Everyone loves a deal. You go shopping for one item and discover something else you need — at an irresistible price. That’s a slam dunk not only for value-conscious consumers but especially for insurance providers that increase revenue, CSAT, and customer lifetime value when customers bundle multiple policies.

Recognizing bundling coverage creates a virtuous cycle of customer retention, higher profits, and lower per-policy acquisition costs, TTEC deployed a multipronged strategy to fuel the revenue stream for our insurance client. Our Work At Home strategy and AI-infused performance enablement platform were key components driving results for an industry innovator that welcomed opportunities to experiment with new tools and tactics.

Challenge

Bundling is no longer a gimme. Only 38% of auto insurance policyholders carry homeowners coverage with the same provider today, according to J.D. Power. That’s down dramatically from just a decade ago, when nearly 60% of auto policyholders carried homeowners with the same insurer. 

Our client wanted to identify cross-selling opportunities “in the moment” of live customer interactions. It needed to devise proactive methods to seek out new sales prospects, and equip its workforce with the training, coaching, tools, and performance management acumen to ensure a seamless journey from first contact to conversion.

Limited management tools and visibility into remote working environments made it difficult to assess performance and deploy solutions to improve productivity. Attrition and high cost of licensed associates cut into profits.

As with all property and casualty companies (P&C), our client faced seasonal fluctuations in staffing needs and limited talent pools equipped to support complex insurance products. They sought a flexible partner capable of piloting and scaling new programs while maintaining consistent performance across multiple lines of business (LOBs).

Our solution

TTEC devised and deployed a multifaceted approach to optimize the workforce through training, coaching, and development, while leveraging the flexibility and scalability of a remote environment. Our Service to Sales referral program promoted bundling of multiple insurance policies customized to individuals based on customer intents. We introduced monitoring tools that provided visibility into new opportunities to improve. Among the components:

WAH warriors: TTEC transitioned the workforce to fully remote with 1,500 associates dedicated to eight lines of business providing English and Spanish support for inbound and outbounds sales plus service in both personal and commercial auto.

Working from their homes across the United States, associates handled policy inquiries, sales, renewals, account updates, and cross-product referrals. Our internal licensing program, College of Insurance, provided both instructor-led and online courses, licensing exams, and ready-to-sell monitoring to support career advancement, a vital tool when scaling up fast matters.

Boundless outbound: We created a group dedicated to calling customers to inform them their policies were due to expire and to assist with renewal. This was a unique and proactive approach that none of our clients’ partners offered. The outbound play created opportunities to contact a subset of customers unreachable via digital channels, those who opted out of email, text, and robocalls, but who agreed to accept phone calls from a real human.

Service-to-sales conversion power: The key to cementing customer relationships in the P&C sector is a robust referral program. We trained and coached our non-licensed associates to recognize when customers were receptive to opening a new policy, deliver a compelling sales pitch, and route customers to a licensed colleague to close the sale. This bundling of policies — when a customer carrying only auto coverage, for example, added homeowners protection, pet insurance, or road assistance — proved to increase retention and customer satisfaction.

Performance enablement: Our AI-enhanced TTEC Perform platform complemented the Work At Home program, providing visibility to performance and activities to keep remote workers engaged. This proprietary tool identified areas for skills growth and development and offered personalized coaching, targeted feedback, and recognition for associates’ achievements.

Smart seasonal: TTEC proposed and implemented its Smart Seasonal program, enabling high-performing licensed associates to rotate between P&C and healthcare licensed roles throughout the year. We piloted outbound, blended, and commercial flex programs, scaled quickly, and maintained consistent leadership and performance. Our cultural alignment and creative problem-solving built trust and positioned TTEC as our clients’ largest vendor.

Results

Within three months of deploying the TTEC Perform platform, our Work At Home associates exceeded insurance policy bundling target goals by increasing referrals 11%. We maintained consistent high performance in subsequent months. In just nine months’ time, our associates outperformed the client’s own in-house sales teams.

Our client was so pleased with how TTEC Perform empowered our associates that the company said it would consider deploying the platform in their own organization.

In addition, automating data collection and analysis fast-tracked the creation of performance action plans, an efficiency gain that resulted in 23% time savings for team leads. By freeing up 45 minutes daily that had been spent on manual processes, team leads devoted more time to higher-value activities, such as one-on-one coaching and more meaningful conversations with associates.

Average handle time was reduced by 6% after AI modeling helped direct 22% of coaching on the AHT metric.