Customer Service After Hours

[ABC]

I am seeing a huge increase of customer service emails coming in after normal business hours.

I don't know how other brokers respond but I answer them.
As long as I am not blind drunk

Today's business owners wants to know that you are on top of the situation. Sunday morning, I had multiple controllers asking questions. Monday night I had owners asking questions.

I see this trend increasing.

 

[insurehound]

That is a double-edged sword. I always respond as that provides value. But once you start down the road, they will always expect it from you.

I am also finding that small businesses are stretched and have limited time to talk about benefits. I am assuming this is due to the economy.

ABC and all, I am curious to learn how much customer service/service work you do for your groups. I am finding that I am wearing many hats and my clients are always trying to find the limit of how much I will do for them. I do what I can as again, it will provide value. I always stop at Cobra, tax questions and HR functions as that may get me sued.

I have actually taken away cases from lazy brokers that never did a thing. No renewal work, no admin help, nothing. That is always surprising to me but I know people have different views on this.

 

[Ann H]

Today's mobile technology blurs the lines. I think that the reason the email arrives after hours is because the person is working from their laptop, not because they really expect you to be on the clock 24/7. I tell my clients that I check email on my phone often after hours, so if it's an emergency, state that in the subject line, and I'll be on it. I think that leaves them with the understanding that if it's not an emergency, I'll answer promptly the next normal business day.

I'll bet you're like me, and some of your clients have become your friends. Many of my clients know that I put the kids to sleep around 8:00 and come back to my home office to get more work done. I often send emails (or write on this forum!) up to 1:00 in the morning. Surprisingly, some clients respond at that time, too. But the response is usually very informal and you can tell by the tone that they don't expect me to be at their beck and call off-hours.

 

[Tahoe Ray]

Today's mobile technology blurs the lines. I think that the reason the email arrives after hours is because the person is working from their laptop, not because they really expect you to be on the clock 24/7. I tell my clients that I check email on my phone often after hours, so if it's an emergency, state that in the subject line, and I'll be on it. I think that leaves them with the understanding that if it's not an emergency, I'll answer promptly the next normal business day.

I'll bet you're like me, and some of your clients have become your friends. Many of my clients know that I put the kids to sleep around 8:00 and come back to my home office to get more work done. I often send emails (or write on this forum!) up to 1:00 in the morning. Surprisingly, some clients respond at that time, too. But the response is usually very informal and you can tell by the tone that they don't expect me to be at their beck and call off-hours.

That is a standard communication from me as well...I always tell clients what my typical office hours are but I will often reply during off hours as well. I also inform them that I can always be reached via email if it is an emergency.

I'm not a cardiologist though so I can count on one hand how many "emergency calls" I've had to make...