Dealing with angry, upset and irate insurance clients can be the most difficult part of being an insurance agent. At the same time, being able to handle a good client when they are upset can earn you a client for life.
Understanding different personality types can assist in dealing with angry clients.
While there are many theories on the different number of personality types, to simplify them for the purposes of this article, we are going to break them down into 4 categories, Driver, Amiable, Expressive, and Analytical. When dealing with insurance clients on the phone or in person that are upset, being able to identify which personality you are dealing with early on in the discussion will help you work with the client to prevent them from getting upset and laying the groundwork early to use to your advantage when the client does get upset.
In this article, we will also relate the theory to a specific situation in the Putting It into Practice sections that may arise where you can use different strategies to reduce the anger or even the likelihood of them getting angry.
The best prevention to someone getting upset is to build a relationship with them. People tend to stay calm with people they like and snap more quickly when they feel like it’s just a voice on the other end of the phone. It can be easier to build a relationship with a walk-in client, although it can be more intimidating if they do eventually get upset.
Defining our Personality Traits
We will start with a definition of different personality traits. Identifying the personality traits by these definitions is the first step in being able to interact with them accordingly.
Driver: Driver personalities are very self-centered. They are very confident and can even be cocky. They are quick to make decisions and judgments even without all the pertinent information. Changing their minds can be very difficult.
Putting It into Practice: Identifying a Driver personality is pretty easy. When calling for a quote, they are the type that refuses to allow you to quote their other lines of business even when you express all of the reasons why it would be in their best interest. They believe that they have all of the information they need to make this decision and are more interested in driving the conversation than changing their mind.
Amiable: They are the most social of the group. They are the ones that truly appreciate when you ask about their day. They don’t always say what they are thinking because they like to avoid conflict.
Expressive: These can be the hardest to diagnose in terms of personality traits because they are social like Amiables but very direct like, well, Directs. They typically have a very high energy level and love to hear themselves talk; typically, at the expense of listening to other people.
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Analytical: Analytical personalities are the most systematic and deliberate. They like to listen more than talk and will ask very thoughtful questions to fill in the blanks. They are slow to anger but have high standards that can cause them to be upset if they are hit.
Preventative Care
The best way to deal with an upset client is to prevent them from getting upset in the first place. How we approach different personality types will increase or decrease the odds of them getting upset. By interacting with them in the manner that best fits their personality, we can decrease the odds.
Driver: The easiest way to build a relationship with a Driver personality is to appeal to their sense of ego. They accept compliments easy and expressing admiration for their understanding of a process or product or even something unrelated to the situation (choice of car or type of dog) are easy ways to help build rapport.
Amiable: Building a relationship with an Amiable personality is fairly easy. If you remember to ask about their kids or pets or engage with them about a common hobby or sports team, rapport building can come very quickly.
Putting It Into Practice: If you have a call for a claim, be sure to take the time to ask about the passengers and their injuries. Even if their aren’t injuries, people can be shaken up by a car accident or fire. Amiable personalities will want more time to talk about the effect of the accident on them and their loved ones.
Expressive: Expressive people get along with almost anyone because they typically aren’t very focused on what the other party is saying. Plan on taking a little extra time with this personality type because they are going to need things explained to them a couple of times. The best thing you can do to prevent an Expressive from getting upset is to make sure they understand the process or situation. After you explain it 10 times, if you aren’t comfortable that they understand it, explain it again to prevent a tough situation later.
Customer Experience Infographic
Analytical: First, don’t worry about remembering their kids names or what types of pets they have. They may respond to these conversation points, but they aren’t going to give you any credit if they don’t understand what is going on. Be sure to have clear and accurate information. Explain the process and be sure to set expectations up front. As long as they are comfortable with the process, Analyticals are less likely to get upset with the result.
Putting It Into Practice: When answering a billing question from an Analytical client, be sure that you have all of the information correct. If you are going to be adjusting the billing, make sure that you have triple checked with the company billing rep that you understand exactly what is going to happen. Other personalities may not notice if a payment is slightly off a couple of dollars or days, but an Analytical personality will be on the phone with you as soon as that next bill is received if it is even slightly off.
When Push Comes to Shove
Even if we have done everything correct here, people may still be upset. In our business there are a lot of negative situations that can arise and there is a negative connotation to the industry. When people do get upset, don’t get distracted by the anger, but stay focused on the personality type and the best way to approach them.
Driver: Drivers can be the hardest to calm when the situation does go awry. They have made an assumption early on how the process will proceed and if things don’t go their way, they can be quick to anger and to question what they are being told. Staying calm will help but steer clear of terms such as “I don’t think you understand” or “You are not understanding what I am saying”. Instead use terms such as, “As we previously discussed” or “I can see why this would upset you”.
Amiable: Amiables are unlikely to get really angry but can get hurt and be very passive aggressive. They may try to twist around your words and try to turn the positive relationship you’ve built into a negative. Continue to try to build that relationship by separating the personal from the professional. Any comment or action that they perceive to be a shot at them personally will upset them. Instead explain the company guideline, policy language, or law to give them an outlet and allow them to continue to view you in a positive light. You can also lean on the positive relationship if things get tough.
Expressive: When an Expressive gets upset they can be explosive. It is best to let them blow steam and burn themselves out. They tend to have a hard time staying upset for a long period of time because they end up running out of focus. Listening instead of trying to explain while they are on a rant is the best course of action. When you get your chance, steer them towards acceptance and they will eventually talk themselves into it.
Putting It Into Practice: A denied claim on an Expressive personality is the best formula for creating an angry client. When getting a call of this nature, staying calm is the most important thing to do. Allow the client to voice their concern and avoid confrontational statements like, “you aren’t understanding” and “you’ve got it wrong”. Instead use terms like “I understand your frustration” and “Unfortunately…”. Plan on being on the call for awhile, but do more listening than talking and allow the client to work their way through their anger towards being accepting of the situation.
Analytical: Analyticals are unlikely to get upset but can when the process is not followed or expectations are not met. Be deliberate in your answers when necessary. Placing an Analytical on hold or even having to call them back can actually improve your relationship because they will respect that you are making sure you are providing the right answer. Just be sure to get back to them in the timeframe you have set.
Obviously not everyone can be just dumped into one of four categories, but identifying early on the main personality type of your prospect or client can help steer how you interact with them. You do not want to be fake but you can be more forceful, social, direct, or deliberate based on the personality trait.
Learning how to deal with the personality traits can be one of the hardest insurance training areas but is also the subject of one of Training Days.
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