Writing Skills Training Provides Return on Investment
June 2002
For insurance professionals, knowing how to write effectively is crucial
to business success. Gary Blake explains why investing in training is money
well spent.
by Gary
Blake
The Communication
Workshop
Consider these very common situations:
- A top financial manager at a midsize insurance company is sick and tired
of wading through 20-page reports with too much information, presentations
that are jargon-ridden, and memos that don't get to the point.
- A vice president of Claims knows that the 85 form letters in his department
should be revised and updated before a new computer system is installed,
but she isn't sure how to make those letters less stodgy and more compelling.
- An independent adjuster in North Carolina and the vice president of
an agency and brokerage business in Seattle need help making their brochures,
sales letters to carriers, as well as letters to insureds more persuasive
but aren't sure how to get a cost-effective second opinion on their marketing
efforts.
An insurance executive who hopes that his communications issues will fade
away and who, therefore, postpones investing in improving his or her staff's
writing skills may be under the impression that form letters will solve the
problem. Perhaps a claims or underwriting manager thinks that because all current
employees have been in the business awhile, their writing must be "perfectly
fine." Both assumptions are wrong. For insurance professionals, knowing how
to write effectively isn't the icing on the cake-it's an essential layer of
the cake itself.
The time wasted by poor writing is immense. The CFO or COO who must field
weighty reports from Audit, Finance, Strategic Planning, Product Development,
Actuarial, and IT may have half his day wasted because he's hoping his people
will magically solve their own writing problems. The claims manager may face
the lost time, embarrassment, and even possible litigation stemming from log
notes, letters, and e-mail that were vague and negative … and found their way
into the hands of an opposing attorney. The head of a "mom and pop" agency or
independent adjusting firm must recognize that new business is dependent on
marketing, and marketing is dependent on solid writing skills. Better writing
often translates into better business.
The following five motives for instituting writing skills training are discussed
in the context of this type of training's return on investment (ROI). I do this
to point out that, quite often, the dollars spent on training are offset by
a rainbow of ongoing benefits that may not always show up on a ledger.
1. Writing is a big part of the job. Many insurance
professionals spend as much as 15 hours a week writing letters to claimants, attorneys, commissioners, physicians, agents,
senior management, and others. If an insurance professional is shaky about writing,
that uncertainty will show up in every letter, report, proposal, Power Point
presentation, manual, e-mail, and memo.
So, let's do some math: one claims adjuster, for example, may produce 10
written documents a day. Multiply that times 250 workdays. That's 2,500 letters.
If each letter has four errors, stodgy phrases, or muddy thoughts, that's 10,000
mistakes a year. (Frankly, I see an average of 7-8 mistakes in every claims. underwriting, and finance document I review.)
Now, imagine a training seminar helping 15 employees become better writers.
In one year, this one class can, potentially, eliminate 15 times 10,000 errors:
150,000 errors!
I'm not referring to typos or other "small stuff." I am referring to errors
that cause readers to phone the adjuster, waste many hours, and alienate customers
who become frustrated at trying to make sense of what they have just read.
2. Poor writing makes your department vulnerable to
lawsuits. Over lunch with claims VPs and other top managers, I often
hear "war stories" of lawsuits and other losses that came about in great part
because of inappropriate tone or vagueness on the part of an adjuster. Here
are some examples:
- One bad-faith lawsuit led to a whole file being discoverable. In that
file were examples of nasty, negative, accusatory language. If adjusters
never learn ways to avoid negativity, subjective comments, and anger in
correspondence, then they place entire departments at risk. Another bad-faith
lawsuit in Kentucky featured an opposing attorney putting embarrassing prose
on an overhead projector and ridiculing both the poor language as well as
the tone. That resulted in the company paying out $950,000!
- One VP of finance told me he makes a practice of ripping up reports
that are disorganized and provide too much information. This bit of drama
has not solved the problem because the average person in his department
hasn't taken a writing class for 15 years!
- A municipal retirement fund found itself in trouble when, because of
a vague and muddy retirement payout estimate, a retiree sued for what he
expected to receive in benefits. The court agreed that the prose was hopelessly
vague and awarded a very handsome retirement package to the plaintiff.
3. E-mails and log notes may become part of the file. Another aspect of the relationship between a claims professional's writing skills
and worries over litigation is the trend toward e-mails and log notes being
brought into court by an opposing attorney. Great form letters won't help you
if you shoot off a crash-and-burn e-mail intimating that the claimant is less
than honorable. Tone is a writing issue that goes far beyond the niceties of
sentence structure; adjusters must take responsibility for their words … or
wind up eating them in a court of law.
4. Poor writing is embarrassing and wastes time. For every "enclosed please find," "under separate cover," above-captioned file,"
and "pursuant to," there is a customer who is laughing, shaking his head, and
equating this user-unfriendly language with your company's image and customer
service. Bad writing is embarrassing, and, although its effects may not show
up on the ledger, it may repel customers. On the other hand, an adjuster, independent
agent, or systems professional with training in persuasive writing will not
only avoid embarrassment but will "sell" ideas (and settlements) faster and
better because of an awareness of how persuasion works.
5. Training adjusters retains adjusters. Everyone knows that competent insurance professionals
are hard to find. Once you find one, your job is to keep that person on the
job. Many surveys point to training as a proven method for motivating employees,
ensuring they stay enthusiastic, and keeping them "on the same page" in that
everyone knows how certain tasks need to be done.
Writing training helps smooth the learning curve and lifts morale. Don't
think that just because no one on your staff has expressed a need for writing
skills training, the problem doesn't exist. Just scoop up a handful of typical
letters in your claims department, and read them as if you were the recipient.
you'll see what I mean.
One major Midwest insurer cuts its claims training budget in half, urging
senior people to "train" new hires. The result? Within a year, productivity
was down, and adjuster turnover had doubled!
Conclusion
A well-presented writing training seminar, customized to claims, underwriting,
finance, or sales documents, may not be a panacea for every communications issue,
but its positive influence, felt over weeks, months, and years, will probably
dwarf the dollars spent to sponsor it. In fact, few training classes can be
as cost effective: if a seminar prevents just one lost customer or one lost
lawsuit, the training will have paid for itself many times over. If a writing
skills seminar geared to claims, underwriting, actuarial, financial, or other
company employees can make your professionals just 10 or 20 percent more persuasive,
imagine the impact that will have over a whole year or over an entire career.
Opinions expressed in Expert Commentary articles are those of the author and are
not necessarily held by the author’s employer or IRMI. This article does not purport
to provide legal, accounting, or other professional advice or opinion. If such advice
is needed, consult with your attorney, accountant, or other qualified adviser.