CRM

1)Retaining Customers is more challenging than acquiring in the context of growing competitive forces.

Traditional transactional approach became insufficient.

Retention Marketing became important.

Intro:
Established customrs tend to buy more , are predictable & usually cost less to service than new customers.
They are less price-sensitive & may provide word-of-mouth referrals
Retaining customers also make it difficult for competitors to enter market or increase share.
Objective of CRM is to turn new customers into regularly purchasing Clients, & then move them thro' to being strong supporters of th Company & products., to being finally being vocal & active Advocates of the Company.

2)Customer service in Insurance Industry

Providing consistent, comprehensive,quality Customer service in an ongoing challnge for most organizations.

Customer intimacy represnts 1 of the top 3 priorities for Insurance Industry.
Primary objective of Customer Intimacy is to maintain a strong connection to the customer & producer thro' the delivery of products & services that create a satisfying service experience.

Cust. Service is the buzzword of Corp. world & a firm will be beter known by th quality of its service it provides rather than its market or profit-earning capacity.
While providing good & efficint service is prerequisite for any entity,it poses several problems as far as service organizations are concerned.On account of the invisible & intangible PRODUCER,it makes assessment of the service provided , that much more complicated & difficult.

Retention of Customer:
Retention Ratio
Is this ratio only to satisfy Ego or are we objectively looking at it?
Healthy Competition :

Universally , there is resistence to change.
We have to come to terms to Competitive scenario.

CRM in Ins. Industry:
CRM is about continuously improving the quality of interaction & communication with both new & existing Customers.The staid bundling philosophy,often justified on low awarenss level , has given way to a more robust & wide array of products. Insurers
traditionally concentratd on product-creation, with Distribution & Sales considered a different Business Focus, Therefore CRM was not a ky Concern.

With the evlolution of Technology , customrs are now demanding multipl Channels thro' which they can interact with providers incl. face-to-face contacts, phone, web-sites, e-mail, mobile devices
This has forced Insurers to to explore new Dist. Channels, so that Ordinary Customr has more info about products.

Challenge to Insurrs is to grow & sustain business by rapidly improving Operational Efficiencies & providing tailor-made products for divers group of customers

CRM Strategy:
A Typical Company has a huge Customer Base , varied Product lines,Multipl Dist Channls & a Market Spread across Geographis. For CRM-Utiliz Technology to th Full.
Insurer has to leverage avast pool of data at each step in CRM Process & us the insight gained for developing new products & srvices to meet the vr-changing neds of Customers.

CRM has 3 Steps: 1)Identifying Customers includes, to increas & & Retain profitability of a customer.
To arrive at overall profitability of Customer, Insurrs must qualifyTeh costs involvd in serving the Customer overa period & the revnues realized from a Customer during the period.

In Life Insuranc, ther is also a 3rd part. Good experience adds customers but negative can prove very bad
Health , Dental & Disability products may involv frequent interaction on Claim Payments , Med. Check-ups.
Group products may involv frequent interactions with Plan administrators to manage enrollments & Biling.

ROAD AHEAD:
U/W Dept has to check proposal in respect of the Risk associatedAt some places U/W is done at Corp. Office.

If the targets are vry high , there can be servicing problems.FAults at product development may lead to dissatisfaction
In Gen Insurance:
Mkt Share is generally poor.But Potential Mkt opportunities are more wide.Free Markets & Globalization have increased opportunities.They have to reenginer its approach & Strategies on quality basis.
Quality based strategy called as 'Service Stigma' for process improvement is esential."Service is any act or Performance that one party can offer to another that is esntially intangible.Gen Insurance servic is under category of hybrid variety of service offering which consists ofdifferent types of products & services tied within the products.
Gen Insuranc service is complicated since its needs ar in different phases. Servics are intangibl , inseparable , variable & perishable.
All servic sectors must follow 3 imp. steps for their quality control aspct:
* Recruit right service employees & Train them.
*Standardize serviuce performanc
*Monitor Customer satisfaction by means of suggstion schemes,accepting & reviewing the complaints, customer survey comparison etc
Service Org. Gen Insurance Business must concentrate on 3 imp. tasks.
1.Manage service quality in order to meet or exceed cust. expactations
2.It must differentiate its offer & delivery system.
3.It must manage workers productivity by getting its workers to work more skillfully.

