Insurance Consultant Tip: How to Know You Give Great Service
If you read my Tuesday blog on giving great service, you maybe wondering… do we give great service or do I just think we do? The answer is probably you give decent service inconsistently. Unless you have clearly outlined what great service is, generally everyone will have their own inconsistent way of handling service. There are some easy ways you can verify your service.
Record Incoming Calls: Yes you can do it! Your phone service can help you set this up or you can even get a new recorded phone number to put on your website or in your email signatures, (check out marchex.com for details). Now you may be thinking this is too big brother, or what will my staff say if I am monitoring them. The reality is when I call my dentist an car dealership I’m being recorded. This is more common than ever! As a business owner, you have to know what is happening rather than thinking you know. I have worked with many clients on listening to calls, just to warn you it’s generally a 2 drink minimum to get started but the change it can bring is remarkable.
Secret Shop Your Team: One thing we do at Agency Performance Partners is secret shopper calls. Let me tell you, many of the agencies that thought they gave great service have had some eye-opening experiences. Everything from no one is available to give you a quote to no one picking up the phone. This is a healthy experience to really test your service team. It will help you know your response time and better align your team.
Poll Your Team: In our Agency Performance Assessment(TM) we ask your team several questions about the service they provide. Two great questions you can start with are: “What do you do when someone wants a copy of their loss runs or declaration page?” and “What exactly do you do when someone wants to cancel?” The answers may push it to a three drink minimum because the majority of the responses I see aren’t what you as an agency owner would want to happen.
The reality is that if your team doesn’t have a clear guideline of how you want service handled they are each handling your customer the way they see fit. We love to help agencies work on the customer experience, but it starts by knowing clearly what is currently happening!
