Burned Out Adjuster's Playbook: IA Playbook Series, #8

By Chris Stanley and Chris Cassalleggio

Are you tired? Overwhelmed? Stressed out about your workload?

 

We've all been there as adjusters, but we can't stay there. You can leave all that stress and burnout behind. You do know that's possible right?

 

In this book, 7-time best-selling author Chris Stanley and insurance industry writer Chris Casaleggio, use their insurance expertise and experience to help you learn how to stop stressing and start enjoying working as an insurance adjuster.

 

Inside the Burned Out Adjuster's Playbook you'll learn how to deal with,

• Having too many claims
• Wanting to not work
• Difficult people
• Not being praised or appreciated
• Your cynical attitude
• Being underpaid
• Having too little time
• Claim conflicts that are unavoidable
• Hard to close claims

They also show you how to,
 

• Change your mindset
• Get a new job
• Earn a promotion
• Start a new career path
• Handle claims like a pro

Whether you are an independent insurance adjuster or an adjuster that works for an insurance company, this book is a must-read for you to keep your sanity, humanity, and career on the straight and narrow.

 

Don't let claims overwhelm and stress you, grab the Burned Out Adjuster's Playbook and continue to use the insurance industry to claim your life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Chris Stanley
• Release date: Jun 26, 2021
• ISBN: 9781956304008

Book preview

Introduction

Part 1: Mindset

Too Many Claims

Monday Morning Feeling

Dealing with Difficult People

The Difficult Claims

Lack of Praise

Cynical Attitude

I Don’t Get Paid Enough

Too Much, Too Little

Comparing To Others

Avoiding Conflict

Adjuster Affirmations

Part 2: Position

Expectations

The 9 Keys to Claims Victory

Promotion Hacks

Part 3: Path

How to Become an Insurance Company Adjuster (Staff)

How to Become an Independent Insurance Adjuster (IA)

Final Thoughts

Foreword

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It may be debated, but Daniel Day-Lewis is widely seen as one of the best method actors of all time.  What can’t be argued is that he is the most accomplished, in that he was the first and only three-time Academy Award winner for Best Actor.

He is known for his commitment to the characters and roles he plays.  He’s known for how deep he dives in and all of the effort he puts forth in the research.  Day-Lewis is also known to stay in-character with his co-stars long before shooting starts and right up through the wrap of a project. 

He’s even gone so far as to live as his character would have lived during shooting.  He’d live without running water for months as that is how his character would have lived.  If the character did not have the luxury of modern conveniences, Daniel would not have the luxury of modern conveniences.  He would become one with his role.

Well if you worked claims around 2011, you probably heard the story of Daniel Day-Lewis backing out.  Backed out from what? you might be asking if you are newer to the claims world.

He backed out of a movie role as an insurance claims adjuster.  What makes this so shocking is he backed out after just half a day shadowing an adjuster for his research!  Yes, the same guy who remained as Abraham Lincoln throughout the filming of Lincoln could not make it a full day researching the life of a claims adjuster.

Although the original articles about this role and subsequent refusal to proceed have seemed to have been erased from history, there are still some quotes that Day-Lewis is attributed with saying about the project. 

It was just too much.

I don’t know how these people do it.

I’d rather play a customer service rep than one of these poor bastards.

So it was less stressful for Day-Lewis to live his life for months as the former president that led our nation through the Civil War and ultimately his assassination, than it was to be a claims adjuster.

OK, all joking aside.

Stress is a very real thing when it comes to handling claims.  And I’m so thankful that Chris Casaleggio and Chris Stanley wrote Burned Out Adjuster’s Playbook.

Let’s get serious. 

Adjusters are working with customers that have quite possibly just dealt with the worst situation in their life.  Something bad happened to them.  That is the ONLY reason an adjuster is speaking with a customer.

Claim folks aren’t delivering a consumer good that when the customer opens it and begins using it, brings a smile to their face.  We deliver service when a customer suffers.  When their property has been damaged.  When a loved one has been injured.  When their business suffers a loss.

Even in the best Claim scenarios, when the adjuster has provided the Ultimate Claims Experience, that customer still had a bad day at some point along the Claim journey.

With this comes a lot of negativity.  Not only from what adjusters are hearing and feeling but they can even take on some of the pain that their customers feel. 

I for one had two adjusters on my teams where the stress impacted them so much physically, that they had to leave the profession.  Although I worked with both of them on stress management strategies, ultimately their health and wellness were compromised.  To this day, I still take this as a failure on my part.  That I was not able to help them through and ensure that they could prosper with a long career in Claims.

But through all of the negativity comes great opportunities.  We have opportunities to help people through some of their worst days.  We have opportunities to change people’s lives.  We have opportunities to completely change an individual’s perception of the claims process, an insurance company, or even the entire insurance industry.

What other job or career wields such responsibility for their customers? 

We have to remember we are humans.  We are hearing a lot of negativity throughout our days.  We are taking on a lot of this negativity on ourselves, whether we notice it or not.  Dr. Ray Shelton of the National Center for Crisis Management and the American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress refers to Claims adjusters as the non-typical first responders.  It might be hard to wrap our heads around that because we’re not police, fire or EMT personnel, but we act a lot like them.  We show up after a traumatic event and we are there to help the individual through the trauma.  During this process, we take on the trauma and negativity, and in CAT events we may do it 15 times per day.

If we do not develop strategies for ourselves to deal with the stress, it may take over our days and possibly even cause us to look for another career. 

Casaleggio and Stanley lay out a path for you to help you not only survive in claims, but also to thrive in a long career.  They dig deep into this topic to help manage and possibly alleviate high levels of stress so that you can continue to grow and succeed in your career.

I for one want to see you out last Daniel Day-Lewis.  I know you can do it...because Claims is the place to be!!

- John Bachmann

Introduction

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Take deep breaths. It will be OK. I know it is easy for me to say on the other end of the keyboard. I don’t know your personal situation, struggles, or obstacles, but I know all about how life is hard.

The last few years have doubled down on this point and proven another thing, that everything is uncertain. One minute you are planning on taking a cruise to the Bahamas, the next a global pandemic is raging. The next your family is facing medical issues and the long-term complications may place a financial strain on you for years to come.

Your job may be at risk and technology is threatening to replace the insurance adjuster. Vehicle owners are instantly snapping their own photos and sending in a description of their damages.

You aren’t the only ones feeling the pressure, claimants and insureds are equally on edge making each call a bigger task than the last. You start flinching when the phone rings. Your companies claim counts are down and that is never good.

Let’s not forget your boss who is pushing for higher productivity that informed you that the company is tightening its belt. New quality control measures are implemented. Rumors spread of massive layoffs and you fret as you check your empty savings account.

Take deep breaths. It will be OK. If you can relate to any of the sentiments above, this book is for you.

We all feel pressure, we all have likely encountered stress in our lives, but it is how we respond to that stress that defines who we are and the result.

The reality is the threat of a global pandemic is nothing new. Humanity has been fighting and adapting to diseases since the beginning of our existence, we are just now newly aware of our fragile state. Our head is in a different place.