Data is the new oil
Geoffrey Moore said: “Without data, one is blind and deaf and standing in the middle of a freeway.”?
In the current 4th?industrial age, one simply cannot ignore the importance of having and utilising data, I’d go as far as saying that data is not only essential for future growth, but also to ensure survival.?
But building a data asset is only one step towards the right direction, the ability to analyse the data and derive useful insight from it, is where the real reward lies. In a Harvard business review article, it was noted that “data without insights is meaningless, and insights without action are pointless”. Therefore, once Pandora’s box is opened to a world of opportunity, it’s up to business owners to “seize the day” and truly differentiate their offering and way they engage clients, positioning themselves as leaders in the race to exponential growth.?
The contrary holds true, those neglecting to record client information, analyse and derive business insight, or more importantly fail to take action, will undoubtedly be left in the dust of their competitors, who invested in this new “commodity” called?client and business intelligence.?
Although there are a myriad of data sets and insights available, I’d like to focus on the value that client and business insights holds for Consult’s franchises.??
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Client insight? ?
Client insight can be many things, and it can point you into several directions, but for me the key here is the insight into the type of clients you have in your portfolio and their specific preferences. In Consult’s franchise solutions, our CRM (client relationship management) capability enables our franchises to capture these key data points for future client insight, that drives how we interact in accordance to the preferences of our clients. Imagine knowing the segments of your portfolio that prefer?correspondence via email, with a strong focus on fact and figures, versus other client segments who only interact?with WhatsApp messages, short and to the point.? ?
Here are other key insights derived from client information:? ?
Demographic information: age, gender, location, income levels and occupation: basic demographic details help in segmenting the client base and understanding different customer groups.? ? Demographic information is an ideal source to perform client segmentation, which is the starting point of client insights; once your portfolio is segmented, you can tailor your approach to each specific segment, based on the unique preferences of that segment.? ?
Short-term insurance practices can extend their segmentation into commercial industries, identifying the different preferences of their respective commercial clients.? ?
Client lifestyle and interests? ?
Insights into clients' hobbies, activities, and interests can inform targeted marketing campaigns. Harnessing this component of client information enables a practice to align their social events, communication content and even product development to the needs of their communities.? ? Example: the number of mountain bike enthusiasts on your portfolio would encourage you to build communication content around safeguarding your mountain bike or align specific marketing campaigns with mountain biking events.? ?
Customer feedback? ?
Traditionally insurers are well-equipped to gather client's insight in the form of surveys, social media responses and association with other industry bodies. Its imperative that practices implement a process of obtaining clients feedback to ensure that they test the effectiveness of their client “touch points”; I would?like to refer to these as the moment of truth, when your client interacts with your offering.? ?
My suggestion would be to setup feedback points at various “touch points” of your client’s journey, link some to transactional interactions such as claims experience or general enquiries. There are various forms of feedback mechanisms, you can either setup a short survey post a transaction, shared via email or WhatsApp, or alternatively get in touch with your client through a call campaign.? ?
Client insights offer several benefits to a business? ?
Improved client relationships?
By understanding client needs and preferences, you can tailor your interactions and offerings, making clients?feel valued and understood.? ?
Increased sales?
Targeted marketing based on client insights leads to more effective new business prospecting.?
Enhanced client loyalty?
When clients receive personalised service and feel that their needs are met, they are more likely to return and become loyal to your brand. This talks to sustainable growth for your portfolio.? ?
Improved client experience?
By understanding your client’s journey and their pain points you are enabled to adjust processes to enhance the overall experience, leading to higher satisfaction.? ?
More effective marketing?
By knowing who your clients are and what they care about, you can create more relevant and engaging marketing campaigns, maximising your return on investment.? ?
Increased competitive advantage?
Leveraging client insights helps you stay ahead of competitors by offering unique advice solutions and services that meet client needs more effectively.? ?
Business insight? ?
