Are Your CSRs Providing REAL Customer Service’

What is customer service?

Customer service in an insurance agency is made up of four specific functions: Processing, Professional Advice, Production and Positive Communications.

Processing
For most CSRs in an agency, processing has become customer service. When I ask CSRs, “What is the biggest interruption to your work?” They respond, “The telephone.” I try to explain to them that the phone is not an interruption; it is one of the only forms of perceptible customer service that they provide. One of the greatest challenges that an agency faces is the need to reduce the time spent on processing and to devote that time to quality time spent with the customer and the production of additional lines of insurance per customer.

Reducing the time spent processing can be accomplished by refining the agency’s workflow procedures and introducing concepts like imaging. I have found that when I introduced imaging into agencies that the actual time spent processing is reduced by 20 – 40 percent. That available time can and should be spent interacting with the customer. The agency owner/manager must review the current processing activities and eliminate those that are no longer necessary and do not lead to the retention and acquisition of customers. The procedures must be reduced to writing, explained to the CSRs and then implemented.

The next step is the most difficult, and yet the most important. Once the procedures are written and distributed to all CSRs, they must be enforced. Many employees don’t do what’s expected; they do what’s inspected.

Professional advice
Once the procedures are written and implemented, the next step is to start differentiating the agency from other “me too” agencies by providing the professional service that most agencies say they do. This can be done in several ways. The first is to implement the use of exposure checklists. These checklists can be obtained from several sources. The agency’s E & O carrier will usually provide them and even consultants, like myself, will provide them to agency clients. Other good sources include PS/4 (www.ams-services.com/products/ ps4.asp) and Sage (www.silverplume.com). These products have multiple functions and also provide great checklists and specific industry questionnaires.

While many agencies use some type of questionnaire on new business, very few implement the usage of one on renewals of personal lines and small commercial accounts. In the 16 years since I left the agency business, not once has my agency 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 are 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. The review, in many instances, will produce additional revenues for the agency and will increase retention.

Production
Most employees of an agency, when asked, “What type of business is an insurance agency?” will answer, “A service business.” That is not true. An agency is in the business of sales. An agent doesn’t get paid for service, only for sales. A great mission statement for an agency should be, “We are a highly motivated sales organization that provides excellent service.”

Many CSRs also have the responsibility of production. The most obvious is the sale of new business. It has been proven that an agency’s hit ratio on new business quotes is very low. This is the result of ineffective pre-qualifying the prospect and allowing activity to supercede results. Most agencies have, especially in personal lines and small commercial lines, between 10 percent and 20 percent hit ratios. Hit ratios are much higher on referred business and an effort should be made by all agency CSRs and sales people to secure these referrals.

Also, the highest hit ratios are the results obtained by cross-selling existing customers. I believe that an agency’s primary focus should be on the existing customer. This will be accomplished by the regular account review as described above. After the review is complete, the CSR can solicit referrals that will lead to even more sales.

The use of “piggy-back” mailers will also assist in the production of additional sales. In other words, when mailing anything to a customer, the CSR should insert flyers or brochures delineating additional products and services that can be provided by the agency, e.g. umbrella coverage, life insurance, long-term care, IRAs, etc.

Positive communication
What is communicated to a customer or prospect 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 cannot relate sales to salary the telephone is an annoyance, not 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 the staff for their help and attitude, then you have the wrong people doing the job. Most people 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.

An agency owner/manager should also train their staff to actively listen to the client. Many times a client will say something that will indicate a need for additional coverage. The need for 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 is an opportunity to suggest the need for additional life insurance. Those leads should be directed to the life salesperson in the agency.

The written word
What do your proposals and letters look like to your customers? Are they full of typos? Do your proposals contain color? Do you just provide an “apples for apples” proposal, or does the proposal contain other recommendations? These and many other questions must be answered affirmatively in order for the customer or prospect to view you and your agency in a positive way.

The way an agency views, trains and measures customer service will determine its ultimate success. In closing, I would like to provide the reader with a quote that I came across several years ago. Let’s hope it applies to you and the rest of the agency staff.

“And then some …

These three little words are the secret to success. They are the difference between average people and top people in most organizations. The top people always do what is expected … and then some … They are thoughtful of others; they are considerate and kind … and then some. They meet their obligations and responsibilities fairly and squarely and then some … They are good friends and neighbors … and then some. They can be counted on in an emergency and then some … I am thankful for people like this, for they make the world more livable. Their spirit of service is summed up in these little words … and then some.” – Author, Unknown

Jack Fries can be reached at jfries@jackfries.com.

Topics Agencies