What was once old is new again. With all the expensive new studies on “Customer Experience” for sale, consider these free yet profound words from many years ago on CX from Miss Manners:
“True service can only be provided by thinking people who have the imagination to put themselves in the place of the customer, figuring out what he needs and how it can most easily be done, and who have the largesse and grace to be pleasant about it.”
Thinking. Imagination. Figuring out. Easily. Largesse. Grace. Clearly great customer service is more involved than a smile, answering the phone by the third ring, making sure invoices go out and hanging a nice mission statement in the lobby. But it isn’t rocket science, either.
Is it really that difficult to find “thinking people who have the imagination to put themselves in the place of the customer” to assist with your insurance program? The implications of this statistic from an industry study suggest it sure can be: while 85% of personal lines customers believe having professional standards met by agents is important, only 30% of independent agents surveyed thought consumers cared about such standards. Clearly, more than a few insurance agents don’t know to put themselves “in the place of the customer”. Fortunately, there are others who do!
The key is to become aligned with an insurance agent who views their own service standards and performance from the perspective of the clients he / she serves. Are you working with an insurance agent who is truly delivering a consistently exceptional customer experience? If not, I can provide a confidential recommendation to highly experienced independent insurance professionals who meet the above criteria.
