The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

tribune anniversary wednesday june 29 1988 page 7 while most insurance brok ers sit behind their desks bill susands travels to his clients with a style that remains uni que among those in his pro fession susands who founded susands associates last year has been an insurance broker for 15 years he be lieves that the personal touch is important when it comes to selling insurance i havent had a client in an office for over 10 years susands said i visit my clients regardless of their needs whether we need to re view a policy or make some changes in coverage susands explained that people always feel more com fortable in their own sur rounding rather than in someones office susands is a full service broker selling life car home business and group insur ance unless an agent gets to know his client personally it is difficult to establish an overall view of their needs susands explained susands lives in sunder land which he explained is central to all his clients he travels over 500 kilometers each week visiting over 500 clients from barrk to down town toronto clients benefit equipped with the latest in technology and business con veniences including a per sonal computer answering machine watts line for clients to use and a car phone susands can run his entire operation single handedly ive cut out the middle man its just me the client and the insurance company which makes for effective communication he said susands explained that his smaller company can offer the all important personal touch while larger firms focus on mass production an independent agent can deal directly with the insur ance companies for faster service and quicker answers which in turns benefits the consumer susands said susands checks his mes sages every hour and can even change taped messages from his car phone utilizing new technology brings him in contact with his clients almost instantly whether or not he sees them in person types of agents susands explained that there are two kinds of insur ance agents those men and women who work for large in surance companies selling their product and the inde pendent broker who can deal with nearly all insurance com panies independent brokers are regulated by the registered insurance brokers of ontario or ribo bill susands right talks to l- client on his car phone at left susan myers owner of apples has been a client of bill susands since she opened her beauty shop on main street stouff- ville four years ago when choosing an insur ance broker susands recom mends that a person know where a broker has come from with referrals being the best way to locate a reputable broker many people open the yellow pages and make a few calls sometimes price isnt always the way to measure if youre getting a good deal or not susands said susands pointed out that brokers have access to monies held in trust so they can pay the insurance pre miums that come in checks are made out to the individual insurance broker not the company as with any industry we have had our bad apples and it is the client who can suffer susands said applications when purchasing car insur ance susands recommends that a client make sure that their application is filled out in its entirety before it is signed a client should make sure he or she is truthful on the insurance applications now questions not only include the number of accidents youve had but the number of windshields youve had to re place failure to disclose in formation could result in can- cellation of a policy susands explained susands said that all insur ance companies are tied together and that every per sons claim history is in a computer bank it is very difficult to get in surance at a competitive rate if your policy has ever been cancelled he said it is also important that your agent relays information you have given him to the in surance company represent ing you they need to know everything if something goes wrong and you arent covered prop erly because your agent for got to relay important in formation he never suffers the customer does susands explained and what entices an inde pendent insurance broker to search for the best possible policies for his client because i supply all types of insurance to my clients i have more to lose if i dont do my homework and find the best possible rates susands concluded bill susands offerinq advice to his client tom thompson owner of the villager mens store in stouffville