Why Good Customer Service is Just Not Enough In Your Insurance Agency Part 2
Part II-Is Your Service Process Built for You or the Insurance Customer
I recently had an issue with my car sunroof being stuck open. I went to the first Ford dealership and asked for their help, they quoted me $5000 to fix it, so I promptly took it to the Ford dealership 10 miles away. $100 later they had me all set and did a full inspection of the car. It turned out they recommended I get new brakes coming soon and one other maintenance item. I was psyched with them in my mind they saved me $4,900. I absolutely wanted to be a Raving Fan for them!
A few weeks later, I called back to get an estimate for the service items and to book an appointment. When I called the first time, I was told my service rep needed to provide the estimate. I was actually kind of excited that after 1 experience I had a dedicated service rep. Well low and behold I’m not always easy to get on the phone. In my line of work, I’m making money when I’m on the phone or in an agency where I can’t get the phone. We played a good game of phone tag. That’s when I became frustrated.
Why when I call back, can’t anyone help me with the estimate or why can’t they just email it to me? At this point, I had panic attacks on any agency I suggested an alpha split on. Well, then she stopped returning my calls. I felt like a stalker ex-girlfriend trying to get my ex to call me. My perfect experience was quickly going down the drain due to poor processes and a non-responsive service rep.
I finally had enough and emailed them via their website. Later that day I received an email from the service manager saying my account manager would be in touch this afternoon. Not for nothing buddy picking up the phone, apologizing and giving me the estimate right there would have been the right thing to do. Maybe add in a free oil change or loaner car.
The difference here is that I didn’t feel like they cared about me at all. Apparently, my two weeks of stalking to no avail were not seen as issues. The service person finally did email me a quote. Whoop-tee-doo…. I was actually happy to spend $1000 in car maintenance with them since they were so good the first time and trust me, just like insurance, no one likes to spend money on car maintenance. Now I want to get three quotes to see if that is reasonable and you know what I would go to another dealership if they had better pricing.
The moral of the story is, if you give amazing service all the time price becomes irrelevant. One bad experience can send a loyal fan packing.
