Hello? Is this my insurance company? Is anyone there?
Today we welcome Bella Katz, founder of Behar Katz – Marketing & Communications, to the Small Business Owner blog. Unfortunately Bella’s home was recently burgled and her experience reminded her how not to deal with clients. Naomi
One of the beauties of being a small business owner and a massive advantage we have over our larger competitors, is that we are highly responsive to our clients. When a client has an issue, they call us directly, we deal with it right away and if you’re like me, one of your business principles is to maintain this close communication with those you work with. It’s what sets us apart from our corporate equivalents.
I’m reminded of this chasm of communication on an almost weekly basis but none more apparent than in the recent case of my insurance company and my poor little burgled home.
Before there were floods and before there were fires, someone broke into our house one afternoon just after Christmas by kicking open a set of glass doors in the back garden. Because our home is a heritage property, there were limitations placed on who would insure it. We went with an international insurer and someone reassuringly legitimate.
That someone had an extremely pleasing tagline too: One Call – One Resolution.
Without breaking your spirit, dear reader, by going into the details of my two-month long baptism of fire in Crisis Negotiation, let me tell you that if I was the writer of that tagline, I’d be hiding my head in shame at how it was being mistreated.
I’d be more inclined to put this on their next print run of marketing materials:
30 Calls – No Resolution.
All calls are made by you.
We make it our policy to never return your call or communicate with you in any way beyond the introduction of our friendly case manager. One week too late.
You will speak to someone different each time you call. None of whom will know what has happened thus far.
We will tag your enquiry as ‘urgent’ each time as a punctuation feature rather than an action point.
We may even make you cry, but probably not until approximately month two when you wonder what one has to do to have someone, anyone, come and review your property.
And we may just delight you and solve the case the very same day we’re threatened with the insurance ombudsman.
PS. Please be assured that not all insurance companies are created equal. The house has had all new contents for quite some time. It’s just the doors that remain nailed shut with wooden boards. Lucky-y-y we’re with someone else for contents.
Bella Katz, founder Behar Katz – Marketing & Communications
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Thanks very much for your guest post, Bella. I told Fonnie about it this morning and she said, ‘EVERYone has an insurance story!’
I suspect she’s right, and hope our readers share their tales for our common good. Best regards, P.
The horror, the horror … Glad you’ve got resolution anyway! I must admit, either I’m turning into a grumpy old man (I’m not that old, but I am grumpy), or my threshold for tolerating poor customer service is wavering. You know the thing that bothers me most? I hate having my time wasted. One call, solve the problem. If only …
Thanks for joining us Bella!
It’s interesting how experiences outside of ‘work’ remind small business owners of the principles and practices they have in their own business (and being proud of those principles!) and remind them how they wouldn’t do business.
G’Day Bella,
Sorry to hear about your breakin and your frustration. Thanks for telling your story. It’s a timely reminder to the rest of us of “the client viewpoint” It’s a valuable post.
Best Wishes
Leon
I hear you Adam, I’ve become grumpy not-that-old woman too. I can understand a few hiccups along the way, but one customer service issue after another is unacceptable. One call one resolution indeed! Leon, Naomi and Paul, thanks for the feedback – I don’t doubt EVERYone has an insurance story. It’s one of those things we come to expect from the industry, which is a sad state of affairs in itself.
Bella
Had a similar experience with xxxx Property – they were managing an investment property for me and have stuffed up deluxe from day one – would love to share the details but you get the picture. Poor service means disgruntled clients will go out of their way to share their disgruntledness, if that is a word.
Gourmet Gift Box – you’re so right about the disgruntled customers sharing “disgruntledness” and if it’s not a word, it definitely should be!
Bella
Having worked for a few small and large organisations, there is a serious disconnect between marketing and operational delivery.
Who wants a realistic tagline anyway?
Where I am working now we started using a Net Promoter Score – basic question used in a customer satisfaction survey which asks whether you would recommend this service to your friends/colleagues. The score runs from 0 – 10. Those who score you 9 or 10 are your Promoters, 0 – 6 are your Detractors, the 7 – 8 your Passives. To calculate your company’s Net Promoter Score, take the percentage of customers who are Promoters and subtract the percentage who are Detractors.
We did not do very well, in fact our industry is much the same.
Interesting to see what the insurance industry is like.
http://dialogue.netpromoter.com/pdf/Net%20Promoter%20Industry%20Report%202011%20-%20Insurance%20-%20Homeowners%20and%20Renters%20TOC.pdf
This link is better, http://www.netpromoter.com/resources/article23.jsp
What insurance companies need to understand is that when a client needs to make a claim this is a time to shine and make the customer a raving fan. It’s not until you need to make a claim you find out how good your insurer is. The insurer should also recognize that this is the perfect time to build a connection and loyality with their customer. Most people that have a good claims experience will be loyal to an insurer and recommend them to friends. Anyway I go on and on about this topic.
PrePaid Plans,
I’d be very interested to see this insurance company’s Net Promoter Score too. I’m guessing VERY low, although I’ve had a good experience over the years with another insurer and always recommend them. I always hear good things about them from everyone, so perhaps one or two good players make up for all the baddies.
Bella
Commission Factory very true – claim time is definitely the time to shine. It’s also a time when people are experiencing some form of shock or trauma, so any empathy and positive customer experience would be accepted with elevated appreciation. And for the negative response, with elevated disappointment.