Name: Nikunj k shah

Std.: TY. BMS

Rollno. 31

College: KES

Topic :

Customer Satisfaction On LIC

Contents Chapter 1- Introduction and objective

Chapter 2-industry profile

Chapter 3-company profile

Chapter 4-subject matter

Introduction of topic Research methodology

Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION

INTRODUCTIONLIFE INSURANCE IN INDIA

Life insurance in India made its debut well over 100 years ago.

In our country, which is one of the most populated in the world, the prominence of

insurance is not as widely understood, as it ought to be. What follows is an attempt to acquaint

readers with some of the concepts of life insurance, with special reference to LIC

It should, however, be clearly understood that the following content is by no

means an exhaustive description of the terms and conditions of an LIC policy or

Its benefits or privileges.

What Is Life Insurance?

Life insurance is a contract that pledges payment of an amount to the person

assured (or his nominee) on the happening of the event insured against.

The contract is valid for payment of the insured amount during:

The date of maturity, or

Specified dates at periodic intervals, or

Unfortunate death, if it occurs earlier.

Among other things, the contract also provides for the payment of premium

periodically to the Corporation by the policyholder. Life insurance is universally

acknowledged to be an institution, which eliminates 'risk', substituting certainty

for uncertainty and comes to the timely aid of the family in the unfortunate event

of death of the breadwinner. By and large, life insurance is civilization’s partial

solution to the problems caused by death. Life insurance, in short, is concerned

with two hazards that stand across the life-path of every person:

1. That of dying prematurely leaving a dependent family to fend for itself.

2. That of living till old age without visible means of support.

Customer satisfied with LIC service because the LIC totally

concentrate customer relations and it makes customers

attract towards the LIC

LIC moves towards better customer relations

Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) is embarking on a number of customer relationship

management initiatives to retain its foothold in the market, in the wake of private players

inching their way up in the life insurance sector.

The Insurance behemoth is planning to tie-up with a number of banks to enable a payment

gateway wherein the policyholders can make their premium payments via credit cards.

LIC is planning to start a new portal for its policyholders where a customer can log in, get

details on his/her policies, change the resident address when he/she shifts to a new place and

even take a printout of the income tax certificate. The portal is likely to be ready in a month’s

time.

Besides, it has already started work on allotment of customer folio number to know each

customer's holding.

“The allotment of customer folio number for all our holders will still take a year’s time in this

zone,” H Nanda, regional manager, information technology, LIC (south-central zone), said.

“The electronic clearance system that have been launched at Hyderabad, Bangalore,

Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam, has been doing very well. Here the customer’s premium is

automatically debited from his account at the time of payment,” he added. Shortly, the zone

will also see the launch of this system in Mysore, Mangalore and Hubli.

Regarding the recently launched Bima Gold policy, a money-back policy with premium

payment options, the corporation plans to sell 15 lakh policies this year in the south central

zone with the national figure being one crore.

LIC also plans to launch three-four products this year with one of these being unit-linked

insurance plan in October. As on the zone has issued 12,47,795 policies under new business.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The main objective of this study is to carry on brief study on

“Customer

satisfaction survey on insurance products of LIC

Other objectives of this project are as follows:

To identify the insurance needs of the Indian population

with

respect to their emotional, physical and financial

conditions.

Comparative study of various insurance players in the market

To study the varied reasons of availing life insurance plans

To clearly understand the rationale behind the investment

in policies of LIC and private sector insurance companies

To test the awareness of customers on various aspects of

life insurance policies offered by LIC and other private

sector insurance companies and find whether there is any

relation between them.

The prime objective of the study is to find out the level of

satisfaction of a

customer (policy holders or beneficiary) so far as the

settlement of claims.

To find out the procedure of claim policy holder or the

beneficiary

Chapter 2

Industry profile

Industry profile

ABOUT THE ORGANIZATION

Life Insurance in its modern form came to India from England in the

year

1818. Oriental Life Insurance Company stated by Europeans in

Calcutta was the first

life insurance company on Indian Soil. All the insurance companies

established

during that period were brought up with the purpose of looking

after the needs of

European community and Indian natives were not being insured by

these companies.

