1 ADVERTISING IN INSURANCE CONCEPT OF ADVERTISEMENT Advertising is a form of communication intended to persuade its viewers, readers or listeners to take some action. It usually includes the name of a product or service and how that product or service could benefit the consumer, to persuade potential customers to purchase or to consume that particular brand. Modern advertising developed with the rise of mass production in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Commercial advertisers often seek to generate increased consumption of their products or services through branding, which involves the repetition of an image or product name in an effort to associate related qualities with the brand in the minds of consumers. Different types of media can be used to deliver these messages, including traditional media such as newspapers, magazines, television, radio, outdoor or direct mail. Advertising may be placed by an
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1ADVERTISING IN INSURANCE
CONCEPT OF ADVERTISEMENT
Advertising is a form of communication intended to persuade its viewers,
readers or listeners to take some action. It usually includes the name of a product
or service and how that product or service could benefit the consumer, to persuade
potential customers to purchase or to consume that particular brand. Modern
advertising developed with the rise of mass production in the late 19th and early
20th centuries.
Commercial advertisers often seek to generate increased consumption of
their products or services through branding, which involves the repetition of an
image or product name in an effort to associate related qualities with the brand in
the minds of consumers. Different types of media can be used to deliver these
messages, including traditional media such as newspapers, magazines, television,
radio, outdoor or direct mail. Advertising may be placed by an advertising agency
on behalf of a company or other organization.
Organizations that spend money on advertising promoting items other than a
consumer product or service include political parties, interest groups, religious
organizations and governmental agencies. Nonprofit organizations may rely on
free modes of persuasion, such as a public service announcement.
Advertising is the promotion of a company’s products and services carried out
primarily to drive sales of the products and services but also to build a brand
identity and communicate changes or new product /services to the customers.
Advertising has become an essential element of the corporate world and hence the
In a layman's words, insurance means, ‘a guard against pecuniary loss
arising on the happening of an unforeseen event’. In developing economies, the
insurance sector still holds a lot of potential which can be tapped. Majority of the
people in the developing countries remains unaware of the functions and benefits
of insurance and it is for this reason that the insurance sector is still to
grow. Tangible or intangible – an individual can insure anything! Be it a house,
car, factory, or the voice of a singer, leg of a footballer, and the hand of an
author.....etc. It is possible to insure all these as they have the possibility of
becoming non functional by any disaster or an accident.
Meaning of Insurance
Insurance provides financial protection against a loss arising out of
happening of an uncertain event. A person can avail this protection by paying
premium to an insurance company. A pool is created through contributions made
by persons seeking to protect themselves from common risk. Premium is collected
by insurance companies which also act as trustee to the pool. Any loss to the
insured in case of happening of an uncertain event is paid out of this pool.
Insurance works on the basic principle of risk-sharing. A great advantage of
insurance is that it spreads the risk of a few people over a large group of people
exposed to risk of similar type.
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Definition
Insurance is a contract between two parties whereby one party agrees to
undertake the risk of another in exchange for consideration known as premium and
promises to pay a fixed sum of money to the other party on happening of an
uncertain event (death) or after the expiry of a certain period in case of life
insurance or to indemnify the other party on happening of an uncertain event in
case of general insurance. The party bearing the risk is known as the 'insurer' or
'assurer' and the party whose risk is covered is known as the 'insured' or 'assured'.
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History of insurance sector
The insurance sector in India has completed all the facets of competition –from
being an open competitive market to being nationalized and then getting back to
the form of a liberalized market once again. The history of the insurance sector in
India reveals that it has witnessed complete dynamism for the past two centuries
approximately. With the establishment of the Oriental Life Insurance Company in
Kolkata, the business of Indian life insurance started in the year 1818.
Important milestones in the Indian life insurance business
1912: The Indian Life Assurance Companies Act came into force for
regulating the life insurance business.
1928: The Indian Insurance Companies Act was enacted for enabling the
government to collect statistical information on both life and non-life
insurance businesses.
1938: The earlier legislation consolidated the Insurance Act with the aim of
safeguarding the interests of the insuring public.
1956: 245 Indian and foreign insurers and provident societies were taken
over by the central government and they got nationalized. LIC was formed
by an Act of Parliament, viz. LIC Act, 1956. It started off with a capital of
Rs. 5 crore and that too from the Government of India.
The history of general insurance business in India can be traced back to Triton
Insurance Company Ltd. (the first general insurance company) which was formed
in the year 1850 in Kolkata by the British.
