Reliance Life Insurance Company (RLIC), part of Reliance Capital Limited, today announced the launch of Face-to-Face distribution channel to service its orphan customers and provide post-sales service to policy holders. Face-to-Face is a unique service-based sales platform introduced by Reliance Life Insurance in India, which aims at servicing customers whose agents have become inactive.
The announcement was made by Mr. Malay Ghosh, President and Executive Director, Reliance Life Insurance.The main goal of this distribution format is to target existing customers who are currently not connected to any advisor and distributor. We hope this sales-cum-service initiative will not only help retain our existing customers but also help us enhance relationship value through cross-sell and up-sell to them. said Mr. Ghosh.
Face-to-Face distribution channel will operate with Life Planning Officers (LPOs) who will primarily be woman employees, with housewives being one of the key target segments for recruitment. They would be trained to service orphan policies, develop a relationship and then cross-sell to existing customers and build their network through references.
Reliance Life Insurance has hired around 200 woman employee advisors in seven cities during the pilot phase, and plans to scale up across the country in the next few months.
These newly-appointed woman advisors have completed their 30 days training programme at RLIC and started evolving relationship with customers and servicing policies.
The new sales format would focus on Tier I and Tier II cities and leverage the talent pool amongst on housewives in these locations to connect with the customers and support the company’s existing distribution channels.
The Face-to-Face distribution model is adapted from Nippon Life Insurance, Japan. The woman employee advisor would be primarily required to ensure that she meets a specified number of customers each day and each month.
Apart from providing post-sales services, LPOs would also collect information related to current policies for data purification and family information and details of life events to enrich their database and help customers in reviving lapsed policies.
This process will help life planning officers develop a relationship with the existing policyholders for sourcing future business. We will judge LPO performance based on the number of contacts they make and not just on the business they bring in, said Mr. Ghosh.
Life Insurance is a long-term financial solution and long-lasting customer relationships are critical for the company. Therefore, we are investing in creating channels to facilitate the development and maintenance of these relationships, he added.
