Communication is critical during a crisis. As the coronavirus pandemic rolls on, insurance brokers cannot afford to rest on their laurels when it comes to supporting their clients. This is a time of financial, physical, emotional and mental stress, during which brokers must act as calm, knowledgeable, and approachable pillars of support.
However, brokers have had to adapt how they communicate during the pandemic. With most client-facing storefronts closed during mandatory government shutdowns, and social distancing advisories still in place, in-person meetings and transactions have been few and far between. Rather, brokers have had to adopt new tools (if they weren’t using them already), such as video conferencing, mobile applications, business text messaging and so on.
“In times of crisis, people need more communication,” said Sheri Clay, director of private client services at JT Insurance Services Canada. “The more interaction you can have with the client – as long as they’re comfortable with it – the better. As far as mediums [of communication] go for us at JT Insurance Services, we still use email and we do some video conferencing (more on the commercial side than we do with personal lines clients), but telephone is probably what we use the most.
“During COVID, I’ve been on the phone with clients way more than I used to be. I think it really depends on the client, but a broker should be in touch at least a couple of times a year. Maybe it’s once a quarter, maybe it’s once a month – again, it depends on the broker’s relationship with the client, and what the client is comfortable with.”
One way to make clients feel comfortable is by supporting them with different mediums and avenues for communication. Today, especially in the context of COVID-19, those mediums have to include online portals, business text messaging, video conferencing, and other digital options, alongside the more traditional phone and email.
As Clay pointed out: “If we give them options, then the client will choose whatever [communication medium] they’re comfortable with, and then it’s important for us to stay in touch and be available to our clients when they need us. How we react during COVID is going to form our brand when we get out through the other side.”
Stéphane Lespérance, president of commercial risk and health solutions at Aon in Canada, said the public health crisis has been a test of brokers’ internal standards, protocols and habits in terms of how they treat and communicate with clients. If those protocols weren’t to standard under normal circumstances, the past few months will have been “much more challenging,” he said.
“Operating a large organization, we want to ensure that we are always meeting high standards,” Lespérance told Insurance Business. “We had standards before, but [through COVID], everyone is juggling with their personal lives, teaching kids while working from home, there’s no daycare and so on. It certainly changes the habits of all of us working. That’s why those standards are really important, and we have to maintain those while we’re going through this pandemic.
“For me, there’s no secret to it other than being very disciplined and ensuring that you’re making regular contact with your clients. If your standard [contact time] is typically 90-days prior to renewal, now it should probably be 120-days. And in addition to that, we should be keeping in touch with them regularly to let them know where the market is going, because we all know this market is a difficult one to navigate. Informing our clients more regularly is key – it’s as simple as that. Frankly, I’ve never had a customer complain about the fact that we’ve been communicating too much or reaching out too frequently.”
