Are your CSRs doing what you expect? How do your customers perceive the service that they’re receiving? Does the lack of perceptible customer service cost you accounts? In this document Jack Fries answers these and other questions. Follow these customer service guidelines — and watch your sales grow!
WHAT IS CUSTOMER SERVICE?
Customer service in an insurance agency consists of four specific functions: Processing, professional advice, production, and positive communication.
PROCESSING
For most agency CSRs, processing has become “customer service.” When I ask CSRs, “What’s the biggest interruption to your work?”
They respond, “The telephone.” I try to explain to them that the phone is not an interruption — but one of the only forms of perceptible customer service that they provide. One of the greatest challenges facing your agency is the need to reduce the time spent on processing and to invest this time with the customer and the production of additional lines of insurance per customer.
You can reduce processing time by refining your agency’s workflow procedures and using such tools as imaging. I’ve found that the introduction of imaging into agencies reduces processing time by 20% to 40%. You can, and should, spend this time interacting with customers, because they don’t see processing time as customer service.
Review current processing activities and eliminate those that are no longer necessary and don’t lead to customer retention and acquisition. Put these procedures in writing, explain them to the CSRs and then implement them. The next step is the most difficult, and yet the most important. Once you’ve written the procedures and distributed them to all CSRs, you must enforce them. Many employees don’t do what’s expected; they do what’s inspected.
PROFESSIONAL ADVICE
Once procedures are written and implemented, the next step is to start differentiating your shop from other “me too” agencies by providing the professional service that most agencies say they do. You can do this in several ways. The first is to implement the use of exposure checklists, which are available from several sources: Your E&O carrier, consultants such as myself, and other third-party providers.
Although many agencies use some type of new business questionnaire, very few employ questionnaires on Personal Lines and Small Commercial Lines renewals. In the 16 years since I left the agency business, my agency has never called me to do a full review of my needs, personal or business. Like me, most of the agency’s Personal and Small Commercial accounts have had changes in exposures in a three-year period. If you’re a professional agency, your customers deserve a full review of their loss exposures at least every three years, no matter the size of the account. These reviews will often produce additional revenues for the agency and will increase retention.
PRODUCTION
Most agency employees, when asked, “What type of business is an insurance agency?” will answer, “A service business.” Not so. Your agency is in the business of sales. You don’t get paid for service, only for sales. A great mission statement for an agency would be, “We’re a highly motivated sales organization that provides excellent service.”
Many CSRs are also responsible for production, primarily of new business. It’s been proven that independent agencies have a very low hit ratio (between 10% and 20%) on new business quotes, especially in Personal Lines and Small Commercial Lines. This is due to ineffective prequalifying of prospects and allowing activities to supercede results. Because hit ratios are far higher on referred business, encourage all CSRs and salespeople to secure these referrals. Also, because the highest hit ratios come from cross-selling, focus primarily on existing customers by using the regular account review described above. After doing the review, the CSR can solicit referrals that will lead to even more sales.
Using “piggy-back” mailers will also help produce more sales. When mailing anything to a customer, have the CSRs insert flyers or brochures describing additional products and services that your agency offers: Umbrellas, Life insurance, Long-Term Care, IRAs, etc.
POSITIVE COMMUNICATION
What message does a customer or prospect get when they call your agency: “We’re so glad you called” or “You’re a real interruption to my customer service”? Because most agency employees can’t relate sales to salary, they see the telephone as an annoyance, rather than an opportunity. In fact, most CSRs can’t wait to get off the phone in order to get back to customer service. If clients don’t regularly compliment your staff for their help and attitude, you have the wrong people doing the job. Most customers leave an agency because of the perception of indifference on the part of the agency employee. Remember the opposite of love isn’t hate — it’s indifference (not caring enough to care).
Train your staff to actively listen to the client. A client will often say something that indicates a need for additional coverage. Life insurance is the most obvious example. If the client communicates any of the following — Birth or death in the family, a new job, a new spouse, a new home, an auto collision, burglary, or fire — there’s an opportunity to suggest the need for additional Life insurance. Train your CSRs to direct these leads to the agency’s Life specialist.
Another form of communication is the written word. What do your proposals and letters look like to your customers? Are they full of typos? Are they in black and white or four-color? Do you just provide an “apples for apples” proposal, or do you offer other recommendations? For customers or prospects to view you and your agency in a positive way, they must answer these questions affirmatively.
The way that your agency views, trains, and measures customer service will determine your ultimate success.
CONCLUSION
In closing, here’s a quote that I came across several years ago.
And then some...
These three little words are the secret to success. They make the difference between average people and top people in most organizations. The top people always do what is expected … and then some … They’re thoughtful of others, considerate and kind … and then some. They meet their obligations and responsibilities fairly and squarely … and then some … They’re good friends and neighbors … and then some. They can be counted on in an emergency … and then some. I’m thankful for people like this, because they make the world more livable. Their spirit of service is summed up in these little words: And then some.
Anonymous
Let’s hope that it applies to you and the rest of your agency staff!