Recognizing, Encouraging and Nurturing Outstanding Customer Service Reps

Agencies that offer their employees the option of working remotely achieve an advantage when it comes to attracting and retaining top-notch CSRs. Considering how their jobs have changed over the years, it is more than worthwhile to provide some perks.

There is a theory that great leaders are born, not made. When it comes to great agency customer service representatives (CSRs), even those born with all the right attributes cannot truly succeed without the encouragement and nurturing of agency management.

According to essays submitted as part of a national CSR recognition program (see below), good client service associates possess several indispensable attributes: good two-way communication skills; trust and integrity; an ability to build positive relationships and a willingness to learn.

While these attributes may be instinctive, knowledgeable agency leaders recognize employees with these traits and are quick to encourage them by creating a challenging yet nurturing environment. Such an environment, where training and a solid career path exist, allows CSRs to best use their problem-solving and relationship skills to better serve clients and the agency.

Understanding What Inspires

Although agencies can use compensation as an incentive, research shows it is not just about the bucks (see page N28). Many surveys indicate that work/life balance, job satisfaction, work environment and the opportunity to grow in their jobs motivate CSRs more than big salaries or bonuses.

Work/life balance is especially important to the newest crop of CSRs. These “Generation Y” employees — twenty-somethings, for the most part — value social networking, remote working and other perks. In a November 2005 article, a USA Today writer describes them this way: “They’re young, smart, brash. They may wear flip-flops to the office or listen to iPods at their desk. They want to work, but they don’t want work to be their life.”

Agency owners are finding that what motivates these employees sometimes conflicts with the old agency model of doing things. For example, agencies that offer their employees the option of working remotely achieve an advantage when it comes to attracting and retaining top-notch CSRs. Considering how their jobs have changed over the years, it is more than worthwhile to provide some perks.

Whether they’re Baby Boomers or Gen-Ys straight out of college, today’s CSRs work in a much more stressful environment than did those of the past. Insurers are pushing more work down to the agency level and CSRs often handle the brunt of that work.

Although this represents an advantage for agencies, because it improves data accuracy, it also puts a much heavier workload on the CSRs. Back in the “good old days,” a CSR could take five to 10 minutes processing a new piece of personal lines business. Today, factoring in credit scoring and other variables, that time has doubled. Agencies that truly value their CSRs will recognize this new reality and will provide the tools and devote the resources to ensure their CSRs enjoy a rewarding career.

Developing Great Reps

Many human resource experts and other agency leaders recognize these realities and develop career paths and structured processes that set growth goals for CSRs — sometimes with compensation tied in.

A good example is RJF Agencies, an Assurex Global Partners based in Minneapolis, with offices in Minnesota and Wisconsin. According to Jill Lowder, RJF’s chief operating officer, the role of the CSR is extremely important to the overall success of the agency. She explains that CSRs are the point people on accounts and are a vital part of providing the ultimate customer service experience for clients. They also play a key role in retaining accounts by developing and strengthening relationships and supporting the day-to-day needs of an account with their technical expertise.

Agencies find value in rewarding CSRs for the various roles they fill. For instance, RJF has 58 commercial lines CSRs averaging almost five years on the job. Beyond salary, RJF rewards these CSRs for active prospecting of new business they seek on their own. The agency pays its CSRs a one-time referral fee for new business placed the first year. To encourage promotion and integration of its products and services, the agency also offers CSRs a bonus for cross selling.

Agencies also benefit when they stress professional development. RJF, for instance, has a learning organization platform and personal development plan for each CSR. As part of this, CSRs are required to take part in at least 40 hours of learning opportunities each year. The agency also supports a strategic personal education plan unique to each eligible employee and reviews this on the CSR’s anniversary date and at midyear.

In its drive to develop CSRs, agencies need to put their money where their future is. RJF budgets $500 per employee for classes designed to meet or maintain licensing requirements and allocates additional amounts for those actively pursuing professional designations.

The agency also brings in local experts to conduct training on subjects like errors and omissions. It has teamed up with the local Big “I” to present an errors and omissions workshop, and has collaborated with insurers like Hawkeye Security and Travelers that offer scholarships or have earmarked educational funding available for professional designations.

At the end of the day, much of a CSR’s success comes from how well he or she is able to build and nurture good relationships.

These excerpts are from essays submitted by national finalists in the 2006 Outstanding Customer Service Representative of the Year Award competition sponsored by The National Alliance for Insurance Education & Research, which confers the Certified Insurance Service Representative professional designation. Essays discussed “Three Great Ways for a CSR to Build Positive Relationships with Company Underwriters.”

On Communication and Relationships

“Communication provides an open forum for discussion. This allows me to openly describe to the underwriter the client’s business concerns and the underwriter, in turn, is able to advise if they can provide the type of coverage the client requires.”

“When a friendship is built with the underwriter, they become very willing to do the best they can to provide the product and service that a client requires and deserves.”

–Karen A. Jergenson, Howalt-McDowell Insurance Inc., an Assurex Global Partner based in Sioux Falls, S.D.

On Listening, Integrity and Learning

“I have found that listening is of utmost importance! When you listen to your underwriter, you learn to anticipate their needs and put them at ease.”

“We should all strive to reach a point with underwriters that when you send in a submission, they would not question its quality or accuracy. Although integrity is a character trait, I was fortunate to have mentors and to work with an agency that shares this philosophy.”

–Kimberly S. Shows, Fox Everett, an Assurex Global Partner in Jackson, Miss.