However, later with the efforts of eminent people like Babu Muttylal

Seal, the foreign

life insurance companies started insuring Indian lives. But Indian

lives were being

treated as sub-standard lives and heavy extra premiums were being

changed on them.

Bombay Mutual Life Assurance Society heralded the birth of first

Indian life

insurance company in the year 1870, and covered Indian lives at

normal rates.

Starting as Indian enterprise with highly patriotic motives,

insurance companies came

tito existence to carry the message of insurance and social security

through insurance

to various sectors of society. Bharat Insurance Company (1896) was

also one of such

companies inspired by natioalism. the Swadeshi movement of 1905-

1907 gavwe rise

to more insurance companies. The United India in Madras, National

Indian and

National Insurance in Calcutta and the Hindustan Co-operative

Insurance Company

took its birth in one of the rooms of the Jorasanko, house of the

great poet

Rabindranath Tagore, in Calcutta. The Indian Mercantile, General

Assurance and

Swadeshi Life (later Bombay Life) were some of the companies

established during

the same period. Prior to 1912. India had no legislation to regulate

insurance business.

In the year 1912, the Life Insurance Companies Act, and the

Provident Fund Act were

passed. The Life Insurance Companies Act, 1912 made it necessary

that the premium

rate tables and periodical valuations of companies should be

certified by an actuary.

But the act discriminated between foreign and Indian companies on

many accounts,

putting the Indian companies at a disadvantage.

The first two decades of the twentieth century saw lot of growth in

insurance

business. From 44 companies with total business-in force as Rs.

22.44 crore, it rose to

176 companies with total business-in-force as Rs. 298 crore in 1938.

During the

mushrooming of insurance companies many financially unsound

concerns were also

floated which failed miserably. The Insurance Act 1938 was the first

legislation

governing not only life insurance but also non-life insurance to

provide strict state

control over insurance business. The demand for nationalization of

life insurance

industry was made repeatedly in the past but it gathered

momentum in 1944 when a

bill to amend the Life Insurance Act 1938 was introduced in the

Legislative

Assembly. However, it was much later on the 19th of January, 1956,

that life insurance

in India was nationalized. About 154 Indian insurance companies, 16

non-Indian

companies and 75 provident were operating in India at the time of

nationalization,

nationalization was accomplished in two stages; initially the

management of the

companies was taken over by means of an Ordinance, and later, the

ownership too by

means of a comprehensive bill. The Parliament of India passed the

Life Insurance

Corporation Act on the 19th of June 1956, and the Life Insurance

Corporation of India

was created on 1st September, 1956, with the objective of spreading

life insurance

much more widely and in particular to the rural areas with a view to

reach all

insurable persons in the country, providing them adequate financial

cover at a

reasonable cost.

LIC had 5 zonal offices, 33 divisional offices and 212 branch offices,

apart

from its corporate office in the year 1956. Since life insurance

contracts are long term

contracts and during the currency of the policy it requires a variety

of services need

was felt in the later years to expand the operations and place a

branch office at each

district headquarter, re-organization of LIC took place and large

numbers of new

branch offices were opened. As a result of re-organization servicing

functions were

transferred to the branches, and branches were made accounting

units. It worked

wonders with the performance of the corporation. It may be seen

that from about

200.00 crores of New Business in 1957 the corporation crossed

1000.00 crores only in

the year 1969-70, and it took another 10 years for LIC to cross

2000.00 crore mark of

new business. But with re-organization happening in the early

eighties, by 1985-86

LIC had already crossed 7000.00 crore Sum Assured on new policies.

Today LIC functions with 2048 fully computerized branch offices,

100

divisional offices, 7 zonal offices and the corporate office. LIC’s Wide

Area Network

covers 100 divisional offices and connects all the branches through

a Metro Area

Network. LIC has tied up with some Banks and Service providers to

offer on-lint

premium collection facility in selected cities. LIC’s ECS and ATM

premium payment

facility is an addition to customer convenience. Apart from on-line

Kiosks and IVRS,

Info Centres have been commissioned at Mumbai, Ahmedabad,

Bangalore, Chennai,

Hyderabad, Kolkata, New Delhi, Pune and many other cities. With a

vision of

providing easy access to its policyholders, LIC has launched its

SATELLITE

SAMPARK offices. The satellite offices are smaller, leaner and closer

to the

customer. The digitalized records of the satellite offices will

facilitate anywhere

servicing and many other conveniences in the future.

