Recently, I was flipping through the television channels when I noticed the current influx of insurance company commercials. You've seen them and can probably quote all of the hook phrases and themes. It seems that every big insurance company now has its own brand of spokesperson, mascot or catchy jingle. Most of them are very creative, and I applaud the marketing efforts of their respective advertising departments. 

But in watching these, I have to ask myself, “Where does this leave the smaller insurance companies? What avenue do we have for advertising our services?” With these questions pending in my thoughts, I am reminded of a particular claim that our small county mutual handled a couple of years ago.

It was late on Christmas Eve night, and I was traveling on the interstate from Kentucky to East Tennessee. My wife and I had just spent the afternoon celebrating Christmas with my side of the family. My mobile phone rang, and it was Carol, our company's office manager, on the other end of the line. She told me some damaging winds had just swept over the mountains into the valley where our community is located. Since our office phone was being forwarded to her personal one during the holidays, she had received a call from a policyholder who had a wind claim. I knew that it had to be extensive damage for someone to call us on Christmas Eve.

Now, before I go any further, let me say that family should always come first, especially around the holiday seasons. Life is entirely too short to take work home with you. With that said, as an agent or staff member of a small insurance company, I believe that it is important to be available to the insured as much as possible. Even if it means slipping away for a moment to another room just so that the policyholder hears your voice. This doesn't mean to leave your family at midnight—just letting the anxious customer know that the insurance company is “here to help” goes a long way.

So here it is, Christmas Eve, and we have a big claim. I sighed and asked, “What happened?” “The roof has completely blown off the dwelling,” Carol said. She had told the customer to get a tarp to keep any further damages from occurring. She also had calmed the situation with the comforting news that we, as the insurance company, would do our part to indemnify them as the property owner. On Saturday, two days later, Carol went out to the damaged property and took care of the initial financial arrangements. Needless to say, the policyholder was thrilled at the quick response and general compassion of our small, “one horse institution.”

Weeks later, we received a call from a friend of the aforementioned customer. He said that his existing policy was expiring, and his friend had told him that he had to switch over to us. I met with him and wrote a new policy.

It just so happens that the company of the policy that I would be replacing has a catchy commercial out right now. The difference is my “claim commercial” cost our company nothing more than a little time over the phone on Christmas Eve. This holiday incident happened over two years ago, and I am still getting calls from friends and family of that particular policyholder today. In fact, I wrote a new one last week. The Christmas Eve event is always brought to my attention when meeting with these future clients.

There are many ways that this claim scenario could have unfolded. What if the client hadn't been able to reach us until the following Monday, which would have been four days later? During the chaos, what if the insured hadn't been told to cover the dwelling with a tarp? What if they had decided to leave the damages and stay with a family member until the insurance company could be reached? Maybe we would have been looking at further damages, and as a result we would have had to pay more money on the claim.

In a day and time when bigger is often thought to be better, remember that basic business principles always prevail: an advertisement is only as good as its product.