The Claims Boutique Service, an original Generali servicing initiative in the Corporate Business

Article by Pedro Ruano Lopez

Why a claim servicing initiative in Corporate Business?

The majority of our clients are not ?well prepared enough to face a significant claim and don’t have an updated coverage because of the fast evolution of their activity which is always changing the range of exposure.

Discovering after the occurrence of a claim that there is a lack of, or insufficient coverage creates tension and will strongly affect the settlement process. Usually in such cases insurers are exposed to litigation and most of them loose the client afterwards..

The Broker is affected in the same way, and the client, usually blames both parties.

To avoid this situation as much as possible, at GC&C we have a strong interest to meet the Client’s needs, before any claim happens and also during the policy period, thanks to our specialized people, that we have in our Claims and Loss Prevention teams.

How to bring ?this service to a Corporate clients?

We realized that our clients usually wanted to meet the Claims team, to discuss especially with those members who have a strong experience in specific and different Lines of Business and types of claims.

Consequently, it appears that implementing this new servicing culture that ?brings our Claims Specialists with our Loss Prevention colleagues in front of a client before the claim has occurred, could be relevant.

But in some markets, it does not ?workin that way since Insurance companies don’t have much contact with the client. Usually, these contacts are in the hand of the Broker and bringing the Claims people in front of the client was considered a revolution compared to the usual market practice.

Some of our major brokers found the idea very original and accepted to show to the clients the claims capacity from their insurer. It was a way for them to demonstrate that they are in good hands and that GC&C had the needed skills and capacity to serve them properly.

What was client reaction to this initiative?

Clients were positively surprised and appreciated the initiative , after a first round of getting to know each other the clients are always going to ask a lot of questions and especially want to talk about their ongoing concerns, for example product recall cover and procedures in the US, Product liability, D&O subjects, and of course Crisis management.

Claims scenarios were implemented with the help of our Loss prevention colleagues to prepare the client to face a claim and to launch a business continuity plan or a crisis organization.

The coverage was explained especially in some Lobs in which clauses are very technical and consequently wordings needed to be discussed and updated with the broker’s help. New solutions and protocols to facilitate the claims handling procedure are usually discussed and clarified.

By providing tailor made solutions reflecting our clients’ needs and concerns we created a strong relationship between our clients and our claims specialists. Further regular meetings are always scheduled.

What was the conclusion of the initiative?

We achieved a very positive outcome of the global results of the initiative. This has differentiated us from competitors and avoided us ?staying only in the pricing contest during the renewal period. The initiative showed the customer that Generali is a real Life Time Partner, increasing ?our client’s desire to stay with us and it improved their loyalty towards us.

The results were strong in the sense that our client’s retention reached 95%. The renewal process was easier since the pricing subject became secondary, and it was not strongly challenged by a satisfied client.