story telling

The One With Bill Wilson

We’ve all heard that there’s a perception problem in insurance.

Well even within insurance there are perceptions that can be improved. 

I know there are people that when they hear “Claims” they automatically think, they’re going to try and deny. 

And from the other side, the mere mention of “Bill Wilson” sends shivers up the spine, as he’ll try to get EVERYTHING covered.

So when Bill was giving a couple of presentations at the IIARI Annual Convention, I knew we had to sit down and chat.

I was able to capture some of our conversation in this episode of The Insurance Nerdery.

Ownership: It Is My Problem

Recently, I was preparing a speech to a graduating class from the IAPath certification program. One of the topics I was touching on was Ownership.

Ironically enough, I had some travel difficulties the day before the speech when heading to Accelerate powered by NetVU.

My experience could have dramatically changed had the individual I dealt with took a page from The Disney Institute.

The Disney Institute has a core principle that says:

It’s not your fault, but it is your problem

Sure we encounter all kinds of situations where someone else’s actions put us in a tricky spot. But how we respond to that situation makes all the difference to your customer and their experience.

We jump into my funky travel, meet up with Amber (not really), and talk about how my experience could have changed with a slight tweak, in this episode of The Insurance Nerdery.

Who’s the Smartest Person?

I think it was Billy Williams who said, “If you’re the smartest person in the room, you’re in the wrong damn room.”

So that got me thinking:

Who is the smartest person in the room?

Well after hearing Claude Silver on an Instagram Live Story the other day, I wonder no more.

Her words resonated with me so much, because of two rooms I’m in.  And without the smartest person in each of these rooms, I wouldn’t be where I am today.

In this episode of The Insurance Nerdery, I reveal the secret identity of the smartest people in these rooms.

Do We Deserve A Boo!?

It’s easy to think we’re doing everything right when we stay in the safety of our nest.

Sometimes we need to speak to the “other side” to see what is actually going on.

Or maybe we need somebody to boo us so that we take a step back.

We may not get all the warm & fuzzies when we announce we’ve spent our insurance lives in Claims.

It seems strange to me, because the focus of the organizations I’ve worked for have put a major emphasis on the experience of Claims customers. But I do know that’s not always the case.

After spending time with agents at the Hawksoft User Group Conference and IIANC’s InsurEXPO19, I share a couple of thoughts on this topic in this episode of The Insurance Nerdery.

Let’s HUG it up!

User group conferences are a great resource to better understand tips, tricks and best practices of a product.

However, there is so much more to these gatherings.

At this year’s Hawksoft User Group (HUG) Conference in Las Vegas, we could see this first hand. 

Hawksoft President & CEO Paul Hawkins was in attendence.  But he wasn’t just there.  He was involved from beginning to end. 

And the really amazing thing… 

Tips and tricks weren’t Paul’s sole focus.  He focused on the community around Hawksoft. 

And speaking of community, I was fortunate enough to moderate a panel at the conference on the topic of community.  The panel included rockstars Chris Paradiso, Patty Lares, Claudia McClain, and Nick Corrao.

We chat about HUG’s example of community in this episode of The Insurance Nerdery.