Dr. E. Baturalp Pamukçu, General Manager of Türk Nippon Sigorta, stated their emphasis on the agents as the most important distribution channel for Türk Nippon Sigorta. Pamukçu underlined that agents played a major role for their business, considering that they saw them as business partners. He added that the company acted with the conscious of this value.  Pamukçu said that a big part of their premiums were underwritten by agents, their most important business partner, and would continue to do so, as Türk Nippon Sigorta would keep working closely with their agents.  

Pamukçu told that they determined their strategy for their sales channels, agents in particular, as “accessibility” and added as follows: “Therefore, the quality of the services we provide for our agents is of paramount importance for us. Unlike other companies’ practices, Türk Nippon Sigorta tries to work within a dynamic structure which creates difference for our agents. We will continue working with this system and being innovative for our agents.”

 

‘Our agents can reach us at any moment’

 

Pamukçu remarked that the service quality provided by insurance companies was almost equal to their claims services; and Türk Nippon Sigorta strove for positioning themselves as the closest insurance company to communication with customers. Pamukçu defined the difference of Türk Nippon Sigorta as their ability to be accessible by their agents any time; and added: “

We know how important it is for our agents to hear a response from the other end of the line during a time of need. As a necessity of the era we live in, many business processes are executed through e-mails and messages. However, in some cases; no matter how clear you state a subject in e-mail, it may not be as clear as talking face-to-face or over the phone. In this respect, we try to be the most accessible insurance company for our agents.”

 

‘Our goal is to be a preferred insurance company’

 

Pamukçu emphasized that their greatest motivation was the appreciation of their service quality by agents and their loyalty to Türk Nippon Sigorta; adding that their goal was to be among the first preferences of agents in a market where many agents work with more than one insurance compay.

 

“All agents we work with are professional, have a sound grasp of their businesses, and know the problems of this market. Many of them have gained their value and say in market chambers by serving this market for some time. “We frequently exchange opinions with our agents and offer them solutions to address their requirements and expectations,” said Pamukçu and added that profitability can be achieved by acting hand-in-hand with the agents in light of the same awareness. 

 

‘Agents should structure a balanced portfolio’

 

Pamukçu mentioned the importance of sustainability for insurance agents just like any other commercial business, saying “From this perspective, agents must structure their portfolio of both non-auto and auto insurance products. Because automobile insurance is composed of products with high loss frequencies and loss structures. Automobile insurance products are easier to sell than other products; however they may have consequences that increase the loss frequencies and loss ratios of agents. It is much easier for agents that own balanced portfolio structures to achieve the sustainability of their operations.”

 

 ‘E-commerce volume is increasing’

Pamukçu stated that volume of e-commerce in Turkey was gradually increasing, which had tangible impacts on the insurance market. He underlined that online insurance services would be used increasingly in the coming years; adding that all the advantages e-commerce provides for consumers would apply to online insurance sales as well. 

 

Pamukçu added that it would therefore be more significant for consumers to make conscious choices in terms of insurance coverage; and agents would play a major role as parties that understood the expectations of consumers and helped them make the right choices. Expressing that online insurance required consumers to be steered and informed very well so that they can make conscious choices in light of that knowledge; Pamukçu stated that most agents began to plan for the future of online insurance and to design their systems accordingly.

 

 ‘Agents can benefit from distant sales as well’

 

“Target audience of online insurance business -which will support individual sales- will be young generation and consumers who don’t have much time. Thus, rise of distant sales will not decrease the share of agents in premium production; but benefit agents that prepare their technological infrastructure for this. Our company monitors technological developments very closely, and as a company that grows together with its agents, provides the required system support for them to grow in e-commerce. We are not engaged in any activities that would have a negative impact on the premium production of our agents,” said Pamukçu; and said that they provided support to their agents through web services for their focus products.

 

Pamukçu described their technological investments for agents as follows: “After working on our system infrastructure, we now help our agents with their quoting / policy drawing processes on our agency portal via user-friendly interfaces we call ‘Jet Satış.’ Moreover, we provide web services for agents that wish to use our product policy servers for their own projects. We always receive positive feedbacks regarding the technological support we provide.”

 

‘We grow with our agents’

Stating that Türk Nippon Sigorta is a young and dynamic insurance company that grows with its agents, Pamukçu shared that their company evaluated all suggestions from their agents rapidly and provided instant support for projects and opinions they believe in. Pamukçu offered insurance agents to steer their customers towards cross-sales, not just for the sake of Türk Nippon Sigorta but also for market development; and to focus on selling products that would contribute to market profitability and on projects that would expand their retail portfolios.

  

‘Social media gets more and more important’

 

Pamukçu added that with digital transformation, social media would no longer be a small cost item and become a basic need for their corporate reputation and marketing activities. He added that insurance companies would be using social media more effectively as well: “We constantly listen to our consumers to understand their expectations from our market, their problems, and their perspective on our company and insurance business in general; and provide solutions accordingly. Our projects on social media utilization will continue and develop even further in the coming terms. Besides, we want to touch our customers and make their lives easier with different products in non-auto line. Therefore, we use social media very effectively in order to introduce and sell our new products online to customers.”