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8 WAYS TO STAY DEPLOYED

Shellie
Jan 22, 2017
3 min read

Everyone wonders how to stay deployed the longest as an adjuster. The longer you are deployed each year, the more money you make. Here are some great suggestions!

Don’t Be Scared. Tackle the hardest claims first. Work claims no one else is willing to touch. You will learn much more with working on the difficult claims and build a name for yourself as someone that can be trusted to work hard. You will learn so much from the more difficult claims that have been sitting out there the longest than you ever will by working on 20 easy claims a day.
Read – Read – Read! Make sure you read file notes and documentation on claims. Pay attention to the details and don’t start asking someone to help you until you are completely familiar with a claim. You will answer your own questions if you read through the file first.
Treat customers like you would like to be treated. Remember the golden rule – “Do Unto Others As You Would Have Them Do Unto You.” Even if you are having a bad day, are tired, have had grumpy customers, remember that the person you are speaking with is scared, frustrated, feels the insurance company is out to get them, could have lost all they own, and you are the first person that can actually help them. You are the person that can get them back in their home. You are the person that can get them back to work – back in their car – replace their clothes. You are that person. Be known as “that person” that will go the extra mile to help customers with any claim.
Buy the licenses. If you want to stay deployed in The United States, buy as many licenses as possible in The United States. This greatly extends your appeal. If a company looks at someone with 5 licenses and someone with 30 licenses, who do you think they will send out first, and who will get to stay the longest? The person with the most licenses stays the longest.
Take the tests and fill out the hand-written licenses. No one wants to do this. If you take the time to take the licensing exams for South Carolina, Pennsylvania, and New York as well as get your appraiser licenses, that increases your value to a company. If you fill out the Arkansas, Kentucky, and New Mexico forms and send them by snail mail, then you have already gotten ahead of the game by taking the time to do what a lot of adjusters are not willing to do, thus increasing your value as a deployable adjuster.
Work in the field at least once. Before you work in the office, I suggest you take one field deployment. If you work Xactimate, have inspected a home that has been flooded, written an estimate on a car that has been hit with hail, you are going to be able to read the estimates whereas the person sitting beside you probably has not. This gives you the advantage and helps you to be a better in-office adjuster. You will know the best photos to take to document flood levels. You will know how important it is to take photos of the tag and inspection stickers when someone is programming a total loss. You knowing what you are doing in the claim inside and out will add significant value to you as an adjuster.
Don’t be lazy and work as a team. For instance, if you are working a tent assignment for hail damage up north, it could be snowing, it could be raining. Help someone else clean their car before they inspect it and save them time. Showing that you are a team player will go a long way to keep you deployed. If other people are helping you prep your cars, but you are standing by the heater trying to stay warm and don’t help them prep theirs, it does not reflect well on the type of team player you are.
Help as many people as you can every day. At the end of the day, especially after a hurricane or flood, if I talk with my kids, they ask, “Mama, how many people were you able to help today?” That is the kind of adjuster and person I want to be. I want to help as many people as I can – every day. That is being a real American hero. Help as many people as you can every day and don’t worry about how many “tasks” or “clicks” you get, and that is how you will stay deployed.