• “P”: Present. Now that you have made a connection and found a need/want from the homeowner it is time to use this information to set the appointment. You at this point either found storm damage or have the home owner aware that they are in need on an inspection.

• “Mr. Williams I would hate for your damage to go unseen and you become liable for further damage in the future. My Restoration Expert will be in the area around this time tomorrow, does 1 pm or 3 pm work better for you?” 

Take whatever information you have gathered and assure them you have a solution, then set the appointment. Always give two times as an option. This only gives them the option to set an appointment at a specific time. The goal is to get all decision makers/homeowners present for the appointment. If they seem offended go ahead and set the appointment but attempt to set with all of them if possible.  Confirmation and the estimator will attempt to reset as well but instructed to not offend anyone and run the appointment one legged if it will offend them. 

• Competition. In large storms you will be in the field with a lot of people trying to achieve the same thing. These tips can help as general knowledge and rebuttals when needed.
  • Set asap. If you are in the field with either a sales rep or someone trained to write an authorization and make a claim call them over immediately if they are available before trying to set an appointment. Set for as soon as you can when you do set an appointment as they will have numerous people knock their door during the next week. 
  • Again their will be a lot of storms chasers in the area. Most will be from other areas and we want to stress we are local to the area and West Michigan. Avalon has maintained an A+ BBB rating since 2001 proving we take care of our customers and stand behind our work. We work insurance claims on a regular basis we just do not make a practice of chasing storms outside of our service area often. 
  • Non local companies will bring out roofers that are not licensed and possibly not insured which will fall on the homeowners responsibility if something happens. They don’t always have crews or everything needed set up in the area posing issues for homeowners. We are established in this region and have unlimited capacity, assets and knowledge to take on these jobs.
  • We will work with the homeowner through the entire process. We will help them make the claim, meet the adjuster to make sure all things are covered, review insurance estimate, provided Xactimate’s when needed, provide completion certificates as well as photos when the job is done. Insurance is a very hard process to navigate and we will be there to guide through the entire process. 
  • As a homeowner you are required to keep the home in good standing condition when you have a mortgage (most people you encounter will have a mortgage or insurance to protect them) Insurance has time frames for them to make a claim. If they do not make a claim in this time frame insurance can come back and force them to get the roof corrected on their own dollar and in the insurance companies time frame. If the roof is not corrected in the time they tell you to they will drop your insurance and they can be in default with the mortgage company. It is highly important for them to let a professional inspect the roof and make a claim if their is truly damage. 
  • At no point ever will Avalon fabricate damage on a home to help someone get covered. This will jeopardize a companies license and not anything a creditable company should do. 
  • Covering or waiving deductibles is ILLEGAL and will not be done by Avalon. In order for a company to waive a deductible they would need to create false documents saying they collected the full amount form the policy holder. Their has been numerous companies lose their license and end up in legal trouble for insurance fraud and “waiving deductibles”. As a homeowner and policy holder they can also be held liable for legal action if they are aware this is happening. You will come across a lot of companies in the field that will be pitching that they will waive or bury the deductible. Again this is not legal and we will not discredit the competition that is doing it either. Explain that it is illegal and needs falsified documents to achieve this and we will not jeopardize our license and risk legal action against us or the homeowner we are working with. 
  • When you here that insurance just wants the homeowner to get 3 estimates. This is usually ploy by the insurance company to have the policy holder find quotes to try and get the price down and save the insurance company money. It could also mean that the insurance company may be smaller or too busy to come out but either way the typical process doesn’t change with most insurance companies. The typical process starts with the policy holder making a claim, then an adjuster comes out to verify the claim. If they find damage they provide the policy holder with an estimate of what they cover. The contractor either does the work for this price or does not. If a contractor decides to do the work for lower than the amount awarded the homeowner does not get to keep that money in most cases (Only certain policies that are not as common). All they accomplished is saving the insurance company money. As true in most things if you reduce the price it typically means you gave up something somewhere to get this and leaves you with a lesser product. Typically getting 3 estimates for an insurance company applies to projects that are not as cut and dry as a roof, siding, gutters, etc.. 
  • Home insurance for “Acts of God” does not work like an automobile policy and does not raise the homeowners premium if they make a claim. Home policies are based of storm patterns and average amount of claims in the area. If everyone in the area is making claims because their is damage their premium may go up even if they do not make a claim. The only thing a homeowner is risking is not getting their damaged covered and being liable for it in the future.
  • In most situations the homeowner does not want to call their local agent to make the claim. They need to call the main office for claims. Local agents tend to steer customers towards people they know in the industry and may not always be the best route to go. 
  • If a homeowner has already had and adjuster out and been denied that is not always the end of the process. If we can truly find damage we can proceed it further with another adjuster and have seen things covered on the second attempt. It is not a guarantee but their is even companies out there that always deny the first time around and make the homeowner or policy holder prove the damage is there to keep claim numbers down.