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Important milestones in the Indian general insurance business
1907: The Indian Mercantile Insurance Ltd. was set up which was the first
company of its type to transact all general insurance business.
1957: General Insurance Council, an arm of the Insurance Association of
India, framed a code of conduct for guaranteeing fair conduct and sound
business patterns.
1968: The Insurance Act improved for regulating investments and set
minimal solvency levels and the Tariff Advisory Committee was set up.
1972: The General Insurance Business (Nationalization) Act, 1972
nationalized the general insurance business in India. It was with effect from
1st January 1973.
107 insurers integrated and grouped into four companies viz. the National
Insurance Company Ltd., the New India Assurance Company Ltd., the Oriental
Insurance Company Ltd. and the United India Insurance Company Ltd. GIC was
incorporated as a company.
Insurance companies in India
IRDA has till now provided registration to 12 private life insurance
companies and 9 general insurance companies. If the existing public sector
insurance companies are considered then there are presently 13 insurance
companies in the life side and 13 companies functioning in general insurance
business. General Insurance Corporation has been sanctioned as the "Indian
reinsurer" for underwriting only reinsurance business.
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Basic functions of Insurance
1. Primary Functions
2. Secondary Functions
Primary functions of insurance
Providing protection – The elementary purpose of insurance is to allow
security against future risk, accidents and uncertainty. Insurance cannot
arrest the risk from taking place, but can for sure allow for the losses arising
with the risk. Insurance is in reality a protective cover against economic loss,
by apportioning the risk with others.
Basic functions of insurance
Primary functions Secondary functions
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Collective risk bearing – Insurance is an instrument to share the financial
loss. It is a medium through which few losses are divided among larger
number of people. All the insured add the premiums towards a fund and out
of which the persons facing a specific risk is paid.
Evaluating risk – Insurance fixes the likely volume of risk by assessing diverse
factors that give rise to risk. Risk is the basis for ascertaining the premium
rate as well.
Provide Certainty – Insurance is a device, which assists in changing
uncertainty to certainty.
Secondary functions of insurance
Preventing losses – Insurance warns individuals and businessmen to
embrace appropriate device to prevent unfortunate aftermaths of risk by
observing safety instructions; installation of automatic sparkler or alarm
systems, etc.
Covering larger risks with small capital – Insurance assuages the
businessmen from security investments. This is done by paying small
amount of premium against larger risks and dubiety.
Helps in the development of larger industries – Insurance provides an
opportunity to develop to those larger industries which have more risks in
their setting up.
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INSURANCE INDUSTRY: CLASSIFICATION
Fire Insurance Marine Insurance Mediclaim Motor Vehicle
SOME PLAYERS IN THE INDUSTRY:
Life Insurance General Insurance
Life Insurance Corporation of India. General Insurance Corporation of India.
1. Oriental Insurance Company Ltd.2. New India Assurance Company Ltd.3. National Insurance Company Ltd.4. United India Insurance Company Ltd.
New EntrantsICICI Prudential Life Insurance Ltd. Bajaj Alliaz General Insurance Company Ltd.
Tata AIG Life Insurance Corporation Ltd. Reliance General Insurance Company Ltd.
ING Vysya Life Insurance Corporation Ltd. Tata AIG General Insurance Company Ltd.
Om Kotak Mahindra Life Insurance Corporation Ltd.
Royal Sundaram Alliance Insurance Company Ltd.
INSURANCE
LIFE INSURANCE GENERAL INSURANCE
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Life Insurance
Life Insurance is a contract between the insured and the insurer (insurance company), wherein the insured pays a certain amount as premium to the insurer at regular intervals, and in return, the insurer promises to pay a specified sum upon the occurrence of insured's death. Insurance against risk of loss to one's life is covered under Life Insurance. Life insurance is also known as long term insurance or life assurance. It includes Whole Life Assurance, Endowment Assurance, Assurances for Children, Term Assurance, and Money Back Policy etc. To buy or get information on life insurance products offered by us, please click on the link above.
General Insurance
Insurance against risk of loss to assets like car, house, accident etc. is covered under General or Non-life Insurance. General insurance includes fire insurance, marine insurance, motor insurance, theft insurance, health insurance, personal accident insurance etc. Insurance against risk of loss to assets like car, house, accident etc. is covered under General or Non-life Insurance. General insurance includes fire insurance, marine insurance, motor insurance, theft insurance, health insurance, personal accident insurance etc. To buy or get information on life insurance products offered by us, please click on the link above.
