In January of 2009 NWA Restore-it sponsored its first
continuing education course. The course
was designed so that it would qualify for continuing education credits for
insurance agents and adjusters. January
seemed like a great time to have a course as we assumed most of the agents and
adjusters would have time to attend.
Little did we know that a major ice storm would hit the day before our
course was scheduled. Instead of having
time to spare, our planned attendees were slammed. Tree limbs and power lines were down all over
the 3 county areas that we service.
Agents’ phones and NWA Restore-it phones were ringing off the
hooks. Customers always come first so
most of the employees of our company were working on claims and the agents were
communicating with their offices to be sure their customers were properly
helped. Even with the rush of business
our first course had over 40 attendees.
From our very first course we prioritized certain
goals. First we wanted the course
material to be relevant and usable for the agents and adjusters so that their
time would be spent profitably. Second,
we wanted to show our appreciation for the support given to our company by
their agencies throughout the year.
To accomplish the first goal we have made it a practice to bring in
instructors certified in topics related to disaster recovery. To meet the second goal we supplied meals of
prime rib and stuffed shrimp, and offered door prizes including flat screen
TV’s and laptops.
We learned a lesson on scheduling after our January ice
storm experience. We polled our
potential attendees and determined that August was the time of the year to
offer the training. Also, by listening
to the attendees we have determined that we need to offer 2 hours of ethics
each year. Making the scheduling change
and sticking to our original goals, we had approximately 100 attendees at our
2011 course.
Our 2012 course is scheduled for August 16th and once again
we are working to improve the overall experience. Because of our past success we are
anticipating even greater attendance.