Important note: this answer is not finished until you're satisfied
with it. If this answer is not exactly what you're looking for,
please give me the opportunity to make it so, before rating it. Thank
you for your understanding.
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Because Google Answers is a public service, we can only disclose what
is publicly available. Every company has internal trade secrets that
are of course unavailable to the public, including Google Answers
Researchers. However, it is possible to assess to some extent what a
company is doing by taking the information that is available about
their processes and coupling it with independent studies on customer
satisfaction.
Of 23 companies, JD Power and Associates has ranked USAA literally as
#1, with 5/5 stars in all areas: Overall Experience, Coverage Options,
Pricing Competitiveness, Claims Handling, and Satisifaction with
Representatives. This is very notable, because aside from Amica, they
are the only other company with this stellar level of ratings. A
footnote at the bottom of the web page with this information says that
they "achieved a satisfaction ranking slightly above Amica."
See this JD Power link:
http://www.jdpower.com/cc/auto/insuranceratings/FindInsuranceRatings.jsp
"Amica and USAA are the benchmarks in the auto insurance business,"
said Frank Forkin, partner at J.D. Power and Associates. "Those two
companies set the standard other auto insurance providers strive for."
From what I can see, aside from the fact that USAA is exclusive to
military affiliates and their dependents with regard to who it
insures, its fundamental approach seems standard. However, as I've
outlined below, they seem to take a very proactive approach with
assessing customers needs and desires.
According to a USAA rep, if a particular vehicular accident involves
an injury, a USAA adjuster will reconstruct the accident and discuss
with the adversarial adjuster. If there are discrepancies the claim
will go to arbitration. Should USAA not have a staff adjuster at the
location, they will use an independent, outsourced adjustment company
for this task.
The adjuster discusses the accident with the adversarial adjuster.
The claim would go to go to arbitration if there are sufficient
discrepancies.
The following standard information is assessed from an accident:
1. Statements from drivers.
2. Police reports
3. Witnesses
4. Point of impact.
5. Accident reconstruction specialists.
In addition, they use National insurance crime bureau
[http://www.nicb.org/].
What separates USAA from other companies is HOW WELL they implement
this process. This is more a question of the company as a whole, and
the values that trickle down from CEO Robert Davis' leadership to the
lowest in the chain of command. They quite simply "do the process
better" in that they obviously employ individuals who are more
attentive to detail, more, on-the-ball, and more professional. They
of course they have their own internal "processes that work for them"
[according to the company].
"More formally, USAA surveys its membership before launching new
products or services. For instance, when customers started complaining
about confusing long distance telephone rates, USAA surveyed its
members to see if they would be interested in buying a long distance
telephone service through USAA. "We asked them what they would expect
[from a USAA product] and what it would take for them to switch from
their current carrier," says Presley. USAA gauged enough interest to
establish a special deal with Sprint. Within a few years 600,000
members had signed up for the phone service.
Conferences, trade associations, university studies, and government
departments provide the organization with customer information. USAA
uses Department of Defense data to size its future market and to learn
about changes in deployment, helping it to predict geographical shifts
in membership. USAA's three-pronged approach to learning about its
customers works. Like Ross/Flex, the organization boasts a high
customer retention rate, more than 95 percent. CIO magazine listed
USAA among the top 21 consumer-services companies in 1993."(4)
With regard to processing, "it appears that only State Farm and USAA
currently have electronic databases that can be used to point to
possible safety defects. State Farm's Claims Research Auto Support
Hotline (CRASH) database is most likely to be useful. The "type of
loss" and "facts of a loss" information in State Farm's CRASH database
appear to provide information as to whether the loss was caused by a
fire or collision and about the type of collision, which could
identify potential safety defects. The CRASH database includes fields
for make, model, model year, and Vehicle Identification Number (VIN)
so specific vehicles can be identified. Suspected defects are also
reported to CRASH by claims representatives. State Farm warns that
"This process involves judgment, which suggests that merely obtaining
raw data will not be helpful. A report on a single case could be
serious enough or dispositive enough to warrant reporting on the case
alone. Other cases would require multiple reports to convince the
reviewer that [further action] is warranted."(3)
"USAA uses two databases to store information on automobile claims: a
Loss Report Database and a Claims Database. If these two databases
could be merged together, the data they contain might be useful in
identifying potential safety defects. The Loss Report database has a
product defect flag that allows claims representatives to indicate
yes/no as to whether the loss is alleged to involve a product defect.
