Imagine facing a crisis when you badly need cash to keep your business afloat. It might be a pandemic that prompts your governor to order you to close your doors for six weeks or two months.
Has that happened to anyone this year?
It would be a game-changer to have an account that was just accumulating money available for any purpose – including an emergency.
A retail client tapped that account during the COVID crisis, said Daniel DeBonville, vice president of sales for Risk Assurance Partners, a new Solution Partner for the Home Furnishings Association.
That account was built with rebates from Risk Assurance Partners’ protection plans, which provide furniture purchasers with peace of mind and retailers with additional income.
Protection plans may sound like old news, and “at the end of the day, we are furniture protection,” DeBonville said. “We just do it differently, smarter – next generation.”
You get a 60 percent rebate with every sale
Most companies that sell protection plans charge a furniture retailer $50 per plan, DeBonville said. In turn, the retailer can sell it to a customer for $200. It’s a good arrangement.
The difference is that Risk Assurance Partners rebates $30 to the retailer every time. Those funds go into a Reinsurance Program owned by the retailer but managed by RAP. The money can be withdrawn for any reason the owner chooses.
RAP’s protection programs aren’t only a profit center; they’re a profit center that also creates a program that helps owners build wealth more proficiently.
RAP services the protection plans and takes that responsibility seriously. It operates a service center in Florida and has technicians on call in all 50 states. Its goal is to keep retailers’ customers happy.
“We don’t make money by denying claims,” DeBonville said. “We make money by selling plans.” So, the approach is, “Let’s give the customers what they expect and want.”
Beth Dulin, RAP’s vice president for marketing, reinforced that commitment: “It may be a legitimate denial, but that can be very detrimental to your business,” she said, acknowledging the harmful effects of even dishonest complaints spread on social media.
‘Very nimble and very creative’
Risk Assurance Partners provides such safeguards as underwriting by an A+ rated carrier. Its partners include organizations such as Wells Fargo and Wells Fargo Advisors. It provides training for your sales staff to make sure they understand the benefits of its programs and how to effectively sell them. It is licensed in every state and works to fill its customers’ needs.
“We’re very nimble, and we’re very creative,” DeBonville said. He recommends protection plans with multiple benefits, such as an immediate sale and incentives for customers to return for more purchases.
RAP manages service contracts so well, DeBonville said, that one retail customer asked if RAP could become its service department. It agreed, and “we’re going to see that probably grow. It saves them money,” DeBonville said.
And that $30 rebate for every protection plan sold? Risk Assurance Partners will make it $31 for HFA members, DeBonville said.
For more information, contact an HFA member specialist at 800-422-3778.
Not a member of the HFA? Let us know you’re interested and we’ll show you the benefits.
