Definition and Importance of Customer Experience

We often hear customer experience is crucial for the present and future of the business. This statement has always held true but in this era of more autonomous and “empowered” customer who has genuinely higher expectations, it is even more so. Ever wondered what exactly Customer Experience is and why it is so crucial for the organization’s growth?

Customer Experience is defined as the product of interaction between an organization and a customer over the duration of their relationship. This interaction is formed up of 3 parts: Customer Journey, brand touch points the customer interaction with and the environment and the customer experiences during their journey with the company. Though customer experience includes a lot of elements it boils down to the perception the customer has of your brand. Even if an organization thinks your brand and customer experience is one thing if the customer thinks it to be something different that would actually be counted as customer experience.

Managing customer perception is one of the most important aspects a company should look into. Everything a company does from the initial stage time they start providing the service to the time they build the relationship with the customer till the very end contributes to how the customers perceive it and in turn, it includes the overall customer experience.
  

A company would be good in one arena but struggle in others which might lead to an overall poor experience. For example: If the company hired employees for its stores that are apathetic about the service and didn’t really want to be there, they will have poor interactions with the customers which in turn will lead to hampering company’s productivity. On the other hand, a company that hires passionate people who loves their job will help in the overall growth of the organization. Taking out time to make sure every step of the company’s journey is strong will help in establishing the company and in turn will help in its growth.

Customer perception is a very delicate process and can change with every interaction, so constantly maintaining a strong customer experience is of utmost importance.  We at “Employee Pooling” understand how important every customer is for an organization growth. We treat every customer as the king and endeavor to achieve cent percent customer satisfaction.

Insurance Back Office Outsourcing Services Helps in Boosting Your Revenue - Infographics

To know more please click:  insurance back office outsourcing services .

How to Handle Challenging Customer Service Scenarios

There is no denying the fact that it is ‘good customer service’ that’ separates a good company from a great company with many believing that prewritten scripts are the reason for it. Does this mean that customer service is all about cold and lifeless conversations?

Giving to the complexity of customer services and varying situations, such scripts come handy as one has in mind a set reply to customers when situations go out of hand or when there is some sort of inability. Here we are discussing some interesting replies and techniques for 5 challenging scenarios.

1)Not knowing the answer

Being in customer service does not make us a company’s encyclopaedia that we will know the answer of each and every query presented to us. Therefore, most times we end up saying ‘I don’t know’ in such situations. It might be possible that the person you are conversing with gets sympathetic with you (though not everyone) but this not what he wants to hear. He needs an apt response to the query asked.

In such situations, you can reply back by saying “Yes Rachael, Good Question! Let me find it out for you”. Try reaching out your senior or a co- caller while you put the person is on hold. Just let them feel that though you don’t know the answer yourself, you will go all lengths to find that out for them.

  
2) Admitting a fault

It is very much possible that the customer is bringing to you a genuine    concern where we ourselves are at fault.  Keep in mind that it is okay to admit the fault.

 You can reply in a manner similar to this.

Hi Rachael! I am really sorry for the problem. It happened because_____ (explain the reason why it happened). We will fix it in hours /days and get back to you.

It is always a good idea to give a sincere deadline to the customer so that he has a fair idea of how much time will you take in resolving the issue. End the conversation by saying that we will follow strict measures to ensure that the issue isn’t repeated again.

3) Following up with a customer

Make it a rule of the thumb to get back to a customer within a day whether you have solved or have not solved the problem. This will make them believe that their issue is a priority for you and it is being worked upon.

You can reply something similar to this.

“Hey,”Rachael!  This is __Your name from __Company’s name; I am calling you to let you know we’re still working on resolving your situation. I will let you know as soon as it’s been fixed”

If their problem has been solved: “Hey, Rachael! This is __Your name from __Company’s name; I am calling you to let you know your problem has been fixed. Let us know if there’s anything else we can do for you!”

4) Angry Customers

For a customer care personnel there is no day when he does not receive an infuriated customer. Many times it is not their fault but unfortunately have to face the brunt of an emotional and angry customer. Here is what could be done to address such situations.

Step I – Apologise – Though, you know you are not at fault it is not a problem to say a sincere sorry. This will help the caller to mellow down (at least a little).

Step 2 – Understand and sympathise - Talk to them in a sympathetic tone and make them aware that you really understand their problem and will do everything in your limits to help them out.

Step 3 Start working on the problem- Obviously, you don’t want to face another angry storm and thus should start working towards reaching an amiable soluble for the query raised.

