INSURANCE SERVICE

INTRODUCTION

Insurance is an arrangement by which one party (the insurer) promises to pay another party (the insured or policyholder) a sum of money if something happens which causes the insured to suffer a financial loss. The responsibility for paying such losses is then transferred from the policyholder to the insurer. In return for accepting the burden of paying for losses when they occur, the insurer charges the insured a price, the insurance premium.

Reach in insurance service

1. Credence properties

There are credence properties, which are characteristics that customer and hard to evaluate even other consumption. Insurance service have a professional services for example, company will be give remedy through, cash, product and so on. Agent can deficient customers perceived risk before they purchase the insurance by helping them match their needs to specific service features and educating them on what to expect both during and after service delivery. Its can only been seen after the customer purchase the premium. Its because no customer know about the internal activity that service provider do.

2. Experience properties

Experience properties means that attributes which can be discerned after making a purchase or during the consumption. Experience properties can be evaluate the insurance service. By asking their friends, family and relatives, that which already have experience about these service.

Importance of the time factor

All premium are payable at an office of the company but person maybe authorized to receive such premium at other place. All agent should go to customer house, for collect the payable premium, of facility to that customer choose this services. Busy customer expert services to be availed at time, insurance service provide to use bank service. This service also better than above and its service very easy and faster. This insurance open the time of office but agent may give service at anytime and everywhere.

Services generalization

1. People-based

This service are more on people-based, so the service are provided by unskilled, skilled, or professional workers. For example this service use more skillful or professional agent to promote their insurance to customer. The professional agent may get more customer because the customer cannot evaluate the service through what they see, heard and feel.

2. Personal need & business need

Insurance service differ as to whether, the agent meet a personal need or a business need. This service are typically, develop different marketing programs for personal and business markets.

3. Objective and ownership

Service provider differ in our objective, the insurance service is to give the protection, and saving to the customer service. This service giving customer opportunity to assurance that brings you peace for the caring you on give.
This service policy was provide under company policy, this policy can be cancelled through written requestment to the company in 15 days after assured had been received the policy document.

Characteristics and marketing implication

1. Intangible

Service intangibility means that the service cannot be seen, tasted, felt, heard or smelled before they make a purchase or consumption. To solve this problem the service provider used physical evidences. For example by show this service intangible this service provide the pamphlet, brochures, campaign, billboard, newspaper and so on.

2. Perishability

Perishability means that the service that cannot be stored, saved, resold or returned. In insurance service this characteristics are easy and difficult. Beside that they also can design some strategy in order to match the demand and supply of the service. For example: 1. Demand forecasting for insurance service are depend on the sale. 2. For example the agent must search the customer and achieve their goal(12 people/year).

3. Variability

Insurance service are performances, frequently produced by humans, no two people will be precisely a like. Each will have unique demands or experience the service in a unique way. To solve this problem in order to maintain, this service with take three steps toward quality control. The first step is the investing in good human resources selection and training to their agent (20hours of the year).

1-Contacting the insurer

Second step is standardizing the service-performance process throughout the organization, with use the flow chart.

2-Insurance intermediaries 3-Law agency 4-Providing the details 5-Offer and acceptance 6-Paying the premium 7-Proof of purchase 8-The contract in writing 9-The legal interpretation of policy forms 10-Renewing existing contracts 11-Cancelling the policy

The third step is monitoring customer satisfaction through suggestion and complaint systems. It can do through telephone or complaint direct to insurer. So that poor service can be detected and corrected.

4. Inseparability

Inseparability means that the service cannot be separated from their services provider and its making the services difficult to be separate from the person who performs the services. The insurance service provider plays a particular important role. The insurance agent interacts with the customer affects the perceptions of the service and customer satisfied is overall with the service. To solve this problem the agent should give, confident information for their customer.

Service marketing triangle

Company (Management)

Internal Marketing (Enabling the promise)

External Marketing (Insurance company setting the promise)

Employee (company branch, agencies)

Interactive Marketing (Insured delivered company promise)

Customer (insured)

1. External marketing

This external marketing refers to the marketing provide by service firms which using all of the 4Ps elements (product, place, price, promotion) to get the customer awareness and interest towards the service in order to provide the customer expectations. For example, this service efforts that the firm engaged in to get its customers expectations & make promise to customers regarding what is to be delivered. In insurance services, the external promotion are targeted for example to school and institution. Some of the factor to communicate with the customer are by using brochures, pamphlet, special promotion from the agent.

2. Interactive marketing

The term interactive marketing or what some refer to as real-time marketing. Insurance services are delivering the promise. For example according to insurance policy, the customer can buy the policy with the price of RM10,000 but today, they buy the insurance with RM550 per monthly. But when we want to claim, we must pay RM10,000 according to the insurance agreement agreed.

3. Internal marketing

The internal marketing is which enables employees to keep the promises that have made to customers. The internal means that the service firm must effectively train and motivate its employees and supporting service person to work as a team to provide customer satisfaction. For example the company set the target and promotion in insurance service, agent are responsible to achieve the goal.

The service marketing mix

People

As a services marketing mix, are all human actors who play a part in service delivery and thus influence the buyers perception, namely, the customers in the service environment. Agent must dressed tidy, to confident their customer. They must appear the excellent characterization and the also their attitudes. For examples, agent must show the professional relationship-based insurance services because that agent is the service.

Process

Involves the actual insurance procedures, mechanisms and flow of activities by which the service is delivered and operating systems. Company provide pamphlet and used it to the customer with evidence on which to judge the service. These process characteristics are use the form. The form one based on physical evidence of the customer. Insurance company have the time work, the branches open at 9 am until 4.30 pm, Sunday to Thursday for the company branches but for the agency they give the service anytime. On the other hand, agent focuses on their customer relationships. For example: 1. Celebrated customer birthday party. 2. Prizes - company-agent-customer. 3. Every year gives the souvenir such as pen, umbrella, diary an other.

Physical evidence

This service it includes the physical facility where the service is offered, for example, the insurance branch facility. Other tangibles such as policy book may be important indicators of quality of service insurance. For example, when customer have little on which to judge the actual quality of service, they will rely on these cues, just as they rely on the cues provided by the people and the service process.

Core and supplement of insurance service

1. Core of insurance service

General - Motor and non-motor 1. Fire and thief 2. Burglary 3. Fire 4. Aviation 5. Marine 6. Accident

Supplement of insurance service

Life insurance 1. Saving 2. Education 3. Investment 4. Coverage extensions 5. Best cost of treatment

Categorizing insurance service process

Insurance services are categorize in information processing at a customers asset. This service need little direct involvement with the customer such as agent must meet customer more to initiated this service. Insurer and insured prefer to meet face to face. - Insured and insurer can feel learn more about each others needs, performance and others. - Insurer can show that successful personal relationships, built on trust and others. Others process can be undertaken are by mail, phone, internet or website.