IC21: Customer-centric

1. What is customer-centric?

IC21 (insurance company for the 21st century) is built to be customer-centric.

We want to know the potential customer first, before offering any of the insurance products.

If an existing customer contact us, we will know about the customer and the products that he has bought.

This allows us to focus on the customer as a person, and to offer the suitable products to meet his needs.

2. What information is needed?

During the initial stage, we will capture only the essential information, such as:

* name
* telephone number
* email address (optional)

At a later stage, we will capture other information (as needed), such as:

* postal address
* date of birth
* identification
* occupation
* family

The mobile telephone number can be used as a unique number to identify the customer.

3. How is this approach different from the traditional approach?

Under the traditional approach, the agent (who sell the insurance product) keep the record of the customer.

Under the IC21 approach, the customer record is kept in a central database. We will still record the code to identify the agent who is serving the customer.

4. What is the educational approach?

After getting the contact information of the customer, we can try to provide materials to educate the customer on the following:

* popular insurance products
* how they serve the needs of the customer
* how are the products better than similar products in the market

The materials are written in simple format, and stored as FAQ in the website. It explains the key features of the product and give a contact number for the customer to call.

We can send the materials by mail to the customer, and follow up with a telephone call.

5. How does the call center handle incoming calls?

The call center personnel will use the incoming telephone number to identify the customer and
view his particulars, including any existing policies.

Alternatively, the personnel can ask for the name of the caller, and retrieve the record. For a new customer, the personnel will create a new record.

All subsequent transactions will be filed linked to the customer ID.

6. Does the agent "own" the relationship with the customer?

The choice is given to the customer to be served by a specific agent or to deal with the principal (ie insurance company) directly.

If the customer prefers to be served by the agent, the agent's code is stored in the customer record. Otherwise, the code will indicate a specific customer service unit.

If the relationship is "owned" the agent, the principal will not attempt to approach the customer directly, except for special products that are only offered directly.

7. Does the customer get a discount by coming directly?

The customer will get a modest discount by coming directly. This is justified by the extra effort taken by the customer to learn about the product on  his own, and to make the buying decision (without being persuaded by the agent).

8. Can the customer act as an introducer?

We will encourage the customer to introduce his friends and family members to buy the same product that he has bought.

An salaried insurance consultant will follow up with the introducee and ensure that a suitable product is offered, and that the customer understands the product.

If a sale is made, an incentive will be credited to the customer to be used to offset the next insurance premium.