How Satisfied Are You?
April 3rd, 2009 by Jeb Foster
This one’s for the independent agents out there: How satisfied are you with the insurance companies you represent?
J.D. Power recently issued a report that measured agent satisfaction and identified the things that influence it.
Surveying 1,589 independent producers, they discovered an interesting and perhaps surprising trend: the majority of agents value a good working relationship with insurers more than anything else—even compensation.
Jeremy Bowler, senior director of the insurance practice at J.D. Power and Associates, summed up the results this way:
Although it may seem that compensation would be the primary driver of agent satisfaction, in fact, elements that are related to agent support and products are the key differentiators. Insurers that provide helpful and knowledgeable business contacts and provide a variety of policy offerings help to better meet the needs of consumers, which leads to greater levels of satisfaction among agents.
Here’s the breakdown of factors, in order of importance to agents.
- key carrier contacts (32%)
- policy offering (23%)
- claims (16%)
- technology (13%)
- price (10%)
- compensation (5%)
The study also found that “agent satisfaction typically increases the more often agents interact with the business contact from their insurance company. Agents prefer to receive business contacts via phone or e-mail at least once or twice a month.”
My question, which is rhetorical, is this: What makes you think consumers are any different than agents?
Contact from insurance carriers makes you feel appreciated, valued, taken care of. The same holds for consumers. Let them know you’re thinking about them. Call them. Ask them if there’s anything you can do. Their satisfaction will rise too.
