In the insurance world, most of our work is done over the phone.A customer spends hundreds, even thousands of dollars on premiumseach year based on a promise that their insurance company will bethere for them in the event that something bad happens. Your job asan adjuster is to earn your customer's trust and put their mind atease. Is that easy to do with a simple phone call? No, it's not,but there are ways that you can exceed their expectations, evenfrom the comfort of your office.

Always Be Prepared

The Girl Scout motto rings true, both in the wilderness and inthe claim business. As adjusters, our workload is rather daunting,and it's easy for loss facts and other details to run together.However, the people we speak with are only dealing with oneclaim—their own—and are well aware if you come across confused.That's why it's important to have all of the pertinent informationin front of you before discussing a claim with an insured orclaimant.

Almost everything is electronic now, and some adjusters don'teven use paper files anymore. Despite the transition to digitalfiles, I suggest keeping at least one page of paper notes in a fileon each case to keep your claim facts visible should you havecomputer problems, and to have a quick reference.

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

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

Another part of being prepared is anticipating what questions aninsured, claimant, or attorney will ask you, or what counterarguments they will bring up. Having a thorough review of your fileprior to taking action will put you in a much better position towork with the insured or claimant.

Before calling your insured to deny a claim, make sure you haveall of the details of the denial in front of you. If there are anyuncomfortable arguments to mention, make sure you are able toaddress those in a professional manner. Before calling an attorneyor injured party to negotiate a settlement, make sure you are readyfor any counterarguments that may come up. When negotiating aclaim, we know the arguments to support our offer; play the devil'sadvocate and look at the other side of that same argument. It willprepare you for your negotiations, and you won't be caught offguard.

Make Every Contact Count

Another part of an adjuster's job is to make contact with all ofthe parties involved in a loss. This can be a challenge whensomething big like a seven car pile-up comes along. Seven peoplecan easily turn into 52 phone calls, and you may only reach thepeople half of the time, so it's very important that when you doget Mr. Unit 3 on the phone, you get all of your questionsanswered. Make a list of all the basic questions you need answeredfrom an insured or clamant, and make sure that everything isaddressed 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 clearexpectations for the insured or claimant during your first phonecall. Explain to them how claims work; they don't experience claimsvery often and may not understand the process. You'll also want togive them a reasonable timeline. The more information you givethem, the more they'll understand, and that means fewer timesthey'll have to call you back with additional questions. Theinsurance business can be quite confusing, and it's our job asadjusters to walk them through the process and instill confidencethat they will be taken care of.

The initial phone call made to any participant involved in aclaim is crucial. The first time you speak with an insured orclaimant, you are setting the tone for their experience with yourcompany. This is your chance to build a great rapport, and to gainthe person's trust. When your job is to investigate losses, it'seasy to forget that accidents are a big deal for most people. It'salso easy to forget that people are scared, concerned, and evenembarrassed about the loss, and about how you're going to handlethis problem for them.

Being sympathetic towards your insured or claimant is an easything to do that can mean a lot to the life of the claim. In orderto resolve claims, we need the parties to work with us. There isonly so much we can do on our end, and it's necessary that they arean active participant in the claim process. By expressing care andconcern from the beginning, you can ensure that both insureds andclaimants will be willing to work with you. Plus, it makes it a loteasier when you have to deliver bad news or ask for additionalinformation 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 todeal with on a daily basis, we are very detail-oriented, and we'realways trying to satisfy our customers during a tough situation intheir lives. You can't afford not to be organized.

Make sure you have a good calendar program on your computer tohelp you keep track of deadlines and contacts. Knowing yourschedule days ahead of time can give you a jump on what to expectthe next day. For example, if you have a little extra free time oneday, you can start the next day's assignments. That way, if you gethit with a claim in which lots of people are involved and there aremany 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 hangup. Being organized will help you keep your rhythm going. When youare interrupted by a phone call, handle what you can at thatmoment, and add any additional tasks to your list of things to dotoday; then get right back to what you were doing first. This is adaily (or hourly) occurrence at a claim desk, but it's importantthat your focus is maintained on the task at hand. Keeping yourdesk in order will help you to give each task 100 percent of yourattention.

In our business, customers and claimants hold our work to thehighest standard. It takes a lot to be able to trust a person justfrom speaking over the phone, but as claim professionals we areresponsible for developing that trust. Keeping a professional andknowledgeable rapport will help you to keep insured's or claimantscooperating with your investigation. Similar to the way a bartenderhas many jobs (bartender, therapist, doctor, marriage counselor), aclaim professional wears many hats as well. A claim professionalserves as an investigator, an evaluator, a negotiator, a goodlistener, and a file settler all in one. Keeping your businessmanner professional and organized can help you handle yourmultitude of jobs.