Gen Insurance Cos can improve their Mkt share & profit only by Cust satisfaction & retention. by quality service.

Ins. Cos are at different levels of maturity when it comes to cust service.
They must consider impact of poor cust. service & its cost to Co's reputation.
Ins needsa structure that is flexible enough to support cust service that is personalized or automated & provided in the manner dictated by customer whether aimed at Cust satisfaction , retention or Sales.
To help further realization of "1st Call Final" & deliver personalized service via phone, e-mail, online.Ins. Cos must have info ready for all its reps.

Levels of awareness have to be increased.Ther is strong need , concepts & nuances of Insurance., any amt of Ads would not be much use.

If Ins is a strong Risk Mgt tool, it is because understanding the people possess. Then CRM would be demed to have ben achieved. when awareness is taken to further heights.

To create a satisfying experience for both new & existing customers,Ins Comps should adopt a model that focusses on Customers than products.
This requires asubstantial reorientation of the Company in terms of culture,job-dscription & Organization itself.
Cust Focus helps create a responsive Sales & service envo to attract & retain Customrs

Evolution of CRM
50S Mktg interest was focussed on Consumer Good
60s= Indl. Markets
70s= Considerable Academic effort was placed on Social Marketing
80s= Services Sector
90s= Relationaship Mktg
Mktg impacts wide rang incl. Markets for Customers , Employees, supply,internal , refrral & influencer Mkts such Governmental & Financial Mkts
2ndly at micro levl , recognition that interrelations with customrs is changing. Emphasis is moving from Transaction to Relationship Mkt

Degree of Relationship Mktg:
Diff. Levels as under
Basic
No lasting Relationship is esatblished. Transaction is mad & both parties go their way.

Reactive
Seller offers to respond if buyer has any problms.

Accountable
Seller contacts the buyr aftr the sale to find out how the product has ben received & whther it could have been better.

Proactive
Seller calls customer from time to time with updates on improvemnt to the product & other services to make product's consumption more satisfying.


Partnership
Both parties work together to find solutions to mutual problems & opportunities for mutual success.This arrangement is generally limited to business to business Marketing.



Imp. of Cust Retntion:

Development of long-term relationships with existing customers.
Focus to be changed from Transaction to a Relationship Focus., with emphasis on Cust Retention.,high cust. service & commitment & quality being a concern for all.

Rel. Mktg has emrged because of advances in Info Technology & specifically generation of Cust. Databases.Thse make it easier to identify loyal customers.

Basis of Building Relationship :
Defining beneficial features of a corporate relationship building are based on following assumptions.


Mutual Benfits
Mutual commitments
Trust
Conective Links
These facets work together to form a connective tissue., which can either , be a flimsy & short-loved one or one that is stronger & enduring.

CRM Stratgies:
2 Types : Solicited Feedback
& Operations Feedback.
Various types of Research are employed :
Cust. Expectation Re
Performance Re
Dir. Customer Feedback Re
Process Mgt Re



Solicuited feedback

Operations Feedback


Customer focus Framework consists

Building a shared vision
Designing tio achieve high performance
Implementing Change
Driving continuous improvement


CRM in Insurance
PS Bank & Ins. Companies are supposed to play an imp. role in emancipatiobn of socio-economic dev. processes. Masss have high expectationsIncreasing use of sphisticated info tech by service generating Org. have changed percption of Cust. Services.

More frequency in product-innovation processesRace for quality upgradation is at its peak. Leading Foreign Companies are developing new percetion of cust. services.

Mktg Mgt of an org. plays a contributory role in fuelling processes of qualitative cum quantitativ improvemnts.If we do not take care of our policyholder, destruction of Bond strength may be startd by others.Task of creating strong cust. loyalty is called Rel. Mktg.


Conclusion:
Goal is not to strive for Zero defections but minimum. Main gfocus :Optimizing Customer Equity. Some costs hav to be incurred. Myopic view that Retention is freee should not be taken.

Need to realize gravity of situation & to assign an overriding priority to Mgt of cust. Rtention Mktg activities.

Mgt if Ins. Professionals is imp. to the quality generation.Application of innovative Mktg. principls in Ins. Org. would make ways for multi-dimensional positiv development.