It also has product name and product defect description fields. Data
elements that can specifically identify the vehicle are also available
(make, model, model year, and VIN). A fire investigation field is
available on the Loss Report database, but collision information and
collision type (accident description code) is only available on the
Claims database. The Claims database does not have any vehicle
information or defect information."(3)
"USAA has developed an intimate understanding of its customers'
behaviors and the critical events in their lives. USAA uses this
insight to drive its cross-selling efforts. Instead of barraging its
customers with a constant stream of solicitations, USAA uses customer
insight to drive a lifecycle marketing program that communicates a
personalized marketing message when that message is believed to be
more relevant. USAA increased its response rates dramatically. Because
the marketing message is timely and tailored, customers see USAA's
marketing activity as a service rather than a solicitation."(1)
USAA is an example of a company that disseminates customer knowledge
across the organization and employs it in real time at multiple points
of customer interaction. USAA is thriving because it anticipates
individual customer needs and tailors its marketing messages and
service delivery processes accordingly."(1)
"USAA regards customer profiling as a process that occurs throughout a
multi-year customer relationship - not as a one-time action.
Initially, USAA captures a core of critical profile elements. After
the initial sale and start of the service relationship, USAA reps are
trained to seek profile clarifications, additions and updates whenever
interacting with the customer. For example, if the USAA rep finds out
during a call that the customer is a new parent, the rep seeks
information on the newborn child in order to update the customer
profile. Moreover, this "life event" triggers a USAA customer-specific
marketing and sales strategy refinement. USAA simultaneously seeks to
sell new or additional products that meet the newly identified needs
of the updated customer profile. Life event selling also expands
USAA’s "share" of the individual customer and it deepens the service
relationship. USAA has determined that customer loyalty increases with
growth in the number of products used by the customer."(2)
Sources:
–––––––––––
(1) Know Thy Customer – From Customer Knowledge to Customer Insight
http://www.crmproject.com/documents.asp?grID=186&d_ID=718
(2) Employ Customer Profiling and Segmentation Techniques to Refine
Traditional Volume Targeting Information.
http://www3.best-in-class.com/bestp/domrep.nsf/0/0838B96452B855B2852569670059B742?OpenDocument
(3) TREAD ACT Section 3(d) Insurance Study
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/problems/studies/insurance/insreport4final.htm
(4) Access No: 01081820 ProQuest BusinessLINK (TM)
Title: Keep them coming
backhttp://216.239.39.100/search?q=cache:JfJlBDLTAowJ:wsi.tafensw.edu.au/libraryservices/baulkhamhills/RESOURCES/Special%2520Reserve/A7/S11.DOC+%22usaa+uses%22&hl=en&start=29&ie=UTF-8
Search Strategy:
–––––––––––––––––
"usaa is"
"usaa uses"
JD Power and USAA
Additional Links:
–––––––––––––––––
Google Groups:
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&group=misc.industry.insurance
http://groups.google.com/groups?q=%22usaa+uses%22&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&selm=35FFB042.333EDE57%40westol.com&rnum=1
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&group=alt.military.retired
[see these groups for discussions on insurance, military, etc.; you
can feel free to post a question to these groups where individuals
might be able to offer different perspectives]
Discussion topic
http://www.rv.net/forums/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/CFB/1/TID/328599/DoOnePage/Yes/page/2.cfm |
