Call Center Management Featured Article
Great Insurance Call Center Service Starts with Managers
While contact centers follow some of the same processes and procedures, and use the same technologies, from industry to industry, it’s important to remember that there are some elements that differ wildly: the customers. Retail customers, for example, will call in with different expectations than municipal services customers. Customers calling from landlines may be of very different demographics than one calling through mobile apps. Customers calling for shipping information may be calmer and more receptive to upselling or cross-selling than those calling with a product defect problem.
In the insurance industry, callers are often reaching out as an effort of last resort, or because they have a serious problem (house fire or car accident, for example). They pay a lot of money regularly in their premiums, and the service is very personal to them. For this reason, insurance companies and agencies need to ensure they have the right people at the right time in the right channels, according to a recent blog post by Chuck Ciarlo writing for Monet Software (News - Alert).
“Your agents are on the front line of your customer service efforts,” he wrote. “When policyholders call with questions or concerns, the agent they reach becomes the voice of your entire company. No pressure there. Obviously it is incumbent on your insurance call center agents to do their jobs well. But that process starts with managers hiring the best candidates for these crucial positions.”
While patience is almost always a virtue for contact center agents (with one exception being outbound sellers, who need to be driven and goals-oriented), in the insurance industry, it’s extra critical. Agents are often speaking to people after some of the scariest episodes of their lives, and they may act angry, scared or even abusive. Hanging up on the callers isn’t an option, so managers need to be certain they are hiring people with empathy and very thick skin.
“Courtesy always sets the right tone for a customer engagement,” wrote Ciarlo. “And when that customer is stressed or frightened or angry, as is often the case with insurance issues, it’s up to the agent to maintain a professional tone and stay calm and focused throughout the conversation.”
Agents need to be scheduled for regular breaks (and managers need to ensure they take them) so they’re not burned out before they begin the call. Good scheduling and workforce management also ensures agents are working when they need to be, as a short-staffed contact center or one that’s out of adherence will cause agents to be harried and rushed with insurance customers. Finally, it’s necessary to ensure that insurance agents have cross-media channel skills, since the insurance industry isn’t only about the phone, wrote Ciarlo.
“Intelligent verbal communication is one of the most basic requirements of this job, but as insurance call centers evolve into contact centers, it is advantageous to hire agents that can also communicate effectively in writing, so they can handle webchat or even social media,” he wrote.
When staffing insurance contact centers, managers should look for agents with skills and personality traits of a higher order than in other contact center businesses. Insurance subscribers often remain customers for life (if they are treated well), and for this reason, it’s extra critical that managers are putting the right people on the insurance support front lines.
Edited by Alicia Young