Insurance services are promises that only really get tested in the event of a claim, according to Mark Stephenson (pictured), head of business development and market relationships at Liberty Specialty Markets, which is why it makes sense to integrate claims across the entire business. For Stephenson, whose 14-strong team form the face of Liberty to brokers and clients, enabling dialogue across every element of the mutual insurer is instrumental in providing a truly great claims experience.
Find out more: Discover Liberty Specialty Markets’ claims proposition here
“The fact that we have claims people sitting in the business development team shows this is integral for us,” he said. “And when we could physically sit in the office, you would see our claims people sitting with the underwriting teams as well, because the underwriters can learn a lot from claims regarding past experiences or similar clients. Some insurers try to keep [these processes] separate which is OK from an operational point of view, but not from a collaborative perspective.”
In keeping with the fact that claims are the product of insurance, Stephenson emphasised that the best claims propositions are those that are defined pre-loss. Clients must be familiar with their product upfront, he said, and told from the outset exactly what will be delivered. The difference between a gold-plated claims proposition and a conventional one, therefore, comes down to pre-loss communication, accessibility and transparency.
Read more: Where claims stand in client service
Clear and user-friendly wording is one part of this, he said, but it goes beyond that to include services such as disaster scenario workshops to encourage them to explore what to do in the event of an incident. These also get clients thinking differently and reflecting on scenarios that they may not have considered before. This is what insurer partners should be doing for clients, he said – priming them for various possible scenarios and protecting them in the unfortunate event that an incident occurs.
Stephenson, who has worked in broker-facing roles at Liberty for a decade now, highlighted how brokers have noted that his department is somewhat unusual among insurers in that it has two claims specialists on its team. From his perspective, he said, this brings the client’s proposition and Liberty’s capabilities to the forefront much quicker than they would have been if going down the conventional route. This goes back to the value of having a well-integrated claims proposition that touches on everything: from business development, to underwriting, to risk engineering. Essentially, it’s all about the needs of the client – something that brokers implicitly understand.
“When it comes to broker relationships, you can have a transactional relationship, or you can have a trusted adviser relationship,” he said. “And we aim to have a trusted advisor relationship where the broker and client come to us for our considered opinion, rather than just a transactional placement of their risk, where we talk about renewal terms one year later. We much prefer to have that upfront relationship with our brokers and our clients.”
COVID has been a long stretch for everybody, Stephenson said, but part of what offering a great claims experience is about is being inexhaustible, a trait which he credits his team with displaying. From broker feedback, it seems there is a bit of fatigue kicking in around Zoom calls and availability and people turning their cameras off, but the team at Liberty pride themselves on keeping that connection strong. It’s a matter of respect that, when they have bad news to deliver, they will make sure to deliver that with their cameras on, as the insurance promise is about being present in the event of both good and bad news.
Despite how well the insurance sector has generally adapted to the digital-first tools and channels necessitated by the pandemic, however, Stephenson believes that there remains a core value around in-person interactions across the claims space. Certain conversations simply need to be had in that way, and he is looking forward to being able to spend that time with his team, clients and broker partners soon. Of course, he said, digital interaction will not go away, as it has proven to be the right channel for certain meetings and discussions and this will continue.
“What I do think digital has really done is create a new expectation of turnaround times, which I don’t think is a bad thing,” he said. “Everyone expects instant answers now where, if you go back just one generation, that wasn’t the case… The digital world has changed expectations for good and it is those who can meet those that will succeed. And that’s what we’re striving to do, we’re looking to be at the forefront of that, not lagging behind.”
Find out more about the differentiated claims experience offered by Liberty Specialty Markets here.
