Intimacy And Insurance

Awareness of the intimate relationship between insurance and customers' life-changing moments puts flesh on the bones of the industry. It helps–or should help–industry professionals tie what they do at work to the society around them. It speaks to purpose, to rhyme and to reason.

That awareness is good for business. As psychologists have noted many times, people who see purpose in their work are often highly motivated to perform well. They link their own humanity with that of the person or problem before them, and this brings meaning and richness to their endeavor.

It also favors customer-centric enterprise. Talk to any agent who has worked through a rough patch with a customer, and you'll quickly learn that this intimacy is the heart and soul of the business. It's the trust-builder (or buster, if not handled well).

To be sure, the insurance business has not ignored its role in human connectedness.

Just look at the "realLIFEstories" initiative of LIFE, Washington, D.C., for instance, and the foundations set up to serve those in need by industry groups such as the Million Dollar Round Table, Park Ridge, Ill., and the National Association of Independent Life Brokerage Agencies, Fairfax, Va.

Recall, too, how various industry advertisements highlight the many ways that insurance is present when people suffer loss or need financial guidance.

But the message doesn't always get through. A lot of times, for instance, non-industry people just burst out laughing at the mere mention that insurance helps out at some of life's most highly charged moments.

When pressed, a few of the scoffers may grudgingly admit they've actually received an insurance check or two. But they'll also rant about other times when they "had to fight" the insurance company to get payment, or they'll complain about phone calls not returned, paperwork not acknowledged, bills not charged correctly and e-mails not answered.

In the face of such vitriol, insurance professionals often clam up, avoiding the topic altogether. And now, the avoidance seems to have carried over to industry forums, so that "mum" is the word more often than not.

A living awareness of how intimately insurance interacts with the lives of customers is key to successful business operations. Rebuilding that awareness inside the industry and among consumers might be a good New Year's resolution.