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APPOINTMENTS
Pierre Vézina becomes
Chairman of the Board and Stéphane Massie is appointed President and
Pierre Vézina, C.I.B, CIP, CRM Chairman of the Board
Stéphane Massie, B.B.A., C.I.B, FCIP, CRM President and CEO
Messrs. Pierre and Patrice Vézina, Co- Presidents and Chief Executive Officers of Vézina assurances Inc. and Vézina & asso- ciés Inc. (Vézina), are proud to announce the appointment of Mr. Stéphane Massie as President and Chief Executive Officer of Vézina, effective on January 1, 2020.
With nearly 30 years of experience at Vézina, Mr. Massie will oversee all of the firm’s growth initiatives and will be respon- sible for promoting the company within the industry. Recognized for his leadership and his deep knowledge of the industry, he will be able to transmit Vézina’s values, placing its clients, employees and training of the next generation at the forefront.
As part of this reorganization, Mr. Pierre Vézina will become Chairman of the Board of Vézina. His role will be to support the management team in the strategic orienta- tion of Vézina and to continue to provide services to clients while maintaining priv- ileged relationships with business partners.
Following his decision to devote himself to personal projects as of the end of 2020, Mr. Patrice Vézina’s mandate, in the coming year, will be to lead the important transition of his responsibilities to the management team.
Founded in 1978, Vézina, a Marsh & McLennan Agency LLC company, is one of Canada’s most experienced, innovative and best performing insurance brokerage firms specializing in commercial, indus- trial, institutional and group life insurance.
FEATURE l TEXTING CLIENTS
“I just think
it’s a foregone conclusion. Everybody
has a cellphone; everybody can text. It’s now
a legitimate standard form of communication in our modern day.”
It’s easy to miss an email, less so for a text. “From our experience, we find that customers prefer text message because it is faster and more convenient,” Irwin says. “The average inbox these days has too many unread messages and the re- minder email can be easily lost or over- looked. There is a reason why people text more than email for short messages.”
However, Kruk warns, a customer’s text message inbox may one day resem- ble his or her email inbox. “The problem is, if every business starts dealing with the clients through text, it’s just going to divert the problem to SMS messages as opposed to email,” he says. “That would be my opinion – people want text because they might only get a dozen texts in a day, so they’re not going to miss one.”
Therein lies the future challenge for text messaging. It’s a great tool now be- cause it’s not widely used. But once it is, then what? It’s all about staying on top of the latest technologies, Irwin advises. “In the future, something different and better will most likely come along and become more popular than texting,” he says. “Brokers should constantly keep track of what technologies are available to best meet current preferences.”
That’s not a problem as far as Mitch- ell is concerned. Texting shouldn’t be a brokerage’s only form of communica- tion with customers. It’s simply another tool at a broker’s disposal.
“Would you ever give up email?” he
says. “It’s the same sort of thing now with texting. I just think it’s a foregone conclusion. Everybody has a cellphone; everybody can text. It’s now a legitimate standard form of communication in our modern day.”
There’s a time to use text and a time to use email, Irwin says. “A text message should be short and concise. The mes- sage cannot have the same amount of content as an email or a letter.”
Brokers need to keep in mind that they can’t do everything by text, like binding coverage. A text, Irwin stresses, is for fast and simple communication. “Customers can ask questions via text and receive an- swers almost instantly.”
But data can be collected via text, such as the make and model of a car, leading up to binding a policy, Kruk says. Bro- kers can then send a quote back via text. Or it may be the contact information of a lawyer when buying a house.
“You can collect photos of ownership, accidents and houses,” Mitchell adds. “You can chat back and forth about when you can connect.”
Kruk cautions that brokers need to be careful about privacy concerns. “It’s hard to send private information over text,” he says. “You’re not going to send claims information or stuff to do with court cases.”
Plus, there are limitations around what can go through text. Some things, like cancellations, must be done through registered mail. Given “how litigious it’s becoming in Ontario, we’re making sure our documentation has all the I’s dotted and T’s crossed,” Kruk says. “With text conversations, it’s hard to make sure that’s being done.”
Still, Mitchell encourages all brokers to get on board. “I really think it’s being over-thought. No one says, ‘How dare you text me?’”
Furthermore, Mitchell says, you can carry on multiple text conversations at one time, as opposed to being occupied by only one phone call at a time. “I think it’s as much to do with being available to our customers as how they would like to communicate with us,” Mitchell added. “If they would like to chat on Facebook Messenger, text, whatever, we want to be there to receive it and respond.”