How Do You Communicate?
A Review of Today’s Most Common Forms of Communication…and How Insurance Agents Can Put Each to Effective Use
How effectively we communicate can make or break the success of just about every situation. Insurance agents have long understood the significance of sharpening and maintaining excellent communication skills; but throughout the years, the ways in which our society connect have changed. Today, agents have to decide when it’s best to push for face-to-face meetings, when it’s sufficient to rely on phone or video calls, and when it’s appropriate to opt for text messaging, emails and social media communication. In this article, we’re outlining some of the Pros and Cons of each form of today’s most common methods of communication between agents and their clients.
Text Messaging
While many agents may see this as a newer tool, SMS messaging was actually used for the first time in December of 1992. Today, the average person aged 18 to 24 sends or receives an average of more than 50 text messages every day! That’s 23 times more than the average person aged 65 or older. But no matter the age, a 2021 study reveals that 80% of the world’s population regularly uses text messaging as a common form of communication. Globally, the number of people sending and receiving text messages is expected to rise to about 5.9 billion by the year of 2025. So, when should an agent choose to text his or her clients or prospective clients? Consider its Pros and Cons:
PROS:
• You have substantial flexibility as to the timing of your messages. Unlike trying to set up meetings during business hours, text messages can easily be sent after hours (though we’d recommend limiting the amount of messages sent before 8 am or after 9 pm).
· Texting allows you to have a written record of the communication. Like email, texting your clients or prospects allow you to build a thread of documented communication that can help to reduce the likelihood of misunderstandings.
· By writing your thoughts, texting allows agents to be precise in the language used to communicate specific topics or detailed information. Sometimes, when we speak, we tend to get ahead of ourselves or become so casual in our conversations that we run the risk of communicating key details or specific points of information that should be relayed. In many situations, texting and emailing helps to keep your thoughts organized and more cohesive.
· It’s simple! It’s hard to deny the simplicity when it comes to sending a text message. Most agents have their smartphones by their side throughout the mornings, daytime and evenings hours; so pulling out the phone to send a quick check-in message to a client or ask a simple question can be easier and more efficient than emails or phone calls.
· You’re not relying on the availability of your client. Insurance agents are all too familiar with the concept of “phone tag”. The reality is that we’re all busy and clients have schedules, family obligations and personal plans that can limit their availability to immediately answer a phone call. Similar to emailing, by texting your clients, you’re allowing them to respond to you on their time.
CONS:
• Emails and texts lack a personal approach that can sometimes be necessary when building relationships with clients. When texting or emailing, be sure to choose your words carefully and maintain a balance between friendliness and professionalism.
• Misspellings can be embarrassing! When you’re texting or emailing, be sure to proofread your messages before hitting send.
• Texts can feel impersonal. Sometimes, just hearing someone’s voice helps to lay a foundation of empathy and understanding. Texts and emails lack the human element, sometimes running the risk of feeling robotic.
• Text messages can lack opportunities for collaboration. While there are group texts, those are typically reserved for use between close friends and family members. As an insurance agent, you’re conducting business with your clients and may sometimes need to speak with both spouses and third party individuals (such as the power of attorney for a client). In these situations, text messaging is not going to be successful.
Phone Calls
According to a recent study by the National Institutes of Health that followed about 500 people in their 20s and 500 people in their 50s and 60s, about 80% of both age groups reported using either a smartphone or landline phone to make or receive calls. A key difference between the age groups, however, is that the overwhelming majority of the older adults stated that they relied on the phone for communication whereas the younger adults reported more of a reliance on text messaging and social media for their primary methods of communication. Still, with nearly all adults or all ages continuing to use their phones as a key tool of communication, it’s apparent that agents need to understand how to effectively make phone communication work for them. Here are some Pros and Cons to consider when you reach for your phone to make or take a call:
PROS:
• Without worrying about body language, you can relay tone and personality through your voice. This can help to ease nerves when reaching out to a new client or wading through a more complex situation with your client.
· Voicemail can be your friend. Today, most phone users either have a traditional answering machine or voicemail service with their cell phone that can allow you to leave a detailed, well planned voicemail for your clients. Voicemail can help you to efficiently communicate key points of information without engaging in a full conversation. Unlike text messages or email, however, with a voicemail message, you’re still able to use your voice to convey friendliness, professionalism, empathy, and sincerity.
