Stop 5 of 8 · Daily
Claims guidance without a promise
The letter that tells a client what happens next, what to gather and who decides, and never says whether the loss will be paid.
What the agent owns in a claim
The carrier decides the claim. Ramy still owns the first two hours, and the first two hours decide how the rest of it goes. Getting the loss reported, getting the client photographing and keeping receipts, getting the mitigation started so the damage stops growing, and telling the client what the process actually looks like so the silence next week does not feel like a refusal.
None of that touches coverage, which is lucky, because coverage is the one thing an agent must not answer on the phone. A client hears a maybe as a yes, and the adjuster who says no three weeks later is contradicting Ramy rather than the file. So the letter he sends that evening is built entirely from the parts he does own.
The four blocks of the letter
| Block | What it does |
|---|---|
| What happens next | The steps, in order, with who does each |
| What to gather | Documents, photos, receipts, contact log |
| Who decides, and the timeline | The adjuster, against the form, in general terms |
The fourth block is the one clients remember: what to do in the next day to stop the damage getting worse, and the note that keeping the mitigation receipts matters whichever way the coverage question is answered.
Write it once, keep it in the Agency Project, and every future claim starts from a letter that has already passed review. Ramy changes three sentences and sends it the same evening, which is the difference between a client who feels handled and a client who calls a competitor on day four.
Inside the Agency Project, write a claims guidance letter for a personal lines client. The situation: [describe the loss in two sentences, no names]. Blocks: what happens next and who does each step, what to gather with a checklist, how the timeline usually runs in general terms, and what to do in the next 24 hours to prevent further damage. Rules. Do not say whether this loss is covered, likely covered or excluded. Do not predict a payment, an amount or a date. Do not name a policy provision. Say that the adjuster decides against the policy form. Under 350 words, plain language, warm but not reassuring about the outcome.
Here is my draft letter. List every sentence that could be read as a statement or prediction about coverage, payment or timing, and rewrite each one so it describes process instead. Show the before and after in two columns.
A claim has had no adjuster contact in eight days. Write the email to the carrier's claims supervisor: claim number as [Claim A], the dates of every contact attempt, what the client is waiting on, and one specific ask with a date. Under 120 words, no complaints about the carrier, no threats.