By Matthew Vanderford
You’d be surprised how much cheese steaks, insurance and boxing all have in common. Say what?!
That’s right…you’d be surprised. So if you’ve ever seen the movie Rocky (or any Rocky movie for that matter – including the new Creed films), you’d see how much hard internal work it takes to move beyond challenges, to move past setbacks and work through the pain to accomplish great feats of strength. But most importantly you’d see that the boxer works with a team of people who are all dedicated to the same outcome – to support the boxer to reach his full potential.
If you’d ever stand at the counter in Philly that only slams out cheese steaks, then you’d see the commonality of boxing and getting your sandwich. First, you’d wait in line. And as the line moves forward, the line behind you continues to grow —all sorts of people looking for a good, quick meal on their lunch break. When it’s finally your turn, you’d step up to the counter and would be greeted with a Philly friendly, “Whaddaya want?!” You’d place your order, and the counter person without missing a beat, would yell out, “Chicken cheese steak, loaded fries, coke!”, and would shove the order slip into the turn style behind them and then would yell out “NEXT!!”
As the order’s picked up, the food assembly of greasy magic begins. You’d hear the sizzle of the meat, the sound of the dual fisted spatula wielding cooks clanging metal on metal as the meat, peppers, onions, and mushrooms are thinly sliced, slid down the flat top grill and then packed in a hot delicious bread role to be finally smothered in cheese and covered with banana peppers and pickles. As you’d make your way down the line to pay for your bill, you’d hear another voice yell “Order up!” With your finished product finally wrapped, tossed in a bag on top of your fries, you’d be handed your drink as you pay. And without a second to lose you’d hear “Order up!” again and you’d have to move – another satisfied customer needs to pay — the line hasn’t gotten smaller and the same process is happening over again until the mad lunch rush subsides.
Well, what the heck do boxing and Cheese Steaks have in common? PROCESS. In order to meet the demand of the people – good food made fast and delivered with ease, along with the demand of the boxer – to be in peak shape, mentally and physically — a process must be formulated, put in place and then executed without hesitation. Or else… the line stalls, people get agitated, tempers flare, or the boxer gets distracted, takes a hit and then falls to the floor.
PROCESS is also how insurance works – it’s how insurance was developed, implemented and finally executed. The insurance companies that stick to their process which was created to protect the assets they collect work like a machine. Some machines are more oiled than others, but you get the point. And just like a machine, there are internal insurance “mechanics” who keep an eye on things to see how the machine is running. They make tweaks to perfect the asset protection process, phase out older processes that reduce profits while attempting to implement newer strategies for solvency and growth. Insurance companies have a huge team of people all contributing to these goals – and they spend a lot of time, energy, resources and money to research, create, implement and enforce the process that makes their machine work.
Here’s a thought: If the research, creation, testing, implementation and enforcing of profitable processes are of vital importance to insurance companies, would it make sense to better understand “The Machine” so a person can better prepare themselves for filing a claim? I think so. But before we get into that let’s look at a definition of the word process.
Process: noun: 1. a series of actions or steps taken in order to achieve a particular end.
What I would like to suggest is to take some time and think about what you know about filing a claim. Have you ever had to file a claim – and if you ever did, what happened? Would knowing the process of insurance companies have helped you prepare better? Chances are – yes they would. But I won’t speak for anyone but me, and from my experience as a public adjuster – an ounce of preparation is worth a pound of cure.
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