You can’t beat the personal touch when it comes to customer service

This has been the case for many different sectors including the insurance industry.

At AbbeyAutoline, our teams demonstrated great resilience in transitioning to working from home with the help of our fantastic IT department.

But while it is hard to imagine how businesses could have adapted to lockdown without Teams or Zoom one of the cornerstones of the success of AbbeyAutoline is the strength of the relationships we build with our customers.

People buy from people. And as we emerge from the pandemic, I firmly believe customers will need and want the services of an insurance broker more than ever.

Brokers bring that personal touch and expertise which just can’t be replicated by price comparison sites.

We build relationships which, in some cases, last for generations.

During the pandemic our teams have been there to help, reassure and assist customers.

We have fought their corner over business interruption claims and we have helped them find the right policy for their needs.

We’ve found with our customers that they want to hear someone at the end of the phone or be able to speak to someone in the office, when it was safe to do so.

They have appreciated the empathy our teams have shown during these difficult times.

As a result, our business has been resilient throughout the pandemic with 90% of personal and business customers renewing year-on-year.

Now as we look to the future, customer service will play an even bigger role in many sectors.

We have always prided ourselves on the close relationships we have with our customers but now we want to be able to help them more than ever before.

For example, our agricultural team has just completed specialist mental health training in association with the charity, Rural Support.

We know that farming can be a lonely profession with farmers experiencing long spells of social isolation.

This can have a negative impact on mental health.

While the majority of our agricultural team comes from a farming background, the training helped them better understand the stresses and challenges farmers face.

This helps us provide better support to our customers in the farming community and be more empathetic.

At a time when some organisations are questioning the need for office space, I believe having a physical presence is more important than ever, especially for customer facing businesses like ours.

AbbeyAutoline has 18 branches across Northern Ireland with 430 staff members throughout the business which means we are there when you need us.

For many, the world is a different place.

But the more things change, the more AbbeyAutoline will stay the same.

Tailoring insurance policies to meet the needs of our customers with great customer service.

AbbeyAutoline is one of Northern Ireland’s biggest insurance broker. To find out how they can help you, visit www.abbeyautoline.co.uk

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