LIC continues to be the dominant life insurer even in theliberalized

scenario of

Indian insurance and is moving fast on a new growth trajectory

surpassing its own

past records. LIC has issued over one crore policies during the

current year. It has

crossed the milestone of issuing 1,01,32,955 new policies by 15th

Oct, 2005, posting a

healthy growth rate of 16.67% over the corresponding period of the

previous year.

From then to now, LIC ha crossed many milestones and has set

unprecedented

performance records in various aspects of life insurance business.

The same motives

which inspired our forefathers to bring insurance into existence in

this country inspire

us at LIC to take this message of protection to light the lamps of

security in as many

homes as possible and to help the people in providing security to

their families.

Some of the important milestones in the life insurance business in

India are:

1818: Oriental Life Insurance Company, the first life insurance

company on Indian

soil started functioning.

1870: Bombay Mutual Life Assurance Society, the first Indian life

insurance company

started its business.

1912: The Indian Life Assurance Companies Act enacted as the first

statute to

regulate the life insurance business.

1928: The Indian Insurance Companies Act enacted to enable the

government to

collect statistical information about both life and non-life insurance

businesses.

1938: Earlier legislation consolidated and amended to by the

Insurance Act with the

objective of protecting the interests of the insuring public.

1956: 245 Indian and foreign insurers and provident societies are

taken over by the

central government and nationalized. LIC formed by an Act of

Parliament, viz. LIC

Act, 1956, with a capital contribution of Rs. 5 crore from the

Government of India.

The General insurance business in India, on the other hand, can

trace its roots

to the Triton Insurance Company Ltd., the first general insurance

company

established in the year 1850 in Calcutta by the British.

Life insurance Corporation of India (LIC)

The Life insurance Corporation

was established about 44 years ago with a view to provide an

insurance cover against

various risks in life. A monolith then, the corporation, enjoyed a

monopoly status and

become synonymous with life insurance. Its main asset is its staff

strength of 1.24 lakhs

employed and 2,048 branches and over six-lakhs agency force.

LIC has hundred divisional offices and has established extensive

training

facility at all levels. At the apex, is the Management Development

Institute, seven zonal

Training Centre and 35 sales Training Centers. At the industry level,

along with the

Government and the GIC, it has helped establish the National

Insurance Academy. It

presently transacts individual Life Insurance business, group

Insurance business, social

security schemes and Pensions, grants housing loans through its

subsidiary. And the

markets savings and Investment products through its mutual fund.

It pays off about Rs

6,000 crores annually to5.6 million policyholders

LIC OPERATES ALL OVER INDIA

OBJECTIVES OF LIC

Spread Life Insurance widely and in particular to the rural

areas and to the

socially and economically backward classes with a view to

reaching

allinsurable persons in the country and providing them

adequate financial

cover against death at a reasonable cost.

Maximize mobilization of people’ savings by making

insurance-linked savings

adequately attractive.

Bear in mind, in the investment of funds, the primary

obligation to its

policyholders, whose money it holds in trust, without losing

sight of the

interest of the community as a whole; the funds to be

deployed to the best

advantage of the investors as well as the community as a

whole, keeping in

view national priorities and obligations of attractive return.

Conduct business with utmost economy and with the full

realization that

moneys belong to the policyholders.

Act as trustees of the insured public in their individual and

collective

capacities.

Meet the various life insurance needs of the community that

would arise in the

changing social and economic environment.

Involve all people working in the Corporation to the best of

their capability in

furthering the interests of the insured public by providing

efficient service

with courtesy.

Promote amongst all agent and employees of the corporation

a sense of

participation, pride and job towards achievement of Corporate

objective.

