Continued Growth

A now-or-never moment promp-ted David Riddell to start Canadian Claims Services (CCS).

After working for 20 years for one company, Riddell found himself re-evaluating the direction of his career when the adjusting firm he worked for was acquired by another firm. Insurance companies and brokerages approached him, but Riddell realized he had only ever worked as an independent adjuster and he enjoyed that side of the industry.

A partner offered to finance the start-up costs for a small independent adjusting firm, and Riddell jumped at the chance. So, on Jan. 5, 2009, CCS was launched.

Little did he know that the initial plan to just start a small one-office firm in Edmonton would soon evolve into something much larger, as the company expanded to four locations in Western Canada within a short amount of time. CCS was able to bring on talented staff that Riddell had worked with over the years. “If we weren’t going to make them part of our organization, then somebody else was,” Riddell said. “I thought, if we are going to do this, then we should be thinking bigger. I spoke with my partner, he said yes, let’s look at this, so we found ways to make it all happen.”

Part of the growth was the purchase of Triad Claims Service in May 2010. “That was an opportunity that came to us as we were looking to get a presence in Calgary,” he said. “We acquired Triad, which gave us instant presence and credibility. They had five adjusters, so away we went.”

In all, CCS has 19 adjusters in Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver and Winnipeg.

Cautious expansion

While growth remains a focus of the firm, the team focuses on “smart growth” rather than expansion for the sake of expansion. If the right opportunities present themselves, Riddell will consider them as they come, but they must make good sense for the company and for the customer base. “Our goal is that we just really want good quality people and we are not going to just go into a location because somebody asked us to,” he said. “If we can’t put a talented person in that location, we won’t be there.”

Expansion is expensive, not to mention challenging. Part of the challenge is to ensure consistency among the branches, in addition to guaranteeing quality in all avenues of the business.

As a relatively new organization who is expanding quickly all while letting customers – both potential and existing – know what they can expect from the firm, which includes delivering on a promise. “Delivering on the promise is always the challenge when you are in a constant state of growth,” Riddell said. “So, for the last little while, we just said, ‘We’re in the four locations, things have settled down a little bit, let’s make sure the infrastructure is in place.’ As a result, we have taken the time to put a lot of systems and infrastructure in place that allows us to do the things that we need to do and measure our business – the quality and all the things that are important to us and to our customers.”

Staffing struggles

To boot, finding the right staff to fit in with the company’s value system and goals has been tricky. Riddell is very thankful for the staff he had in the early stages of the company, pointing out that they were the reason the company was so successful right from the start. It was people Riddell had worked with for many years and he knew what they were capable of and what to expect in terms of work flow and work ethic. “I knew that I could count on those people to do what I needed them to do because I had such a long-standing history with them,” he said.

“When we are as new as we are, we have very high expectations, we do expect a lot and we need to be able to deliver what I am out there selling,” he said. “The staff need to be able to do that; I can’t do it all.”
So, CCS faces the same hurdle that many other adjusting firms face: A lack of highly skilled adjusters to choose from.

Client services

But what does attract adjusters to the firm is the continuous growth – always a draw for those looking for long-term potential. Not to mention, because the company is smaller, it is able to offer flexibility to both its staff and its customers, Riddell said. Drawing on his experience working for a large company, Riddell ensures that as an employer, he is able to offer his staff all that he appreciated as an employee. This is meshed with ensuring that the technology and staff are in place in order to deliver on the promises made to clients. CCS strives to offer a personalized-type of business, both for its staff and its clients. “Clients are looking for relationship-based, high quality type adjustment, with specialized knowledge. Those kinds of things are what we are delivering,” Riddell said.

“Everybody has got challenges; this is a tough business,” Riddell said. For CCS, one of the bigger challenges is obtaining the opportunity to prove that there is a difference in the quality of service that the firm delivers. “We do deliver on what we are saying, we do deliver on the promise,” he said. “When we go out there, we are delivering quality and service.”

As a society, people are demanding quicker response times, lending to a need for immediacy when claims handling. CCS is able to deliver that. As a flexible firm, they are able to ask customers how they would like things done instead of telling a client how it will be done. The firm’s claims management system allows clients to log in and see the file. “We don’t have to put the square peg in the round hole,” Riddell said. “We can create the hole.”

A key decision for the company was to join the Canadian Independent Adjusters’ Association (CIAA).

Having always been a member of the CIAA, when Riddell started up CCS, ensuring the company was a member was essential. “It provides an excellent infrastructure and a great opportunity to share ideas,” he said of the organization. “There are great opportunities for us, as an organization, particularly when legislative changes are happening. To have a voice, that’s important.”