I work as a property & casualty service rep and I’m burned completely out with everyone being bullies on the phone about their premiums increasing, among other things, but mostly premiums.
I get it. Mine are going up too. It sucks. But it’s reality. I don’t know where people got the idea that insurance is exempt when it comes to rising costs. But it’s not. Insurance companies have to be able to pay for the increasing costs of material and labor. I don’t write the rules nor set the prices. I’m not responsible for the state of the economy. And I’m not your personal punching bag…
It’s gotten to the point our agency is losing a lot of auto insurance because of the rate increases. My coworkers freak out every time someone threatens to leave and they’ll fight to keep them, even if they’re being nasty and hateful. Me? I’m so burned out from being bullied and verbally abused by these people…I just don’t care. Fine. Do what you want. I don’t have energy to talk you out of it. Especially when you’re talking to me like I’m nothing more than a dog. Hell, not even a dog. People are nice to dogs.
I’m just a CSR. And an underpaid one at that. If my boss (the agent) wants me fight to keep people who are threatening to leave, she can change my title to Retention Specialist and pay for me to be a Retention Specialist. It’s a job all in itself, and not an easy one. Your job literally depends on whether or not you can convince clients to stay. I worked at an independent agency that had a Retention Specialist. Her job was a tough. No doubt. I didn’t envy her. But that’s pretty much all she did. She didn’t do mounds of service work on top of that. Because, again, that is a whole other job title.
Technically the agent needs to be fighting to keep her clients anyway. But that’s a whole other story.