MISSION/VISION

Mission“Explore and enhance the quality of life of people through financial

security by

providing products and services of aspired attributes with

competitive returns, and

by rendering resources for economic development.”

Vision

“A trans-nationally competitive financial conglomerate of

significance to societies

and Pride of India.”

Chapter 3

Company profile

Company profile

Type: Public limited company or Government-owned corporation

Founded: September 1, 1956

Headquarters: Headquarters in Mumbai, India (Various other locations in

India and abroad)

Key people: T. S. Vijayan (Chairman), D. K. Mehta and Thomas Mathew

(Managing Directors)

Industry: Life insurance

Products: Insurance and Pension Plans

Employees: Over 10,00,000

Parent: NIL

Subsidiaries: LIC Housing Finance Limited, etc.

Website: http://www.licindia.com

Products of LIC

LIC - Jeevan Anurag

Benefits

LIC’s Jeevan ANURAG is a with profits plan specifically designed to take care of

the educational needs of children. The plan can be taken by a parent on his or

her own life. Benefits under the plan are payable at prespecified durations

irrespective of whether the Life Assured survives to the end of the policy term or

dies during the term of the policy. In addition, this plan also provides for an

immediate payment of Basic Sum Assured amount on death of the Life Assured

during the term of the policy.

AssuredBenefit

Payment of 20% of the Basic Sum Assured at the start of every year during last

3 policy years before maturity. At maturity, 40% of the Basic Sum Assured along

with reversionary bonuses declared from time to time on full Sum Assured for

the full term and the Terminal bonus, if any shall be payable. For example, if

term of the policy is 20 years, 20% of the Sum assured will be payable at the

end of the 17th, 18th, 19th year and 40% of the Sum Assured along with the

reversionary bonuses and the terminal bonus, if any, at the end of the 20th

year.

Death Benefit

Payment of an amount equal to Sum Assured under the basic plan immediately

on the death of the life assured.

LIC - Jeewan Kisore

Product summary:

This is an Endowment Assurance Plan available for children of less than 12

years of age. The policy may be purchased by any of the parent/grand parent.

Commencement of risk cover:The risk commences either after 2 years from the date of commencement of

policy or from the policy anniversary immediately following the completion of 7

years of age of child, whichever is later.

Premiums:Premiums are payable yearly, half-yearly, quarterly or monthly throughout the

term of the policy or till earlier death of child.

Bonuses:This is a with-profits plan and participates in the profits of the Corporation’s life

insurance business. It gets a share of the profits in the form of bonuses. Simple

Reversionary Bonuses are declared per thousand Sum Assured annually at the

end of each financial year. Once declared, they form part of the guaranteed

benefits of the plan. A Final (Additional) Bonus may also be payable provided

policy has run for certain minimum period.

LIC – Childs Career Plan

Introduction: This plan is specially designed to meet the increasing

educational and other needs of growing children. It

provides the risk cover on the life of child not only during

the policy term but also during the extended term (i.e. 7

years after the expiry of policy term). A number of

Survival benefits are payable on surviving by the life

assured to the end of the specified durations.

Options:

You may choose Sum Assured (S.A.), Maturity Age, Policy Term, Mode of

Premium payment and Premium Waiver Benefit.

Payment of Premiums:

You may pay the premiums regularly at yearly, half-yearly, quarterly or through

Salary deductions over the term of policy. Premiums may be paid either for 6

years or up to 5 years before the policy term.

 LIC - Jeevan Chhaya

Product summary:

This is an Endowment Assurance plan that provides financial protection against

death throughout the term of the plan. Besides payment of Sum Assured

immediately on death, one-fourth of Sum Assured is payable at the end of each

of last four years of policy term whether the life assured dies or survives the

term of the policy.

Premiums:

Premiums are payable yearly, half-yearly, quarterly, monthly or through salary

deductions as opted by you throughout the term of the policy or till the earlier

death.

LIC - Child Future Plan

Introduction:

This plan is specially designed to meet the increasing

educational, marriage and other needs of growing

children. It provides the risk cover on the life of child not

only during the policy term but also during the extended

term (i.e. 7 years after the expiry of policy term). A

number of Survival benefits are payable on surviving by

the life assured to the end of the specified durations.

