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Recently, a reporter met an acquaintance who complained as soon as they saw each other: "Next month my car insurance will expire. Lately, insurance companies have been constantly calling to persuade me to choose their products, it’s so annoying." The reporter once chatted with friends who own cars, and basically everyone has received similar sales calls, with some receiving up to five calls in one day, causing great annoyance.
What the friends complained about is a product from insurance companies called telemarketing car insurance, which was launched in recent years offering more affordable premiums and simpler procedures for motor vehicle insurance. Insurance companies provide insurance to car owners via phone. In practice, telemarketing car insurance indeed saves consumers a lot of money and effort. So why does something beneficial to consumers cause such annoyance?
The reporter found that some insurance company agents pretend to be others when making calls, while some insurance brokers call people by going through mobile and home phone number segments one by one. Some citizens repeatedly explained that they do not need to buy insurance but still receive calls from insurance agents and brokers.
In recent years, telephone sales have become the new channel that all property insurance companies are strongly promoting for car insurance. Meanwhile, concerns and controversies also surround this new thing. Has telephone sales become synonymous with telephone harassment? This raises worries among property insurance industry insiders.
"Disturbing the public" reflects the industry's prospects
"This is just a minority phenomenon. Disturbing the public is due to the general optimistic outlook on the telemarketing car insurance market by major insurance companies, leading to increasingly fierce market competition," said an expert.
As the expert mentioned, compared to traditional channel products, selling car insurance over the phone directly benefits consumers by saving on handling fees. Supported by modern information management platforms, telemarketing car insurance can provide fast, professional, personalized customer service, featuring convenient subscription, affordable prices, and quality service.
A simple phone call can handle car insurance subscriptions, a method increasingly accepted by more consumers. Telemarketing car insurance is becoming one of the important channels in the car insurance industry with broad market prospects. Twelve insurance companies in China have entered this field, and the battle for customers is becoming more intense, hence the troubles mentioned by car owners earlier.
Policy regulations introduced
To support the healthy development of telemarketing car insurance
Amid doubts from the media and the public, regulatory authorities began rectifying the telephone marketing channel of insurance companies, intensifying efforts to manage telephone disturbances and misleading sales. In November 2010, the China Insurance Regulatory Commission issued the "Notice on Further Strengthening the Management of Dedicated Products for Property Insurance Companies' Telephone Marketing", gradually strengthening the supervision of outbound telephone business, requiring insurance companies to obtain telemarketing customer data from legal channels, establish a telephone number shielding system, etc.
The CIRC explicitly stated that all property insurance companies operating telemarketing businesses should strengthen internal control, improve service levels, standardize advertising promotion, and unify management. Detailed and clear regulations were proposed regarding the management of dedicated numbers for telemarketing, specialized workplace management, qualification management of seating personnel, customer information management, policy delivery management, after-sales service management, customer complaint management, advertising promotion management, etc.
The timely introduction of CIRC policies aims to ensure the healthy development of the telemarketing car insurance industry and effectively protect the rights of user-owners. The CIRC emphasized that all insurance companies must establish a clear internal control management system, and for issues such as misguidance and disturbance caused by inadequate management, the management responsibility of the insurance company will be severely pursued.
Standardized Operations
Enhancing Consumer Satisfaction
Insurance companies can only truly develop the telemarketing business legally and compliantly to ensure the healthy development of the telemarketing car insurance market. To standardize telemarketing behavior, some insurance companies have already taken positive actions.
Relevant persons in charge of the E-commerce Department of PICC Property told reporters that PICC Property will further standardize telemarketing car insurance, enhance the emotional attributes of telemarketing car insurance customers, and solve the industry's "disturbing the public" problems.
Regarding telephone sales, PICC Telemarketing Car Insurance strictly follows relevant documents from the CIRC, using a unified national number and not making outbound calls if the customer clearly refuses telemarketing. At the same time, fully respecting regional lifestyle differences, the outbound call times are arranged according to regional rest habits. For example, in some southern areas, to avoid disturbing local customers during their afternoon naps, no customer service specialists are scheduled to make outbound calls before 2:30 PM.
"PICC Telemarketing Car Insurance is equipped with a recording system that records and preserves all phone calls, ensuring that the transaction process is traceable. Additionally, our company conducts 100% follow-up visits to maximize customer benefits," said the above-mentioned relevant person in charge of PICC Telemarketing Car Insurance.
It is understood that apart from PICC Property, other companies like CPIC Property and Hua Tai Property have also successively upgraded their telesales platforms. Companies have made rigid provisions for customer service personnel: No repeated outbound calls to the same customer within a year. Dadi Property Insurance's Telesales Division strengthens online seat management, strictly controlling call times and rhythms, fully respecting customer preferences.
Standardized operations solving the "disturbing the public" problem is a gradual process. Telemarketing car insurance should reposition its identity; insurance isn't just a "salesperson," but also a "service provider." Only with standardized operations can the telemarketing car insurance industry ensure healthy development. This is what the vast majority of consumers expect. (Liu Qun)
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