Bill Scroggins interview
Date: 12/15/2005Contact: Joan Barrett/800-690-0070
Bill Scroggins jumped down off the retaining wall in his new back yard in Vacaville and broke his left hand in several places; he growls that he became so annoyed at the mishap that it was several days before he sought medical assistance. His work as the Zone Manager for the Farmer’s Large Loss Team requires his patience, understanding and ability to lead more than the use of his injured left hand, but the loss of use has been a challenge to the busy lifestyle that Bill maintains.
Bill started in the insurance business in the late 70’s as a claims representative for American Family in Kansas City, Missouri. In those days, Bill explains, most losses were seen by an adjuster regardless of severity but he enjoyed most the opportunity to adjust the larger losses and the person to person interaction with the policyholders. After several years, he went to work for an Independent Adjusting firm, the largest IA company in the country at that time. He became a branch manager for that firm, first in an office outside of St. Louis and then in Springfield, Missouri, eventually overseeing the activities of 5 offices in Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri.
From there, Bill went to work for Republic, Vanguard and Blue Ridge Insurance in Missouri, handling quality control and large losses for 6 years. American National Property Casualty made Bill an offer and he accepted the position of property supervisor over California and 10 other states, leading to a promotion to Claims Director over 26 states for the next 7 years. The weather in California was a contributing factor in deciding to move here, and Bill became a consultant to insurance carriers in California and Oregon for several more years.
The appeal of working on large losses is, to Bill, the exposure to a wide spectrum of claims situations and the ability to help people put their lives back together in a dramatic way. He feels that he learns something every day from the policyholders, his team of adjusters and the claims situations they all encounter. He brushes aside the suggestion that California is over-regulated and says that the regulations aren’t difficult to comply with if the good of the consumer is the primary goal.
He says that carriers appear to be doing more training for their staff and it is his opinion that lack of training is a set-up to fail. Consistently successful companies include quality training and quality trainers are the key to outstanding programs. “This business has been very good to me’, Bill says “and I love what I do. It’s great to find quality people and help them develop into a great adjuster.” He goes on, “New people will become more proactive if they are given direction at the beginning.”
Bill believes that continuing education is vital to the success of every adjuster to find and avail themselves of the opportunities for education presented by the claims associations. It is, he states, the individual adjuster’s responsibility to make the time to utilize the continuing education served along with the lunch at the claims association meetings. He encourages people to share the information about upcoming speakers and seminars with their co-workers and peers. He feels the associations are the often the harbinger of trends that the adjusters should be aware of so attendance will sharpen their awareness of the current situations in the real world.