With it already being two weeks into 2021, it might seem a little redundant to be delivering New Year’s resolutions right now, but the COVID-19 pandemic has confirmed what your GCSE physics teacher was trying to tell you all along – time really is relative.
Over the stretching months of lockdown, the concept of time has become a malleable thing, with many experiencing the uncomfortable phenomena of work days blending into evenings and weekdays blending into weekends. But our changing perspective on time does not have to be an entirely negative thing, as evidenced by the recent campaign by the charity English Heritage to encourage people to leave their Christmas decorations up to keep the festive spirit alive through the winter months.
In much the same way, it’s not too late to reconsider the resolutions that we have made, to re-evaluate those we have already broken and to examine the small changes we can make to our lives now which we’ll be grateful for when 2022 rolls around. With these changes in mind, the first resolution that insurance brokers should embrace as the year progresses is a vow to communicate clearly with their clients and close the customer expectation gap.
Recent guidance issued from the Chartered Insurance Institute has outlined what insurance professionals can do to eradicate this expectation gap, and brokers would do well to examine how this advice ties in with their own operations. They should look to the examples set by other industries - from banking, to retail, to hospitality - and realise that, when it comes to communication, better and clearer information trumps more information every time.
Brokers must resolve to find ever more efficient and effective means of communicating with their clients, aided by the digital technologies that COVID has made obligatory. And, through these channels, brokers must grapple with their role as the resident experts when it comes to insurance services. They are the men and women on the frontlines of the industry, providing guidance and support to clients in their time of need - but the trust that is placed in brokers by their clients is hard-won and easily lost. It is, therefore, up to brokers not just to deliver the bad news alongside the good news but also to adequately explain the ‘how’ and the ‘why’ of such news.
Second on the list of key resolutions for insurance brokers as 2021 really kicks in is a promise to follow through on greater collaboration and information sharing within the broking community. The value of such teamwork was seen clearly throughout last year in the battle against insurance fraud and in the evolution of cyber insurance services but it extends beyond any one insurance sector or aspect.
Any effort to win new business must be made with consumer accessibility in mind. This is where signposting, an effort widely promoted by the British Insurance Brokers’ Association (BIBA), comes into its own. Signposting means that brokers can direct a customer towards assistance in circumstances where they themselves cannot offer cover, an effort that supports other businesses while providing exemplary customer service.
These are extraordinary and unprecedented times for the entire insurance industry and, as such, they require extraordinary measures which include going above and beyond for the advantage of the average individual, whether or not they are your customer. The brokers who can embrace this ‘new normal’, not as something which is alien but instead as a natural evolution of a status quo, are the same ones that will be best placed to access the opportunities it brings.
Last, but by no means the least, of these resolutions is that now is the time to be kinder to yourself. It’s a message that is easy to say, and even easier to tell other people but infinitely harder to apply to yourself. It does not matter whether you have been having a great lockdown or a terrible lockdown, everybody requires time and patience while processing exactly what this crisis means for their future.
Have the same understanding for yourself that you would for anybody facing the same uncertainty and upheaval. As you enter the new year, approach your own wellbeing in the same way that you would that of your family, your friends, your colleagues, and your clients. It is in this way that real empathy can be generated which can only serve to make you a stronger broker, partner and colleague going forward.
Finally, while not a resolution, there is no doubt that every New Year should be hailed as an opportunity to move forward and to think with renewed optimism not on what has already been but rather on what is going to happen next.
So, whether you consider it a little late or perhaps still too early, now is the time to put plans into action – Happy New Year and the very best for the year ahead.
