League tables: Motor insurance - Staying one step ahead.

(From Post Magazine)

After benchmarking the performance of UK household insurers and brokers in live sales calls (Post, 1 February, p12), Direct Excellence turned its attention to the motor insurance market in January.

This year a number of new elements to the call monitoring metrics have been introduced. All of the standard metrics remain in place, such as call timings, price comparisons and customer service scores - but the new ones provide additional comparable data on company performance.

Looking at the latest motor insurance results reveals very few surprises, although it is useful to see the relative placements of certain companies. For example, Hastings scored top for sales effort and pricing as well as recording one of the longest times to quote.

The price may have been expected to speak for itself but obviously that is no longer enough in this highly competitive market. What is also interesting is that, on the 40 risks that were mystery-shopped, brokers achieved the top five positions in terms of price competitiveness.

Some of the 'older age market' companies seem to follow similar patterns to each other - quick calls, little effort to close and a low score for customer service. This shows, however, that a low score is not necessarily a bad thing. What is most important is to decide on your target market, understand what your customers want and then make sure that you deliver. Older customers do not necessarily want to buy on a single phone call - they may prefer to see what they are getting and then decide.

Using the new metrics, the distinction can now be made between passive closing - "how does that sound?", and active closing - "would you like me to set that up for you now?", in an effort to better understand how companies use the sales calls for either giving quotes or making sales. The results themselves are interesting, but even more interesting are the various nuances and wordings that different companies are employing to bring the sales calls to a natural conclusion.