http://financialservicesindustry.blogs.xerox.com Julian Troake will leverage his years of experience in the Financial Services market to blog on interesting happenings in global areas such as capital markets, insurance and banking. Ideas: How new technologies from software to hardware have enabled Financial Services companies to add personalized marketing messages to their statements or bills (A BIG IDEA) Compliance and regulation issues and concerns In depth features regarding current economic themes such as, mortgage industry and Global pension crisis as populations across the world grow older. Wed, 20 Aug 2008 02:41:15 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.1 http://financialservicesindustry.blogs.xerox.com/2008/02/11/customer-advocacy/#comment-78 hernae3 Thu, 13 Mar 2008 15:41:36 +0000 http://financialservicesindustry.blogs.xerox.com/2008/02/11/customer-advocacy/#comment-78 Agents need to take a more active role with their customers especially when there is a claim. This is the only time most people interact with their carrier and is the most critical time for the carrier to prove why the customer should not shop. If the agent can't be involved then why would anyone need them? Just purchase your insurance online and deal with the waiting periods of insurance customer service centers. Agents need to take a more active role with their customers especially when there is a claim. This is the only time most people interact with their carrier and is the most critical time for the carrier to prove why the customer should not shop. If the agent can’t be involved then why would anyone need them? Just purchase your insurance online and deal with the waiting periods of insurance customer service centers.

]]> http://financialservicesindustry.blogs.xerox.com/2008/02/11/customer-advocacy/#comment-62 Eric Levy Tue, 12 Feb 2008 16:15:02 +0000 http://financialservicesindustry.blogs.xerox.com/2008/02/11/customer-advocacy/#comment-62 Interesting stuff. Advocacy is a hard thing to systemize and deliver. If you're a claims adjuster for an insurance company, your job is to spot signs of potential fraud. You're not doing so to be a jerk, but because your company's assets should be used to help people with legitimate losses. So, as a company, you train your staff for hours on how to spot fraud. The agent, whose job it is to get and keep customers, hopefully acts as your advocate in the process, telling the Claims Department that you are an honest soul who hasn't any motive for fraud. As a company, you train these agents extensively in how to build relationships and sell policies. These conflicting forces are usually below the line of visibility for customers, but the outcome is often a result of one person or another not doing their job. If the adjuster suspects fraud and your agent is sleeping at the wheel, as a customer you are going to feel betrayed. If the agent does what he or she is trained to do, likely the customer will be paid. The more important question is (or should be) how do you know if your people are doing their jobs well? What metrics do you have in place to demonstrate that? And, are you training them to do the right thing in the first place. Interesting stuff. Advocacy is a hard thing to systemize and deliver. If you’re a claims adjuster for an insurance company, your job is to spot signs of potential fraud. You’re not doing so to be a jerk, but because your company’s assets should be used to help people with legitimate losses. So, as a company, you train your staff for hours on how to spot fraud. The agent, whose job it is to get and keep customers, hopefully acts as your advocate in the process, telling the Claims Department that you are an honest soul who hasn’t any motive for fraud. As a company, you train these agents extensively in how to build relationships and sell policies. These conflicting forces are usually below the line of visibility for customers, but the outcome is often a result of one person or another not doing their job. If the adjuster suspects fraud and your agent is sleeping at the wheel, as a customer you are going to feel betrayed. If the agent does what he or she is trained to do, likely the customer will be paid. The more important question is (or should be) how do you know if your people are doing their jobs well? What metrics do you have in place to demonstrate that? And, are you training them to do the right thing in the first place.

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