Including Claims | Shoptalk Series, Episode #23

In this episode of The Power Producers Podcast, David Carothers and co-host Kyle Houck talks about middle market accounts and setting them up. They also discuss why some agencies are not taking the claims adjusters to the point of sale.

Episode Highlights:

• David thinks that the only person that’s non-likely to be invited to an appointment to onboard an account is from claims. (5:11)
• David mentions that he doesn’t see agencies taking claims people, claims adjusters, and VPS of claims out to the point of sale, but they should. (5:28)
• David shares that if you’ve never written a middle-market account, you need to set expectations with that carrier, specifically with the claims department and your clients to ensure that everybody’s on the same page, on what needs to be done. (5:48)
• David mentions one of the issues that’s always needed to be addressed on the front end is how the carrier is going to allow the agency to handle indemnity on claims. (6:19)
• David explains that if you don’t include the full indemnity on the claim, then the mod is not going to accurately reflect the risk. (7:00)
• David mentions the second issue he thinks most people don’t pay attention to is that they’re focused on getting the deal done and they forget the fact that they’re going to have to do a lot of work to onboard and correctly service the account. (8:14)
• David shares that the only way to create accountability is using the tools and shifting that culture to where it’s one of accountability as opposed to deniability by having all the claims reported to the carrier by location and coded as such. (9:26)
• David mentions that the other issue you need to pay attention to about claims is what type of an account these people are going after. (11:02)
• Kyle shares that having a conversation on the front end with an adjuster is something that you can set yourself apart from other people. (14:06)
• David mentions that he likes to take the loss runs and let the adjuster review the claims and the notes in real-time. (16:01)
• Kyle mentions that if you do it right on the front end, you’re going to have a much better outcome in the long run. (18:55)
• David shares the other issue that agents need to be thinking about is how claims are settled and how the money is allocated. (19:01)

Tweetable Quotes:

• “If you’re an agent out there, and you want to take it to the next level, you should always request adjusters notes on open claims, and that’s going to give you a far greater level of detail than what you’re ever going to get by just looking at loss runs.” – David Carothers
• “There are times where people think that the insurance company or the adjusters just kind of out to get them, and that’s not the case. They want a healthy account just as much as you want your loss runs to be clean.” – Kyle Houck
• “Every single claim has its shape and size. So, you can’t put yourself in a position where you just automatically go into indemnity reimbursement mode. At that point, you’d be better off just going ahead, let that ride, and let the carrier take care of the whole thing.” – David Carothers

Resources Mentioned:

• David Carothers LinkedIn
• Kyle Houck LinkedIn
• Florida Risk Partners
• The Extra 2 Minutes