 5) To let a customer know it is their fault

 Though it is not a great idea to make a customer realise that they were themselves the reason for the problem caused. However, many times it becomes the need of the time.

A good and tactful way out here is.

“Hey Rachael, We are really sorry that this happened to you. While we  can help you with __problem X, we can’t help with ­__ (their current problem) due to our company policies. If you’d like our help with [problem X] or if there is anything else we can do for you, please let us know! We are all here to help you.”

To know detail about our business outsourcing solution please click: http://www.employeepooling.com/

Four Major Tips for Successful Insurance Process Outsourcing

Outsourcing refers to the practice in which the company usually delegates it’s in- house functions to the outsourced company so that the parent firm is free to focus on the core aspects of the business. However, outsourcing in today’s era has got maximum popularity. It is today seen as an effective tool to boost growth and stimulate productivity, particularly when the experienced staff is very hard, difficult and pretty expensive to hire. 

Imagine insurance underwriters and producers spending their precious time which they can use on varied core productive things on routine data entry, rating, invoicing, ordering or reviewing inspection reports/APS, generating loss and issuing policies. Very aptly seen, an agency’s knowledgeable and efficient workers are overqualified and overpaid for handling such minor tasks. It is feasible to employ them for business development and renewals – such activities require high- level interpersonal skills and risk control management.

The questions that comes in front of us now is if the overqualified people will be working on the business development, then who will work on the non – core part of the business. Hence, the concept of outsourcing comes into place and it is thought to be feasible to transfer the non–core operations to the outsourced organization. Below mentioned are the four major tips for the successful insurance process outsourcing:-

1. Outsourcing is about growth, not downsizing:-  One of the famous person “Thomas Friedman” said in one of his famous selling book “The best companies outsource to win, not to shrink”. Outsourcing is not thought as a bane. It is actually a boon which saves a lot of time of the qualified people in order for them to focus on the core business activities of the organization. 

For agencies, where all the people are valued and experienced, the goal is not to downsize and cut costs, but it is to optimally utilize the human capital and time. By outsourcing routine tasks, agency costs are reduced, liberating resources which can be efficiently and productively utilized.

2. Communicate effectively for Smooth Functioning of Business :-  There are a lot of key elements to assure effective communications between your service provider and your home office. The companies should look for those service providers who understand the operational challenges and specific objectives and abide by the companies policies. 

Further, for a smooth transition of the business the parent company and the outsourced company should keep the communication track in place in order to remove any kind of obstacle/gap. 

3. Ease of Implementation: - Some outsourcing companies involve substantial investment in the new IT systems, processes and training. Others do not. Normally, the service provider connects to your office with the same system which the parent company is using. This helps the company to easily outsource their work. Further, with the help of effective communication, proper systems in place and human capital, the implementation of work can be done smoothly and efficiently by the outsourced company. 

4. Economics: - This is indeed one of the most important factors. Offshore solutions offer the best rate on investment – as long as quality control is maintained. Analyze your current fully loaded costs including –hiring, training, salaries, management supervision, attrition and then compare these costs once the work is outsourced to the service provider. Besides, just the financial gains, there may be significant benefits to outsourcing, such as greater ease of adding capacity to your operation by documenting workflows and by placing the burden of hiring, management and quality control on the service provider. 

How Employee Pooling Assist in Licensing and Contracting needs

Employee pooling is one of the renowned Business Process Outsourcing organization which has been providing Agent/Agency Contracting services to our clients from a long period of time. With Employee Pooling, your contracting management service is in secure hands. We make full use of technology to accommodate the changing regulatory landscape while maintaining high level of personalized client service. 

As the name suggests, Licensing and Contracting pertains to helping the agent acquire a contract so as to allow him/her to sell a policy for a particular carrier. Each state requires insurance agents to hold a license to sell policies. Most states require separate licenses to sell property and casualty insurance versus life and health insurance.

Our licensing and contracting team will help you through every step of the contracting process. We provide both front end and backend services for licensing and contracting process. In the front-end, we scrub the agent’s contracting packet to determine if all the information has been provided by them, process it further and send it to the carrier so they can allot an Agent Writing Number. In the back-end, we follow up with the carrier to acquire Agent Writing Number and to determine the requirements they need to appoint the agent.

