When it comes to insurance, it’s crucial to treat your clients like people, not dollar signs. Does your customer service practice accurately reflect your efforts and your company’s values? True service requires integrity and thoughtfulness and compassion. Here are some examples of good customer service practices to inspire your agency and help you improve retention and increase your number of multi-line clients.

Three Examples of Good Customer Service Practices to Inspire Your Agency

One: Promote from within.

Don’t think that this has anything to do with good customer service? Think again. Recognizing talent within your agency and making an effort to retain and grow this talent is key to cultivating a good customer service practice. After all, employees who feel valued are more likely to go out of their way to adhere to customer service practices, establish relationships with clients, and generate new business for your agency.

Two: Fulfill their needs.

Clients today don’t want to be sold to. They often know what they want. They are well-armed with information and will purchase products and services unassisted when they can. When they can’t, they take their needs to their trusted adviser—the one who understands and fulfills their needs. This means adopting their definition of service. Challenging their assumptions and giving them good advice is important, but ultimately they need to feel that their particular needs have been seen to.

With that said, make sure you are offering them value in the form of solutions, not pricing. Good customer service is about serving not selling. Clients know the value of a solution that will actually help them and meet their needs. Be the one who provides that solution.

Three: Remember how customer engagement is built.

In a recent survey from Accenture, 91% of agents indicated that providing a special customer experience would be crucial to future growth of their business. But what does good customer service actually look like in the insurance industry? It really boils down to ensuring that your customer service policy adheres to the following qualities:

• What you’re offering addresses a specific need or want (now and in the future)
• Your company culture cares for and values your customers
• There is consistent, excellent care taken at every point in the client relationship
• Your customers can trust you to make it right if something goes wrong, and trust that their insurance will have them covered in an emergency
• Agents make an extra effort to personalize interactions and be genuine in their dealings

Good customer service should never be undervalued. It is key to ensuring your agency has a long, healthy life and key for cultivating a reputation as a thorough and caring insurance agent. 

Pivot Your Insurance Agency Towards Sustainable Growth Are you an insurance agent who feels that your agency is stuck? Is your team grinding new leads each month yet your agency never seems to grow? Client Focus has worked with thousands of agents over the past 15 years just like you. Our purpose is to help your insurance agency pivot onto a path to sustainable growth.