How should you choose your adjuster? Some suggest that you should look at insurance companies history of underinsured claims, medical errors, settlements, under-staffing, etc. While this is certainly a factor to consider, it is not THE factor. The pick your adjuster process should be guided by your personal philosophy, which is expressed in the following questions.

1) Should I have a primary adjuster or a secondary adjuster?

Ask this question and decide. You may prefer one primary adjuster or another. It depends on your budget, schedule, and preference.

In any case, you should ask your primary adjuster to tell you that he or she is available for lunch at a certain time, for “interviews” (for example: get an explanation of what constitutes an “interview” for your policy). As a matter of principle, you should NEVER put yourself in a situation where you have to go ask your primary adjuster for an appointment.

Ask your primary adjuster if they know of anyone who you can talk to about underinsured losses to see if they have any suggestions about who they recommend. Ask if they know of anyone who is currently paying high settlements for medical errors. (You may also wish to consider someone who has had under-staffing issues. Someone who has been in a situation where someone was not there when you wanted them to be there.) Ask them if they have any recommendations for someone who you can talk to to see if they have any suggestions about who they recommend. Ask them if they know of anyone who you can talk to about setting up an “accountability team.”

Note: When you have been in a transaction, there may have been a lead available and no one picked up the phone, even though you told them you would call. (You may have given them the impression you were going to call them anyway.) This means you may have been able to get a high settlement without paying the actual fee, but there may have been significant risks involved in making the call. This may have been possible because the insurance company did not have enough people on their staff. In some business transactions, there may not have been enough business to warrant a full team. It may have been the case in your transaction.

2) Should I send a prospect away for a referral?

The basic rule in transactional science is that the customer should be kept in the loop. It will only get harder over time as you get further from the initial transaction and the prospect grows older. It is very difficult to stay ahead of the curve, especially as you get further from the initial transaction. As the lead grows older, he or she will become more weary of you and your products and services. He or she will become more familiar with your competition and less familiar with your competition. (If you want to stay ahead of the curve, you will have to do marketing that avoids the familiar and hits them over the head.)

There is a tendency for people to know enough to be worried, and enough to be scared away. This is natural. In your original transaction, should you have followed the rule that a customer should be kept in the loop? If you said yes, then did not follow the rule, then let’s go over the transaction again to make sure that you did keep the rule. It is easy to loose memory about details. You may have said, “I know enough to be scared, and enough to be scared away.” This has happened. Remember the fear of spending the money.

When it comes to marketing that protects the benefits of the original transaction and extends the benefits, you may have found a really powerful way to stay ahead of the curve in marketing. Keep following the habits of doing the marketing in a way that makes the customer feel you have their best interests in mind. Avoid the temptation to offer them some quick fix. Keep doing the marketing in a way that lets them know you appreciate their business and know what they are wanting.