In this interview, Andy Neary and Clayton (from OakBridge) discuss the often‑overlooked skill of storytelling in the insurance industry, especially within commercial claims. They argue that every claim is a unique narrative with its own characters, conflict, and resolution, and that brokers who can convey this story to adjusters can achieve better outcomes. Clayton points out that adjusters are pressured to skim “Cliff Notes” of many claims, limiting their ability to understand each case’s nuances. Andy draws parallels to the healthcare side, noting that case managers face similar volume pressures. They also touch on the regulatory processes that carriers must follow, the fiduciary responsibilities involved, and the tension brokers face between supporting the adjuster and the producer/advisor who wants a specific result. The conversation highlights the need for brokers to educate advisors about claim processes, manage expectations, and allocate a little extra time for communication to bridge gaps and improve claim resolutions.
Chapters
I think a very underappreciated skill in our industry is the power of telling stories, whether that be trying to win a new piece of business, trying to sell a client to an underwriter, or in your case, trying to sell the story of the claim to the adjuster to make sure you create the most positive outcome you can.
I believe we must be good storytellers. I felt, I feel like, well, even on the, when I worked on the carrier side, every claim is its own story. I mean, you can have the same situation, you can have the same scenario, but there's going to be something unique about every claim. And it's going to be its own story. And it's going to have its own cast of characters. It's going to have its main moment of conflict within it. It's going to have its resolution. Hopefully it's going to have a happy ending. Sometimes it doesn't. Yeah, it's a great— yeah, claims is just— that's the thing I like about claims is every time I open up, it's new. It's new. I think what the problem though is, is so many adjusters don't have the time really to reflect on each individual book. Okay? They're having to hit the Cliff Notes of a lot of literature. And I think a lot of times, if adjusters just had a little more time or took a little more time, just another minute or two with people to allow people to tell that story. I think we would resolve a lot of the communication problems that we have. I really do.
Well, and for the folks listening in, for clarity's sake, we're talking about commercial claims, right? Hence why we're using the term adjuster, you know, but I do equate that a lot to what you see on the benefit side, Clayton, with claims. Because, you know, a lot of the big carriers out there have case managers and things like that, whose job is to help with claims that have occurred in the healthcare system, but because they are serving so many clients, it's hard for them to understand that one specific claim. To your point, just like an adjuster on the commercial side, they're just trying to get that claim through. And unfortunately, that doesn't mean, it doesn't always mean it creates the kind of outcome it should.
Right, right, yeah. It, yeah, because, you know, every insurance company's got a lot of processes process in place. You know, they have to. It's a job that, you know, it's very regulated, fiduciary responsibilities. You can't just have anybody and everybody just doing whatever they want. I get that. There's a process that has to be followed. And the carrier, you know, if you follow the process, then the outcome will be what it's supposed to be.
How do you balance, given your role at OakBridge, because if I had to guess, you're in between working with the adjuster, but at the same time you're supporting the producer, the advisor who owns that, you know, who owns that client. Because on the advisor side, you also have, I guess, maybe the disconnect where they just, they want a certain outcome no matter what you have to do.
Absolutely.
How do you help an advisor from your position understand the process of a claim so that they're not just sitting there harping at you saying, this is the outcome we need to create, they're actually understanding the process?
Yeah, I tell people jokingly that I feel like I am the, the most, the highest paid translator in the country because I help, uh, I help people speak adjuster, and I help adjusters speak agent and people, because it is different languages. A lot of what we do in my job now, yeah, is setting expectations for people. Because you know what? We're in a business where unfortunately not everything is covered. Not everything's covered. I have also used the saying of sometimes, you know, our job is giving bad news, and having someone thank us at the end of the day for giving that bad news. You've got to have that level of empathy while also balancing the responsibility of the contractual language. And when you're trying to balance contractual language against somebody's feelings, woo, howdy, that's where the— there's where it is. There's your friction. You know, and the challenge always is, is because especially for these producers, man, and I think if I could help Adjusters understand anything about agencies. I wish more adjusters understood the work it took into maintaining a book of business and the amount of work it takes to replace a piece of business. So listen, I was an adjuster for a long time, got a lot of phone calls from agents. This is my best client, this is my fed fed fed. And again, you become a bit jaded to it because you're like, okay, yeah, they're all your great clients. Yeah, I get it. They all are. But again, I wish adjusters would take that into consideration a little more, of just understanding, "Yeah, we all agree this is not covered, but we've got to find a way to manage this so that I don't lose my reputation with my client, or lose my client altogether," because that's real money in a producer's pocket.
