AIA is very proud to be a principally intermediated company. "And we have been since 1919 when CV Starr founded the company. So as we approach our 100th anniversary, I want to dispel the notion that the demise of the agency or the face-to-face channel in our industry is imminent," said AIA Group Chief Marketing Officer Stuart A. Spencer.
“No chatbot, no robot, no website, no app is going to supersede or take the place of a caring, compassionate, experienced, and dynamic insurance agent who will sit down face-to-face and really understand you, walk you through your risk profile, your financial needs, your protection requirements, and work with you to develop lifetime solutions for you and your family. These are big decisions. They’re not to be taken lightly, and that’s the kind of consultation that we understand our customers are looking for and will continue to look for,” he said.
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In lines of business such as automobile insurance and travel insurance, these can be conducive to online, commoditised and transactional interactions. “But what we sell is a lifelong promise. Which requires careful consideration, which is frequently complex and complicated. We want people to feel comfortable and understand clearly what they are buying and what they are buying fundamentally meets their needs. And the face to face channel is a way to ensure that.”
Providing opportunities for agents to reach out
A highly visible initiative in making AIA synonymous with health and well-being is its partnership with Mr David Beckham as the group’s global ambassador. One of the most recognisable men on earth, he exemplifies what AIA is trying to promote – family, health, fitness, well-being, as well as being a great humanitarian.
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Speaking about this and the various marketing initiatives driven by his team, Mr Spencer said, “We’re trying to give our agents tremendous amount of ‘air cover’. Think of AIA’s Group Marketing function as providing the science behind the selling process - helping our agents engage with their customers and deliver a much better customer experience. So, how do we help them become more productive, more effective, more focused, more targeted? How do we use technology, insights, customer understanding to focus them better and harness their energy so they’re really talking to our customers, about the right propositions that resonate, that make sense? Providing the right answers to these important questions is the role that we play in Marketing.”
The ‘why’ is actually a ‘who’
AIA launched #WHATSYOURWHY campaign to inaugurate the group’s partnership with Mr Beckham and to uncover people’s motivations for wanting to live a healthier life.
And AIA learned that more often than not, the underlying motivation for someone to take better care of themselves is actually a ‘who’. “It’s another loved one.” said Mr Spencer.
And who better to share in customers’ hopes and dreams than agent partners, the hardworking ambassadors of insurance companies, who have cultivated a network of clients with deep relationships?
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