If you are speaking to an insured or claimant and looking at an electronic file, make sure you have the police report in front of you as well as any damage photos or scene investigations. No one expects you to memorize every fact about every loss, but you are expected to be accurate in your statements. It is not reassuring for an insured to hear, “Oh, I'm sorry, I was mixing up your case with a different file.” Though that might happen sometimes, we don't want our customers to worry that we are confusing their case with another.

Part of providing great customer service is keeping your desk in order. An employee that is, as they say in the restaurant business, “in the weeds,” is going to come across as frantic and unreliable to the insured or the claimant, so it's important to make sure your whole desk operation is at its best. It's difficult to shine from over the phone, but claim adjusters have to do it.

Another part of being prepared is anticipating what questions an insured, claimant, or attorney will ask you, or what counter arguments they will bring up. Having a thorough review of your file prior to taking action will put you in a much better position to work with the insured or claimant.

Before calling your insured to deny a claim, make sure you have all of the details of the denial in front of you. If there are any uncomfortable arguments to mention, make sure you are able to address those in a professional manner. Before calling an attorney or injured party to negotiate a settlement, make sure you are ready for any counterarguments that may come up. When negotiating a claim, we know the arguments to support our offer; play the devil's advocate and look at the other side of that same argument. It will prepare you for your negotiations, and you won't be caught off guard.

Make Every Contact Count

Another part of an adjuster's job is to make contact with all of the parties involved in a loss. This can be a challenge when something big like a seven car pile-up comes along. Seven people can easily turn into 52 phone calls, and you may only reach the people half of the time, so it's very important that when you do get Mr. Unit 3 on the phone, you get all of your questions answered. Make a list of all the basic questions you need answered from an insured or clamant, and make sure that everything is addressed before you hang up. In addition to saving you time later, you will come across as a thorough claim professional.

In addition to making contacts count, make sure you set clear expectations for the insured or claimant during your first phone call. Explain to them how claims work; they don't experience claims very often and may not understand the process. You'll also want to give them a reasonable timeline. The more information you give them, the more they'll understand, and that means fewer times they'll have to call you back with additional questions. The insurance business can be quite confusing, and it's our job as adjusters to walk them through the process and instill confidence that they will be taken care of.

The initial phone call made to any participant involved in a claim is crucial. The first time you speak with an insured or claimant, you are setting the tone for their experience with your company. This is your chance to build a great rapport, and to gain the person's trust. When your job is to investigate losses, it's easy to forget that accidents are a big deal for most people. It's also easy to forget that people are scared, concerned, and even embarrassed about the loss, and about how you're going to handle this problem for them.

Being sympathetic towards your insured or claimant is an easy thing to do that can mean a lot to the life of the claim. In order to resolve claims, we need the parties to work with us. There is only so much we can do on our end, and it's necessary that they are an active participant in the claim process. By expressing care and concern from the beginning, you can ensure that both insureds and claimants will be willing to work with you. Plus, it makes it a lot easier when you have to deliver bad news or ask for additional information later.

Staying on Track

Being organized is not just about having a good filing system. No doubt, working in claims can be complicated—we have a lot to deal with on a daily basis, we are very detail-oriented, and we're always trying to satisfy our customers during a tough situation in their lives. You can't afford not to be organized.

Make sure you have a good calendar program on your computer to help you keep track of deadlines and contacts. Knowing your schedule days ahead of time can give you a jump on what to expect the next day. For example, if you have a little extra free time one day, you can start the next day's assignments. That way, if you get hit with a claim in which lots of people are involved and there are many phone calls to be made, you'll be ahead of the game.

It's easy to get distracted with all of the phone calls we take, but you have to be able to pick up where you left off once you hang up. Being organized will help you keep your rhythm going. When you are interrupted by a phone call, handle what you can at that moment, and add any additional tasks to your list of things to do today; then get right back to what you were doing first. This is a daily (or hourly) occurrence at a claim desk, but it's important that your focus is maintained on the task at hand. Keeping your desk in order will help you to give each task 100 percent of your attention.

In our business, customers and claimants hold our work to the highest standard. It takes a lot to be able to trust a person just from speaking over the phone, but as claim professionals we are responsible for developing that trust. Keeping a professional and knowledgeable rapport will help you to keep insured's or claimants cooperating with your investigation. Similar to the way a bartender has many jobs (bartender, therapist, doctor, marriage counselor), a claim professional wears many hats as well. A claim professional serves as an investigator, an evaluator, a negotiator, a good listener, and a file settler all in one. Keeping your business manner professional and organized can help you handle your multitude of jobs.