When Words Collide: A Year Long Academy Event

Welcome to the new year. I hope that it is full of possibility for you and yours.

If you’re a regular reader (and why wouldn’t you be?!?), you may notice that this is going out early this week. I had to do that because I felt compelled to let you know about a new offering that the Academy has for this year.

You know that we offer a regular schedule of webinars on all kinds of topics. You’re used to us providing great speakers with relevant learning. You also know that we don’t normally use the blog to talk about Academy webinars. It’s just not how we normally do things. We like to keep the blog about issues that impact the insurance industry. So if you’ll forgive me, I’m using this week’s blog to tell you about something that goes live today.

This year, we have added a separate offering. It’s so outside of our normal that we decided to even do it on a different day.

We have partnered with Bill Wilson of InsuranceCommentary.com to bring you a series based on his bestselling book, When Words Collide.

I can hear your questions already. It’s one of the gifts that I have. Here are some questions that I think you have.

Why would we partner with Bill Wilson?

Why not? Bill is a preeminent insurance educator, writer and speaker. He has worked with the Big I, the Insurors of Tennessee, and even at ISO (Insurance Services Office). He understands insurance policies at a deep level. He has researched case law and worked with people who have had claims denied. On top of all that, he’s fun to listen to. He doesn’t just quote you insurance policy language (although we all know how much fun it is to read policy language). He also tells real stories about how real people have been helped over the years.

Why would we present a 12-part series?

In truth, it seemed like a good idea at the time. When I read the book, I became convinced that it was worth the read for ANY insurance professional. You can read my thoughts on the book here. I’ll extend my recommendation even farther.

• You should buy the book right now for yourself and the rest of your team.
• You should keep it on your desk as a reference guide right next to the binder that you use to hide your passwords, or that old Captain America comic book you keep on your desk.
• You should sign up for this 12-part series and when your books come in, make this a monthly learning event for you and the team. Call it an online and in office lunch time book club. I leave it to you to come with the cool name and t-shirt design. (and if you do that, take a team picture and send it to us, share it with us on your social media, etc.)

Beyond all that, the book details his process for dealing with coverage and claims disputes. It is rich and full and would be a disservice to it and to you to try and cover the whole thing in one or two sessions.

Why Tuesdays?

If you have paid attention to the Academy the last several years, you’ve gotten used to our webinars being on Thursdays. In fact, I’ve been here for two years, and I’m used to it. So why would we do something different and have these webinars on Tuesdays? I wanted to set it apart from the rest of what we do. I wanted you to realize that this is a different deal. It’s important so important to us that I wanted to change my pattern.

Who should sign up for this series?

• If you help your customers to understand their policies, sign up.
• If you want to help your customers to understand their policies, sign up.
• If you want to know how to negotiate with a carrier for coverage enhancements for your customers.
• If you want to know how to negotiate with a claims adjuster to get claims paid for your customers.
• If you want to learn how to read policies better and make yourself a better insurance

I think it’s worth the investment in time and money to become better at our chosen profession. Now that you’ve read the blog, go ahead and sign up for the webinar series.

PS – If it’s too late to join this week’s live session, it’s not too late to sign up. We’ll let you know when the recording is ready.

PPS – I’ll get back to ranting about coverage and insurance issues next week.