Gary Wolcott, director of communications at the PIA Western Alliance, last week reported on my Oct. 31 "Meet The Press" blog entry in his association's newsletter. Along with noting my musings following the PCI annual conference in talking about the industry's poor image and how to improve it, he added a few keen insights from his own experience.
In his newsletter, he wrote:
Friedman’s conclusion is the same as our own. We need to learn to blow our own horn.
A couple of years ago we talked to Mike McGavick, Safeco’s former CEO, after he spoke at the Northwest Insurance Council annual meeting in Seattle, Wash. McGavick’s scathing critique of this industry fits perfectly into what Friedman wrote on his blog.
“You help thousands of people every day, but the story everyone remembers is the one person that doesn’t get helped,” he said. “You are headed for more regulation because people have lost faith that private institutions will solve their problems. And you are at risk of solutions that are not fair. The attack has started but it’s not too late to respond.”
Trust—McGavick says—is at the heart of the issue. “The number of people we help is astonishing and yet we have such low esteem. That doesn’t make sense.”
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Later on, after noting the lessons learned by those at the PCI media session (at least for those smart enough to be paying attention), Mr. Wolcott wrote the following:
Mike McGavick put it more succinctly:
• Tell the media and the public the truth—you help millions of people every day.
• You employ thousands of people in meaningful, family friendly jobs.
• You are the pillars of your communities.
The essence of who we are and what we do is best wrapped around a statement from PIA Washington/Alaksa President Heidi Duncan, in her acceptance speech at the association’s annual conference in 2006. It is a comment we have used dozens of times in a dozen different ways.
“I grew up knowing my father was a superhero,” she said. “And I wanted to be one, too. I heard the calls—the house fires, kitchen floods, car accidents, and my father telling his clients it was going to be all right. And it was. In my mind—superhero. But think about it. After the police and/or the firemen have long left, who is there to help bring our clients back to whole? Us. To help and support that process, to advise. We must be proud of our industry, proud of representing our clients.”
McGavick had another idea that has merit and bears discussing. He thinks companies should band together and tell the insurance industry’s story in the only medium that makes sense in the 21st century—television.
“The cost of advertising pales in comparison to the regulation costs that are coming. Unless you tell your story burdens will be unfairly placed on you and you will come out of this decade worse than you came in.”
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Interesting thoughts, indeed.
Comments (1)
Consumers are so inane to the mass of television marketing on the airwaves today. Buy it today only to find out that it's recalled because of a variety of problems or it will cure all of your woes.
Spend the money where it counts--at the grass roots level. Train your claims people properly. Putting people with a three-day training in front of Katrina victims was an exercise in sheer stupidity.
Surely with the ever-increasing need for professional claims handlers in the face of increasing natural disasters, the industry should start now luring talent. A national complaints clearinghouse or ombudsman with some teeth would also go a long way.
Carriers could agree to be bound by the decision of a claims board and could publicize the results. Let the public see both sides of the argument. Blatant "we are good" marketing does little to assuage the public's present sentiments toward the industry.
Posted by Marc Dubois | November 6, 2007 11:02 AM
Posted on November 6, 2007 11:02