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President’s Message-Giving life to ‘The Spirit of Customer Service’
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| As ICAE’s president, John Cloyd, member
relations manager, USAA, jump-starts the Nashville Exchange
by motivating attendees to remain involved with ICAE. |
First, I would like to thank everyone who attended and participated
in our 2005 Exchange in Nashville. We had a great mix of both old
and new faces at this year’s conference. We were also especially
pleased to welcome our members from the Louisiana Department of
Insurance, fresh from the huge challenges of dealing with Hurricane
Katrina.
Indeed, this year it seemed particularly appropriate that the
theme of our Exchange was the “Spirit of Customer Service:
Facing the Future.” I can remember few years in which our
industry and that spirit have been tested more severely than in
2005.
It should come as no surprise to anyone that this year saw the
most active and ferocious hurricane season since the 1930s. At
this writing, we have witnessed more than 22 named storms, completely
exhausting the National Weather Service’s list of names for
2005 storms and causing a default to the Greek alphabet.
The most devastating was Hurricane Katrina, which ravaged the
Gulf Coast states of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama in August.
Katrina’s parting shot was the flooding of nearly all of
New Orleans, which exacted a terrible cost in lives lost and billions
of dollars in physical damage. Hot on the heels of Katrina came
Hurricanes Rita and Wilma. Neither was as devastating as their
predecessor, but both still disrupted the lives of hundreds of
thousands of people and cost billions in damage.
Our mission is clear
Clearly, these are times when the role, mission and value of the
insurance industry to society are most clearly on display. With
Katrina bearing down on the Gulf Coast, thousands of claims adjusters
and other industry professionals were mobilized and ready to go.
The same was true in the cases of Rita and Wilma. In the weeks
since, our colleagues have been on the ground in storm-ravaged
regions working day and night to help deliver on the promises our
policies made to individuals and businesses when they became our
customers.
It is abundantly clear that, at times like these, the spirit of
customer service is one of the most important tools we have. It
is the commitment to show people through our actions that we care
about their circumstances and that we are going to do what we can
to help. It is a combination of communication and action giving
meaning and life to the promises in our policies.
I am proud to say that the spirit of communication is also one
of the bedrock principles of the ICAE. When our organization first
began almost 30 years ago, it was customary for company people
and regulators to view each other from an adversarial perspective.
During the 16 years I have been involved with ICAE, that way of
thinking has clearly changed. And it is a way of thinking that
is outdated and that we can ill afford if we are going to get the
job done for the people counting on us. Instead, insurers and regulators
must become partners in serving, educating and helping people in
times of need.
We can all take a lesson from the site of our 2005 Exchange – the
Gaylord Opryland Hotel. Their motto is “Consider it done!” When
disaster strikes and our customers call on us, they too have every
right to ‘consider it done.’ The goal of the ICAE is
to act as an ongoing forum where we can come together to explore
ways to best get the job done. I am proud to say that for almost
three decades the ICAE has been providing that forum as its central
mission.
Volunteers welcomed!
Finally, I want to emphasize that the ICAE is primarily a volunteer
organization. Those of us on the board and running various committees
are involved because we believe that what we are doing is important – for
our customers, our organizations and our own individual understandings
of issues and trends affecting customer service. I want to encourage
anyone who may be of a mind to join in this effort to contact me
at USAA or through the ICAE website.
Together, we can help give life and meaning to the spirit of customer
service in every customer interaction. Thank you for being a part
of this commitment.
CONTACT INFO
John Cloyd
ICAE President
USAA
210.282.1855
Email: john.cloyd@usaa.com
www.usaa.com
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