Options:

You may choose Sum Assured (S.A.), Maturity Age, Policy Term, Mode of

Premium payment and Premium Waiver Benefit.

Payment of Premiums:

You may pay the premiums regularly at yearly, half-yearly, quarterly or through

Salary deductions over the term of policy. Premiums may be paid either for 6

years or up to 5 years before the policy term.

LIC - Jeevan Shree

Product summary:

This is an Endowment Assurance plan offering the choice of many convenient

premium-paying terms. It provides financial protection against death

throughout the term of plan with the payment of maturity amount on survival

to the end of the policy term.

Premiums:

Premiums are payable yearly, half-yearly, quarterly, monthly or through Salary

deductions, as opted by you, throughout the premium paying term or till earlier

death. Alternatively premium may be paid in one lump sum.

Guaranteed Additions:The policy provides for the Guaranteed Additions at the rate of Rs. 50/- per

thousand Sum Assured for each completed year for first five years of the policy.

LIC - The Whole Life Policy

This plan is mainly devised to create an estate for the heirs of the policyholder as the plan

basically provides for payment of sum assured plus bonuses on the death of the policyholder.

However, considering the increased longevity of the Indian population, the Corporation has

amended the above provision, thereby providing for payment of sum assured plus bonuses in

the form of maturity claim on completion of age 80 years or on expiry of term of 40 years

from date of commencement of the policy whichever is later.

The premiums under the policy are payable up to age 80 years of the policyholder or for a

term of 35 years whichever is later.

If the payment of premium ceases after 3 years, a paid-up policy for such reduced sum

assured will be automatically secured provided the reduced sum assured exclusive of any

attached bonus is not less than Rs.250/-. Such reduced paid-up policy is not entitled to

participate in the bonus declared thereafter but the bonuses already declared on the policy

will remain attach, provided the policy is converted in to a paid-up policy after the premiums

are paid for 5 years.

LIC – Amulya Jeevan : On Death during the Term of the Policy: Sum Assured

On Maturity: Nil

RESTRICTIVE CONDITIONS

Minimum age at entry: 18 years (completed)

Maximum age at entry : 60 years (nearest birthday)

Maximum age at maturity : 70 years (nearest birthday)

Minimum Policy Term : 5 years

Maximum Policy term : 35 years

Minimum Sum Assured : Rs.25,00,000/-

Maximum Sum Assured : No Upper Limit

(Policies will be issued in multiples of Rs.100,000/- for Sums Assured

more than the minimum Sum Assured)

Mode of premium payment : Yearly, Half-yearly & Single Premium

ORGANISATION STRUCTURE OF LIC

Chairman Managing Director

Executives Directors

Chiefs

Zonal Managers

Regional Managers

Divisional Managers

100 Seniors Divisional Managers

Marketing Managers

Sales Managers

Senior Branch Managers (Head of the Branch)

Assistant Branch Managers Sells

Development Officers

Different Agent

PUBLIC RELATION DEPARTMENT

The Public Relation Department in LIC is divided into three majorcategories. Namely:

1. Communication Department2. Crisis Management Department3. Publicity Department

Chief Public Relation Officer

PRO (Communication Dept.)

PRO (Crisis Management Dept.)

PRO (Publicity Dept.)

CHAIRMAN OF LIC

PUBLIC RELATIONS

COMMUNICATION DEPARMENT

PUBLICITY DEPARMENT

CRISIS MANAGEMENT DEPATMENT

CHIEF PUBLIC RELATION OFFICER

The Chief Public Relation Officer of LIC is Mr. M. V. Kulkarni. He heads the

PR department. The above three committees are under the PRO. The PRO is

responsible for the overall functioning of the PR department. He has to

monitor

the smooth functioning of the three departments.

RESPONSIBILITIES OF CHIEF PUBLIC RELATION OFFICER :-

1. PR represents whole organization.

2. Should know how to behave in a certain situation.

3. He is not a person, he is representative.

4. Should know how to create enthusiasm.

5. In crisis he has to give feedback as soon as possible.

OBJECTIVES AND FUNCTIONS OF CHIEF PUBLIC RELATION OFFICER:-

The PRO is directly answerable to the Chairman Shri. T.S. Vijayan.