· Group conversations are easy to configure and execute. Whether it’s a conference call or through the speaker phone function, phone communication allows you to communicate simultaneously with multiple people. This can help you to be more efficient, work more collaboratively, and be sure that key individuals are a part of the conversation.
· Real-time, two-way dialogue can be an effective way to share ideas, better understand specific situations, and to ask and answer questions quickly.
CONS:
• Phone calls can leave you vulnerable to misunderstandings of varying severity. Without the conversation on record (such as through a text or email thread), there’s a certain amount of risk involved when discussing a variety of complicated points with your clients. Unintentionally, insurance agents can represent a product in a way that can be misinterpreted by the client. Unfortunately, sometimes these misinterpretations from topics discussed by phone aren’t known until well after the conversation takes place. This can sometimes leave clients feeling frustrated or annoyed. Be careful to pause often when speaking with clients by phone to ask if the client understands the points that you’ve just covered. Ask if there are any questions related to the information that you’ve provided. The more opportunities you give the person on the other end of the call to confirm that he or she understands the information, the less opportunity there is for misinterpretations or confusions.
• Sometimes we forget to be a good listener. The phone presents a paved path for talking. That path can get a little rocky, however, when it comes to listening. Maybe you’re on a roll with a certain topic or feel that you have a lot of information to relay within a relatively short window of time. Or, maybe you’re finding yourself facing distractions while the person on the other end of the call is speaking. Either way, it’s important for agents to strike the right balance of both talking and listening when the phone is by the ear. Avoid distractions or background noises. Strive to give your party your undivided attention when you’re on a call. Have a quiet, designated space to make or take your calls whenever possible. While smartphones make it easy to take the conversation anywhere, just because it’s easy doesn’t mean you should!
Video Calls
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, more and more people are relying on video calls, through services like Zoom, to conduct new and everyday business. While convenient, safe, and versatile, video calls for insurance agents have a number of Pros and Cons that agents need to anticipate:
PROS:
• In many situations, video calls can be the next best thing to face-to-face meetings. You’re able to convey body language, smile and express yourself as a professional while also picking up on body language and facial cues from others on the call.
• Video calls are available through a variety of services such as Microsoft Teams, FaceTime, and Zoom. Most platforms offer at least one no-charge level of service so insurance agents can employ video calls without incurring expenses related to subscribing to new or cumbersome applications.
• Screen sharing, in-window private chats and document sharing offer insurance agents a number of ways to present detailed information with others on the call. Much like a traditional, in-person meeting, video calls allow agents the freedom to prepare and present comprehensive details about various insurance products, policies, and onboarding processes.
CONS:
• Technology can fail you — or others on the call! While we can all find some humor in various memes and videos across social media that depict epic disasters in video calls, the situation can feel less laughable when you’re involved in the types of technical glitches that can plague video calls. From a frozen screen to talking for several seconds before realizing you’re on mute, video calls carry an ongoing risk of technical failure. As such, use them with caution. If you have alternative means of communication for your contacts, be sure to have it on hand during your call. It may be necessary, due to an unexpected technical difficulty that’s either on your end or the end of others on the call, you may have to quickly pivot to another form of communication, such as a phone call or alternate application for video calling.
• Technology always has some element of a learning curve. While most of today’s internet-enabled devices are well-equipped to handle video calls with pre-installed webcams, microphones and speakers, it’s important that agents realize that not everyone is proficient in the applications, like Zoom, that enables video calls. Be sure to find out, in advance, if your client or potential client is comfortable with video calls. Try to get a sense as to their familiarity with this technology and tailor instructions, virtual meeting invitations and details related to the scheduled call to their level of experience.
According to statistics from Radicati, a technology research firm, there are more than 3.9 billion active email users today and American workers receive an average of more than 120 emails every single day! While spam messages factor into that number, there’s no denying that email remains wildly popular. When should insurance agents use email as a preferred method of communication? Here are some common Pros and Cons to help you decide:
PROS:
• Like we noted about text messaging, email allows agents to be precise with their wording and to maintain an ongoing record of the communication. This written, documented form of communication helps both parties to review and digest the information that’s being presented. It also helps to serve as a reminder as to where conversations left off. By re-reading a previous email, agents can quickly get caught up to speed on where a client is at in a decision-making process, review any previously unaddressed topics, and be well-prepared for the next message or next conversation.
