How NFS is Growing Flood Insurance
Floods are getting more common in the United States.
The combination of climate change yielding worse storms and urban development changing natural drainage patterns means that flooding events are happening more often than they used to, nationwide.
Aside from the devastating emotional toll that accompanies a flood loss, floods also carry a high financial cost. Consider this: just one inch of water can cause $27,000 in damage – or more. As water levels rise, so do costs. And while FEMA has noted that anywhere it can rain, it can flood, only 15 percent of homeowners currently have a flood insurance policy.
In an age where three-quarters of the country lives paycheck to paycheck, that means most of us are just one bad storm away from disaster.
But it doesn’t have to be that way. At National Flood Services, we’ve dedicated ourselves to expanding flood protection for Americans across country. Here’s our five-pronged approach for making sure more people who need flood insurance actually have it.
1. Innovating for Agents
One big reason so few homeowners have flood insurance?
Many agents aren’t familiar with how the product works.
As we enter a phase where most Americans could benefit from a flood policy, it’s essential that agents get the information they need to understand flood insurance and help their customers find protection for their homes.
We’re making that a reality by…
- Providing instructional videos that cover everything from how products work to how to sell. They’re accessible at any time, from any device.
- Offering location-specific training resources to help agents understand the specific flood risks their customers face, whether from hurricanes, wildfires, or river surges.
- Pulling data from our 35-plus years of experience to constantly improve our offerings.
We also provide self-service tools for policyholders, so they can easily find answers, make claims, and otherwise check on their coverage.
2. Supporting with Technology
These innovations are possible in part thanks to our industry-leading technology, best illustrated by Trident, our new flood management platform.
Trident makes writing and managing policies seamless with…
- Smart applications that adapt as agents type, so they only have to enter information that’s necessary to get a quote.
- Smart workflows that queue up the most impactful tasks for agents to tackle.
- Instant quoting, which lets agents offer customers real-time, customized quotes in seconds.
- Instant document search, which makes it easy to search customers’ information and pull key data.
- A simple agent dashboard that makes navigating among customers and tasks easy and hassle-free.
Our tech also improves the experience for customers – the people most benefiting from flood insurance.
3. Creating Transparency for Customers
Customers are often confused about what their policies cover.
To combat those misconceptions, we’ve made customer transparency a key tenet of our push to expand flood protection.
Every customer we serve has access to an online portal where they can check their coverage details, coverage limit, policy expiration, premium cost, and other policy details. In the event of a claim, they can submit information and check their claim’s status, meaning they never have to wait on hold to talk to a stranger about the fate of their home.
Customers can also access our video library to learn more about how flood insurance works.
4. Tapping into Decades of Experience
Since 1984, our employees have been the backbone of our work.
Today, the average NFS staffer has 15 years of experience in flood insurance. Collectively, they service more than 3.5 million policies per year. They answer questions for both agents and policyholders. And there’s almost nothing they haven’t seen.
The result: we have a 97 percent overall customer satisfaction rating.
Still, a number only conveys so much. For a better sense of what it’s like to work with our team, take a look at what our agents and policyholders have to say.
5. Simplifying the Complex
In everything we do at NFS, we’re committed to simplifying flood insurance.
When the NFIP updates its rules, we host webinars to help agents understand what’s changed. We make these webinars – and all our resources – available on demand so agents can get the information they need, when they need it. We’re even launching a series of podcasts to make it easier for agents to learn about flood insurance on the go.
Other ways we’re making things simpler:
- A mobile app for convenient account access
- Our agent dashboard
- A claims resolution period that’s half the industry average
Blog Articles
To Stay Resilient, Americans Need Better Flood Protection
Our current state of increasing flood risk comes from three conditions:
Worsening floods
Lack of homeowner understanding about flood protection & insurance
Lack of agent familiarity with traditional flood insurance products
While we can’t do anything about that first item, we’re doing everything in our power to address the second and third. By making more educational resources available, equipping agents with the tools they need to take care of homeowners, and providing a claims experience that ensures people get the support they need when a flood hits, we’re making sure flood insurance is there for more Americans when they need it most.