When one of our customers has a claim, I, along with my staff, take it very seriously. I have always thought that you can sell a policy to a prospect which makes them a customer. But after you do that as their agent, you have to take care of them with the kind of one on one service they need when they need you. If you don’t, you fail miserably. Whether it’s a bank change, vehicle change or a claim, we work extremely hard to be sure the customer gets the service and time from us they deserve when they bought that insurance policy.

Seeing an article a few days ago that stated that homeowners are less satisfied with claims service – nationally – troubled me.

For the first time since a study was launched in 2011, customer satisfaction has declined among homeowners who filed a property claim, according to the J.D. Power 2016 U.S. Property Claims Satisfaction Study.

The report, which analyzes customer ratings on a 1000-point scale, shows that satisfaction decreased five points since 2015, from 851 to 846. “From a data standpoint, this is a significant drop,” explains Mark Garrett, director of insurance industry analytics at J.D. Power.

Until this year, satisfaction scores showed a consistent upward trend.

The ratings are based on five categories: settlement, first notice of loss when the claim is reported, estimation process, service interaction and repair process. Service interaction registered the most significant drop in satisfaction-a decrease of eight points. Specifically, claimants were less satisfied with local agents (-8) and claims professionals (-28).

The agent’s responsiveness, Garrett points out, is partially accountable for the decline. “There’s some phone tag in the claims process if the agent isn’t immediately available,” he explains. “That’s a big element in terms of responsiveness, and people rate that.”

It’s often necessary for an agent to communicate with other parties once a homeowner files a claim. Meanwhile, the client is left waiting in the dark. “The agent doesn’t have that information right at their fingertips,” Garrett says. “But it’s helpful to let the customer know that you got their message and are going to get back shortly. Acknowledge that you plan to follow up.”

According to the study, 51% of the time, the agent initiated a follow-up call to the customer.

I long ago put a process in place so that we stop what we are doing and file a claim immediately. Some of our companies prefer we refer you directly to their claim department so they can move faster in processing the claim. Regardless of the company or the way the claim is filed, we place a 3-day follow-up call to make sure the customer has been contacted and they are happy with the process thus far. If not, we always know where to go to get immediate action for their concern and we do it.

A claim is a hard enough inconvenience without my agency getting in the way with less than an expedient solution. That’s why I think that 98% of the customers who respond to our “End of Claim Survey” always give us high marks on how we helped them through their own claim.

If we can help you – we’re here and ready to earn your business. Feel free to contact us at info@BentonWhite.com or call any of our staff at 615.377.1212. We’ll get you insured as good as we can so if you do have that unfortunate claim, we will quickly help you get that taken care of!