How important is continuous training and development in dealing effectively with the sensitive and often distressing nature of residential property claims?

Residential property claims can be challenging, not just from a logistical standpoint. When dealing with customers who have had their whole lives displaced, it can be tricky finding ways of managing the claim while also offering the customer the right support.

At Signature, we believe that providing regular training to our team gives them the skills to better manage claims.

Take our trades for example. It became apparent to us that the customer journey is so involved that by the time our trades are on-site, the customer just wants a friendly face who they see regularly. We took the approach that skill-sharing and ensuring our trades are multi-disciplined allowed us to minimise handovers and keep the customer speaking to one or two key contacts, reducing any potential confusion or disruption to the policy holder.

Perhaps even more than our trades, our claims handling team really bear the brunt of the emotions that come with the turmoil of a home-insurance claim. Customers sometimes don’t have a place to vent and these frustrations can spill over onto our team. We decided that vulnerability training would be a great option for our office staff, helping them to identify where customers may need additional support and also ensure our team are equipped to deal with words which may not be so kind.

One of the best things to come out of the pandemic is the uptake in online communication tools and how society has supported each other to make these accessible and user-friendly. Internally we’ve upskilled our staff to use Teams and Zoom meaning we can now look at speaking to our customers online, rather than just on the phone. We’re able to share our screen to run through paperwork and scopes or have back and forth conversations over the chat functions so customers can really get an understanding of what’s happening to their home.

Going into 2022, we think maintaining our staff’s existing skillset and assisting them with their development will only aid the customer journey. This industry is surprisingly stressful and doesn’t get the recognition it deserves for that. Our staff deal with customers who have lost far more than bricks and mortar, doing their upmost to try and give them some sense of self again. With the uncertainty of Covid-19 still looming, our staff need to be sharp and have the capacity to deal with anything thrown at them, while feeling emotionally supported to do so. We’re only as good as our teams and we owe it to them to make sure they have every tool in their arsenal to get a difficult job done well.