The PRO looks after all the activities of the three departments all over

India.

Also he has to keep in close touch with the over-seas PR departments

of LIC.

All the policies implemented in India are informed to other PROs of the

over-seas branches of LIC.

The PRO monitors the norms and values of all the branches.

The new rules and regulations in India are informed to the PROs of the

over-seas branches.

The PRO also holds regular workshops for the top management

employees to motivate them to lift the spirit of the work culture.

The PRO also has to provide information about latest policies to the

communication department and ask them to public or air it through

various mediums.

Since a major share of workload of LIC is in the public sector, the PRO

has to look after social responsibility as well as maintaining the image of the

company.

COMMUNICATION DEPARTMENT

The PRO of this Department is an external PR.

He looks after:-

Arranging press conferences, press releases and is in constant contact

with the media.

He is also responsible for monitoring the overseas communications.

The Communication Department PRO has to make arrangements for the

guests and their overall honors. The conversations with the guests are

directly done by the Communication Department PRO.

The PRO from this department should always keep a close eye on the

latest happenings in the market. Any social issue at any area is a news to

be worked out for him.

He reports directly to the Chief PRO of the company.

The Press conference usually includes the CEO of the company, the Chief

PRO and the Communication Dept. PRO.

If the case is of crisis, then only is the Crisis management Dept PRO

present for the Press conference.

Since LIC is closely related with the Public Sector, the Communication

Dept. PRO has to also be in a close contact with the government officials.

He also has to motivate the employees in his department for constant

progress in the strategies for communication.

In short, the communication Department PRO ensures that there is no

communication gap between the company and the external concerned

bodies.

(recent press releases of LIC issued by Communication Department PRO

enclosed)….

CRISIS MANAGEMENT DEPARTMENT

The PRO in this department is an internal one. From the overall history of

LIC, it is seen that the company has never been into any major crisis. This

itself

is one of the best achievements.

He is answerable to the Chief Public Relation Officer.

The PRO from crisis management, though is here to handle crisis, he has

been

assigned many other internal responsibilities.

Motivating the lower employees, sales executives and sales and

marketing employees.

Building up a smooth communication between the Blue Collar and the

White Collar.

Arranging small workshops for all the employees.

He also has to know the issues going within the other departments so that

these issues are solved before they create crisis.

The strategy used by the PR here for crisis management is:-

“Wash the utensil before having food in it.”

Thus all the employees right from the day of joining are kept in close

contact with the Crisis Management Dept. And regular workshops help to

restrict

cases like Corruption. With a company so closely associated with the

government, restricting such practices is very difficult task.

PUBLICITY DEPARTMENT

The PRO of the publicity Department is an External PR.

This department was formed due to the fall of sales in the 1999. This fall was

due

to the emergence of the foreign insurance companies and their advertising

strategies. Initially, the ads shown by LIC always said “no worry even after

death”. All the ads portrayed death. The other insurance companies came up

with the idea that insurance is for happy life. Thus the sales of LIC went down

as

people liked the idea of Life more than Death.

Hence a separate publicity department was formed which worked only for

publicity strategies. Initially it was looked up by the Communication

Department.

Today the publicity department PRO has to see to it that all the ads running

are

creating effect. The PRO is the one who along with the Marketing department

looks after the strategies for publicity. He is also to carry out various

campaigns.

The very recent campaign is known as “Zindagi Express”.

The Zindagi Express is a term that has been associated to the life of LIC.

Just as humans celebrate their 50 years of life, even LIC is celebrating its life.

and when any person has done a lot in his life, he is capable of writing an

Autobiography. Thus Zindagi Express is an Autobiography by LIC.

They had started this unique campaign of auto biography from Delhi and

will cover the entire nation and end up in Delhi again. During this journey

they

explain what all LIC has done for publics and what all it still intends to do

To satisfy the consumers in LIC they make

effective public relations and consumer relations

S.W.O.T. ANALYSIS OF LIC A proper S.W.O.T. analysis of

LIC has also been conducted to know better about the position, growth, and

upcoming future and prospective of the company.

