Can you help rookie insurance agents sell without hurting their pride?
Approach
A sprint with Shriram Life Insurance to improve new agents’ field performance
- Shadowed and observed newly hired sales officers during live client calls across India
- Paid close attention to objection management - and irrational behaviours around that, in spite of multiple hours of training on the subject.
Analysed usage of a helpline that was designed specifically for this scenario.
Key Strategic Lever
It wasn’t a training problem it was a self-image problem.
During their sales pitch, there was always a customer doubt for which sales agents needed to ask someone or refer to notes. This, in spite of the hours of training they received. Learning doesn’t always translate to surety on a subject in the moment of truth.
And these new agents didn’t want to be seen fumbling or seeking help in front of a customer.
So rather than increasing the frequency of training, we needed to offer them in-the-moment support that didn’t compromise their pride.
Output
- Designed One Tap Help Call - a discreet button inside the sales app
- When tapped, it silently triggered a callback from the support center. Receiving a call was way more acceptable to the sales agent rather than admitting the deficiency in their knowledge to a customer they were trying to impress
- Piloted in 2 regions and now being integrated into Shriram’s official sales toolkit
- Created a culture of real-time, shame-free support for new sales officers
A few simple ideas that were borne out of our Behaviour Design Codex
Discreet help button embedded in existing sales app
The support team initiates the call, not the agent
Incoming call looks like any regular call — no explanation needed
