Insuring quality : how to improve quality, compliance, customer, and the ethics in the insurance industry

How can insurance providers boost their image and increase business? Hedy and Les Abromovitz's Insuring Quality takes a hard look at the insurance industry and suggests innovative new ways of improving customer satisfaction, turbo-charging sales and polishing the tarnished image of the industry.
The insurance industry has an image problem. From Woody Allen movies to greeting cards, insurance agents are ridiculed as boring, overbearing pests out to make a quick buck at someone's expense. Recent criminal investigations into some of the nation's largest insurance providers have only made the situation worse. And that's bad news for insurance professionals - for more than any other business, the insurance industry is built on trust.
This book was written by insurance professionals for insurance professionals - so every example in the book is based on a real-life situation. There's no ivory tower philosophizing or impenetrable jargon; just practical advice from two veterans who have examined the true relationship between quality, ethics, and customer service. As the authors say, "Insuring Quality will help your organization solve real-life problems. It's for the people in the trenches..."

Preface	p. v
About the Authors	p. ix
1 The Relationship Between Quality and Image	p. 1
2 Quality and the Media	p. 7
3 Perceptions of Quality and Customer Service	p. 13
4 Image and Marketing	p. 17
5 Replacement of One Policy with Another	p. 21
6 Quality and Selling Can Mix	p. 27
7 Selling and Customer Service	p. 31
8 What Complaints to Insurance Regulators Tell Us About Customer Service	p. 35
9 Quality and the Regulators	p. 39
10 Customer Service When the Customer's a Crook	p. 43
11 Less Than Sympathetic Customers	p. 47
12 It's a Small World After All	p. 51
13 Rate Hikes and Customer Satisfaction	p. 55
14 Difficult Customers and Customer Service	p. 61
15 World-Class Quality	p. 65
16 Mission Accomplished?	p. 69
17 Customer Disservice: A Tongue-in-Cheek Guide to Alienating Customers	p. 73
18 What Do Customers Want?	p. 77
19 Stupid Service Tricks	p. 81
20 Burnout	p. 85
21 Swearing Off Customer Service	p. 89
22 Consistency in Claims Handling	p. 91
23 Workers' Compensation Best Practices	p. 97
24 BEST Practices for Agents	p. 103
25 Timeliness and Customer Service	p. 107
26 Accessibility and Customer Service	p. 111
27 Waiting for Service	p. 115
28 Customer Expectations	p. 121
29 Expectations of Bad Service	p. 127
30 Fair and Equal Treatment of All Customers	p. 131
Fair Warnings and Quality	p. 135
32 Consistent Coverage Decisions	p. 139
33 Customer Feedback and Complaint Handling	p. 143
34 Quality Initiatives	p. 151
35 Suggestion Boxes	p. 155
36 Management Support	p. 157
37 Limping the Talk	p. 161
38 Barriers to Quality Improvement	p. 163
39 This Company Isn't What It Used to Be (And It Wasn't That Great Before)	p. 167
40 Recognition of Employees	p. 171
41 Employee Satisfaction	p. 175
42 Downsizing and Employee Satisfaction	p. 181
43 Bad Employees	p. 185
44 Bad-to-the-Bone Employees and Agents	p. 189
45 Proactive Customer Service	p. 193
46 Quality Meetings on Quality	p. 197
47 Quality Surveys	p. 199
48 Quality Relationships	p. 203
49 Keeping Internal Customers Satisfied	p. 207
50 Quality Versus the Competition	p. 211
Index	p. 213

Available:*

On Order

Summary

Summary

Table of Contents