IS YOUR BUSINESS DELIVERING OUTSTANDING SERVICE?
by Emily Huling
Most agencies want it, but few are successful at achieving it: consistent delivery of outstanding customer service. Organizations need to understand that outstanding customer service is a process, not an event.
Here are some ways for the people in your organization to stay ahead of the customer service demands they face each day.
Outstanding customer service starts at home. If employees are expected to treat customers well, they themselves must be treated well within the organization. Employees treat customers the way they perceive they're being treated by management and by other departments. If the sales department has little respect for the customer service staff, that feeling will be passed directly to the customer. How do your agency staff members treat one another?
Customer service is a relationship, not a transaction. Whether on the phone, through E-mail, or in person, the insurance business must be done via relationships. Getting to know your policyholders personally, calling them by name, smiling, making eye contact, and careful listening will all contribute to a strong relationship. Make sure all employees use the 'client notes' section in your agency-management system to note issues important to each client. During each client call, employees should be able to post and access important relationship-building information. What standards do you have to ensure that all customer communication is personalized?
Internal systems must support the delivery of outstanding customer service. Agencies have moved from a manual world to an electronic one, but many haven't changed how they process their work. Have a brainstorming session with your customer service staff to uncover inefficiencies in the work process. If your CSRs are writing notes to use only for entering the data into the computer, double work is being done. Owners and producers who can't access client data from the computer as easily as they used to get paper files are impeding the workflow process. What internal systems does your agency need to revamp to become productive and customer focused?
Develop a measurement tool to assess customer service. Managers and supervisors should conduct an ongoing mix of oral and written surveys with customers. This information provides valuable material from which employees can learn, change, grow, or pat themselves on the back. Follow up immediately on complaints to be sure that they're resolved to the customer's satisfaction. What assessment tools do you use to learn about customer satisfaction?
Begin now to focus your agency on customers. Your employees, policyholders, and companies will all reap the benefits.
Contact Emily Huling at Selling Strategies, Inc., P.O. Box 200, Terrell, NC 28682, (888) 309-8802 (toll free), fax (888) 309-7355, e-mail [email protected], or Web site www.sellingstrategies.com.