In our world of property claims
To be honest, talking about showing ‘empathy’ may be a little too simplistic, as what we really seek in our Aspray franchisees is the ability to show all three types of empathy. You may not be aware that there even are three types, but experts like Daniel Goleman have labelled these as Cognitive Empathy, Emotional Empathy and Compassionate Empathy. https://bit.ly/2HHeV0v E
Empathy in Loss Assessing Franchisees
It is our view at Aspray that our franchisees, and head office loss assessors too, often go through a journey between the three stages of empathy. Empathy is defined as the ability to understand and share the thoughts and feelings of another, but Goleman argues that with Cognitive Empathy, we actually perform the understanding part of empathy and it is not until we share the pain of someone else’s situation in our own heart that we show Emotional Empathy.
If a franchisee only showed Cognitive Empathy, they would still efficiently get to grips with a home insurance policyholder’s property claim, because they would understand the claimant’s situation inside out and appreciate their feelings, by studying their body language, talking to them and reviewing written correspondence. They would also take on board all the facts behind a loss scenario and would effectively manage a schedule of works, understanding how to project manage these according to the customer’s individual needs.
Having this sort of empathy makes the loss assessor a better communicator, both with the homeowner or commercial property owner and the loss adjuster with whom they have to liaise. But when they then listen at length and share the feelings of the claimant, they become more powerful representatives of the claimant, and more passionate about gaining a rightful outcome for them, according to the terms and conditions of their insurance policy. The degree of caring goes up a notch, because they wish to champion the customer’s cause, through feeling their pain.
Compassionate Empathy and Loss Assessing Franchisees
Becoming emotionally engaged with the customer is obviously a powerful factor within the client-loss assessor relationship, but prospective franchisees need to appreciate that Aspray’s franchisees typically go beyond this level of empathy and move into a state in which they demonstrate compassionate empathy.
In this stage, they feel moved to take an action to help the customer in whatever way they can. It is from this stage of empathy that we generate our top customer testimonials, as this is often the above-and-beyond way of assisting the customer. We are proud to say that many of our franchisees and loss assessors demonstrate this level of empathy. Take, for instance, the loss assessor who has recently delved into the Financial Ombudsman’s historic cases, in order to overturn a repudiated claim, because he felt it unjust that a homeowner should be entitled to no insurance payout at all, because her estranged husband had burnt the house down. By being moved to help and put what he saw as an injustice right, the client will now receive a 50% settlement on the value of the property.
If they are able to foster the three types of empathy, our franchisees are a force of nature, getting better outcomes for customers than they expect to achieve on the basis of the early correspondence they have had with their insurer, or the meetings they have held with the insurer’s representative, the loss adjuster.
Franchisee Recruitment Interviews
For this reason, our franchisee recruitment interviews (https://www.asprayfranchise.co.uk/business-opportunity/recruitment-process/) with prospective franchisees will, in part, be looking at signals that tell us that a person can show empathy and achieve the rapport necessary with a client, to achieve the outcomes we have come to expect of our loss assessors.
On a daily basis, franchisees need to be able to demonstrate that they can relate someone else’s situation to something they themselves have experienced. They should not be suggesting they have seen it all before, because that is not about focusing on the individual client and tailoring their approach to them. This is a difficult balance to strike, but our franchisees do it. They are helpers extraordinaire, as well as cognitive project managers and sources of emotional support.
Putting Empathy into Practice
One client recently said of a franchisee: “Her professionalism, vast experience and tenacity on my behalf did have an effect on the Loss Adjusters making progress. She took over the negotiations and communications with the insurer’s loss adjuster and helped to ease my stress, but she always kept me up-to-date with everything.
“She showed empathy with my situation, was super-efficient, professional, experienced and always clearly explained the process and how things would proceed when she was managing my claim with the Insurers and their Loss Adjusters.
All in all, a superb service was provided to me and I would have found life even more difficult without her.”
Aspray is truly proud to say that it has not just one franchisee able to show all three stages of empathy, but a network full of them. If you would like to join them, call 0800 077 6705 or visit www.asprayfranchise.co.uk or https://www.asprayfranchise.co.uk/business-opportunity/faqs/ to find out more.