To say it’s been challenging to communicate with desk adjusters this year would be an understatement. Whether the excuse of COVID is valid or not, big-business-insurance-companies have made it more difficult than ever to discuss a claim, supplement, or even set a simple expectation.
As a professional supplementer, we have felt the effects of this in a major way. In an industry plagued with net 30-45 paydays, it is now quickly turning into net 90-120s on recoverable depreciation, and we’re not even talking about the supplementing process.
When I was a contractor, we would address any issues, supplements, and coverages on the back end. The process worked when it was built on the foundation of photos and documentation. We’d finish the job, email the adjuster, and usually get a call back that week… Wow, how things have changed.
We just finished a supplement for a long-time client, and the desk adjuster told us they wouldn’t even be able to release recoverable depreciation, let alone look at the supplement for 3-4 weeks. We obviously got management involved and found the workaround, but the communication took 10X more work. It’s uncomfortable and something we are not used to.
Preproduction Supplements and Expectation-Setting
We have found that preproduction supplementing is the only way to set and manage expectations with the insurance company’s desk adjuster. Let me explain; we pulled a report for the year 2021, the report was created to find out how many desk adjusters followed the claim throughout the entire restoration process. The results were interesting. Just over 55% of adjusters that started the claim were not the same adjuster that would close out the claim (this report was exclusive to desk adjusters).
This report answered so many questions about frustrations, communications, and unmet expectations. For example, you submit a document, the document gets lost, you verbally agreed to a solution for a problem, and that desk adjuster is no longer on the claim, the desk adjuster is backed up 50 claims deep and can’t communicate and understand your needs or even worse, the claim gets handed off to NOBODY, and it’s sitting in nowhere-land. This is the environment, and we need to consider it as “the norm” at least for the near future.
As we have done for the last 20 years, we need to find ways to combat big-business-insurance-companies’ effects on insurance restoration contractors. Photos, documentation, and setting expectations before you shoot the first nail are all things that need to happen.
Here are two tips to lessen the frustration
1. Supplement the front end.
By supplementing the front end of the claim, every detail is spelled out in documents, photos, and writing. If the desk adjuster changes or is too busy to communicate, it’s an easy hand-off to management or the next desk adjuster. Here at Claim Juicer, every supplement is a preproduction supplement, and with the changes in the industry, we use insurance company trending to pre-overcome objections in each line item eliminating the need for phone calls. Only supplementing warranted and approvable items, all while setting a clean and easy-to-read supplement expectation. And don’t forget, Claim Juicer Roofing Supplements are never a “claim percentage” and always just a flat $350.
2. Set up a process to track supplements and communications with the desk adjuster.
Whether or not it’s in a CRM or on an excel sheet, an easy-access tool that you can refer to quickly will pay out big dividends in eliminating time and frustrations. If you don’t have a tool, we have one for free you can download here.
Based in Excel or Google Sheets, it makes the organizing process a whole lot easier.
If you would like to see what your potential supplement could be, visit claimjuicer.com and use the always-free supplement calculator.
~ Industry Forecast Team