Ideas often come from unexpected places, the latest came along while I wasn’t supposed to be thinking about insurance agencies. While our main role at Sukay & associates is to assist agencies during the sales or perpetuation process, we often talk about ways to improve agencies. The ultimate value of an agency depends on its ability to generate revenue and its effectiveness as a client servicer. The agencies that provide the best client experience tend to be the most sought after both as agents and as potential acquisitions.
While on vacation recently, I had a thought about improving client services for insurance agents. Normally when I “check-in” for my beach house rental, I need to go to the rental office, park the car, walk up many steps to a wrap around porch and then go into the rental office and wait to be helped. It’s a time-consuming, awkward but necessary process. A description many business owners and individuals often apply to dealing with insurance agencies.
This year the rental office began their new Drive Up Check-In system. It was a great experience. You never need to turn your car off or get out of the car. You drive up, give the associate your name and in turn they will give you your packet of information including your keys to your vacation home. The company probably paid a lot of money to alter the entrance and change procedures. The money was spent on something I, as a customer, had never had a huge problem with. I continued to use the service, but I couldn’t believe how much better the service worked. It had that effect because it was focused on my needs first.
I thought to myself – wouldn’t that be a great philosophy for insurance agencies – the easier, faster, and more efficient they can make things happen for a client the more clients they may get in return. Most agencies already strive to meet client needs, but this was more than that. This was a change in service that corrected a problem I had never really considered. I felt the walk up the steps and the detour via the office was necessary, so I did it. I never considered that they might be able to meet my needs so efficiently.
Insurance agencies often offer a variety of value added services to ensure they help clients in every way possible. The question is, what if you had a way to deliver those services before your clients even knew they needed them? That means a better client experience, which could mean a better future for your agency.
Please read our indicators of value, to ensure that your building value in each aspect of your insurance agency.
