How To Make Informed Decisions With Pate G. Smith

Posted by John Livesay in podcast 0 comments

Just because you have covering footage for your insurance policy doesn’t mean you have the right coverage. You need to sit down and look over the terms of the policy to make informed decisions. John Livesay’s guest in this episode is Pate G. Smith, Vice President of Marketing and Attorney at McClenny, Moseley & Associates. Pate advises you to get an attorney to help you understand the policy. They can also help you make a cost-benefit analysis of the different types of coverage available. Tune in to make better, informed decisions!

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Listen to the podcast here

How To Make Informed Decisions With Pate G. Smith

My guest is Pate Smith. We’ll talk about the importance of networking, getting over your fear of asking for what you want and not taking rejection personally, and how important that marketing be everywhere. Finally, it’s crucial that when you make a decision, it’s an informed one. Enjoy the episode.

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My guest is Pate Smith, who was born and raised in Ozark, Alabama, a place where hometown values and relationships are at the heart of the community. He’s thrived on building relationships and helping others his entire life. He feels those connections give him a purpose within himself. After he graduated high school, he finished his secondary education by graduating from the University of Alabama with a Political Science degree. He felt going to law school was a natural path to better understanding business and gave him a chance to help others. Now, he has his degree from the Birmingham School of Law. During his last year, he had a realization that he could help people through professional development coaching. He started Positive Change USA, his travel speaking at various events, coaching businesses and professionals alike. Pate, welcome to the show.

Informed Decisions: You can sell yourself through communication and connectivity with individuals.

Thanks, John. How are you doing?

I’m good. I gave a little tip of the iceberg there of your background but give us a little flavor, tell your story wherever you want, the a-ha moment in law school or even earlier. It’s your choice where you want to start.

I grew up in Southeast Alabama. It’s a rural area. Ozark, Alabama to be exact, 90 miles or so, maybe 70 miles above Panama City of Florida. That’s how people know the area. I knew that networking was important. My parents always made me attend events, do speaking engagements, do public speaking and connect with others. I don’t think that connected on the professional and personal development side until maybe I was in college or late high school. I got into, at that point in time, various professional, personal and relationship development literature, whether you’re trying to date somebody or make a sale, connect with an individual on the opposing side. You’ll be able to sell yourself through communication and connectivity with individuals and by providing a consumable narrative based on facts and truths. That’s what I do. I ran a professional development company for a little while that was fun. I miss it at times. I have grown a public adjusting firm and now, I’m here on the law side and I enjoy that.

Was it your parents that taught you the importance of connecting and networking, or how did you realize that was a skill that you wanted to develop separately from the hard skills of law?

[bctt tweet=”You never lose when you give your best effort.” username=”John_Livesay”]

I can remember when I was in probably third grade and there was an opportunity to sell candy to raise money for the school. I don’t know what we were raising money for. My parents were like, “This is great.” They would drive me around and have me go up and knock on people’s doors that we knew. I wasn’t cold knocking but knocking on people’s doors that I knew and go in. I had to introduce myself, explain what we’re doing and sell them the candy. I can remember after it was all said and done, I was talking to my friends and I was like, “It was hard talking to those people,” and they’re like, “I didn’t do that.” I was like, “What did you do?” They’re like, “Mom and dad called people and did it for them.” My parents made me go through those exercises. I was like, “Mom and Dad, why did everybody else’s parents call it for them?” and they’re like, “No, you’ve got to do that.”

When I was growing up, I can remember in sixth grade, I had this thing called The Sock Hop, which was a dance where you would go. I was like, “I’ll go with somebody at The Sock Hop.” I can remember mom and dad were like, “You’ve got to ask them.” I was like, “What do you mean?” I had this realization early on where they would constantly force me or encourage me to do this self-selling or approaches. I think that was huge for my development because, at that point in time, I wasn’t good at pitching. I was like, “I’m Pate. Do you want to buy some candy?” The fact that I broke that emotional barrier, went through the process, and learned early on that it’s not about yeses and noes because you can never make a person purchase.

You can never make a person come to your side. You can present in the best manner and the outcomes are there. You’re either going to have positive outcomes or outcomes where you learn, but you’re never losing when you’re giving your best in that effort. I was from a very rural small area and to be able to date people was hard. I didn’t want to date people in that area. I had to expound wider. To be able to do that, early on read a lot of male personal development forums and business networking, etc., because that is what was available to an 8th, 9th or 10th grader. It was huge for me. I’ve learned how to meet people, network with people, become their friends, and found fun value in relationships. That was a huge epiphany for me, whether it’s professional development, speaking here at the firm, connecting with other law firms, with commercial property owners or contractors, these are great skills that I’ve learned, some purposefully and some I’ve learned naturally through experience. That’s me in a nutshell.

