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Customer service excellence
The National Alliance names Ronie Foronda CSR of the Year
By Elaine Tolen
“Aloha” is more than a word of greeting or farewell in the state of Hawaii. It means “mutual regard and affection and extends warmth in caring with no obligation in return.” “Aloha” is also the essence of relationships in which each person is important to every other person for their collective existence. And “Aloha” means to hear what is not said, to see what cannot be seen and to know the unknowable.
While Ronie Foronda, CIC, CISR, might not know the unknowable, this native of Hawaii and 2009 CSR of the Year embodies the Aloha Spirit in his job as account manager at Finance Insurance, Ltd., in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Sponsored annually by The National Alliance for Insurance Education & Research, the competition is open to CSRs around the country. The top award winner, as well as several finalists, is chosen from winners on the state level. In addition to being recommended by their peers and supervisors, nominees write an essay. This year’s topic was: “Many in the insurance world believe that ‘the price of insurance becomes more important to the client in the absence of value.’ What are five ways a CSR can add value to the insurance-client relationship?”
In his essay, Ronie cited (1) building genuine relationships; (2) establishing mutual trust; (3) growing through education; (4) acclimating to changing technologies and consumer behaviors; and (5) promoting value-added marketing.
As the national winner, Ronie received $2,000 and a gold and diamond lapel pin; and his name is inscribed on a sculpture that is on permanent display at The National Alliance headquarters in Austin, Texas. A scholarship will be awarded to his employer, Finance Insurance, Ltd., for participation in any National Alliance program.
Like many others, Ronie didn’t intend to make insurance a career. He graduated in 2003 from the University of Hawaii with a degree in marketing and hoped to go into advertising or television broadcasting.
Ironically it was his part-time job as a bank teller during college that really positioned Ronie for his future insurance career. “I was very shy,” Ronie recalls. “Working with customers at the bank helped me break out of my shell. That work experience also taught me the importance of exceptional customer service.”
And exceptional customer service is what Ronie is known for around Finance Insurance. Commercial Lines Supervisor Karen Ann Kamakele says that Ronie “is always willing to go the extra step to accomplish excellent results for everyone…In these trying times we are working harder than ever before, but Ronie brings with him such a positive attitude with not a hint of objection…The clients as well as the carriers we represent will tell you the same.”
Having a good relationship with underwriters is important to serving clients, Ronie says. “As you work with underwriters, many times you can talk about other things besides insurance. You build connections and rapport, which builds trust so that you can negotiate in ways that you would not be able to without that relationship.”
For instance, Ronie says that in February of this year, a telecommunications contractor and long-time client was in danger of losing a very lucrative job because of insurance coverage issues. “We had a week to get the kind of coverage that the contractor’s client required. Because I had a good relationship with an underwriter, I was able to move from a surplus lines market to a standard market. We met the client’s requirements and saved the contractor about 40% in premium.”
Adding value
In Ronie’s essay about adding value to the insurance-client relationship, he says that with insurance being an intangible product in a tangible world, “the chase for the elusive Minimum Premium becomes overly important whereas a policy’s true worth becomes a distant second place.”
One way “to counteract such a distraction is for a CSR to build a genuine relationship with their clients,” Ronie writes. “Once the relationship is established, mutual trust is a byproduct.”
In addition to building relationships and mutual trust as a way to add value, the third key, Ronie says, is that a “CSR’s evolution through education and exposure is vital for longevity, not only for the CSR’s career but also for the benefit of the client.” According to Ronie, continuing education combined with exposure to the marketplace makes a savvy CSR.
The fourth key to adding value to the insurance-client relationship, writes Ronie, is “acclimating to changing technologies and consumer behaviors.” He points out that “more and more consumers…prefer to exchange information through an electronic medium because it’s less daunting and it minimizes interruption to their daily business.” Helping the client save time and work more efficiently by embracing new technologies ultimately benefits the agency, he asserts.
Ronie believes that “one of the greatest dangers in insurance is the lack of awareness” by customers about all of the benefits they are receiving from their agency. Value-added marketing, the fifth key to agency-client relationships, writes Ronie, “takes those who are fixated on the cheapest price and transforms them to realize that quality coverage is far more coveted.”
In conclusion, Ronie writes: “Our clients are entitled to something greater than a smaller premium. A CSR should address a client’s exposure as if he were protecting his own.”
Four finalists—who will receive a gold and garnet pin as well as $500—were also chosen:
• Mollie C. Anderson, CPSR, ACPR, Weissman & Associates, LLC, in Sun City Center, Florida
• Tammy J. Carlson, CISR, CPIW, DAE, AIS, AU, Howalt-McDowell Insurance in Sioux Falls, South Dakota
• Stephanie Johns, CISR, Lipscomb & Pitts Insurance, LLC, in Memphis, Tennessee
• Cherolyn Krieter, CIC, CISR, CPIW, BW Insurance Agency, Inc., in Gillette, Wyoming.
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