To achieve maximum potential, professionals cannot stop learning after a graduation ceremony or when the diploma arrives in the mail. True professional success means making a continuous effort to upgrade goals and knowledge through both experience and deliberate steps to stay abreast of new information. It is important to stay ahead of the game, and more importantly, stay ahead of the competition.
After all, who doesn't like to be the go-to person at the office for key questions, or the one at the meetings who has all the answers? Who wouldn't like to be referred to as the resident expert not only in the office, but within the industry that they work? Continuing education courses are an important means to reach that end.
In any career, hard work and constant learning breeds success. This same attitude and drive should apply in the insurance industry, but unfortunately, the reality is that if continuing education courses weren't required to stay licensed, it's likely that no one would show up. With different requirements throughout the country, continuing education is often looked at as a nuisance. However, it is important to remember the benefits of these required courses.
Like anything else, learning and staying on the cutting edge of the industry sets insurance adjusters and claim managers up for success in their field. To better serve their insurance companies, and in turn better serve the company's policyholders, it's critical for everyone involved in the claim field to stay on top of the most recent news and information in their ever-evolving industry. Clearly, continuing-education classes are a powerful tool toward this end.
While many claims managers and adjusters only take courses as required or because they could face a fine if courses are not completed by a specified date, new and updated courses are developed continuously to keep the insurance community up to speed, and in return, help generate consistently happy policyholders. Members of the insurance industry can retake the same courses every two years, as the information in the industry grows and changes at a rapid pace. These courses are intended to create well-rounded insurance adjusters and claim managers and ultimately to help minimize claim costs.
For example, a property damage continuing education course can teach adjusters what to do during the first day of a property water loss and $10,000 or more could be saved in the claim because mold loss would be prevented. It is clear how in these instances continuing education creates a win-win scenario for the insurance industry and policyholders alike.
The value of a training session is considerable; it ultimately translates into improved customer service for clients, which then sparks increased renewals and referrals to friends and family of the policyholder. Policyholders are happy because they experience fast and efficient service and minimal loss during a stressful time in their lives.
Finding the Right Teacher
So where do adjusters and claim managers find the tools to educate themselves? For starters, there is an endless supply of updated information on the Internet, not to mention online courses. But before taking an online course, insurance professionals should conduct careful research, as some internet classes may fulfill hourly requirements, but provide virtually no true learning experience. Insurance industry professionals must complete the hours no matter what, so why not maximize the learning potential and take the best possible courses available? Oftentimes, instructors will even travel to locations to teach their courses.
Local restoration and mitigation companies also host approved courses for insurance adjusters and claim managers. A class is only as good as its instructor, though, which is why classes led by a knowledgeable, live instructor has advantages over online teachers. With a live instructor in a classroom environment, participants can ask questions and generate interesting discussions, which creates an enhanced understanding of the new materials they are learning. It also gives insurance professionals a chance to interact with peers and share their knowledge and experiences with each other. It also is important to research the instructor before signing up for a class, as they may not have the appropriate industry experience. Instructors without industry experience will likely give presentations with little value.
As small, mom-and-pop insurance companies are springing up on every street corner throughout the country, it's becoming increasingly important for industry professionals to stay ahead of the learning curve and the ever-growing competition. Because most states mandate continuing-education courses, it is hard to use them as a distinguishing tool among agencies and adjusters. However, there are always ways to stay on the cutting edge and ahead of the pack.
For example, insurance professionals should actively seek out and enroll in property damage-related continuing-education courses from instructors who hold IICRC certifications. These certified instructors have a base of knowledge that truly sets them apart from others. Frequently, classes are presented by office staff or "professional training" organizations. These instructors may know how to manage (or manipulate) an audience and how to use PowerPoint, but they often can't answer any questions from agents due to the fact that they don't really understand or know the subject matter themselves. IICRC certified instructors bring the presentation exactly to the point of concern for the audience and makes the topic much more relevant, providing an education that is better retained.
Perhaps the greatest gaps of knowledge in the insurance industry are in the area of property damage. Often times insurance professionals are taught to strictly evaluate a claim and not to deal with losses. Insurance companies often refer restoration and mitigation companies to the scene of property damage to deal with the loss and to provide digital photographs for claim damage, loss information, and underwriting information. It is important for insurance professionals to become familiar with basic property damage procedures such as: turning off water at the main, keeping the heat on to prevent frozen pipes, moving wood furniture from wet carpet to protect the legs, not cleaning the walls after a small fire, etc. For example, knowing to turn off the water when a dishwasher malfunctions can reduce a claim by more than half.
Measuring Up
When they take the right classes, claim managers and adjusters are always amazed at what they learn, and how much the education can help them reduce claims. Nobody wants to be caught off guard by a client, not knowing the answers to questions or appearing possibly unprofessional in a policyholder's eyes. Taking continuing-education courses on a regular basis is a preventive measure that significantly reduces those types of potentially embarrassing situations.
After teaching hundreds of continuing education courses for the insurance industry over the years, it's common after a class to hear three recurring phrases: "I didn't know this could be so interesting," "I didn't know anyone could do that!" and "I never learned so much from a continuing-education course as I did today." Those are not only refreshing phrases for an instructor to hear, but the entire learning and teaching experience leads to more qualified, knowledgeable, and efficient adjusters and claim managers. In the end, that only contributes to satisfied policyholders and to a continued professional, respectable reputation for the insurance industry as a whole.
There is an old phrase that goes, "The more one learns, the wiser he becomes. The wiser he becomes, the more he realizes how much there is to learn." In an industry where information changes at rocket speed, no adjuster or manager can afford to fall behind. If an insurance professional wants to keep being successful and be the very best in their industry, learning should never stop. After all, it's called, "continuing education," for a reason.
Will Southcombe is vice president of training and technical services for PuroSystems, Inc., BA, MA, MBM, WRT, ASD.
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