It sounds like you learned how to not be afraid of asking for what you want. After that, it became, “How do I let go of any fear of rejection?” Is that correct?

Informed Decisions: We are invested in our client’s success.

Yes. I don’t believe that noes are bad. When I was a professional development coach, I would tell my clients like, “Don’t concentrate on yeses. Yeses come. I want to see you to fifteen noes in a day.” If you’re going out and trying to meet people or find somebody that you want to go on a date with, what’s your volume looking like on people that you’re interacting with? If your volume is low, your success is going to be low. There are opportunities where you meet somebody, hit it off one and they’re not great. In this day and age, I think you have to be incredibly high in person-to-person interaction if you want to be purposeful and dictate your outcomes.

You brought up a topic that’s near and dear to my heart, which is this concept of comparing dating with selling. I got interviewed by Fortune and Inc. Magazine around the topic of, “Are you stuck at the friendzone at work?” We all know what the friend zone feels like in the dating world, where we like somebody more than they like us. I think in sales and business development, marketing, where someone’s interested but they never get out of that, “Send me info,” and then it’s crickets. Almost everyone I’ve ever talked to says, “I’ve been in the friend zone at work. I didn’t know that was what it was.” Where I’m like, “I’m interested but I’m not going out with you. I’m not buying.” Maybe they click on something and get to download something but they never take the next step to close the sale or buy from you after the presentation is done. Let’s talk about what that looks like in the world of law firms. You’re in charge of the marketing for your firms. Tell us a little bit about what makes your firm unique, and what is it that compels clients to want to hire you and your firm?

[bctt tweet=”It is not about a yes or no when you sell.” username=”John_Livesay”]

We only do insurance claim dispute resolution for policyholders. We strictly work on the plaintiff’s side. I think we’re 22-something attorneys now. We’re working in a considerable number of states. We’re known for working large commercial insurance claim losses. That’s our day-to-day but what makes us special is the people we have here. Everybody is very invested here in the firm and our client’s success. That makes a difference because it’s not 9:00 to 5:00. If it’s a person’s business, their home or something in experiences, a catastrophe, a hurricane, a hailstorm, a tornado, a fire, vandalism, whatever, they’re not getting adequate indemnification or maybe it’s a complex loss that needs management from us from the beginning. I have a connection to that because I have a home. I want my home to be my place of sanctity. I like coming to work. I like having a structure around me that supports me in that work. For us, it’s very positive.

Let’s paint a scenario. For those of us who live in Texas, in February 2021, there was a freak snowstorm, electricity and water was out. Pipes burst. In those kinds of scenarios, do people depend on their insurance company to help them get repairs done?

We did many of those losses.

I’d love to hear a story without giving any names away of a situation where an insurance company was saying to a homeowner, “Sorry, that’s an act of God. It doesn’t count or your deductible is not met yet.” Anything that you would give an example of where they need your firm’s expertise?

We typically see insurance claims underpaid significantly when they come to us or they’re very complex. A great example is in Hurricane Laura and Charles, a religious structure that the community got around. We represented that structure from the beginning. We dealt with the carriers, engineers, their attempts at underpayment saying, “No, asbestos-lined material is okay to repair,” and there’s a daycare there. That’s semi-concerning. Numerous hotels in that. You mentioned the pipe burst and the winter storm that happened in Texas. We had a lot of commercial structures that were completely flooded that we’re handling. Some of those we see were underpaid massively. Maybe they were offered $15,000 or $20,000.

The indemnification model may be upwards of $500,000 or more. We have some that had 7 and 8-figure indemnification models here at the firm. Anytime you see a number and you’re like, “I’m not sure if that’s going to represent the full restoration,” shoot me a call. We don’t charge any time for consults, “This is good. This is bad. Consider this, talk to these people.” Our goal is to be there when you need us or the management of an intense commercial claim. Those are examples of when hail on metal buildings or flat roof buildings are almost always underpaid. That’s something that we do a considerable amount of. It can sometimes be tens of millions of dollars in difference.

