Sep 3, 2013 | News
Satisfaction among small business insurance policyholders is significantly higher when insurance brokers and agents provide their clients with more guidance, according to the latest survey from J.D. Power in the United States.
Small business insurance customers are more likely to be satisfied with insurance agents or brokers who understand their customers’ needs, and meet with them in person to discuss their insurance.
Overall customer satisfaction among small business insurance customers was 777 points on a 1,000-point scale, according to the survey, based on 3,742 responses from insurance decision-makers in businesses with 50 or fewer employees that purchase general liability and/or property insurance.
When agents or brokers understand their customers’ business and provide guidance on risk, the satisfaction score was much higher, at 835 points. If neither of those expectations are met, satisfaction is around 645 points, according to the J.D. Power survey.
Policy offerings, rather than price, were the primary reason for selecting an insurer, the survey results suggest. The level of service provided is the primary reason customers said they stay with their insurer for more than two years.
“Small business customers who are highly satisfied with their insurer are more likely to work with just one insurance provider for all their insurance needs, as well as purchase more products, on average, from their carrier.”
Overall satisfaction was comprised of five factors (in order of importance): interaction; policy offerings; price; billing and payment; and claims.
Customer satisfaction was highest among businesses with 11 to 50 employees (at 790 points), compared with businesses of four or fewer (769 points). J.D. Power attributes this to brokers and agents interacting more with larger customers. Three times as many deal are made outside of the broker’s office with these larger businesses.
“Providing face-to-face consultation, from policy review to helping customers understand price adjustments initiated by the insurer, is crucial for customer retention and satisfaction,” said Jeremy Bowler, senior director of the insurance practice at J.D. Power.
“Those small business customers who have regular face-to-face contact with their insurance agents are more likely to understand their coverage, its value and the reason for a price adjustment should one occur. These customers are more likely to be satisfied and loyal to the insurance brand than those who don’t have regular in-person interactions.”
Bowler also noted that satisfaction is higher when insurers inform small business customers about price changes in person (823 points) than when they inform customers by phone (805) or email (783).
Tell us: How do you interact with your business clients? Are you seeing more success selling face-to-face with business decision makers?
ILScorp offers a variety of commercial insurance training courses. Visit www.ILScorp.com for more details
Sep 3, 2013 | News
CE with ILS – fast, easy, done!
Ontario insurance agents – your Continuing Education deadline is now only a few weeks away, and ILScorp is ready to help you complete your CE courses quickly and easily. With more than 50 newly updated, accredited Continuing Education courses now part of the ILScorp suite of CE classes, Ontario insurance agents can earn their CE credits online in time for the Sept. 30th deadline.
In Ontario, Principal brokers and deputy principal brokers are required to complete 10 credits per year, with 5 in the management category, and all other licensed individuals require 8 CE credits. The year runs from Oct. 1- Sept 30.
ILScorp offers more than 160 online General Insurance training courses designed to help insurance professionals meet their mandatory licensing requirements and receive the most relevant and up-to-date information in the industry.
All ILScorp courses are accredited and are written by insurance training experts. These text and video courses engage the user, so the learning experience is both interesting and entertaining. The online format allows you to access your courses anytime, anywhere, and at your convenience. A 6-month subscription to our General Insurance continuing education courses is only $175, which allows you to choose from more than 160 accredited online CE courses. Or, purchase courses on an individual basis.
The ILS General Insurance Training Course Catalogue includes the following course categories: Personal Lines; Commercial Lines; Automobile; Farm; and Professional Management and Personal Skill.
With more than 23,000 annual subscribers to our online training programs, ILS has been Canada’s leader in online insurance training and career development since 2001. ILScorp offers your best option for insurance industry continuing education credits.
Call 1-800-404-2211 or go to www.ILScorp.com and get started today.
Aug 29, 2013 | News
How can an intangible service as mundane as selling insurance benefit from the value of social media? The marketing and selling of auto insurance for example, is really no different than the marketing and selling of any other intangible product such as hotel rooms, and there is plenty of opportunity to use social media to engage and inform potential customers.
The most successful on-line campaigns come from those who know their markets and are focused on their customers’ wants and needs.
“The big pitfall is in not knowing your market,” explains Laird Rixford, vice president of Products and Marketing at Insurance Technologies Corporation. “If you’re sitting there trying to sell commercial policies on Facebook, it’s just a waste of time.”
