Today excellent customer service seems to be elusive with overseas representatives, language barriers and not understanding the simplest of problems. One of the worst customer service experiences I’ve had was when I switched my cable company. I was a long-term customer for over 20 years, but recent changes caused problems with the service and made it more expensive. Just like any savvy consumer, I decided to shop rates and chose a local competitor that provided a similar service at a lower price. When calling the former service provider to cancel, they did not even try to retain my business! I wanted to explain that year after year my billing statements have increased and I’ve had poor connectivity to Wi-Fi in my home. Little did I know that my decision would end up costing me time, frustration and fewer cable channels. The new company installed the wrong package plan and I spent hours on the phone trying to get a resolution. This experience made me think about how this poor service has become the norm and how we could avoid this within our own company.
The customer experience is an essential component of any organization. It’s what sets the good companies apart from the bad ones. In today’s competitive industry, a reliable product does not equate to excellent customer service. For a company to provide this essential service, they must stay up to date with today’s technology. Online chats, instant quoting, social networking and inline callbacks are all vital for a company’s success. Gaining a client's trust improves their likelihood to remain loyal and recommend you more than just focusing on the quality of your product. Customers typically have few interactions with their insurance company. In fact, without a claim or premium change, there is often no interaction at all. Given our limited interactions, we must provide excellent customer experiences at every opportunity. Taking the call to the next level will ensure satisfaction and prevent call backs.
It’s vital we have a strong relationship with our agency force and provide a clear differentiator from the competition. As a team of skilled, knowledgeable and licensed insurance professionals, we pride ourselves on outside-the-box underwriting and the ability to speak to an underwriter quickly. For instance, since the launch of our Diamond Agent Portal, we’re able to offer an easy quoting and processing system for policy changes and endorsements. Additionally, looking ahead in 2020, we’re bringing Customer Service and Underwriting in-house, as well as implementing Territory Underwriting, which will provide our agents with direct contact to assigned specialized Underwriters.
We are committed to looking for ways to improve our customer experience from new product offerings, system enhancements, and staff development, to quality assurance and training. As our growth continues in the industry, it’s imperative to have continued focus on delivering a quality product and memorable service to our customers and agents.
Written by Suzanne Murray, Director of Underwriting