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INSURANCE SERVICE: ITS USERS
The formulation of creative marketing decisions is not possible unless the
different categories of users using the services of insurance industry are known.
The general users assign due weight age to their own interest whereas the industrial
users assign an overriding priority to the interests of their organizations. The
emerging changes in the socio-economic conditions and governmental regulations
influence the interests of both the category of users. It is against this background
that an in-depth study of users is found significant to the insurance industry.
An individual or an institution, a person or a group of people availing the
services is termed to be the actual users of the insurance industry. On the other
hand both the categories of prospects having the potentials, bearing the willingness
but not using the service right now are termed as “potential users/prospects”. The
services are made available by the Life Insurance Corporation of India and the
General Insurance Corporation and other private insurance companies are used by
both categories of users.
The need and requirement can’t remain static. The business environmental
conditions influence the process of change. The professionals engaged in servicing
the insurance organizations bear the responsibility of understanding the changing
level of expectations of the different categories.
USERS OF INSURANCE SERIVCE
INDIVIDUAL INSTITUTIONAL
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FORMATION OF PRODUCT IN INSURANCE
INSURANCE POLICY: THE TOTAL PRODUCT CONCEPT
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Theodore Levitt propounded the Total Product Concept (TPC), which implied that
a product had three levels of features and the consumption was in totality.
LEVEL 1:
Core Product:
In the Insurance Industry the core product is the policy that provides protection to
the consumers against the risks. This is the main reason for which the Insurance
Company is in existence. It provides protection by way of various riders viz.
Accidental Death Benefit, Double Sum Assured, Critical Illness benefits, Waiver
of Premiums, etc.
On the basis of the risks perceived, the insurer develops a product to cover the
stipulated risks. While designing an insurance product, an insurer decides its cost
to be charged from the insured in the form of premium, reduction thereof in certain
cases like not lodging any claim during the previous covered period(s), suggesting
the implementation of risk-mitigating measures, etc. The features of a product
should be flexible enough to provide for the determination of premiums, rebates,
additional premiums, etc. depending upon the risk benchmarks as determined.
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LEVEL 2:
Formal Product:
When the customers’ expectation grows synchronized with increased competition
the marketer offers some tangibility to the existing core product to differentiate
itself from the competitors.
1. Brand:
In order to distinguish itself from the competitors, the Insurance Company gives a
brand name to its policy. This brand name gives an identity to the product (policy)
offered by the insurance company.
Thus ICICI Prudential Life Insurance has brands viz ICICI Pru Smart Kid, ICICI
Pru Save ‘n’ Protect, ICICI Pru LifeLink, etc.
2. Attributes:
Just giving a brand name to the policy may not be enough for the insurance
company to distinguish its offerings. The product offering must also have attributes
that will attract the consumers to take the policy. The attributes must suit and
satisfy the needs wants and desires of the various types of consumers that the
company is targeting at.
Thus ICICI’s investment plans suit the consumers who want to secure their family
through insurance or invest money for growth. And its retirement plans suit the
ones who want to enjoy their fruits of labor after retirement or want to go for a
dream vacation.
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3. Instruction Manual:
To make the service consumption easier for the consumers, the instruction manual
with the policy becomes very important. The instruction manual gives an overview
to the consumers as to how to go on with the filling of the application form. It also
gives information about the various formalities that have to be adhered to at the
time of submission of the application form.
LEVEL 3:
Augmented product:
With further expectation of the consumer – again synchronized with intense
competition – marketers offer more and more intangible features.
1. Post-sales service:
The insurance company must not consider it as the end of the service providing
the consumer has taken once the policy. The functions of an insurance company
include the provision of the Post-sales services to the consumer. Among the
services rendered by the insurance company is the service of processing and
release of claims. The insurance company needs to verify the accuracy of the
facts presented in relation to the insurance claim and the documents produced
in support thereof.
2. Delivery points:
The delivery points can be the branches that the insurance company has at the
discretion of the of the consumers’ location. The delivery points can also be
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mobilized with the presence of the insurance agents. The agents can cover a
wide area and get in contact with the consumers to provide the service to him.
3. Customer education and training:
The customer education and training is very important for the insurance
company. The agents play a vital role in this context. The customer can be
educated on various benefits that can be accrued in his future life by taking a
policy. This is where the agents’ communication skills come into the picture.
The insurance company has to play an active role in enabling the agents to
impart the best customer education through appropriate training given to the
agents.
4. Customer complaint management:
Customer complaints management with regards to delay in discharge of claims
must be effectively handled by the insurance company to have competitive edge
over its competitors. The complaint management will help the company to get
the consumers closer to the organization as the consumers feel that their
grievances are taken care of.
