemnity insurance tailored just for you?

For business and life coaches, getting the right insurance cover will mean peace of mind.

There is the potential for costly claims from clients if they disagree with the advice you gave them.

Business coaching clients could claim the advice adversely impacted on their business, lost them sales, cost them when it comes to their bottom line.

Life coaching clients could claim advice caused them distress or impacted their personal or working life.

Without the right cover, your business could end up becoming a minefield.

If your business is based on giving advice, you need to ensure your professional indemnity insurance is relevant to the field in which you work and the clients you have.

A one-size-fits-all approach could leave you with gaps in coverage, and that could prove costly in the long run.

How do you get the best fit for your coaching business?

• Talk to an independent broker with access to the whole of the market, like Severn Bay – this is the best way to ensure you get the right product for you. Independent brokers don’t have to sell specific products and aren’t tied to one or two insurers. Their business reputation is built on getting the best deal for their clients, so they have a vested interest in getting it right for you.
• Explain which areas your advice covers – the more information your broker has, the more accurate their search for the best policy will be. If you advise start-ups on their business plans and strategy, your needs will be different to consultants advising multi-national corporations with substantial budgets and challenges to match on restructuring. So, your broker needs you to detail what you do.
• Describe your clients – understanding you means understanding your clients and your relationships with them. The sort of advice you give them, and the potential impact on their businesses if that advice is seen as unhelpful, is an important part of getting the right policy for you. For example, an insurance company will see that a life coach who concentrates on helping people declutter and organise themselves will pose a very different risk to a business coach helping a company grow quickly.

What other cover will you need?

Talk to a risk management team about potential threats to your business – from the threat of you becoming ill and being unable to work, to the loss of premises, vehicles, or data in a fire.

With the growing threat from cyber attacks, it’s also worth detailing your cyber security regime and looking at where it can be tightened up.

The risk management team will help you put a programme in place to minimise those risks and help you reduce your insurance premiums.

Anyone working with the public should also look at whether they need public liability insurance. This is especially relevant for coaches who run workshops and courses.

Do you need advice on the right insurance for your coaching business? Call our expert brokers on 02920 470375.