On today’s Inside Look by Brooks, Steve is joined by Ron Miller, our firm’s field representative, to explain the role of a field rep.
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Steve: Welcome to Inside Look by Brooks. This is Steve Brooks. I’m here today with my good friend and colleague, Ron Miller. Ron, say hello to everybody.
Ron: Hello everyone.
Steve: Ron and I were just talking about how our families go way back because my dad was a physician in Polk County and he actually treated Ron’s family way back there.
Ron: In the 50’s.
Steve: In the 50’s, yes.
Steve: I’m very proud of my dad and I’ve heard so many great stories about him from Ron and other people, but I wanted to bring Ron today. Ron is our head field rep. Ron is the guy that leads the department in the firm that goes out in the field and signs up new clients. He goes through the entire intake process, he can answer some question, so I wanted you to meet Ron and get to know a little about him and his background. He was a football player at FSU, he worked in a Republican Administration, and he worked in the White House. He has a really interesting life story in it of itself. We’re so proud to have Ron working with us, helping our clients integrate with the law firm. So, Ron, tell us a little bit about yourself.
Ron: I’m happily married to Sandy. I’m a father. I’m probably the best grandfather in the whole State of Florida and if you have any questions about that, you can ask my grandchildren. My church is here in Winter Haven. I’m a people person. Active in the community. I really enjoy what I’m doing.
Steve: When Ron says he’s a people person, when he walks in a room – remember the old commercial when someone speaks everyone silences – Ron is a guy that he’s got so much charisma, he’s so extroverted and outgoing, that he draws people to him like flies. He’s a wonderful friend to me and obviously a colleague in the firm. Give the viewers a little bit about what it’s like to be a field representative: the kind of place you go and people you meet.
Ron: That’s one of the more interesting things about being a field rep. One, we represent the law firm, two I represent myself a human being and I like to think that I have lots of integrity. When I reach out to the community, I know that I believe in the law firm I’m working for because I know we have similar values. I’m the frontline person who will meet with you right after you’ve had an accident and from personal experience I know that’s a very confusing place to be. I’m hurt, but at the same time I have these questions that need to be asked of me. I’ve never been in a situation where I have to know something about my insurance company or a lot of things moving forward. I need someone I can trust. I have compassion for that person because I’ve been in an automobile accident, myself. I have compassion with that person because I have a working relationship with law firm – the legal community as a whole, but I do know something about insurance and I can answer those questions. I think it’s important that someone who has been involved in an accident has some assisted security about what has happened to them and what we can do for them going forward. I think I add another factor or two being a field rep. that I’ve worked with law firms in the past, working right in the hands on from cradle to grave on managing the case, so with that I can answer a lot of questions people have generally on what might happen as we process our way to a settlement. Some cases, we do have to go to court, but it’s fortunate that I’m working with a law firm where we have trial lawyers and that makes a different whether we’re going to go to court or not. If I’m an insurance company and I know that you have the leverage to actually take me to court, most of the time, I’m going to want to communicate with you and come to a position where I’m going to want to settle and that’s to the advantage of our client because you don’t want to drag this out for an extended period of time unless you actually have to. So, I like interacting with people and for me when I walk away from a client, I tell them I feel like I’ve done the best for you and if I ran into you at the grocery store, we’re both going to feel really good about that experience.
Steve: Thank you, Ron. And just to be clear, Ron is not an attorney so he can’t give legal advice, but he can by experience as a Case Manager, give you advice on how the cases generally go and what to expect along the way – the process, the Segway’s you’re going to take, and the ins and outs. There are ups and downs in a case, it can be a medium to long ride, and having someone like Ron who can answer those questions upfront can be really helpful. Ron travels all over the state. This morning he was going to be in Mt. Dora, he could be in St. Pete, Tampa, Orlando – he’s all over, so we definitely have field reps that go all over. The nice thing about Ron is that he’s been the owner of several businesses, many of which have had multiple employees, so he understands what it’s like to do payroll, to do public relations, and to keep clients happy. He’s very focused on the client and the client experience and that’s one thing that we all appreciate about Ron. Ron, is there anything you’d like to add?
Ron: I’d like to add that it’s a very strange experience based on what I’ve gone through to being calm about what’s it going to take for me to take care of myself and my family in an accident. Sometimes that means “Do I really have to go to the doctor, and if so, why?” Someone needs to answer that question because that’s a real transition from a field rep to the law firm and being a non-attorney, it makes it easier for a person to communicate with me because I’m John Q. Public.
Steve: Absolutely! Ron makes an incredible point. The biggest issue – a lot of people have a friend who got a settlement five years ago and received x amount of dollars a week later – every case is fact specific and medically driven. So, the only reason a case settles in a week is when someone is traumatically injured and the policy limits are very low and there’s going to be no questions that the insurance company is going to go over and cross the limits, but if there is a normal policy on the case and the injuries are not traumatic in the sense that there hasn’t been multiple surgeries or a hospital stay, there’s going to have to be a record of your treatment. The medical records is the bible of your case and if you don’t have that bible when you step into court to show the jury that you’re legitimately injured, that you followed through, that the pain was severe enough that you kept going back to the doctor, you followed the prescriptions, you went through the procedures the doctors recommended for you, you went to Physical Therapy, etc. If the record isn’t complete, the jury is skeptical. They’re reading things in the paper, so they want to have meat to bite into to show that you were truly, truly injured. If you don’t follow through with the treatment, like Ron was saying then your case is going to go nowhere. We really preach treatment, we have medical facilities and doctors that we know will treat the clients well and are very competent medically, they’re not afraid to go into court and testify on your behalf. Some doctors are, so you want to be very careful about the doctor you choose. That was a very good point. So, with that Ron, I thank you for joining me today. It was great to see you. It’s always a joy to be around Ron. We’ll see you next Friday at 3:00 Inside Look by Brooks. Thank you for joining me today.