• Attachments and hyperlinks make it easy to share and document additional details or to provide more information. Unlike text messages which can limit the versatility or compatibility of attachments, emailed messages can send just about any file from your device and be accessible to you on the tools that you use most. Whether it’s a PDF-viewer or spreadsheet software, the applications that you have available to you across all of your devices can usually perform at their best from a laptop or desktop computer, compared to a smartphone. By being able to send and receive attachments in the file format that works best for both you and the recipient, email can be an efficient way to share documents, images, and presentations.
• With all of the same timing advantages of text messaging, email offers both you and the recipient opportunities to send and receive messages on a schedule that works best for everyone. Unlike text messages, however, email offers an added benefit of increased flexibility on the timing of your messages. Most agents will want to avoid texting clients in the middle of the night, it’s generally more acceptable to send emails at just about any hour of the day or night. Most email users disable notifications or will not be otherwise disturbed by an incoming email at any time. This allows total freedom in being able to send or receive messages whenever it best suits an unpredictable schedule.
• Messaging multiple individuals is a snap! Unlike text messages, email offers a quick and simple way to carbon-copy others on messages so that a group of recipients can be a part of an email conversation, all having access to the same information — including emailed attachments.
CONS:
• Like other written forms of communication, email can feel cold or impersonal. Be careful with how you present information within an email environment. Just like texting, you’ll want to be sure that your emails contain an appropriate blend of personality and professionalism.
• Spam can get in the way. Unfortunately, due to the impact of hundreds of thousands of spam or bulk emails sent daily across the United States, many user inboxes have filters in place that can sometimes miscategorize quality emails as junk messages. If you’ve included a hyperlink to an external website or a larger file attachment with your email, or if you’ve copied more than just a few recipients on your emailed message, be sure to confirm that your recipient(s) has successfully received your message. Don’t just assume that just because the email appears to have successfully sent that it will be delivered to the proper inbox for your recipients. If appropriate, send a follow up email to confirm your previous message, or follow up with an alternate form of communication to make sure that your important messages haven’t been lost or overlooked within the vastness of cyberspace.
• Security needs to be considered. Always be careful to avoid sending sensitive or personal information via email. Also, just assume that you and your recipients aren’t the only ones reading your emails. Today, IT administrators and workplace managers often screen employee or coworker emails. As such, never send information that could jeopardize the appropriate level of privacy for both you and your email recipients. Most likely, your agency is well-prepared to use email appropriately, but just to stress an area of importance: details about personal health conditions, financial information, sensitive policy information, and of course, passwords, social security numbers, bank details, birth dates, account numbers and other personal information should never be shared by email.
While it can sometimes be difficult for agents to decide which tool is best for a specific situation, there’re many benefits to being an insurance agent in this age of prolific communication. More than ever before, agents have many ways to connect with clients. As always, customization is key! Find out what works best for you and your clients and be willing to adapt your go-to tool of choice based on your clients’ individual preferences. While texting may be your favorite form of communication, it may not be best for every client — and certainly, it may not be best for every conversation. Use each tool in ways that maximize their unique pros and minimize their specific cons. Get comfortable with different approaches to communication and as is the case in nearly any situation, be flexible!
For more tips and suggestions for connecting with clients, learn more about Transcend, the all-in-one web-based app from GS National Insurance. Transcend has revolutionized the ways in which independent insurance agents and agencies do business. Schedule your demo today at gsnational.com.
Sources:
http://oofva.com/blog/4-communication-methods-pros-cons
https://yourbusiness.azcentral.com/business-communication-challenges-1118.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Text_messaging
https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2011/09/19/how-americans-use-text-messaging
https://www.campaignmonitor.com/blog/email-marketing/email-usage-statistics-in-2019
GS National Insurance is an independently owned insurance marketing organization. We specialize in helping independent advisors increase their Health, Life, and Annuity Business. Our primary focus is the senior health insurance marketplace. We combine technology and experience to deliver high-quality service and support. Learn more at gsnational.com
