Offers that help save money on home and auto insurance of interest to customers: broker forum speaker

Brokers could provide added value to their customers by suggesting offers that that help save money on home and auto insurance, attendees to the Insurance-Canada.ca Broker Forum (ICBF) heard last week.

“Fully 50 to 60% of your customers are saying, ‘this is of interest to me,’” Bill Morris, senior partner with Markham, Ont.-based Navicom Inc. said on March 1 at the ICBF, held at the Allstream Centre in Toronto. “Who doesn’t want to save money? Who knows more about potentially ways to save money on cars and homes than your industry?” Morris asked.

Speaking during a session titled The Future of Customer Engagement, Morris cited examples such as offering a 15% discount on snow tires or electronic access to all insurance policies. In the latter example, Navicom’s research showed that the interest is more with the younger generations (under 25 and 25- to 39-year-olds), “because that’s what they’re expecting. If you can’t give it to them and somebody else can, it could be a game changer,” Morris suggested.

“What customers want to talk about… historically are not areas where brokers would have focus on,” he continued. “It may have nothing to do with buying something. It may have something to do with knowledge or wisdom,” he said, using the example of a broker offering precautions to take in the fall to help prevent a winter flood claim.

Another valuable customer engagement asset is the ability to get answers to any question in real time. “Operative word: real time,” Morris said. “That’s the world we live in now. We know that technology is coming – it’s here. We know that disruption is underway. Why not be the leaders?” he asked. “The opportunity is for you to grab that disruption.”

Part of the problem in engaging broker customers – as with all customers – is that they constantly want more, Morris said. “It’s not just how you are doing, it’s what else can you do or should you do for me to engage me or keep me wanting to do business with you,” he explained. “By far and way, that is one of the biggest challenges. They’re busy looking for opportunities that would suit them or make their lives easier. Anything you can do to save me a few minutes or make my life a little easier, I’m interested in that,” Morris said during his presentation.

And since customers want to self-service and help themselves, the decision-making power, more so than ever, is in the hands of the customer. “Keep looking for ways to improve ease of use and simplicity,” Morris recommended.

Companies failing to adapt to the challenges of customer engagement simply become followers. “If you’re the lead dog, you get the best view,” Morris said. “The rest get the same view.”

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