Why Outsourcing Commission Management Services is Good Choice for Your Insurance Firm

Commission Management outsourcing is the latest buzzword these days as its advantages far outweigh its disadvantages. This is because there is a noticeable shift in the management strategy towards the goal that anything which is not related to core activities of the business should be outsourced and the main focus of the business should the majority be on the 2 key aspects i.e. business growth and development. Back office support services mainly include data entry; payroll management, policy management, insurance claims and commission management. These processes are outsourced to the outsourced agencies so that they can handle all the non-core activities of the business and the firm gets the leverage to pay more attention to the core aspects of the business.

Commission management service which includes commission payout and processing is indeed the most complicated in nature as compared to all the other outsourcing services. This is because it is a form of payroll services with flexible amounts which might vary. Every policy scheme has its own rate of commission which is payable to agents. Henceforth, no two agents will have the same amount payable in a given period. If we multiply this with thousands of agents to whom the commission needs to be paid, we will understand how complex the commission payout process is. Thus outsourcing commission management services is truly beneficial in the insurance sector.

Advantages of Commission Management Outsourcing Services

• Essential Infrastructure:-  Undoubtedly, processing commission management services requires highly advanced and refined hardware and software if a huge volume of calculations has to be done periodically with a great deal of accuracy.  Service providers have this infrastructure in place and this helps the insurance companies to save a huge amount of investments in the given arena. The benefits of saving can be passed on to the policyholder in the form of more competitively priced schemes. 

• Security oData: :- Data security plays a vital role in outsourcing commission management. The insurance company provides the outsourcing firm with the details of monthly sales of each agent along with the policies sold by him for commission calculation. A huge volume of data is involved which can’t be compromised in any manner. Outsourcing commission management services to the outsourced firm is truly beneficial the outsourced firm works on the specifically designed Commission Management software package which is completely secure. This package is not only fully secure; but, it also facilitates high accuracy of data processing results. 

• Focusing on Core Activities of the Business: :- The major benefit that the insurance company get after outsourcing the commission management services is that they are free to focus on the core aspects of the business i.e. business development and increasing the turnover and profitability. Further, the insurance company also gets relief on manpower deployment as after they outsource the work, it is the responsibility of the outsourced firm to hire the employees and make the work get managed. These services give flexibility to the insurance company to optimally utilize their human resources. 

These are the some of the reasons as to why it is valuable/profitable for the insurance companies to opt for outsourcing their commission management services. Employee pooling is one of the renowned Business Process Outsourcing Company which has been providing commission management services to our clients from a long period of time. With Employee Pooling, your commission management programme is in secure hands. We make full use of technology to accommodate the changing regulatory landscape while maintaining a high level of personalized client service.

Benefits of Legal Process Outsourcing(LPO) Services

Every organization in the current business scenario is looking for ways in order to enhance its profitability and gain an extra edge over its competitors. Among the law firms, outsourcing the legal support services have turned out to be a common phenomenon. Legal firms are opting for outsourcing services in order to ensure the optimal utilization of resources and making the best use of time. These services have made the life of lawyers easier by reducing their workload. Below mentioned are the following advantages which the legal process outsourcing services(LPO Services) offer:- 

 Access to a variety of services: - Document management, e-discovery, deposition summaries and analysis, document review, case summaries, summarization of records and proofreading are some of the non-core tasks which can be effectively outsourced by the company. By outsourcing these time-consuming tasks, the company gets additional time to focus on the core-business activities like business development and sales. 

 Access to External Talent: - Outsourcing legal services helps the firms to get access to high level legal talented personnel. For example: If the company lacks the expertise in litigation support like deposition summaries and analysis, then finding a suitable personnel for this task might be time-consuming and quite expensive. Henceforth, the outsourced firm comes to the picture and provides talented personnel and makes the task easy.

 Cost Effective: - Cost–saving is one of the major advantages of outsourcing. Labor arbitrage is the process through which organizations are able to reduce the cost-structure and reap the benefits of the low cost. For e.g: Hiring a legal official in-house might cost $150/ hour whereas if we transfer the same to the outsourcing company then it will cost them nearly $75/hour.

 Round the Clock time:- Off shoring/Outsourcing helps organizations to take the advantage of multiple shifts and time-zone differences than the other organizations. This time-zone difference is truly important for contracts, legal research, electronic document management and document discovery. The time difference of 11.5 hours helps the organizations for 24/7 round the clock operations.

Seamless process migration:- Since the outsourced company personnel are quite experienced in most of the cases, this helps the firm to successfully/seamlessly transfer the work which helps in the productivity of the organization.