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“We bring much more than insurance policies to our partnerships. We also bring our expertise when it comes to insurance distribution as well as sales and the continual training of our partner’s personnel. That’s what our partnership is all about”, says Hassan Mennt, Head of Distribution Scandinavia at AXA Partners.
Insurance coverage is an obvious value-add for financial institutions offering loans, as well as for credit card providers. AXA Partners partner with these businesses to give borrowers and credit card customers greater financial security. “The products in themselves are only a part of the solution. To establish the right distribution model is an equally important part of the road to success.”, says Hassan Mennt.
AXA Partners tailors a distribution strategy for its partners. A distribution strategy defines the products, channels and target segments. It all starts with analysing the partner’s customer data, target-group profile, as well as their needs and customer journey. At this stage, AXA Partners creates a customer journey map. It examines all of the customer touchpoints and channels of interaction. Is it via phone, in-person meetings, online or a combination of these channels? “When we have a customer journey map in place, we make recommendations to the partner on how to optimize the promotion of our products. The recommendations are based on the map and purchase funnel. We suggest natural touchpoints and settings in which to discuss insurance coverage with their customers”, says Mennt. A complete distribution strategy will finally cover the right offer, price, channels, omni-channels campaigns, training and incentives plan. AXA Partners also offer marketing automation capabilities to allow multichannel campaigns for sms, e-mail and social networks. “This isn’t a one-time thing. I’m continuously involved in exploring and analysing sales activities and channels in an effort to drive sales. We run sales incentives and activities to boost penetration. Our role is to be the insurance and sales expert. We give our partners the support they need to create added value for their businesses and their customers.”
AXA Partners’ insurance policies provide financial security for many life events – from unemployment or sickness to the untimely passing of a loved one. “We ensure that the partners’ sales force can explain how our insurance policies cover these life events in easy-to-understand language. This also encompasses the legal and moral aspects of treating customers fairly and acting in their best interest”, says Mennt. The three cornerstones of an ideal customer experience are:
explaining how the insurance policy works and the personal benefits for the customer
help customers take out the insurance
provide information regarding terminating policy
When it comes to complicated legal and product details, partners can always rely on AXA Partners’ broad and deep expertise. AXA Partners is there to help customer service representatives answer these questions.
“Our partners use a wide range of sales channels to distribute our products. One important part of my role is to make sure that they have the know-how and support they need to comply with regulations across all channels, from sales and customer service to websites and other digital channels”, says Mennt. Laws and regulations dictate that end-customers are entitled to certain documents. Two typical examples are product sheets and pre-contractual information. “We involve our technical and legal experts in the process of ensuring that all necessary documentation meets legal and regulatory requirements”, continues Mennt. “If an end-customer contacts one of our partners in the event of an unexpected job loss, they should merely convey compassion and refer the customer to AXA Partners. We’ll take good care of them”, continues Mennt.
AXA Partners helps its partners’ personnel to feel confident in introducing insurance products to their customers. This is why we provide our partners with training at the AXA Academy in many different formats such as in-class training, webinars as well as e-learning. It’s an important part of the partnership. AXA Academy offers product training as well as sales training in three steps:
Customer needs – Learn to know your customer so you can present the products in a natural way.
Customer awareness – How to make the customer aware of the benefits of an insurance policy for different situations.
Customer objections – How to meet common customer objections in a positive way by being confirmative and change perspective.
“We have often seen positive impacts on sales when sales representatives become more confident in talking about their complete offering. It’s truly in both parties’ interest that our partners succeed in providing these products”, concludes Mennt.