Key Account Manager - Broker Channel - Insurance

To effectively manage and work with - Core- distribution relationships towards achievement of mutually agreed business goals and Identify potential relationships to expand distribution reach and contribute additional business volumes.

Organisation Context -

Broker Channel works with Insurance Brokers as approved by the Management of Co. The business generation is driven by the Brokers and the Co Sales team works with the teams of the partners and provides support both in pre-sales and post-sales processes. The BD & KAM team will equip the sales teams of the Partners with the necessary product knowledge and domain know-how.

Broker domain as a key growth area and we will be entering into strategic, long term business agreements with large, successful Distributors in the domain. Some of these Distributors work with multiple partners in accordance with the guidelines laid down by IRDA. Such distributors who will enter into long term agreements and will contribute significant volumes to the Channel's business will be termed as - Key Accounts or Strategic Alliances- and are collectively expected to contribute between 50% - 75% of the entire channel's business.

The critical aspect of managing the Strategic Alliances and working with them to ensure achievement of Channel's business goals is done by the - Strategic Alliances & Key Account Management team. This team also works towards increasing the Co's share of the Partner's business.

The Key Accounts Manager (KAM) is directly accountable for the achievement of mutually agreed business goals through the - Core- distributors and to increase the share of business from each of these distributors for Co.

The KAM is the pivotal point of interaction between the Senior Management of Co and the Senior Management of the Channel Partners and is a face of the organisation to the National Distributors. The goal is to create credibility, build strong lasting client relationships and win the distributors trust, ultimately developing advocates within the Strategic Accounts.

The role holder needs to have a Pan- Co view to be able to co-ordinate and liaise with Internal stakeholders and make necessary support available to the channel partner be it in respect of IT requirements, Operational Support, Marketing Support or inputs from Finance, Compliance and Legal.

The KAM works with the Zonal Sales teams to ensure alignment of zonal goals with the overall business goals as identified to be achieved through the - Core- Channel Partners.

The KAM advices the Distributors regarding product options, provide support to a Partner's product requirements, maintain knowledge of new & existing products and report competitor activities and systems.

The KAM engage in a variety of tasks, which goes beyond sales and managing the relationship between a business entity and its customers. These may include project management, coordination, decisive planning, commercial negotiations, leadership, and innovative development of opportunities.

The KAM develops new accounts and looks for opportunities for organic growth within the Partner Organization. He / She leverages on the relationship management skills to ensure excellent service delivery leading to customer satisfaction and retention. KAMs analyze and adapt new strategies to react to changing business trends. KAM is responsible for understanding the market trends and knowing how they affect their Accounts. The KAM also organises and leads periodical Account Reviews, effectively communicates with all departments to resolve customer issues, provide substantial information relating to sales plans and reports.

The role requires a deep understanding of the partner firm business, systems and processes that touch products, capabilities and appropriately position value proposition with viable solutions to enhance revenue for both the parties. Address client concerns and ensure the resolution of issues in a timely manner, with follow-up when appropriate.

Market Context:

- Multiple Insurers competing for the same distribution space

- Large Distributors with multiple product lines

- Varied Distributor background.

- Varied sales processes.

- Tough Regulatory Environment

- Large spread of Points of Sales.

- Difficulty in controlling business quality

- Difficulty in implementation of standard sales processes.

- High attrition at FOS level

The Broker space is highly dynamic, complex in nature and competition is intense due to the fact that it operates on - open architecture- to a large extent. Distributors/ Brokers will work through varied distribution models as approved by Regulator and Co's Senior Management from time to time.

The sources of business for the CABC distributors are also various, like:

- Direct to Customer Models - DST, Telesales

- Cross sell / up sell to existing customers through branches - retail sales.

- Wealth Management

- Seminar Sales

- Insurance Solutions to Corporate Clients

- B2B models - Sub- Broker or Sub- Agent models

While Insurance Brokers are licensed by IRDA to work with multiple Insurers, Hence, it is extremely critical to garner mindshare both at the Senior Management level and the field force level within each Channel Partner.

The role holder has to understand the complex nature of business, with a clear understanding of the business models deployed by the channel partners and gain maximum share of business. This also requires understanding of products, processes and all related aspects of business like commercials, compliance, marketing etc to be able to solve complex business problems and provide solutions to gain sales.

Persistency is a key factor impacting the financials of Co. The role holder has to create an overall necessity to control and improve persistency by educating the channel partners on various processes than can be useful for the same.

After sales Customer service is one of the key concern areas for brokers, KAM need to align and manage expectations of internal and external stakeholders

4) Principal Accountabilities

Accountability Supporting Actions

- Premium target and share of business - Achieve premium targets in line with Cigna agreements with the channel partners and align the terms of contract in line with market realities and with necessary approvals from the Senior Management of Co.

- Align premium targets across distributor verticals like DST, cross sell, venues etc., wherever possible, in consultation with the Channel Partners.

- Drive towards equitable share of channel partner's business across zones.

- Business Value (VNB) - Achieve the desired product mix for the relationship across verticals and regions.

- Influence the product mix to meet the goals on an ongoing basis.

- Expense control - Achieve goals within planned budgets.

- Find innovative ways of cost control.

- Gain maximum mindshare with minimum expenses.

- Alignment of Manpower & training - Recruit team members as per budget.

- Ensure deployment of manpower at relationship point of sales as per planned budgets with help of zonal teams.

- Training of Co and channel partner resources.

- Persistency - Achieve planned persistency for the relationships.

- Gain distributor mindshare by showing revenue loss.

- Collecting best practices from market sources and implement to improve persistency with distributors.

- R&R programs - Design R&R programs to meet specific channel requirements.

- Implement the contests to create high level of excitement.

- Superior positioning of Co-contests in comparison to competition.

- Timely and accurate payouts for contest rewards.

- Compliance and customer complaints - Ensure compliance of regulatory norms in all practices.

- Ensure compliance of Co values framework in all dealings with customers and distributors.

- Timely resolution of customer complaints and evolve mechanisms for reduction.