Theresa Wicks—Sales Manager, Mitch Insurance
This October, I had the privilege of leading a workshop at IBAOcon’23 focused on empowering frontline insurance brokers to protect themselves against rude and abusive client behaviour. It also touched on creating positive, effective engagements. Sharing strategies to strengthen customer service while ensuring a safe and respectful work environment for brokers was a fantastic experience, and something I’m very passionate about.
I’ve always been drawn to assisting others—my post-secondary years were dedicated to studying social services at Conestoga College. Guided by my passion for helping people, after graduating I worked with at-risk youth and other vulnerable communities.
Although my career path later brought me into the insurance world, the de-escalation techniques I studied and advocacy skills I developed have proven invaluable working with clients during my 15 years in this industry.
Insurance is a complex product, and most consumers have a limited understanding of their coverages. Because of this, navigating customer frustrations and misunderstandings can be one of the most challenging aspects of a broker’s job.
Customer expectations are growing across all industries, not just insurance. When clients feel these expectations aren’t met, it can lead to anger which is often directed at frontline staff. This is increasing in the post-pandemic landscape, and is being further exacerbated by the economy and more people struggling financially.
Customer Code of Conduct
At Mitch Insurance we began seeing more client calls crossing into the realm of being unacceptable, and in some cases abusive.
To ensure our teammates had the necessary tools to provide quality expertise and service in a professional and compliant manner when faced with challenging clients, we developed a Customer Code of Conduct. It sets clear expectations of client behaviour and conflict resolution while ensuring a safe and respectful work environment that prioritizes our teams’ physical, mental and emotional well-being.
Wanting our teammates to continue building their confidence and autonomy, we also created a framework to help identify when a customer is upset or displaying abusive behaviour and how to proceed in both situations. It also gives guidance on when to escalate a call to management.
Being yelled and sworn at is not okay
As brokers, supporting our customers goes hand-in-hand with taking care of our teams. The more support you can offer your team, the easier it’ll be for them to provide exceptional experiences to clients.
All organizations can build tools and systems to better protect their people. Getting started is easier than you may think. Form a working group with employees from across the company to bring different ideas and perspectives. Make sure you’re actively involving client-facing teammates in the creation of your guidelines, listen to their pain points and get their input on how to overcome these obstacles.
Asking customers to behave in a more respectful manner can be intimidating. Provide training on ways to de-escalate conversations that are veering in the wrong direction. Remind teammates that it’s important to always be polite, calm and professional. You want to listen and empathize with the client’s concerns, while also making it clear that yelling, swearing or demonstrating any other abusive behaviour is not okay.
Implementing something is always better than implementing nothing, so don’t be afraid to create guidelines or frameworks that evolve to meet the needs of your team and clients. Encourage everyone at your brokerage to speak up when they see gaps and advocate for changes that support the entire team.
If you don’t already have one, I encourage you to create your own Code of Conduct that sets clear expectations of client behaviour and conflict resolution. Your team will feel more empowered, and will likely thank you for it.