When you’re hiring new insurance staff, you know that your employees need good communication skills. What does good communication really mean? Strong communication skills are contextual: what communication skills are critical in the insurance industry?
Insurance Employees Need to Juggle
It’s can be hard to prioritize communication, but that is one of the key skills insurance agents and other insurance professionals must acquire. According to Talent Egg, “As an insurance professional, you will be managing multiple relationships and priorities.” You may have an internal report due, need to connect with a client about a claim, and need to connect with a potential new client who has questions about your insurance product. Your insurance employees need to be able to juggle all of these different priorities and communicate well with these different audiences.
Insurance Employees Have High Standards of Communication
While casual communication might work at some companies, your insurance clients rely on your agency to keep their homes, businesses, vehicles, and health safe. They expect a high level of professionalism in their communication with their insurance company. When hiring new insurance employees, you need to make sure that not only can they communicate well, but that they can communicate in the right professional language for your clients.
Insurance Communication Should Be Simple
While they must be professional, at the same time, insurance employees also need to communicate in a way that is simple enough for their clients to understand. While you are experts in the insurance industry, most people are not. They need to understand what you cover, any exclusions, extra insurance that they may need to purchase, and the details of how to make a claim. When you’re working with clients, you’re not working with industry experts. Your insurance employees must be able to use simple language to explain your products and how they work.
Written Communication is Just as Important as Oral Communication
While we often consider oral communication skills during the interview process, written communication skills are just as important for your insurance employees. In this era of computer-mediated communication and social media, your insurance employees must be able to write social media posts, create insurance marketing copy, and send an email to a client. They need to be able to do this without grammatical or spelling errors, and they must communicate clearly and professionally in written form.
Insurance Employees Communicate Nonverbally
If you’re working with clients in person, nonverbal communication is also a critical skill for your insurance employees. If an employee has welcoming words but does not have welcoming actions, then this does not instill confidence in your clients. Your insurance employees should be strong overall communicators, and this also involves nonverbal communication cues.
At American Agents Alliance, we not only understand insurance, we support insurance companies. If you’re an independent insurance agency, we’re here to work with you to make it easier to run your agency, conduct insurance marketing, and find and train new employees. Contact us today and learn about our many membership benefits.
