Customer Contact Specialist - Annuity

Sammons Financial Group•West Des Moines, IA

3d•Onsite

About The Position

This role involves communicating verbally with annuity policyowners, agents, third parties, and internal support departments regarding customer needs. All interactions should be guided by corporate shared values, with the customer at the forefront.

Requirements

Ability to communicate effectively and tactfully with agents and policyowners
Knowledge of and ability to maneuver through multiple information screens
Excellent verbal and written communication skills
Strong organizational skills
Strong problem-solving skills
Ability to work efficiently and independently or in a team environment
Able to adapt to frequent change
Criminal background check required

Nice To Haves

Bachelor's Degree
Previous customer service/call center experience

Responsibilities

Respond to inbound calls by providing support to agents, policy owners, third parties, or others in verbal and written communication using a professional and friendly approach, adhering to company policy, procedure, Service Level, and Quality Standard Agreements.
Answer calls regarding policy values, features, rider benefits, coverage options, indexed and variable policy performance, products, interest rates, address changes, allocation changes, withdrawals, surrenders, transfers, exchanges, beneficiary changes, ownership changes, guidelines, regulations, annual and quarterly statements, and completing forms within standard turnaround times.
Acquire and maintain working knowledge of company products, including staying updated on procedure changes and completing required training.
Field questions regarding policy loans, billing and accounting processing, grace processing, and lapse notification.
Display a working knowledge of premium and contribution regulations.
Correctly identify and apply appropriate regulations to ensure proper handling of requests, and verify/explain tax documents.
Consult and coordinate with other departments including New Business, Agency Services, Sales and Marketing, Customer Correspondence, and the Annuity/Life Division.
Submit accurate and timely requests via the workflow system, understanding each department's job function and service level agreements to manage end-user expectations.
Meet departmental expectations for phone and written quality, average handle time, held and consulted calls, and availability.
Navigate and provide direction to agents and policy owners for accessing policy information via external websites, troubleshooting display errors, assisting with notification preferences, requesting illustrations, and reviewing policy correspondence.
Identify, communicate, and proactively solve problems or issues before service breakdowns or complaints occur.
Maintain multiple job functions such as incoming calls, emails, file noting, and faxing, while being flexible between high and low call volumes and displaying exemplary customer service skills.
Efficiently navigate multiple systems, Microsoft Word, Excel, and Outlook.
Provide trends and feedback to department leadership based on customer or agent communications, and discuss concerns and ideas for improvement.
Promote teamwork by supporting team members, sharing knowledge, and providing feedback and coaching ideas for peer mentoring and personal development.
Participate in and apply continued training for department advancement and developmental workforce courses.
Assist management with determining and implementing efficient workflow methods.
Meet or exceed all performance goals including KPIs, SLAs, and other communicated standards.
Proactively participate in daily huddle board discussions, offering ideas, insights, and support.
Actively participate in problem-solving sessions as requested by management.
Take ownership of implementing standard work and other changes into daily work processes.
Continuously strive to create a positive customer experience throughout all interactions, processing, and problem-solving efforts.
Embrace Sammons Financial Group Companies shared values (Accountability, Connection, Openness, Respect, and Integrity).
Maintain regular attendance and punctuality as required by the Company Attendance and Punctuality policy to meet business service levels and workflow demands.
Perform other duties as assigned.