A lot of people think of insurance as something they need to do. They may be shopping around a little bit, I’ll gamble maybe, not get the most coverage I need, forget about it, and then something happens. Since you’re in charge of marketing for the firm, how do you get the message out to people to know how to find you? Is it an SEO kind of thing? How do most people find you?

Informed Decisions: Our goal is to be there for you when you need us.

I believe marketing should be done land, air and the sea is what I always say. If you can do it, you probably should do it. I speak constantly. I’m here on this show, so hopefully, that does the marketing. I do as many speaking engagements a year as I can with my family. I can remember one time where I was sitting on my bed, I prayed and said, “God, I want to be able to do 30 speaking engagements in a year where people ask me to come in.” That is now a haunting thing because I get asked constantly to do podcasts. There are conventions I’ll go and sometimes speak 2 and 3 times a day. The most I’ve ever done is 5 panels or 5 breakout sessions in a day. It can be exhausting.

What’s the most common question you get asked when you’re on a panel?

That’s tough. It’s probably how is the best way they can initiate a claim, set it up at the beginning for success? It’s the one that I get the most that are across the board and all industries. That’s a good one. It’s issue-specific.

That brings up a point that someone should engage or could engage your firm before they have a claim to make sure that they’re doing everything properly so they won’t be running into problems of not getting the money they need?

We can have a conversation before an issue ever happens and make sure you have the right coverage. The biggest heartbreak in the world is someone calling me and saying like, “We’re owed this money.” They send the information over. We get that policy and because of the specific terms and the policy, they’re not able to get coverage because they haven’t been paying for it. The policy dictates the outcome of the claim. Is it even possible? If it is possible, then we’re there to assist.

That’s where a lot of people don’t even think they go, “I only go to the doctor if I’m sick. I only go to the lawyer if I needed to make a claim,” but you’re like, “You should go to the doctor for a physical, stay in shape and eat healthily so you don’t find yourself sick.” You’re saying the same thing is true legally. Check with a law firm like yours to ensure the policy you’re buying is getting you what you need and don’t take the word of the person selling you the policy. Is that accurate?

[bctt tweet=”Marketing should be everywhere.” username=”John_Livesay”]

Correct. Just because you have coverage doesn’t mean you have the right coverage. Do you have exclusions in there? Do you have endorsements that limit the ability for coverages to kick in? If you want to keep those endorsements, that’s fine but you need to know what they mean. I don’t care what decision you make. I want you to make an informed decision.

It’s because you’re not selling insurance, you don’t have any skin in that game so people can trust that your advice is in their best interest. You’re giving them the information that lets them make an informed decision according to their risk ratio and whatever else is going on. It’s an unknown problem that can be fixed or much like the analogy of health. You may not go to an orthopedic surgeon until you’ve broken a bone or something but imagine if an orthopedic surgeon was giving a talk on, “Here’s how to be involved with contact sports so you don’t get injured.” How valuable that information might be? Is that another analogy?

Yes. Particularly, with commercial structures if you have a property manager on it, property managers do great at managing. If a large-scale catastrophe happens and let’s say you have fifteen structures within an area and you’re fifteen appear okay but they haven’t had a forensic look, they haven’t had their coverages looked at and had someone go in, make a determination, and discuss with you, a lot of times, your property managers are going to say, “This building isn’t leaking. It’s fine.” Maybe it is fine but let’s go a step further and find that information, get that data and have you make a cost-benefit analysis of, “We want to do this. We don’t want to do this,” and make an informed decision.

Let’s talk about what happened in Florida with that complex. From a storytelling standpoint, which is where I live, in reading those stories of hearing a noise that sounded like an explosion, you open up your door, look down the hallway, and there’s no hallway, you realize how close you came to death? All those warning signs were there that something needed to be done, water leaking, this and that. Obviously, it was made for them. They had everybody had to get out because they took the whole building down. I think that news should be like an anomaly. That’s a rare thing that happens. I’m guessing in your line of work, you say, “John, this goes on more than most people know. It doesn’t make the headlines.”

I know one of the engineers that are working on that. I spent some time with them in Fort Lauderdale. He was telling them stuff that they were going through with that. I believe I know one of the attorneys that are working on the wall side of that as well. That’s a very interesting loss, and I’m interested to see how that’s going to play out.

Does your homeowner’s insurance for your condo cover, you bring in a hotel until you find a place to live? There are so many thoughts.

That would depend on the policy.

Informed Decisions: Every time you renew the policy, sit down and look over the terms.

