Synergy between Insurance Company & Customer
Insurance Industry is at the cross roads now- it was under the Government control through the Public Sector companies for more than four decades and again it was privatized in 1999, through the formation of a Regulator- Insurance Regulatory & Development Authority- IRDA. There are 24 Life Insurance companies and 28 General Insurance companies, including the Public Sector Units.
There was a sharp increase in the new business initially when the Private Players came in to the arena in the early 2000s, only to dry up after a decade and now a lot of debate is on:
- Is the insurance industry growing on the right lines?
- Does the IRDA regulate more than develop the industry, because regulation comes first in its nomenclature?
- Has ‘Mis-selling’ become the norm or an exception?
- Can India sustain the other intermediaries like the Bank Channel, Internet, Brokers etc or only the traditional Agency channel can survive in our country?
- Are the customers the victims in the whole game?
- Why there is no growth in the agency numbers, although it is often said that only sky is the limit for earnings under an insurance agency career?
- How to connect with the customers- Relationship Marketing or Technology or CRM initiatives or Operational efficiencies or Call Centers?
- Mitsui Sumitomu bought 26% of Max Life insurance for Rs. 2731 crores.
- Nippon Life bought 26% of the Reliance Life Insurance Company for 2948 crores.
- Exide bought 26% of the ING Vysya for Rs.550 crores.
- Aviva is next in the list to sell its share of 26%
- Through CRM measures like Information Desks, Kiosks, Call Centers, Info-centers, Single-window desk, the insurer is communicating with the customers.
- There are programs of rewarding loyal customers through Additional or Loyalty Bonus at the time of the maturity of the policies.
- There are customer-centric tools like providing on line solutions to the problems of customers.
- Customer Grievance Redressal programs are available for each insurance company as well as at the IRDA Portal.
- There are Strategic CRM initiatives like the analyzing customer data, data mining and customer intelligence.
- Social networking sites like the Face Book, Twitter and You Tube are also a part of the Strategic CRM of some Private insurance companies to remain in constant touch with the policyholders.
- There is net-working of all the branches of the insurance company and there are facilities of LAN, MAN & WAN. (Local Area Network, Metro Area Network and Wide Area Network respectively.)
- The premium can be paid in any branch in the country, and other servicing functions like the revival of the policies, change of address etc also can be carried out.
- There are EDMS-Electronic Data Management Services, analysis of the needs of the customers, data-mining and mapping of the profiles of the customers.
- Earlier we used to have insurance products from ‘cradle to grave’, meaning there are solutions for different situations in life like old age provision, untimely death, the education/marriage of children, start-up funds etc. Now this coinage has to change to ‘cradle to cot’, meaning there should be suitable Plans right from the time a child is born in the cradle till he/she reaches the old age and be carefree lying in the cot, as he/she is covered by a good Health Cover, because rising health cost is the most threatening situation at the old age for any individual.
- For achieving this end, the agent has to regain the trust of the customer, by overcoming the fixation on Yields. Let us not allow the financial analysts daze the client with ROI- Return on Investment & Wealth creation jargons. The agent has to plan long term and offer risk protection to the family of the customer.
- Pension Plans, Health Insurance, Term Insurance and Mortgage Protection Plans are some of the long term financial solutions.
- The customers are no more patient or forgiving as they were in the past. In this information- filled Age, they immediately take the insurance company to task for any omission or error and go to the Consumer Council or the Insurance Ombudsman and get suitable awards. Thus customer centricity is the need of the hour. The insurance company has to inculcate the culture of customer centricity among its employees and officers through proper training and develop the habit of pro-activity rather than the present Re-activity.
- The distribution channels need a re-look and re-vamping. The traditional agency channel needs a complete overhaul through rigorous selection, systematic training in addition to the mandatory IRDA training and test and monitoring of the activities of the agents. The alarming turn over of agents should be halted.
- The existing Banc Assurance tie-ups have to be leveraged by the insurer and improve their penetration. Can anybody believe that merely 15% of the present Bank Branches which are partners with an insurance company are involved in the selling of the insurance products?
- The insurance company needs to move towards a more scientific approach with more stress on Technology, whereby it can come closer to the customer.
- Retirement needs of the customers
- Health insurance requirements
- Changing Income Tax rules from time to time
- Life Expectancy
- Health costs
- Different life style needs of the customers and
- The varying needs of Urban and Rural clients.
- Prospecting
- Counseling
- Servicing
- Remaining in constant touch and
- Be connected with the customer.
- For this, the agent has to only give the following:
- A smile
- A patient hearing and
- Respect for the customer.
- Satisfaction to the client
- Continued services from the agent at no extra cost
- Sale of new policies now and then from the existing clients to the insurance company
- Higher Persistency Ratio
- Less number of Lapses of policies
- Less number of surrenders of policies
- Both the above lead to higher profits for the insurance company
- Improving the image and reputation of the insurance company and
- Greater publicity for the insurance company through the word of mouth from the existing policyholders.
This will lead to a better connect with your customers.
About the Author
R.Venugopal is a Retired Executive Director of LIC of India and a Retired Chair Professor of the National Insurance Academy Pune.
He can be contacted at [email protected]
Address: 102 TARIGOPULA RESIDENCY 35TH MAIN 7TH CROSS BTM II STAGE BENGALURU 560068.
M -09591256773. PTO KARNATAKA STATE.
References: IRDA Reports & Economic Newspaper articles.
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