Thus LIC has an online feedback system where the consumers of the policy can
register their grievances.
5. Payment options:
The insurance company can offer payment options to the consumers with
regards to payment of premium – the mode of payment and the period within
which the premium amount has to be paid.
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MARKETING
INTRODUCTION OF MARKETING
Marketing is an important social economic activity. It is an essential activity for the satisfaction of wants and for raising social welfare. Marketing links producers and consumers together for mutual benefits. It facilitates transfer of ownership of goods and services form producers to customers.
DEFINITION OF MARKETING
According to Philip Kotler, “marketing is an activity directed at satisfying needs and wants through exchange process.”
EVOLUTION OF THE MARKETING CONCEPT
The Role of marketing in the banking and insurance industry continues to change.
For many years the primary focus of bank marketing was public relations. Then the focus shifted to advertising and sales promotion. That was followed by focus on the development of a sales culture. Although all the elements of the marketing concept – customer satisfaction, profit integrated framework, and social responsibility – will remain important, customer satisfaction must receive the greatest emphasis in the years ahead.
The chief concerns of most bank executives still focus on legal and regulatory issues, according to most surveys. Community banks are particularly concerned with eliminating barriers that give unfair advantages to financial services competitors, such as credit unions. However, another concern pertains to technology: keeping nonblank competitors out of the payment system.
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MARKETING MIXES IN THE INSURANCE INDUSTRY
PRODUCT MIX The formulation of product mix for the insurance business makes it significant to take a look at the services and schemes of insurance organizations. The product portfolio is known and the process of formulating a package should be known. It is natural that the users expect a reasonable return for their investments. It is quite natural that the insurance organizations want to maximize profitability. Both of these dimensions are found interrelated.
It is well known that the key objectives of insurance business are mobilization of savings and channelization of investments. This makes it essential that insurance business is made lucrative so that the users /potential users get incentives to buy a policy or to invest in the insurance organizations. The insurance organizations also need to promote the underwriting activities, which would activate the process of arresting the regional imbalance. In the context of formulating the product mix, it is essential that the insurance organizations promote innovation and in the product portfolio include even those services and schemes which are likely to get a positive response in the future.
The corporate objectives indicate that the insurance organizations are required to be careful, especially while launching a new policy. The policies should not only generate enough premium but it is also important that the policies cover persons working in the informal sector, serving as porter, working as manual laborers, or engaged in farm sector. It is the need of the hour that the insurance organizations make their service internationally competitive. This makes a strong advocacy in favor of innovative product mix strategy for the public sector insurance organizations. Thus the formulation of product mix should be in face of innovative product strategy. Strategies of foreign and private insurance companies should be taken into consideration while initiating the innovative process.
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The formulation of product strategy should assign due weight age to the rural segment emerging as a big profitable segment especially in the 21st century. The policies and schemes should have rural orientation so that backward and neglected regions of the country get priority attention and the regional imbalance is minimized.
In this context, it is also pertinent that the insurance organization make possible welfare orientation and include in the product portfolio even those policies and schemes which become instrumental in safeguarding the interest of the weaker sections of the society.
The formulation of package is also found important. Designing a package on the basis of the needs and requirements of the concerned segment would make the product mix more competitive.
The partially tapped or totally untapped profitable segments of the future should be identified and tapping the potentials optimally is also important.
A sound product portfolio is the need of the hour and therefore the regulatory barriers or constraints in activating the innovation process should be minimized.
Product Planning & DevelopmentThe purpose of insurance business is to generate profits besides sub serving the social interests. The present business is likely to be more competitive.
Product is like a stage on which the entire drama of successful marketing is acted. It is like an engine that pulls the rest of the marketing programmers. It is in this context that the product management in an insurance organization needs an intensive care.
Yesterday, the policyholders had limited hopes and aspirations but today they expect more and they would even like something more tomorrow. This focuses on the fact that strategic decisions are influenced by the environmental conditions.
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The product development needs a new vision, a new approach and a new strategy. Till now the public sector insurance organizations have made possible an optimum utilization of their marketing resources especially in rural areas where tremendous opportunities are available. Thus they should assign due weight age to the development services /schemes which cater to changing needs and requirements of the rural segment.
In the development of product, the corporate investments need due priority.
Channelizing the corporate investments influences the rate of profitability of insurance companies and also contributes considerably to the socio-economic transformation process.
