In the business of claims

What are the business developments that you will be working on at the end of the year and through to 2016?

In light of what the industry is telling us about claims and with the value-add to our business we are going to be setting up a dedicated claims service, and with what we have experienced in this point in time with our business model we have been able to provide a service to clients that are even in an industry fund. So, we see that as another income stream for us and in direct competition to those lawyers that are taking a higher percentage of a client’s lump sum payment.

I was recently stopped by the chief executive of a life company that told me two things. He told me that some lawyers are taking up to a third of the lump sum of a claim. He also told me that when a lawyer gets involved to sort out a claim with an insurance company, the company then needs to engage a lawyer to speak back and this is the process. But as an adviser, we know the client, we have the relationship with the insurance company and we are at the forefront of it.

The decision to build this new division came off the back of seeing lawyers getting involved in the claims process?

Absolutely – we see that we have the relationship with both the client and the insurer, and that we are good at what we do, and that we have had experience and success dealing with industry funds, so we can’t see why people wouldn’t want to use us to process a claim.

When are you looking to have that business division set up?

We are doing it now, but I would suggest that we would have that dedicated separate business arrangement established within six months.

How will this service fit into your current business Rando & Associates?

We probably would see it as standalone at this point in time but obviously with a link to what we do with our advice fees.

The other part to that is that we would set up a fee structure where we will be guaranteed to be paid even if a claim hasn’t been paid out. Interestingly enough, I have had a look at a couple of models around Australia, and I do know there is one adviser out there that when he sits down with a client and says they need $200,000 worth of life cover, for example, he will build his claims cost inside the fees that he will charge. So, that is maybe something that we can do and then have that side company process for them.

I am exploring a couple of different versions of this and that is probably why I am going to sit on this for about six months because I have been asking around at how different clients would view and they say that the clients don’t mind and they just want to know we will be there to sort it out for them.

Other advisers will be able to subscribe to our business if they would like to. I see this as a service that can eventually be open to other businesses, definitely.

How will the marketing strategy around this business work and how will you look to bring new clients into use this service?

I would direct market to accountancy firms and I would even direct market to lawyers that don’t want to play in that space. As in our space, there are lawyers that don’t like the practices of other lawyers. We could actually become a sub-contracting service to other legal professions, accountancy practices and even put it out there more widely.

We will also look at marketing across social media to get across our local area.