A diagram showing the location of a stabbing incident in relation to surrounding buildings is something you'd expect to find on the desk of an investigating police officer. Yet, if that stabbing took place outside a pub and the pub owner then claimed for business interruption, the diagram is likely to land up on Bob Still's desk.
As claims manager at MMA Insurance in Reading, Still's job is to balance good customer service with containing costs. No easy feat considering the ever-rising expectations of customers.
Still says his passion for his job is fired, in no small measure, by the variety of challenges in claims and management that he faces.
"The variation is phenomenal. So I'm always motivated to deal with the challenges which are there every day," he says.
Claims management for him, it seems, is not a boring "nine to five" job, with piles of administrative work, impossible queries and angry customers.
Bob Still thrives on resolving those impossible queries and placating those frustrated customers. "It's one of my passions," he says.
To meet the high expectation levels of policyholders, Still's role requires him to improve the level of expertise of his staff and their work systems, meaning a large part of his day is spent in meetings agreeing priorities and seeking "continuous improvement".
In fact, it starts from the time he arrives at the office, shortly before 8am. Still uses this early, quieter part of the day to structure his agenda and discuss the team's priorities.
"My job is to ensure our priorities are moving in the right direction and that we're working together as a team to achieve them," he says.
Still says he encourages teamwork, but his staff also have the training, freedom and responsibility to solve their own problems individually where possible.
"I believe all 90 of my staff can contribute - there's a place for everyone and everyone has a role to play. As a manager, I try to exploit their latent energy and keep them motivated."
And although he has only been with MMA since May 2001, his strategy seems to be paying off: staff turnover in claims management has dropped to zero and more than 95% of all calls to his service centre - not a call centre - are answered within 12 seconds of the first ring.
But he still wants more calls picked up even quicker. He says the industry needs to focus on getting the little things right.
"In some things, the industry manages exceptionally well. Take, for example, a storm or a bad weather event. We're able to get to some very badly damaged properties and some very distressed people, to give them immediate help on site. And customers see this good service.
"Coming down to the day-to-day things - the small claims - often we don't do them as well. It seems to me the balance is out of kilter. It's little things, like a call being returned, that influence a customer's perception. We need to tidy up the detail."
And he's all for formal regulation of the claims management industry, provided it can help raise customer service standards.
"It's inevitable that certain standards around claims management will be introduced," he says. "The claims code of conduct does lay down certain standards when things should happen and you're really measuring yourself against those standards. But at the moment, apart from bad publicity, there's no penalty."
