When your client is involved in a car accident, or his or her home has gone up in flames, what happens when they phone your brokerage to figure out what happens next?
Who should be the initial point of contact at the brokerage makes for an interesting discussion among brokers.
Tracy Makris of Bryson Insurance Brokers said her brokerage used to have a claims coordinator in the office. But over time the brokerage found it better from a service point of view to have account reps handle their clients’ claims calls.
“It’s worked best in our office that [the account reps] are the one having the communication with the client,” said Makris. “We used to have a claims coordinator, but there was a bit of a disconnect: clients were dealing with someone they don’t know, versus someone who has been looking after their account for the past three or four years and has built up a rapport with them.”
The arrangement may not be as efficient from a cost standpoint, but as far as retention and relationship-building goes, “that’s definitely worked for us,” she said.
Greg McKnight, manager of commercial lines and claims at The Magnes Group, agreed this claims intake model has its advantages. His brokerage, however, sees the value of a ‘specialist’ approach to claims service.
“We recruit our claims co-managers not just for their ability to go through a policy and determine whether coverage exists or not, but also on the basis of some special skill sets – humane skill sets they need to possess – because our clients are going to be upset when they have a loss,” he said.
“A claim is an upsetting thing. In those circumstances, a person may have witnessed all that they have lived for go up in smoke. And in some of these claims, you do have fatalities. It requires a completely different skill set than smiling and taking somebody’s money.”
Regardless of which person in the office takes the claims call, the function of the broker remains the same.
“The role of the broker in the claims process is really no different than the role of the broker in the underwriting stage,” said McKnight. “We are trying to offer to the client professional guidance that is impartial and that allows the client to negotiate the difficult part of insurance.
“There is much about insurance that is long, convoluted and turgid. What you want to do is to simplify the processes for the client. From a logistical point of view, we gained a lot of experience over time to figure out what the most efficient ways are to go through the claims process.”
.jpg)
At the initial point of contact, the broker’s role is likely going to be that of educator and/or counsellor. It even sounds similar to the role of an intake nurse at a hospital, assessing the severity of the claim to figure out what resources are required.
“When we get the original call coming in, the first thing we want to do is to provide claims counselling with respect to whether a claim should be reported,” said Makris. “[Our initial guidance] will depend on the severity – if there are injuries or any third parties involved – what client’s policy deductibles are, what it means for the future impact on their premium.
“We have these conversations because sometimes there are claims that shouldn’t be reported. There is an opportunity to counsel clients if there should even be a claim.”
If the client pursues a claim, the broker then shifts gears to explain to the client who does what in the claims process. Then it’s time for action.
“We can report their claims [to the insurance company] promptly,” said McKnight. “We do ensure that an adjustor is assigned to their claim right away. We do ensure that there is a quick response – for example, the deployment of a restoration company.
“Say, for example, someone has a sewer backup claim. People have to get a person there to start doing the job. There is no time to run around the pole. You’ve got to get someone there quickly to stop the leak, doing the draining processes. We have the contacts and we do deploy those resources so that the client has the benefit of that and get it done quickly.”
Makris said her brokerage’s goal is a four-hour turnaround time. After 24 hours, the brokerage follows up with the client to make sure they have the contact information of their insurance company broker or claims representative. Another follow-up takes place two weeks later, and once the file is closed, her brokerage sends out a survey to ask the client to assess the claims process.
McKnight said the purpose of the surveys is to reward excellence, as well as to identify areas of improvement. For example, if clients have reported having problems with the same insurance company adjuster, the broker can get the insurer’s commitment to assign a new broker to client files.
