Posted On: November 6, 2008, 9:19 am CST

Posted By: Adjuster Gal

OK

I don't mean to insult anyone's intelligence -- but it's time to remind everyone of the basics.

An insurance company has 3 main branches: Sales, Underwriting and Claims.

An insurance company can only be successful if all 3 branches are staffed with good, dedicated people who work hard and work together.

Poo - sales agents are not supposed to be experts on the policy. Their primary function is to sale. Marketing. They are supposed to know a lot about the products they sell - that's how they help their customers determine what policy best suit their needs. Sales agents sell a promise. However, even the best agents need two things: 1. a good product to sell 2. Someone to fulfill the promise (they sold).

That's where you and I come in.

Poo - as an underwriting - one of the major functions of your department is to develop the products and services to be sold. That's why underwriters generally know the policies better than either claims or sells. The language in the policy is your area of expertise. But the best policy in the world is not worth a d*mn if you don't have an agent to sell it and an adjuster to work the claim.

As an adjuster - it's my job to fulfill the process. I work closely with a lot of agents to help their customers through a difficult time. My work hours are "what ever it takes to get the job done" and my paycheck isn't that big. I'm not an expert in the policy language. But I know it well. I also know the application of the law to that language. Poo - you can create the greatest policies in the world - but you need me to adjust the claims and to send alerts when I see things in the field that don't look quite right.

So - to sum up kids---

Sales: needs underwriters to develop products to be sold and determine which losses to accept (help keep the loss ratios in check). Needs adjusters to work the claims that come in.

Underwriters: need agents to sell the products they developed and adjusters to work the claims.

Adjusters: need agents to sell the policy so they have claims to work. Needs underwriters to keep the policy language up to date with the current legal market. Underwriting is a huge help to us when we have a coverage problem.

So - each department needs the other 2.
No one department is more important than the others.
And we all work very hard to serve the customer.


So- take your paychecks and put them back in your wallet. Take the ego and toss it out the door -- go out and hug an adjuster today!