There are five key reasons why health insurance and protection advisers can benefit from undertaking online meetings with their clients says Mikogo's Mark Zondler.
Gaining a client's trust has historically been achieved by meeting in person. However getting an appointment in a client's already full schedule is a hard ask.
Between work, family, travel and other commitments, meeting to discuss health insurance policies is unfortunately pushed down their list of priorities.
While clients understand the critical need to keep their policies in force and get the best health protection for their families, these important meetings are postponed. Life, it would seem, simply gets in the way.
For many, the phone will not suffice. Discussing medical histories or important changes to insurance policies on a phone call can be both complicated and intimidating, and lacks the important element of transparency.
With evident trust and time issues, there is a notable transition from face-to-face meetings to online meetings. An online sales presentation enables you to present any health insurance policies, contract terms, or important data to the client live over the Web.
This removes the impersonal experience of a phone call and replaces it with an invaluable sense of transparency.
Online meetings allow the broker and client to confirm contract information just as if they are sitting there together in person - except they don't have to travel; they don't have to be in the same city; and they can meet anytime, night or day.
Sales presentations between insurance brokers and clients are a growing use case for our online meeting solution.
Five Reasons for meeting online with clients:
1. Professional: Clients feel more at ease with the broker and the insurance company's offerings when they view a professional presentation. Screen sharing enables a broker to present any policy resource, document, or visual aid from their face-to-face meetings over the Web.
2. Privacy: One of our own customers said the online experience is more convenient for the client and termed it the "non-invasive appointment", as the client does not need to clean up, clear the office, or make time to receive the broker in their home or office.
3. Personal: US Health Group found that sharing screens reinstates a level of intimacy similar to an in-person presentation, which a phone call could never achieve. Clients show more confidence and comfort in discussing medical histories when they see everything on the shared screen, as opposed to just hearing a voice over the phone. Some brokers also found that sharing their own family or holiday photos adds a further personal touch and forms an important bond with the client.
4. Security: Understandably people are worried that providing sensitive personal health details or financial information to a stranger over the phone may land in the wrong hands. Credibility is enhanced when the client sees a professional presentation on the shared broker's screen.
5. Time: Traveling to meetings results in a lot of unproductive time. By enabling clients to see all changes to their health policies right before their eyes without moving anywhere, you save them great amounts of time which the client values.
Face-to-face meetings are undoubtedly the preferred way to build trust with clients. But today technology provides a more cost-effective, time-sensitive and secure way to discuss health insurance policies.
With a growing number of insurance brokers/advisers today incorporating online collaboration tools into their client interactions, insurance companies can expect the new technology to deepen business relationships and build client trust further.
Mark Zondler is founder and director at Mikogo
