While it is proper to admit not being sure of a fact, some claims people get carried away with the use of “weasel words,” sprinkling them liberally throughout letters to claimants, attorneys, physicians and commissioners. As I review writing samples …
After the comma, the second most difficult punctuation mark to master is the apostrophe. Apostrophes are troublesome because there is no universal agreement about the rule that states that single nouns, including those ending in “s”, add ” ‘s.” There …
How do you format a claims letter? Insurance companies seem to be in search of a reliable, reasonable format that will help their letters achieve a consistent, easy-to-read “look.” The following are some tips on gaining consistency in a business …
The first spell-check system was developed by a group of six linguists from Georgetown University in the late 1970s for the mainframe computers produced by IBM corporation. If, however, you think that Microsoft Word’s Spell Check will alert you to …
In almost every writing skills seminar, there comes a moment in which a participant finds that one of the notions about writing that he or she has held since elementary school is either no longer valid or is dead wrong. …
As someone who teaches on-site seminars in “Effective Claims Writing,” I read hundreds of letters, memos, safety evaluation and site inspection reports, workers compensation evaluations, e-mail to brokers and loss control recommendations. Rarely do I see a document that completely …
I am delighted to be writing a twice-monthly column on claims writing for Claims Journal. This first column will lay out writing issues to be discussed, types of letters written by claims professional and claims areas – such as auto, …
Insurers focused on improving customer service through new technology shouldn’t forget that good writing skills can also impact a company’s bottom line. Offering business writing education to new hires and continuing education to current employees are just two ways that …
Large Loss reports are filled with details, but many of those details are not organized properly, despite the use of subheads throughout the report. Subheads signal to the reader what is to come. So, a subhead on ATTACHMENTS lists all …
If your claims department is typical, you have a lot of template letters that adjusters count on. The problem may be that these letters are stodgy, old-fashioned, and haven’t been revised or updated in years. The following five steps will …