STRENGTHS

LIC is on 1st rank among the Insurance player.

Long-term plans of LIC are the main strength.

After sales services.

Products cost are very low.

Customer does not believe on private company.

WEEKNESS

Low interest rate

OPPORTUNITIES

Good brand promotion.

1/2nd- % insurance has been covered.

THREATS

Competitors.

Entry of Private Insurance banks..

Chapter 4

Subject matter Introduction of topic

Research

methodology

Subject matter

Introduction of topic

What is customer satisfaction?

Customer satisfaction refers to how satisfied customers

are with the

products or services they receive from a particular agency.

The level of

satisfaction is determined not only by the quality and type of

customer

experience but also by the customer’s expectations.

A customer may be defined as someone who:

• has a direct relationship with, or is directly affected by your

agency and

receives or relies on one or more of your agency’s services or

products. Customers in human services are commonly

referred to as

service users, consumers or clients.

• An organisation with a strong customer service culture

places the

customer at the centre of service design, planning and service

delivery. Customer centric organisations will:

• determine the customers expectations when they plan

• listen to the customer as they design

• focus on the delivery of customer service activities

• Value customer feedback when they measure

performance.

Why is it important?

There are a number of reasons why customer satisfaction is

important in

Insurance Sector:

• Meeting the needs of the customer is the underlying

rationale for the

existence of community service organizations. Customers have

a right to

quality services that deliver outcomes.

• Organizations that strive beyond minimum standards and

exceed the

expectations of their customers are likely to be leaders in

their

sector.

• Customers are recognized as key partners in shaping service

development and assessing quality of service delivery.

The process for measuring customer satisfaction and

obtaining feedback on

organizational performance are valuable tools for quality and

continuous service improvement.Customer satisfaction,

a sinebuss term, is a measure of how products and services supplied by a

company meet or surpass customer expectation. It is seen as a key performance

indicator within business and is part of the four of a Balanced Scorecard.

In a competitive marketplace where businesses compete for customers, customer

satisfaction is seen as a key differentiator and increasingly has become a key

element of business strategy.[1]

There is a substantial body of empirical literature that establishes the benefits of

customer satisfaction for firms.

Organizations need to retain existing customers while targeting non-customers;[2]. Measuring customer satisfaction provides an indication of how successful the

organization is at providing products and/or services to the marketplace.

Customer satisfaction is an abstract concept and the actual manifestation of the

state of satisfaction will vary from person to person and product/service to

product/service. The state of satisfaction depends on a number of both

psychological and physical variables which correlate with satisfaction behaviors

such as return and recommend rate. The level of satisfaction can also vary

depending on other factors the customer, such as other products against which

the customer can compare the organization's products.

Customer Satisfaction in 7 Steps in LIC

It's a well known fact that no business can exist without customers. In the business of Website design, it's important to work closely with your customers to make sure the site or system you create for them is as close to their requirements as you can manage. Because it's critical that you form a close working relationship with your client, customer service is of vital importance. What follows are a selection of tips that will make your clients feel valued, wanted and loved.1. Encourage Face-to-Face Dealings

This is the most daunting and downright scary part of interacting

with a customer. If you're not used to this sort of thing it can be a

pretty nerve-wracking experience. Rest assured, though, it does get

easier over time. It's important to meet your customers face to face

at least once or even twice during the course of a project.

My experience has shown that a client finds it easier to relate to

and work with someone they've actually met in person, rather than

a voice on the phone or someone typing into an email or messenger

program. When you do meet them, be calm, confident and above all,

take time to ask them what they need. I believe that if a potential

client spends over half the meeting doing the talking, you're well on

your way to a sale.

2. Respond to Messages Promptly & Keep Your Clients Informed

This goes without saying really. We all know how annoying it is to

wait days for a response to an email or phone call. It might not

always be practical to deal with all customers' queries within the

space of a few hours, but at least email or call them back and let

them know you've received their message and you'll contact them

about it as soon as possible. Even if you're not able to solve a

problem right away, let the customer know you're working on it.

