Professional Performance = Customer Satisfaction

And yet how often in your own job have you thought about how great work would be if you only didn't have to deal with customers? This business - and our jobs - depend on customers. They are not an annoyance; they are our employers!

Even though most of us know this, we still frequently regard customers as an interruption in our daily duties. There is always a letter to write, manual pages to be filed, a call to be made, a report to be done, a producer to touch base with, a meeting to attend, and a routine to be followed. That's a lot to do in a short time, and the pressure to get these daily tasks done is often increased when you are evaluated on how well you do them. Nothing but the agency's long-term performance measures you on how well you treat customers. That's a shame, really, since insurance is a customer-contact business.

Part of the reason customers are not always treated well is that too often they are not thought of as people. We label them 'patient' (or worse, 'diabetic' or 'epileptic'), 'student,' 'client,' 'member,' and so on, but behind every client's status label is a person named Mary or Fred or Pat - in plain words, a person not unlike you. This person has a sense of dignity, feelings, aspirations, and wants to be acknowledged and respected.

From your own experience, you know that customer satisfaction is based on how well their needs and expectations are met. For the sake of review, here are some of the things customers expect:

• Promptness: Do not keep customers waiting. Acknowledge their presence. Take action expeditiously.
• Courteous treatment: Be polite, considerate, and helpful in your remarks. Maintain a sense of their dignity and yours.
• Fairness: Make sure all customers are treated alike. Be honest in your dealings.
• Accuracy: Keep your promises. Be sure to meet all the commitments you make to customers. Confirm that the customer understands your promises.
• Provide value: Make sure the customer receives full value for all the products or services purchased.
• Acknowledge their patronage: Be sincere in thanking customers for dealing with your agency.

All agencies have developed standards for customer treatment. Some have written down these standards, and others discuss them as part of an employee-orientation process. Still other agencies evolve these standards through their day-to-day practices.

Make sure you are aware of your agency's standards, and make your behavior consistent with them. After doing this for a while, you won't even have to think about it when you're under pressure.

Finally, recognize that no matter how professional your behavior is toward customers, you will occasionally make mistakes - either through misinterpretation, omission, or commission. The customer's expectations will be violated, resulting in anything from disappointment to an outright break in the relationship.

There are ways to recover from a mistake. Done well, the recovery can become the foundation for a more secure relationship with the customer. (Customer-satisfaction studies indicate that a complaining customer who is then satisfied becomes more loyal than one who has never complained.) See your recovery as an opportunity to demonstrate anew how much your agency values the customer's patronage.

The rules for an effective recovery are simple:

• Deliver a sincere personal apology. An apology costs nothing and does not necessarily mean that you have to accept blame. 'I am sorry this happened; I understand your frustration' is certainly preferable to 'It's not my fault; someone screwed up.' Make sure the customer senses that you really care.
• Hear the customer out. Demonstrate that you hear the message by your reactions, both verbal and nonverbal. Restate what the customer has said in your own words, and assure the customer that you understand his or her feelings.
• Bring the problem to a quick solution. If possible, ask the customer to suggest a fair solution. Initiate immediate action on your own, and persuade others involved in the solution to move quickly.
• Offer to make amends. Try to find a special favor or value-added service that you can offer to the customer as a way of compensating for the inconvenience. ('I will send the letter for you,' or 'I will send you our new publication.') The monetary value is unimportant; you are attempting to demonstrate that you care.
• Keep your promises. Make sure you do what you agreed to do and in a timely way. Follow up with others that are part of the solution until the case is closed. If circumstances prevent you from keeping your promise, explain this immediately to the customer.
• Close the case with the customer. Follow up with a phone call to the customer to confirm that both of you are satisfied.

Customers are an agency's bread and butter, its reason for being. Remember, it may be tough to deal with a particularly vexing client, but it's a lot tougher to deal with no customers at all.