However, what is not included on the list is the main element that constitutes great claims customer service. Companies that provide outstanding customer service under­stand that they must meet or exceed a customer’s expectations, regardless of what the expectation might be.

Everyone knows that there are some customers, no matter what you do, that cannot be pleased. However, there are also customers that remain happy, even though we fumble during every step of the process. Why? Because they do not know any better. Their expectations are low or nonexistent, so anything goes. Sometimes we get customer service wins when we do not deserve them, and sometimes we get losses even though we put forward our best efforts.

The criteria, however, is exactly the same: if you meet or exceed the cus­tomer’s expectations, you have a customer service win, and you will probably retain their loyalty. If you fall short of those expectations, whatever they are, you may ultimately lose them. That is the retention connection.

In most cases, we have the opportunity to set those expecta­tions. Great claims employees understand that they must meet or exceed customer’s expectations, and also have the talent and the skill to determine what those expectations are.

“I’ll call you right back.”

One day, I was listening to a phone call in a claims office, when Layne, the customer, called in and was connected with Molly, an employee. The con­versation went just like this:

What is the expectation of when Layne will get a call back? When does Layne think she will get this return phone call? Is it in one minute, five minutes, or even 20 minutes? We do not know. We do not have the foggiest idea of what Layne’s expectation is, yet it is the only way to determine whether great customer service is being provided.

Immediately after speaking with Layne, Molly calls the body shop, and after at least 15 minutes, she is connected with a body shop employee. He had to look at the car, and the two talked for another 15 minutes. Then, the body shop employee had to call the parts distributor to discuss pricing, which took another five minutes. All in all, this call took about 35 minutes.

In my opinion, Molly did a fantastic job. Any less trained or less experi­enced, Molly would have gotten snookered. But she did not. She walked the body shop employee through every single step of the repair process, which showed that the parts that he was talking about were, in fact, included in the prices that they had already paid. By the time Molly was done, the employee admitted that he was wrong and that Molly was right, and they would go ahead with the repairs as outlined. At this point in monitoring this phone call, I thought that Molly had done an incredible job.

Molly got back on the phone and called Layne. Rather than asking if the problem was solved, though, Layne demanded to know why it took so long for Molly to call back.

Molly explained that the body shop employee had to look at the car and call the parts distributor. Of course, all that did was irritate Layne because now it sounded like Molly was making excuses. When Molly tried to explain that this was done in a very short period of time, Layne got even more irritated, and angrily explained that if she knew it would take this long, she would have told Molly to call her at work.

They argued for a few more minutes, and then Molly finally told Layne that the problem had, in fact, been solved. Layne responded with a “whatever,” and then hung up.

A Simple Solution

What were these two people talking about? Were they talking about what a great job that Molly had done? How about the great customer service that Molly provided? No, they were talking about the fact that Layne’s expectations were not met. Even though Molly did a fantastic job technically, she did not set the expectations of the customer so she would be able to meet or exceed them.

What if instead, Molly would have said that she would call the body shop, where an employee would have to examine the car for review. She could mention that she might even have to call the person who wrote the estimate and that the whole process could easily take an hour and a half. If it was 8 a.m. when Layne first called, Molly could tell Layne that she would call back by 9:30 a.m. Layne might then request that Molly call her at work.

After speaking with someone at the body shop, Molly then calls Layne back at 9:30 a.m. at work with the answer. Has Molly met Layne’s expectations? Yes. As a matter of fact, she has exceeded them. The only difference between the first interaction and the sec­ond interaction is that Molly took the time to set Layne’s expectations.

Great claims employees know that taking the opportunity to set expectations, when possible, is crucial. How many times have you heard someone say that they will check with their supervisor and call you right back? You probably find yourself asking when that will be. We have tremendous control over being able to set customer’s expectations and we do not take them.

Saving Time

I happened to be monitoring phone calls in a claims office when a claims adjuster told a customer that their claim check was issued the day before, and the customer thanked the adjuster.

I asked this adjuster what she thought the expectation of that customer would be for when they would receive the check. She assumed that it would take a couple of days. However, the customer was informed that the check was issued yesterday. The check may not be put into the mail until today and it may take two to three days for it to arrive. Since this was on a Tuesday, it would definitely be to the customer by Friday. Since the customer’s expectations were not set, she probably thinks the check will arrive the next day, and when she does not get it, she is going to call back again. This creates more work, and the customer’s expectations have not been met. Then, the customer will be frustrated.

The adjuster should have told the customer the check would probably go out in the mail today. Because it takes two to three days for the mail, it would arrive by Friday. The adjuster should then tell the customer to call back if it has not arrived by that time.

The adjuster thought that was a stupid idea because she cannot control the mail. We do not control the mail, but we do control the customer’s expectations. The customer is not going to call the post office when the check does not arrive. The customer will call the adjuster.

If you want to save some time, start setting some expectations.