As a large portion of the baby boomer population prepares to retire, call centers in the insurance industry will field more calls from older customers. To help agents successfully serve this base of customers, they need to learn skills and specific tactics to help them succeed. Use the following five tips to coach your employees in how to successfully serve older members when they call about their insurance:
Tip #1: Speak Clearly and Enunciate
When helping older callers, agents may notice that a member has difficulty hearing and understanding what the agent says. Employees need to keep in mind that even someone with perfect hearing can have trouble understanding what the person on the other end of the line is saying. As insurance representatives handle more calls from older customers, they need to keep the following in mind:
- Speak louder
- Speak more slowly
- Enunciate the endings of words (s, ing, d, etc.)
An appropriate volume may differ from customer to customer. Let employees know it’s perfectly appropriate to ask the caller, “Can you hear me ok?” It’s better to ask for clarification than assume the member understands everything that’s being said.
Tip #2: Set Expectations for the Call
When customers call an insurance company, they need to have account information and personal identification numbers handy. To help older members through the process of the call, coach employees to set expectations. For example, at the beginning of the call, agents should let the customer know what information they will need and what they will be able to accomplish during the conversation. If an employee is not authorized to handle some aspect of the member’s request, he or she needs to inform the member up front. If members understand what information they need to have accessible and what they can expect to get out of the call, agents can reduce confusion and complications. This will both reduce call length and increase member satisfaction.
Tip #3: Be Patient and Guide the Call
Another difference insurance representatives may find while dealing with older callers is their speed at processing information and responding to questions. Members may have trouble articulating why they are calling or have trouble remembering where their account information is stored. If this happens, the agent needs to be patient and empathize. The agent needs to assist members by asking questions to guide the conversation and help them process what is being asked of them.
Agents need to be especially cautious of assuming they know what the caller needs. When a member is slow to respond or can’t articulate why he or she is calling, it’s easy for a representative to rush through the call, assuming they know how to solve the customer’s problem. This is not the correct approach, because the customer will call back and end up wasting more time than if the agent took time to understand the caller’s issue in the first place.
Tip #4: Control the Call
Controlling the call is an extremely important skill for serving older insurance customers. While the representative needs to be polite and let the client share information to help them uncover needs, it’s important to keep members focused on the reason for the call. If callers stray off topic, coach insurance representatives to listen for appropriate times to cut into the conversation.
Tip #5: Clarify Understanding
The final tip is to always clarify the agent and the customer have the same understanding of what was discussed. For example, if the agent has just explained a complex insurance benefit, the agent should give members the opportunity to clarify their understanding by saying something like, “Did I explain that clearly?” or, “That was pretty complex. What questions can I answer for you?” This better serves members and will eliminate callbacks into the center.
These five tips will help your insurance call center agents address the needs of older members. If your call center representatives need more assistance, read this blog post that addresses customer service training and ongoing learning for continuous improvement.