I started my claims career with a deployment in 2004 to South Florida for hurricane Charley.
There were a ton of challenges to surviving my first catastrophe deployment. Without question, the most difficult technical hurdle was mastering Xactimate. My first claim took me a solid week to complete, and frankly, I think the only reason my employer kept me on was that they were short on adjusters. And I’m eternally grateful that they did keep me on. Eventually, I made the transition from “I’m around because they’re desperate” to “my career is advancing because I bring real value to those I serve.”
I started training other folks to do claims in 2005. It’s still hard for me to believe a decade has flashed by since I started training adjusters. We’ve seen a lot of changes in the industry in that time, and believe me; there’s a lot more of ‘em on the way, but I’m now more convicted than ever that there are immutable truths about this business that will ensure success no matter how the industry evolves.
First, this is a customer service business. And the key word here is service. You must serve. Without exception, folks who serve well stand the test of time because they have character and work on their people skills.
Next, it’s still true that you must have both a license and Xactimate skills.
Most of the folks who come to us to get into claims adjusting can and do pass the licensing component. Where people get hung up is on Xactimate. And honestly? This really bugs us. We hate seeing good people miss out on a great career because they don’t master Xactimate. They either think they can’t or they get discouraged and give up. It doesn’t have to be this way.
Because the same principle of service applies to training adjusters (we succeed to the extent that we serve our people well), we constantly ask ourselves “how can we offer better Xactimate training to help more good candidates succeed as adjusters?” So we came up with a novel idea; what if we offered Xactimate Webinars? Live online courses that would help folks learn the core functions of Xactimate? This would allow us to show new adjusters the key things about Xactimate they need to know to start, such as:
- Xactimate is accessible to most everyone with basic computer skills; you don’t have to have autoCAD experience to master this stuff.
- Xactimate is, at its heart, a simple two-step process of creating virtual rooms and putting construction material on it. It’s not rocket science.
- Xactimate training doesn’t have to be dry and boring; we teach these computer skills in the context of real-life claims, and it’s fun and engaging.
- An instructor that cares about your success is key; everything about the way we do this is geared toward you succeeding. You’ll understand what I mean when you attend.
- Taking an online class is super easy; you can follow along in your own Xactimate, and ask questions live.
We’ve received so much great feedback from the folks who’ve attended our Xactimate webinars. Check the reviews! If you are serious about claims adjusting, and want to start your career on strong footing, we encourage you to sign up for one of the 3-day courses. It’s well worth it.