Facebook and Twitter offer the ability to showcase the personality of an insurance agency while assuring customers that they matter.
And insurance companies like Progressive and Geico were two of the first to realize in creating to memorable mascots to sing their praises, they could use social media to tell their stories. Think of the recognizable spokespersons of Flo, the Progressive Girl and the Gecko from the Geico ads as examples of how auto insurance companies have put ‘personality’ into their offerings.
In 2012, Geico launched its “Gecko’s Journey Across America,” and while TV commercials whet the consumers’ appetite, the Gecko’s tour of the country was far more comprehensive and interactive online, thanks to social media.
Using Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and other social media portals, the Gecko posted commentary from the road, including photos and videos. With tweets and status updates, the Gecko delivered his perspective in the fun-loving way we as consumers have come to expect. What does a Geico office look like to a gecko? Where would a gecko go in New York? Know a great place to eat in Dallas? Let the Gecko know and he just might end up there.
The campaign’s social media staple of being “user-generated,” resulted in a lot social media engagement for Geico.
According to Jeff Charney, chief marketing officer of Progressive, Flo’s success is due to the fact that people are able to connect with her through her Facebook fan page – where she has more than 5.2 million fans. She also has her own Twitter profile. And her fans find it easy to connect and relate to her because she comes across as real and honest.
What Flo doesn’t do is tackle customer inquiries and problems directly — @Progressive handles the customer complaints. Separating the customer service issues from the brand persona allows Flo to remain a brand-focused asset for her Progressive presence on Twitter.
Characters like Flo and the Gecko offer a softer sell which is a perfect fit for marketing via social media channels.
On Facebook, “one out of every seven posts should be self-promotional,” Rixford said. “The other six should be just fun things that you are doing for charity, your community, what’s going on in your community. Just being out there is what people like to see.”
You don’t need a fancy mascot or dedicated character, but sharing information, insight, and putting a real voice to your business via social media, can keep clients coming back to you for their insurance needs.
Connect with ILScorp on facebook and on Twitter at @ILSCorp.
Excerpted from inventorspot.com
Aug 28, 2013 | News
ILScorp offers insurance training and exam prep courses for CAIB 1, 2, 3, & 4, via online video training, virtual classrooms and live immersion classes.
If you are just starting your insurance career, then the Canadian Accredited Insurance Broker Level 1 Exam prep course is for you. Learn the fundamentals of working in the insurance industry, and prepare to write your CAIB 1 licensing exam.
Looking to earn your CAIB 2, 3, or 4 designation? ILS can help there too!
Our interactive, online CAIB Exam Preparation video courses combine the dynamic instruction of Todd Hochban with the ease and convenience of online learning. Each CAIB insurance training course contains streaming video, and is divided into easy-to-manage chapters. Each chapter includes 10-20 video clips, along with easy to read text. Numerous exercises and mock exams help to reinforce knowledge retention. Study online with 24/7 access to the program, allowing you to work on your own schedule.
Or if you want more guidance, start the ILS CAIB Virtual Classroom program on Nov. 4 and receive a study schedule, daily emails and quizzes and more. You’ll be ready to write any level of CAIB exam in just four short weeks.
Online self-study is a proven way to successfully prepare for insurance licensing examinations. Study at your own pace – stop the program at any time and return when you want. Go back over difficult-to-grasp points as often as you wish. More than 80% of students who prepare to write their CAIB exams with the ILScorp CAIB tutorial courses are successful.
Through ILS’s online courses, you’ll receive the same dynamic instruction as students who attend classroom sessions. Long-time insurance educator Todd Hochban brings his successful “need-to-know” approach to this video production. Preparing to write the CAIB 1, CAIB 2, CAIB 3, and CAIB 4 examinations has never been easier!
Once you’re ready to write the exam, contact your local insurance council to arrange your exam.
Instructor Todd Hochban highly recommends using the CAIB textbook in conjunction with the ILScorp CAIB Programs to thoroughly learn the material. CAIB textbooks can be purchased through your provincial brokers association. Contact the association directly for more information.
And remember when it comes to CAIB, ILS wrote the book! Our founder and past president Steve Hawrishok developed and wrote the CAIB course.
Call 1-800-404-2211 or visit ilscorp.com today for more information.
Aug 27, 2013 | News
Heading back-to-school in search of a career? Have you considered training for a high-demand career in Insurance?
A CIBC World Markets report released this week shows that many university graduates aren’t gaining the career traction they had hoped after earning their degrees.
