"The biggest avoidable expense for an agency is turnover. Some of our employees have been offered jobs for more money, but they refuse to leave."
Making the CSR's job easier to perform
results in professional and personal satisfaction
By Phil Zinkewicz
"The biggest avoidable expense for an agency is turnover. Some of our employees have been offered jobs for more money, but they refuse to leave."
-- Michael J. Weinberg, Managing Director, Gateway Insurance Agency, Fort Lauderdale, Florida
In today's fast-paced world of insurance, in which a relatively new hard market is presenting new opportunities and challenges to insurance agencies at an ever-increasing speed, "motivation" has become a key word. Think about it. The opportunities, of course, are obvious. As commercial insurance premiums increase or coverages become more difficult to obtain, independent agents and brokers have an opportunity to really show their worth. They now have the chance to explain to their customers what the insurance industry is all about, that there is a cyclicality in the insurance business.
This could be challenging, since the average insurance buyer was fairly "fat and happy" during the prolonged soft market in which coverages were available for even the most exotic risks at bargain prices. This is an education process that the producer has not had to perform for more than 15 years because cyclicality lay dormant throughout the late 1980s and 1990s. The producer also has an opportunity to demonstrate his or her expertise in dealing with multiple markets for customers in a time when markets are dwindling.
Just as the producer must be an expert in this hard market, so also must customer service representatives (CSRs) be prepared to handle customers in this uncertain time. In order to educate the public on the vagaries of the industry, CSRs must understand them first. It's safe to say that most CSRs have never experienced a soft market. They need education first on how insurance markets fluctuate, and they must develop the communication skills to speak effectively to the consumer. True, CSRs have been dealing with multiple markets for years but, for the most part, those markets have been flexible and able to adjust to agents' and consumers' needs. Today's property/casualty insurance market is much more rigid.
"We like to treat our staff well because they are the backbone of our agency."
-- Bill Rothwell, President, Universal Insurance Services, Inc., Grand Rapids, Michigan
So, what are agency leaders doing to assist their CSRs in the performance of their jobs, and how are they motivating CSRs to deal with a chaotic market?
"Because of the hard market, CSRs are under a good deal of stress these days," says Emily Huling, president of Selling Strategies, Inc., a consulting firm that specializes in customer service training in the insurance industry. "Most of them are in uncharted waters. They have had little or no experience in dealing with a hard market. Agency leaders must create an environment that supports CSRs and relieves stress. For example, many times producers don't give CSRs the information they need to do their jobs. They don't point them in the right direction. In addition, producers should make the work environment more CSR-friendly. For instance, ergonomics is one issue here. Is the desk in the right place? Is the workspace up to date? Is there too much noise?"
Huling says that simple changes go a long way towards making a work environment more conducive to productive performance. "Office standards should be developed," she says, "that will eliminate internal confusion. For example, agency leaders should make a clear determination regarding things such as response time. If a co-worker leaves a voice message or an e-mail, agency leaders should decide how long it should take for a response--a half-hour, one hour. Make a decision and set that as part of the office standard. It should be the same with clients. CSRs need to know how long it should take for them to respond to a request from an insured or potential insured."
Automated telephone systems are a particular peeve with Huling. She says that too often they put clients off if they are too complicated. "Make sure that automated phone systems can be navigated easily. Once, I called an agency and after pressing the buttons I was instructed to press, I finally ended up pressing "O" for operator, only to be returned to the original menu."
Huling says that consideration also should be given to certain perks for CSRs, such as flexible working hours or the ability to work from a remote office station that is closer to the CSR's home--or even from home itself. "Technology has provided us with the tools to make this possible. And another thing, especially with today's market, on-going education is of the utmost importance," says Huling. "I'm not just talking about the usual continuing education courses that are required by insurance department rules. CSRs should be encouraged to broaden themselves with courses in public speaking, for example, or automation. There are some CSRs out there who don't even understand how e-mail works. Encourage office staff to train each other. One person may have a particular area of expertise that can be shared with others."
An example of what Huling is talking about is the Gateway Insurance Agency, Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Michael J. Weinberg, managing director, says that his agency, has implemented policies for the entire 42-person staff that make the staff more efficient, more productive and just plain happy.
"Our employee policies are particularly important in the stressful days of today's hard market," he says. (The agency is split 50% commercial lines, 25% personal lines and 25% employee benefits.) "In the first place, we have a flexible working schedule. Everyone at the office starts work 45 minutes earlier than the usual workday every day.
We call that "quiet time," the time during which they can catch up on paperwork before the phones start ringing. In return, one-half of the entire staff gets a day off every other Friday. That amounts to 26 days off a year, in addition to normal holidays. For single parent families, that is a blessing. Casual dress is also part of our program. At one point some of the staff requested some type of uniform to cut down on wardrobe expenses. We had Gateway golf shirts made up for our staff that they can throw over a pair of pants or a skirt. We also contribute to our employees' retirement plan and provide health, disability and dental insurance."
Gateway offers certain bonus programs, according to Weinberg. Everyone is on a bonus plan, based on how well a particular department does and how an employee performs. Twenty-five percent of the agency's profit goes into employee bonuses every year, he says.
"Recently, we made an acquisition and so we needed to do some account rounding," says Weinberg. "We established a special bonus for those who were able to sell policies to existing clients. Those who did received the same commission as an agent. We experienced an extra 50 sales a month, just in the personal lines area."
In addition, Gateway has a liberal education policy, according to Weinberg, not only for continuing education courses, but for other courses as well. "Employees can broaden themselves in any way they desire and we'll pay for it, as long as it will help them in their business relationships. They may want to improve their automation skills, very important in today's electronic environment. They may want to take public speaking or other types of communications courses. That all benefits the agency."
Weinberg says that, in today's marketplace, it is critical for agencies to adopt at least some of these types of programs. "The biggest avoidable expense for an agency is turnover," he says. "Some of our employees have been offered jobs for more money, but they refuse to leave. Our employees make the difference."
Bill Rothwell and Joan Ditmar, president and commercial service manager, respectively, for the Grand Rapids, Michigan-based Universal Insurance Services, Inc., also agree that motivating CSRs means more than just paying a salary; and they say their agency has instituted special programs to go that extra mile, and then some. The agency employs about 85 people and also owns a managing general agency and a third-party administrator.
"We have a flexible work schedule," says Rothwell. "Our employees don't have to come into the office every day. Some of them have family situations that make it difficult for them to do so. They can schedule their time around their own needs. We have leased computers for our employees to use at home and they have the ability to access our computers in the office."
"We also have a bonus program," adds Ditmar. "Last year, we issued $150,000 in bonus checks to our support people. We encourage and pay for our staff to take classes outside the usual continuing education courses, especially in the automation area. We lease rather than purchase our computers, so we turn them over every two years. We believe it's important for our people to keep up with the latest technologies."
Rothwell and Ditmar say that making it easy and pleasant for CSRs to do their jobs is essential, not just in today's stressful market but during all types of market conditions. "We pay for parking so that they can get to work and focus on what it is they have to do," says Rothwell. "In addition, one day a week we have a masseuse come in for the staff," adds Ditmar.
"We like to treat our staff well because they are the backbone of our agency," says Rothwell. "We're very careful of who we hire and we do careful testing before they come on board. But once they're here, they're part of our family." *