Thus the product planning and development should:
Give due weight age to the socially and economically backward classes Maximize the mobilization of savings by offering lucrative schemes. Assign due weight age to interests of investors. Maintain economy in business by promoting cost effectiveness. Act as a trustee of policyholders. Keep in mind the emerging trends in business environment. Improve the quality of customer / user services.
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PROMOTION MIX
With the advent of private players in the insurance, companies resort to rampant promotion. Promotion mix for this sector is as follows:
AdvertisementAdvertisement can be done through the telecast media, broadcast media and print media. Insurance companies have been making optimal use of all the three kinds. Use of World Wide Web, as media is almost negligible and will not be very frequent in the near future considering the fact that the majority of customer base of these companies is not yet exposed to the Internet. The telecast media has been the most effective of all in case of the insurance sector. Most of the companies have their separate advertising section to take care of this aspect. An important consideration while making the decision as to the selection of the media is budgetary constraint. Since the insurance companies work on a large scale, usually this constraint does not stand as an obstacle.
Publicity
It is a device to promote business without making any payment and therefore it could be also called as unpaid form of persuasive communication bearing a high rate of sensitivity. Developing rapport with the media is an important aspect of publicity. This makes it essential that the PR officers working in the insurance organizations maintain contacts with the media personnel, organize press conference, and offer small gifts and memento to them. These days LGD marketing is gaining popularity the world over. It also can be applicable here. At the apex and regional levels, the PRO’s bear the responsibility of projecting positive image of the organization. Thus it is necessary to select suitable personnel for this. They should be in particular taught to deal with people, simple things like talking, greeting etc.
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Sales PromotionIncentives to the end users for taking the policy play an important role in promoting the insurance business. Since the insurance business is also related to achieving of a particular target, it is pertinent that the policymakers assign due weight age to the same. The offering of small gifts during a particular period, the rebate, discount, bonus can increase business of organization by leaps and bounds. Besides, there can be gifts for the insurance agents also.
Personal SellingPersonal selling in case of the insurance organizations is quite important considering the existence of the insurance agents spread at all levels. Selection of these agents, their training is responsibility of the organization. There is difference in urban and rural market. Rural customers might be uneducated / uninformed etc. compared to the urban customer. Hence the organizations will have to make selections of the rural and urban agents accordingly.
Word of Mouth Promoting
The word – of- mouth communications result into wider publicity, which substantially sensitize the process of influencing the impulse of users/prospects of the insurance services. The satisfied group of customers, opinion leaders, the social reformists, the popular personalities act as word of mouth communicators. The advertisement slogans may be insensitive, the publicity measures may be ineffective but the positive feelings of friends and relations communicated cannot be ineffective. This makes it clear that the most important thing in the promotion of any business is the quality of services.
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TelemarketingWith the development of satellite communication facilities and with the expansion of the television network, we find telemarketing gaining popularity the world over. The insurance organizations in general need to promote telemarketing. The foreign insurance companies have been assigning due weight age to this and in India this is beginning to gain importance with the advent of competition in this sector. The telemarketer is supposed to be well aware of the telephonic code so that the task of satisfying the customers/their queries will not consume much of time.
World Wide WebIn banking as well as insurance, more and more importance is being given to online contact facilities whereby complaints/comments could be sent through an email. Email is fastest written mode of communication and since it has been recognized legally, its use to clear doubts has been in full swing.
PRICE MIX
In the insurance business, the pricing decisions are concerned with the premium charged against the policies interest charged for defaulting the payment of premiums & credit facilities, commission charged for underwriting & consultancy services. The formulation of pricing strategies becomes significant with the viewpoint of influencing the target market or prospects. To be more specific in the Indian context where the disposable income in the hands of prospects is found low, the increasing inflationary pressure has been instrumental in contracting the discretionary income, the increasing consumerism has been making an assault on the saving potentials of masses, it is pertinent that the insurance organizations in general & public sector insurance organizations in particular adopt such a strategy for pricing that makes it a motivational tool & paves the ways for increasing the insurance business. Of course, a motivational pricing strategy is required to be given due weight age. This necessitates a new vision for setting premium structure & paying the bonus & charging the interest.
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The strategy may have a new vision in the sense that the insurance organizations prefer to make a mix of high & low pricing strategy. The motive is to make the premium structure commercially viable so that the insurance organizations succeed in having a sound product portfolio besides fuelling development orientation. The pricing decisions make it essential that the insurers keep in their minds the nature of policy vis-à-vis the segment to which the prospects belong.