Business insight refers to an in depth understanding of a business’s vitals; performance metrics, productivity, operational efficiency, risk management and financial wellbeing of the business. This understanding is often derived from analysing data and identifying patterns or trends that can help your business make informed decisions, improve performance, and stay competitive, ultimately drive efficiency across several areas of the business. Insights can guide strategic planning, optimise processes, and drive innovation, ultimately leading to better business outcomes.? ? Its?important to note that business insight is not only important in the proactive management of your business, but also at the time of selling the business, detailed business insight and the ability to showcase past successes through the active management of these business vitals, will result in a greater demand for your business and ultimately a “prime selling price”?could be negotiated. Its one thing reviewing financial statements, but the activity that drives the end result is just as important for prospective buyers.? ?
Here are other key insights derived from business information:? ?
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Sales performance: Evaluating which products or services are performing well and which are underperforming, guiding the focus of marketing and sales efforts. Key metrics to consider here for a short-term insurance practice:??
Remember that sales performance metrics are imperative to monitor the success of your growth initiatives, without monitoring these business vitals, you would be flying blind and have no insight to react to opportunities or unplug from failing initiatives.
?Its important to note that when designing your franchise growth strategy, that you go through a process of practically unpacking the desired revenue (top line), in terms of what is required for number of sales per month, and from which product line (Commercial has a higher APV, but more difficult to obtain). What does that equate to in terms of number of quotes (your conversion ratio will assist here), then how many leads do you require (lead to quote ratio will help)??Ultimately these granular calculations will enable you to understand the level of emails/phone calls/social media posts etc., you will need to do to be successful.?
Portfolio management: business insight into the performance of your short-term insurance portfolio enables you to not only be aware of renewal premium at risk (number of clients x premium value), but also provides an opportunity to proactively engage your client on the profitability of their policy in your portfolio. By proactively managing your client’s risk profile, you not only avoid price volatility for your client, but you also ensure improved client retention as well as lower the amount of transactional effort, as seeking lower rates is unnecessary. These business vitals talks to practice efficiency and sustainable growth.? ?
Examples would be:?
Understanding these elements of your portfolio places you back into the driving seat of managing your portfolio for optimum efficiency and growth.?
Productivity indicators? ?
A key driver of your practice efficiency is the ability to monitor output of certain operational functions, with the intention to identify unproductive areas. Your staff time spent on the phone can be monitored in conjunction with time available versus time in “idle state” or time spent on breaks. These productivity indicators provide a view for the number of staff required to answer phone calls, manage email queries and deliver an exceptional client experience. Failing to monitor operational output, may lead to unnecessary investment into staffing or technology (the number of queries, quotes and claims each staff member can complete per day/week).
Another important indicator in productivity data is trend analysis, which would indicate when your practice historically experiences high volumes of queries/calls etc. This insight enables a business owner to do capacity planning and gear the practice for these cycles of business volume and in the same breath, identify ideal times to allow for annual leave transactions.? ?
Performance contracting is imperative in ensuring that your desired practice output is aligned to what the business requires, productivity indicators must be aligned to the KPI’s (key performance indicators) noted in the performance contract, as this enables proactive management of output in alignment with contracted outcomes.? ?
Customer satisfaction index? ?
While CSI surveys have their place, they are a reactive management tool, in my opinion. Through effective monitoring of key transactional or operational processes data, one could step into a position of proactive client satisfaction management, enabling the ability to ensure client satisfaction during each client interaction, instead of waiting for a client’s feedback post the interaction, where you’ve lost the opportunity to deliver an exceptional performance.? ?
The starting point for ensuring an exceptional client experience, is defining a service level agreement, linked to measurable timelines and outputs per “touch point”. Once the SLA is in place, you can monitor the data outputs for each of the touch points and determine whether you have an efficient client journey that delivers a great client experience.? ?
Example: from a client informing you of a claim, to claim registration, assessments, settlement, to closure of claim, what are the expected client experiences at each of these intervals, what should be the timeline between each status and how should the feedback look to the client.??
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