It’s like if you’ve damaged your car, do you opt-in to get the rental car coverage while your car is being repaired? That’s a box you check off and pay a few bucks more. It’s that same thing. I think why I was so fascinated to talk to you is the pandemic has not happened in over 100 years since 1912. People and I included as a speaker like you, we’d be like, “What do you mean I have to plan for a time I can’t give a talk in person?” That’s not even in my frame of reference. I never had that as a contingency plan of, “Live events will be canceled. There’ll be no conferences in Vegas,” or whatever. The same thing is true with what you’re doing here with, “Your condo building might collapse.” I’ve never heard of it. I’ve never seen it.

Here’s the better question. What could have been prevented to prevent that condo from collapsing? What had happened through the lifespan of that structure, water, treated, allowed micro-fractures and then settling, etc.? That’s a better question. Some of this could have been prevented had adequate data been given there. Maybe adequate data was given and bad decisions were made. As an owner, if they weren’t given adequate data, that’s a tragic scenario.

What about all the fires that are happening not just in California but in other places on the West Coast and this perfect storm of things? You own a business and it’s not your home you’re worried about and that structure, do you get involved with advising business and property owners who maybe haven’t looked at their insurance coverage lately and you say, “We need to check up on your coverage just like you go for a checkup with the doctor?”

Yes. I encourage people every time they renew their policy to sit down, look over the terms of that policy and get an attorney to spend time looking, negotiating, and doing a cost-benefit analysis of what type of coverages are there. Let’s say you have warehouses or storage facilities that are metal. “I’ve got full coverage. Coverage is adequate for my commercial lender.” “Question though, sir, do you have a cosmetic endorsement in there?” “A cosmetic endorsement, that sounds fine. I’m not worried about cosmetic damage. However, though, if my building gets scratched, hail minorly dense my building?” What if hail majorly dents your building? What if hail has the potential of decreasing the lifespan of the structure and causing rust over time?

Are the terms in that cosmetic endorsement in a manner, which it’s not going to let you recover, and then you have a structure that’s going to rest out in a portion in somewhere between 5 to 15 years, depending upon where you are in the country? If the answer is yes, that’s something we need to do a cost-benefit analysis of, maybe it’s $8,000 more a year to have a large warehouse insured adequately. You say, “I’m good with the $700 more a month. Let’s go ahead and do that. Let’s get the right coverage. Maybe we have to talk to a different broker.” I’m not sure but this is something that we do. All of this is free of charge. No cost up until the point where we have to negotiate the insurance claim for you. We do this pro bono because we want people to have the right coverage.

What you’re doing from a marketing standpoint is creating incredible brand awareness and value so that people see you as someone who cares and not coming in at the last minute when money is involved?

Correct. One of my favorite sayings, and I wish I could say I came up with it but I can’t, “We don’t like to shake hands over the rubble.” It changed my mindset.

[bctt tweet=”Always make an informed decision. ” username=”John_Livesay”]

Pate, thank you on behalf of so many people who you’ve helped and will help. If people want to reach out to you, I know they can find you on LinkedIn and Instagram. Would you share the details and that special middle initial that everybody has to remember to find you?

For Instagram, it’s @PateGSmith. If you add me, I like to send everybody that adds me a, “Thanks for adding me,” and I try to get to know you. That’s sometimes a daunting task but don’t think it’s weird. It’s me messaging every single person on there because I’m proud that people message me. It’s the same on LinkedIn. Find me on there, Pate G Smith for McClenny, Moseley and Associates and say, “I heard you on John’s show. I do this.” Even if you’re not in my industry, I want to be able to connect with you. I love networking. I’m across the country constantly. If you ever want to hop on a call and maybe it’s something that’s an idea and kicks around some stuff, say, “I’m stuck somewhere,” I’m here. I love connecting with people and sharing values. Reach out. I appreciate you having me on, John. This is a powerful show.

Thank you. It’s been an honor to have someone of your caliber and kindness on. Thanks so much, Pate.

Thanks, John. Everybody, have a great week.

Important Links

https://www.MMA-PLLC.com/who-we-are/pate-smith/
Positive Change USA
@PateGSmith – Instagram
Pate G Smith – LinkedIn
Better Selling Through Storytelling Method Online Course

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How To Make Informed Decisions With Pate G. Smith

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How To Make Informed Decisions With Pate G. Smith

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John Livesay, The Pitch Whisperer

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