In the tangible products, cost of production is taken as the basis for fixation of prices. Even in the insurance business, it is found to be an important consideration & a dominating base. This makes the cost of insurance a decisive factor for charging premium. The important bases for determining the cost are rate of death, rate of interest & the expenses incurred on the insurance business. The mortality table helps the determination of death rate. It is to predict future mortality. The best method of construction of mortality table is to select a large number of persons at attained age, which is meant age close to the birth rate. The second important element is the rate of interest. On the basis of mortality rate, it is estimated that when & how much amount is to be received as premium & would be paid as claims but on the basis of interest rate, it is estimated that how much interest can be earned by investing the insurance funds. The last element is cost which focuses on different types of expenses. There are certain expenses, which incurred at the time of inception of the policy. This necessitates determination of the nature of expenses. The determination of expenses according to occurrence & equal distribution of the expenses every year for equitable distribution of loading are found significant to make possible a sound management of expenses.
The process of rate of fixation in the insurance organizations is not so scientific & identifies the cases of moral hazard. It is easier to identify the physical hazard but the task of identifying the moral hazard is found difficult. The premium charged is to be made rational to cater to the payment of claims on a priority basis including the catastrophic losses, management expenses & margin of profit. It is essential that various related to both the hazards are estimated in a scientific way. The actual process of rating consists of three steps, e.g. classification, discrimination & scheduling.
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The price mix decisions are:
Making possible cost of effectiveness
Restructuring of premium
Due priority to profit generating investments.
Rationalizing or optimizing the social costs
Paving avenues for channelizing the productive investments
Assigning dude weight age to the policies meant for the socially &
economically backward classes
Making the ways for maximizing profit
PLACE MIX
The first component of the marketing mix is related to the place decisions in
which our focus would be on the two important facets – managing the insurance
personnel and locating a branch. The management of agents and insurance
personnel is found significant with the viewpoint of maintaining the norms for
offering the services. This is also to process the services to the end user in such
a way that a gap between the services- promised and services – offered is
bridged over. In a majority of the service generating organizations, such a gap is
found existent which has been instrumental in aggravating the image problem.
The policy makers make provisions; the senior executives specify the standards
and quality and the branch managers with the cooperation of the front-line staff
and others bear the responsibility of making available the promised services to
the end users. The public sector insurance organizations have failed in both the
areas. The agents, rural career agents, the front-line staff and even a majority of
the branch managers have become a party gap.
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The transformation of potential policyholders to the actual policyholders is a
difficult task that depends upon the professional excellence of the personnel. The
agents and the rural career agents acting as a link lack professionalism. The front-
line staff and the branch managers are found not assigning due weight age to the
degeneration process. The insurance personnel if not managed properly would
make all efforts insensitive. Even if the policy makers make provision for the
quality up gradation, the promised services hardly reach to the end users. This
makes it significant that the insurance organizations in general and the public
sector insurance organizations in particular keep their minds in changing the
expectations of customers and the prospects. The behavioral profile of insurance
personnel is studied in a right fashion and the changes required due to the changing
perception of expectation are incorporated. It is essential that they have rural
orientation and are well aware of the lifestyles of the prospects or users. They are
required to be given adequate incentives to show their excellence. While recruiting
agents, the branch managers need to prefer local persons and by conducting
refresher courses to brush up their faculties to know the art of influencing the
users/prospects. In addition to the agents, the front-line staff also needs an
intensive training programmed. This makes it essential that the branch managers
organize an ongoing training programmed, which focuses on behavioral
management.
Another important dimension to the Place Mix is related to the location of the
insurance branches. While locating branches, the branch manager needs to
consider a number of factors, such as smooth accessibility, availability of
infrastructural facilities and the management of branch offices and premises. In
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addition it is also significant that the branch managers assign due weight age to the
safety provisions. The management of offices makes it significant that the branch
managers are particular to the office furnishing, civic amenities and facilities,
parking facilities and interior office decoration.
Thus the place management of insurance branch offices needs a new vision,
distinct approach and an innovative style. This is essential to make the work place
conducive, attractive and proactive to the generation of efficiency. The motives are
to offer the promised services to the end users without any distortion and making
the branch offices a point of attraction. The branch managers need professional
excellence to make place decisions productive.
PEOPLE MIX
People are most important component of marketing mix for the insurance industry.
Sophistication in the process of technological advances makes the ways for the
personnel in such a way that an organization succeeds in making possible a
productive utilization of technologies used or likely to be used. Professional
qualification requirements change as technological develops & evolves. The use of