Emotion in motion.

My last newsletter (“I second that emotion.”) received over one thousand views. Thanks! It also generated several questions. Some of those questions were raised when I spoke to a meeting of insurance brokerage executives in Toronto last week.

To most people, it makes intuitive sense that Emotion – along with Effectiveness and Ease – would play an important role in delivering a superior customer experience (CX). After all, customers who have a positive experience are much more likely to be loyal to an organization.

But what makes customers “feel good” about their CX? People wanted a practical example. So, I shared a personal case study from my time in the insurance industry.*

Years ago, I was working with a group of talented insurance salespeople who were frustrated with their success in closing sales of new commercial insurance policies. The target customers were mainly owners of medium-sized businesses across a wide variety of industries. Despite offering a high-quality policy and competitive price, the salespeople were only successful in about one-third (35%) of their presentations.

After mapping out the typical sales process and sitting in on a few presentations, I got a good sense of the issue. And it didn’t have much to do with insurance.

I suggested we pilot a new approach that used best practices from current CX research. It would be a consistent, repeatable process that would only take slightly more time and effort.

This approach would address the four key emotional needs of customers:

1. Before making any recommendations, listen carefully to your customer and confirm/repeat what they have described as their needs and concerns. (A brief written summary is particularly effective.) They want to feel understood.
2. Always treat the customer professionally and commit to protecting their privacy (including any proprietary business information). Meet them in person, at a location of their choosing. Show interest in their business. They need to feel respected.
3. At a separate time/meeting, present options and communicate without jargon. For instance, a “good-better-best” comparison on a piece of paper or computer screen is a powerful visual aid. Make a clear recommendation and relate it directly to the information collected in step one. Listen for feedback and address questions. The customer wants to feel confident that they can make an informed decision.
4. Show the customer that they are valued by thanking them for meeting with you and, should you work together, commit to providing ongoing communications and reviews. Tell them that want to work with them and would value their business.**

During the pilot project, the sales closing ratio went from 35% to 64%. Notably, the core recommendations (product and price) made by the salespeople never changed. That wasn’t the issue.

Imagine you are the customer. You have invested everything into this business venture. You are an expert in your field, but you don’t know much about insurance. Commercial insurance is usually expensive and – if you have a claim – a lot is riding on choosing the right protection and a representative that you can trust . If you don’t feel comfortable, you will not act. What you need is empathy, information and clear communication so that you feel like you are making a good choice.

The original approach was practical (effective and easy). But recognizing the importance of emotion added significant vale for the customer.

What are the emotional needs of your customers? Are you meeting them?

Thanks. - Paul

*Note: Yes, I know that insurance isn’t the most emotionally-charged business sector. That’s why this example is instructive. If it can work in insurance, it can work anywhere! ??

**Note: This is a very simplified summary of the approach. Over time, we were able to refine it into a flexible, scripted system with re-usable visual aids.

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