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"THAT'S IT!"

Published November 2017

Renee E. Bryan also publishes writing at her blog: WrongWayLizzie.Me.

 
 
  We've survived another Cyber-Monday and it went off with a hitch. Yes, you read that correctly. We had a HITCH! It seems after years of offering this promotion, we have not yet worked out all of the kinks and we end up with some crisis issue--some problem with the programming or set-up that causes disruption and additional service issues. I don't know why. You'd think we'd have it totally streamlined, but this year we advertised one coupon code, CYBERMONDAY, but had two discount prices. When I went to program this in, I realized the need to have two codes for two different discounts. We put a notice of the two codes on the shopping cart page as well as the checkout page, but people would miss this and it caused some confusion.

This issue with the coupon code was totally our fault and this extra service is totally understandable given the situation. There was another event during our Cyber-Monday blitz that brought me to a firm conclusion on our service plans for 2018 and beyond.
Late in the day, about 4:00 p.m., a gentleman called for someone else in his office wanting us to supply a transcript of their insurance continuing education. I replied as I normally would, "We don't supply transcripts. Those are at Sircon and we provide instructions to access it." His response, "Well, he chose to take your classes. I take Kaplan and at Kaplan, I just call them and they do it for me."

In hindsight, I should have just politely said something to the effect of, "Checking a transcript is very easy. Let me help you." But instead, this comment got me a bit worked up. Kaplan, you say?!?! I guess you don't know the value we offer so I asked for the agent name, confirmed the email address, and committed to have this out in about 5 minutes. As much as I didn't want to do it, I thought it would only take a few minutes and maybe, just maybe, we could win over another customer.

When I couldn't save the file properly and missed an afternoon appointment, let's just say my choice to allow this agent's comments to get under my skin, became the focal point for some discontent and a new decision about the service at Bryan Ventures..

I've been considering these changes for a while. I even polled agents on Facebook as to their thoughts and the vast majority, in fact, unanimously agreed, that administrative work like retaining insurance CE completion certificates, providing and correcting their license information, and checking their transcript is an agent's responsibility, and if an insurance professional would like us to do this service work for them, we should charge for it.

 

For years, we have gone above and beyond for the agents we work with and for, yet these very simple requests can be very time consuming. Our job is to offer you quality insurance education courses and to ensure it's streamlined enough for you to renew your license timely. We meet these objectives and we do it well. We also give you the tools to help you do all of these other licensing requirements, and we'll continue to do so, but in the coming weeks, there will be some new bullet points on our TUITION & FEES page providing instructions for agents to complete these administrative tasks and the ability to pay the fee if they would like us to complete it for them. So that's it--the discontent I felt last night has turned to firm resolve to take other steps to correct the matter.

 

Before I wrap up this blog post, I need to tell you the final parts to this story. When I woke this morning prepared to write this blog and tweak the rules of the game, I also wanted to thank the gentleman who solidified the plan--the agent who'd called in yesterday with the transcript request. Not having his name or number, I emailed the agent I provided the transcript to in an effort to get the contact information. He immediately called me, thanked me for my assistance, and went on to say that he knew to check Sircon. He would have done it, but the email arrived with the information. This very kind and polite discussion only further enforced my choice to offer these new options at our website. Our agents, those who use our classes, are prepared to take care of these things on their own. You are insurance professionals, and I am honored to work with and for you.

 

Now I need to get to work on the website and post our upcoming live classroom insurance continuing education courses for 2018 & 2019. We are just about halfway there and the class options should be fully available for registration by December 1, 2017. Look for our email updates with special rollout pricing for Christmas in the coming weeks. WOO HOO! See you in class.

 

 

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Comments are based on the personal experiences or opinions of Renee and may not reflect the objective of Bryan Ventures, Inc.

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