Mercury Insurance 2007 Annual Report Download - page 34

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32 MERCURYNOW 2007
Look Who’s Talking…and Listen Up
At the behest of the Federal Office of Consumer Affairs, the
Research Institute of America recently published a report
on consumer complaints, citing that, on average, 96 percent
of unhappy customers who believe they received rude or
discourteous treatment DID NOT report this experience to
the company. While these unsatisfied customers may not be
talking to the company, make no mistake, they are talking.
They are talking to neighbors, colleagues, family members,
friends, anyone who will listen. This audience is more than
a sounding board. These people are potential customers.
The good news is, of the customers who actually registered
a complaint, between 54 and 70 percent will do business with
the company again if they feel their complaint was adequately
resolved. On the flip side, 68 percent of customers who quit
doing business with a company do so because they feel the
company was indifferent to their concerns.
This trend has spurred many companies, across all
industries, to ask this one simple question – Are we doing
enough to build customer satisfaction and expand customer
loyalty? After all, it’s one thing to bring new customers into the
doors. It’s another to keep them, and others, coming back.
Raising the Bar
When Mercury set out to elevate its customer service program,
they set out to not only raise the bar, but to raise the roof.
CUSTOMER SERVICE IS A BUZZWORD that has been buzzing around
since the dawn of capitalism. There are many ways a company
can distinguish itself from its competition – design and ingenuity,
value-added features, marketing strategies, executive leadership,
pricing – but customer service, in some form, is always somewhere near the
top of every company’s checklist. Although customer service can take on many
meanings, fundamentally it is defined as a company’s ability to fully meet
the needs of their customers to their customers’ complete satisfaction.
The question is, in today’s highly competitive business environment,
is this enough?
One company, Mercury General Corporation, a well established auto
insurance provider, says, “no.” Good is often not good enough. Recently, the
company embarked on a program to take their approach to customer service
to a whole new level. They call it their Service Excellence Initiative.
NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES
6,000
5,000
4,000
3,000
2,000
1,000
0
98 01 03 05 07
99 00 02 04 06
NUMBER OF AGENTS/BROKERS
FEATURE
6,000
5,000
4,000
3,000
2,000
1,000
0
98 01 03 05 07
99 00 02 04 06