In this eight-part series, Carl Van shares his thoughts on thecharacteristics of the awesome adjuster. The series is to serve asa sort of road map for those interested in knowing what it takes tobe among the top in their field.

Very often, insurance companies are divided into two groups.There is the claim department, and then there is everybody who isnot in claims. In any insurance company, claim operations tend tobe islands unto themselves. While this may not be right, claims isa completely different world than the rest of the company. For thatreason, claim operations need customer service statements.

A customer service statement is not a mission statement. It doesnot spell out a goal to be achieved. A customer service statementis a philosophy of sorts, a guiding principle, that tells anyonewho wants to know how we, as claim people, would like to do ourjobs.

I have worked with many different insurance companies trying todevelop good customer service statements. Of all the statementsthat these companies drafted, my favorite was this one:

“We understand that accidents can be upsetting and unwelcomecircumstances for our customers. Our goal is to fairly andaccurately resolve the claim in a timely manner with our customersas our partners.”

It smells pretty sweet doesn't it? I'm all warm and fuzzy, howabout you?

The question is how well do we actually understand thataccidents can be upsetting and unwelcome circumstances for ourcustomers? Most claim adjusters will say that they certainlyunderstand this to be true. When monitoring phone calls, however, Ihear little evidence of this understanding.

I do hear claim adjusters tell customers that they must signforms or they will not get paid. I hear adjusters tell customersthat they must give recorded statements before anything can bedone. Rarely, however, do I hear claim adjusters demonstrate thatthey understand that the customers have been through upsettingsituations.

If we understand that accidents can be upsetting and unwelcomecircumstances for our customers, who is telling the customers thatwe understand? Is anyone? The awesome adjuster is.

Do you remember the column on interpersonal skills (Claims,April, page 14) and the woman who refused to cooperate because shefelt like a victim? When our only response to this person is totell her what will happen to her if she does not cooperate with us,it does not sound too much as if we understand that this is adifficult process for her.

How about that second statement about our customers being ourpartners? As we learned before, we have a tool called the hammerthat we tend to bring out quite a bit. The best way of treatingcustomers as partners is to let them know that we will do our bestto help them whenever we can, and to point out how we will helpthem if they cooperate, rather than telling them what we will do tothem if they do not.

Customer Service Standards

The area of claims contains four customer service standards, inaddition to prompt and equitable settlements. Awesome adjustersknow them and practice them.

1. Explanation of the Process Our customers are entitled to knowwhat is going to happen to them. They are entitled to know whatsteps we are going to take and an estimated time frame for thosesteps. Most of us do a pretty good job explaining to people whatwill happen to them; unfortunately, we explain it in a way thatsounds as if they will be run over by a steamroller. We tell themwhat they are going to have to do, when they are going to have todo it, and what will happen to them if they do not.

Excellent customer service entails explaining the process in away that makes customers feel that we are on their side, or that weare going to try to help them. This is true even of claimants whoare completely at fault. We still can treat them with respect andbe knowledgeable and fair-minded about the claim process.

2. Empathy There is that word again. Although it is thrownaround a lot in claim discussions and office meetings, I rarelyhear anybody demonstrating any empathy.

One day, I was listening to a loss report taker handle a callfrom a woman who was very upset. She already had called to reportpart of the loss information to another loss report taker, but hadto leave for some reason. When she called to complete reporting theloss, she was frustrated that the new person did not have all theinformation.

The second loss report taker began by asking, “Madam, do youknow where your car is?”

“Yes, of course I know where my car is,” the woman responded.“It's sitting out in front of my yard. It's smashed. It's wrecked.I can't even drive it.”

The loss report taker tried to calm her down by saying, “Ok,madam, that's fine, that's fine, are you injured?”

“Of course I'm injured. I have a cut running down my arm, forcrying out loud. I already told the other person this. What's wrongwith you?”

“Ok, madam, that's fine. Now, where can we take a look at youcar?”

This went on for about five minutes when, finally, the reporttaker said, “Ok, madam, we'll try to get someone out there as soonas we can.” The report taker hung up the phone, turned to me, andasked, “What was her problem?”

As soon as she asked this question, I realized that empathy wasnot part of her philosophy. What was this lady's problem? She hadbeen involved in an auto accident. She was scared out her mind.

Most of us in claims will state that a big part of our jobs isto provide empathy. Whenever I ask a group of claim people to tellme when they offer empathy, I usually get responses such as, “Whenthere's blood,” or, “When there's a serious injury,” or “Whenthere's a total loss,” or “When there's a fatality.”

We tend to empathize with people when, if we were to putourselves in their places, we would be rattled. If it would shakeus up a bit to be going through what they are going through, thatis the point at which we start to empathize. What happens to thatcriterion the longer adjusters are in claims? That's right. Theystart to become desensitized.

Even a claimant reporting a scratched fender can feel upset orscared. This is still someone who has to pay $500 that, perhaps, hedoes not have this month. He has to figure out how he will get hischildren to the day care center for three days without his car.This still can be a traumatic and unfamiliar event. As claimpeople, we have to remember that all customers have the potentialfor being upset, regardless of the size of the claim.

3. Fulfilling Promises Most claim people are truly outstandingat fulfilling promises, when they know that they have made them.Problems arise when we make promises that we do not realize. Wemight say something like, “Ok, Mr. Jones, I'll call you back whenwe get the estimate.” What we do not realize is that we actuallyhave made a kind of promise to this person. This person has anexpectation of when we will call him and, when we do not call intwo days, he calls us, thinking that we have broken ourpromise.

The key is to make sure that we understand when we are makingpromises. That means being specific about when we are going tocall. Perhaps we could have said, “Mr. Jones, I'll call you whenthe estimate comes in. It should take about three days. Sincetoday's Monday, I should definitely call you by Friday.”

4. Meeting or Exceeding Expectations The main characteristic ofoutstanding customer service is understanding what defines customerservice. Customer service is meeting or exceeding customers'expectations. There's an additional point to this expectation,however.

Let's say that I supervise an adjuster named John. One day, Iwalk up to John and say, “John, you're going to be getting a callin a little bit. It's going to be the most important call you willever receive. In fact, in your entire career at this company, youwill never receive a call from a more important customer than thisperson. So, heads up.”

In a few minutes, John gets a call. Are you going to see achange in John? Is he going to do something differently than he didbefore? Yes, he will. John might pay a little bit more attention.If the person expresses frustration or anger, he might actuallyapologize and show empathy. Would John make a phone call, even ifit were not his job, if it would help the claim process go moresmoothly? Of course he would. In fact, John will make a lot ofdecisions in light of who he thinks this customer is.

Here is my point: anything that John changes, because he thinksthat he knows who is calling, highlights an opportunity forimprovement. It shows that we could change if we wanted to, we justdo not want to. The reason we do not want to is because we believethat it would take too much time. The truth is, however, that mostthings that we would change, if we thought that we would be dealingwith the most important customer ever, actually would save ustime.

The idea is not to run around treating every single customer asif he were the most important customer. The idea is that, if wewould be willing to change some things for the most importantcustomer we ever had, and those things would make our jobs easier,why not do it for all of our customers? The awesome adjusterdoes.

Carl Van is president and CEO of International InsuranceInstitute and dean of the School of Claims Performance. He can bereached at www.insuranceinstitute.com.