Completing post-secondary education is still the best route to a well-paying, quality job in Canada but the premium is dropping as too few students are graduating from programs that are in high demand, the report found.
“Despite the overwhelming evidence that one’s field of study is the most important factor determining labour market outcomes, today’s students have not gravitated to more financially advantageous fields in a way that reflects the changing reality of the labour market.” says CIBC Deputy Chief Economist Benjamin Tal who coauthored the report with CIBC Economist, Emanuella Enenajor.
“Most Canadians are aware that on average, your odds to earn more are better with a degree in engineering than a degree in medieval history,” Tal said. “But it’s not clear that students, armed with that knowledge, have been making the most profitable decisions.”
Canadian Insurance industry studies are highlighting the need for a number of new entrants into insurance field. Basic Insurance agent training and licensing in Canada can be done in a short time and at low cost, in comparison to a university education. Insurance careers in Canada can be very well paying, and trained insurance professionals are in high demand.
The CIBC economists examined various reports that have attempted to compute an annualized average return on investment (ROI) on education and found stark divergences depending on the field of study.
“For students shelling out thousands in higher-learning costs, a university degree can be viewed as an investment with upfront expenses, and a stream of future benefits,” says Mr. Tal.
“With roughly half of all Bachelor’s degree students graduating with debt, a significant share of the population is starting their career one step behind in terms of financial health.”
Licensing for Insurance agents can be done in some provinces in as little as one week, at a cost of only hundreds of dollars, not the thousands that university students can expect to pay on their way to earning a degree. This means insurance training and licensing students can be working in their chosen career years earlier than university graduates, and can enter the workforce with far less debt.
Tal says he thinks it is crucial to Canada’s economy that we start producing more graduates in growth areas of the economy. “Improving participation rates in these fields will likely require some combination of developing an information infrastructure system designed to identify emerging trends in labour market needs, improved quality and equity of learning opportunities, increased resources, improved system efficiency and increased private investment, in part, in the form of corporate investment.”
The Insurance Institute of Canada‘s 2012 report highlights the need for insurance companies to diversify recruitment and retention strategies, and be pro-active about management training and education, in order to fill the expected demand for trained and qualified insurance professionals.
To learn about insurance training options in your province, visit ILScorp.com, Canada’s leader in online insurance education.
Aug 26, 2013 | News
Ontario plans to reduce car insurance rates by 15 per cent in the next two years, Finance Minister Charles Sousa announced on Friday.
Reducing auto insurance rates by 15 per cent was a condition set by the NDP when it agreed to support the Ontario budget earlier this year, however the NDP called for the reduction to happen in the first year.
NDP transportation critic Gilles Bisson told the CBC that auto insurance companies have profited by billions from legislation that reduced payouts for personal injuries. He says those savings were never passed on to the consumer.
“That’s why in the budget we said we need 15 per cent. We need it now — it has to be done this year,” he said ahead of the announcement.
Drivers have complained that Ontario car insurance costs are too high, with rates rising rapidly over the past few years even for drivers with 25 years accident free.
Randy Carroll of the Insurance Brokers Association of Ontario welcomes a rate reduction, but says the government must first crack down on insurance fraud, which he said is costing the industry $1.5 billion annually.
“If we get the rates down before the fraud is out of the system it will just put undue pressure on insurers and will end up putting undue pressure on consumers,” he told CBC News.
Auto insurance rates are determined by individual insurers using a combination of factors including driving experience, driving record, use and location of the vehicle, the type of vehicle driven, and amount of coverage and deductibles selected.
But Ontario’s Superintendent of Financial Services reviews rates proposed by every company and the Financial Services Commission of Ontario regulates auto insurance to ensure protection for drivers. The FSCO will likely enforce Ontario’s mandated rate reductions, with rates dropping eight per cent in the first year and an additional seven per cent in the second. Ontario drivers won’t see the new rates kick in until they renew their policies.
Are you an Ontario insurance agent? Are you a Certified Ontario Auto Expert? With several major changes in basic coverage and new options in the last few years it is essential to update and reinforce your knowledge of Ontario automobile coverage.
ILScorp’s Certified Ontario Auto Expert series of courses leads you through the coverage, common client concerns and questions, errors and omissions avoidance, options, and important considerations in giving advice about private automobile coverage in Ontario. Learn more about this and other online insurance training courses at ILScorp.com.
Excerpted from CBC.ca
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