New Orleans-based Insurance Claim HQ reached an important milestone last year, but the reason they achieved it is even more important: people.
The law firm, which exclusively handles property-casualty insurance cases, grew to over $65 million in billable hours in 2021 after only opening its doors in 2020. Founder and owner Galen M. Hair says that reaching that number wasn’t his goal; it was simply an amazing by-product of his initiatives to take care of his team of attorneys, counselors, and administrative staff.
“A lot of business leaders talk about getting the most out of your people by taking care of them, but it’s in my nature to care for the people that work for me. So if we have an uptick in success and productivity because of that, it’s a win-win situation,” he said.
A Natural Caretaker
It’s not only his team of law professionals that Hair is devoted to taking care of — it’s also his clients. He’s built his business on helping homeowners who have been through natural disasters such as hurricanes, fires, and floods. He helps them deal with insurance companies trying to offer them less than they are owed to repair their properties and replace the contents of their homes.
It sounds like a niche field, but unfortunately, it isn’t. To date, he has helped over 800 families and six churches get their rightful settlements from insurance companies after their properties were damaged or completely destroyed.
When clients approach him for a consultation, they often say the same thing, ‘I didn’t know this could happen. I thought the insurance company was there to help me in an emergency?’ He often has to open their eyes to the fact that this isn’t the case.
“Your insurance company will not treat you fairly in many cases. It isn’t personal. It’s business. Profits drive most things these days. You can’t make money by paying out claims. You can plan for certain inevitable losses by calculating things like the rate of fires, but large catastrophic events change the actuarial tables and threaten an insurance company’s overall profitability. Moreover, the reality is that there is a machine built to adjust claims without much room for human empathy or compassion,” he explained.
His clients come to understand that insurance companies are profit-making ventures that make profits off your premiums and lose money when you have a claim. So, they want to deny your claim or offer you as little as possible. That’s where he and his well-cared-for team comes in to help.
Above and Beyond
Since he and his team help people in crises every day, it’s natural that they would also work together and take care of each other. Galen does not only help people that have been through natural disasters; he has been through an ordeal himself when Hurricane Zeta hit his home in 2020.
Since he knows how horrible that feels, he went above and beyond the call of duty, paying for housing, living expenses, and day-to-day costs when a few of his staff members were also hit by hurricanes.
Beyond that, he knows that he is only as good as each of his staff members, and for them to be successful, they have to be happy. So he makes them comfortable by paying good salaries, offering excellent benefits, and leading with generosity and empathy.
And his staff members don’t have it easy. Far from a white-shoe law firm, Hair’s team at Insurance Claim HQ travels the country, visiting sites ravaged by natural disasters to collect evidence for their cases against the world’s largest insurance companies.
So, when they come back mentally and physically exhausted, he lets them take the time they need to recover. It’s all part of taking care of the team that keeps your business running its best.
In Hair’s eyes, a business that leads with heart and integrity will always be a success, and caring about your staff and your clients will make building that business easier, turning the journey into a joyful one.
About Galen M Hair
Galen M Hair, Owner at Insurance Claim HQ, is a property insurance attorney who has helped over 800 families rebuild their homes and businesses. He has been rated a Super Lawyers Rising Star and voted one of the National Trial Lawyers Top 100. Click here to learn more about protecting your property from disaster: http://www.insuranceclaimhq.com
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