A good example of this is my Web host. They've had some trouble

with server hardware which has caused a fair bit of downtime lately.

At every step along the way I was emailed and told exactly what

was going on, why things were going wrong, and how long it would

be before they were working again. They also apologised

repeatedly, which was nice. Now if they server had just gone down

with no explanation I think I'd have been pretty annoyed and may

have moved my business elsewhere. But because they took time to

keep me informed, it didn't seem so bad, and I at least knew they

were doing something about the problems. That to me is a prime

example of customer service.

3. Be Friendly and Approachable

A fellow SitePointer once told me that you can hear a smile through

the phone. This is very true. It's very important to be friendly,

courteous and to make your clients feel like you're their friend and

you're there to help them out. There will be times when you want to

beat your clients over the head repeatedly with a blunt object - it

happens to all of us. It's vital that you keep a clear head, respond to

your clients' wishes as best you can, and at all times remain polite

and courteous.

4. Have a Clearly-Defined Customer Service Policy

This may not be too important when you're just starting out, but a

clearly defined customer service policy is going to save you a lot of

time and effort in the long run. If a customer has a problem, what

should they do? If the first option doesn't work, then what? Should

they contact different people for billing and technical enquiries? If

they're not satisfied with any aspect of your customer service, who

should they tell?

There's nothing more annoying for a client than being passed from

person to person, or not knowing who to turn to. Making sure they

know exactly what to do at each stage of their enquiry should be of

utmost importance. So make sure your customer service policy is

present on your site -- and anywhere else it may be useful.

5. Attention to Detail (also known as 'The Little Niceties')

Have you ever received a Happy Birthday email or card from a

company you were a client of? Have you ever had a personalised

sign-up confirmation email for a service that you could tell was

typed from scratch? These little niceties can be time consuming and

aren't always cost effective, but remember to do them.

Even if it's as small as sending a Happy Holidays email to all your

customers, it's something. It shows you care; it shows there are real

people on the other end of that screen or telephone; and most

importantly, it makes the customer feel welcomed, wanted and

valued.

6. Anticipate Your Client's Needs & Go Out Of Your Way to Help Them Out

Sometimes this is easier said than done! However, achieving this

supreme level of understanding with your clients will do wonders for

your working relationship.

Take this as an example: you're working on the front-end for your

client's exciting new ecommerce endeavour. You have all the

images, originals and files backed up on your desktop computer and

the site is going really well. During a meeting with your client

he/she happens to mention a hard-copy brochure their internal

marketing people are developing. As if by magic, a couple of weeks

later a CD-ROM arrives on their doorstep complete with high

resolution versions of all the images you've used on the site. A note

accompanies it which reads:

"Hi, you mentioned a hard-copy brochure you were working on and I wanted to provide you

with large-scale copies of the graphics I've used on the site. Hopefully you'll be able to

make use of some in your brochure."

Your client is heartily impressed, and remarks to his colleagues and

friends how very helpful and considerate his Web designers are.

Meanwhile, in your office, you lay back in your chair drinking your

7th cup of coffee that morning, safe in the knowledge this happy

customer will send several referrals your way.

7. Honour Your Promises

It's possible this is the most important point in this article. The

simple message: when you promise something, deliver. The most

common example here is project delivery dates.

Clients don't like to be disappointed. Sometimes, something may

not get done, or you might miss a deadline through no fault of your

own. Projects can be late, technology can fail and sub-contractors

don't always deliver on time. In this case a quick apology and

assurance it'll be ready ASAP wouldn't go amiss.

Conclusion

Customer service, like any aspect of business, is a practiced art that

takes time and effort to master. All you need to do to achieve this is

to stop and switch roles with the customer. What would you want

from your business if you were the client? How would you want to

be treated? Treat your customers like your friends and they'll

always come back.

Research Methodology :

Secondary data is collected from various bibliographical sources such as journals, novels,

magazines, publications and various websites including the official website of LIC and various

other company websites. The published research reports and market studies also helped the

researcher to guage into the problem.

(This research is fully based on secondary data )