MARKETING OF FINANCIAL PRODUCTS

FIELD WORK II – PROJECT

CUSTOMER PERCEPTION ON SALES FORCE SELLING INSURANCE

Table of Contents
ABSTRACT:..................................................................................................................................................... 2
1. INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................................... 2
1.1 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM ........................................................................................................... 3
1.2 NEED FOR THE STUDY ......................................................................................................................... 3
1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY ................................................................................................................. 3
1.4 HYPOTHESIS OF THE STUDY ................................................................................................................ 4
1.5 SCOPE AND LIMITATION OF STUDY .................................................................................................... 4
2. LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................................................................................. 5
3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY .................................................................................................................... 13
4. ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION ............................................................................................................ 14
5. FINDINGS ................................................................................................................................................. 25
6. IMPLICATIONS ......................................................................................................................................... 26
7. SUGGESTION AND CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................ 26
REFERENCES: ............................................................................................................................................... 26

1
ABSTRACT:

This study analysis the various factors that affects the perception of the customer about the sales
force with reference to insurance products and further analysis what are the features that
customer expects from a person selling insurance products. The dependent and independent
variables were constructed and their relationship was studied through the statistical tools like
mean, Correlation and regression. The primary research was conducted with the sample size of
118 for this study. The result shows that gender doesn’t affect the perception of customers
whereas other factors like age, income and occupation affects the customer perception.

1. INTRODUCTION

The customer perception and views about the product decides the success of any product.
Financial services sector is no exemption to this. This study aims to assess the degree in which
attitudes and consumer perception on sales force influences the insurance decision. It is known
that the influence of society, of family and friends are not the only factors that drive a consumer
in making a market decision. There are also psychological ones and situational factors that play a
major role in influencing customer decision.

Insurance is about risk coverage and protection. It is done by way of compensation in the event
of loss for a small payment called premium. It is exchanging one’s risk of loss for a monetary
payment. By taking up insurance services, an individual or entity obtains financial
reimbursement against losses from the insurance company which serves it. The different types of
insurance are life insurance, health insurance and general insurance. There are various insurance
plans offered by companies such as term plans, wealth plans, retirement plans, rural plans, group
plans, ULIPs and so on. Ever since the Indian government liberalised the insurance sector in
2000 and opened the doors for private participation, the Indian insurance sector has gone from
strength to strength. The future of the Indian insurance sector looks bright. The sector, which
stood at a strong US$ 72 billion in 2012, has the potential to grow to US$ 280 billion by 2020.
Absence of awareness about the industry among the public pose a great challenge for the sales
persons.

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Having considered the nature of the insurance policies we can understand that the customer
decision on buying insurance products depends on the ultimate benefit they derive from it and
also the service provided by the insurance products.

This study starts with introduction of the study followed the statement of the problem, objectives,
Hypothesis, period and limitations of the study. The second section includes the Literature
Review and research gap in literature review. The third section discusses about the research
methodology used in this study. The fourth section shows the analysis and interpretation of the
findings. The last section discusses the suggestions and conclusions.

1.1 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The companies promoting the products fail to provide enough training to the sales persons. At
the same time, the companies force the sales person to achieve the fixed target. Hence, the sales
persons are left with no option than to force their products for their survival. This behaviour of
the sales person causes a strain in the relationship between insurance sellers and the public. This
study aims to understand the perception of the customers on insurance selling which can help us
to know the attitude and the expectations of the customers.

1.2 NEED FOR THE STUDY

There is a need for both companies and insurance buyers to know the perception of customers
buying insurance products on the salesperson behaviour. Insurance companies can improve on
their sales by training their sales executives to meet the benchmark requirements of best practices
as observed in this research. Individuals can select the best insurance brand based on salesperson
behaviour as determined in this research.

1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The primary objective of the study is

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  To determine the perceptions of customers on sales force of insurance products.
The other objectives includes
 To find out the impact of gender differences on the customer perception
 To find out the whether the occupation influences the customer perception

1.4 HYPOTHESIS OF THE STUDY

H1: The gender differences has a direct impact on the perception about
personality/listening/communication of the sales force

H0: The gender difference does not have a direct impact on the perception about
personality/listening/communication of the sales force

H2: The age of the customer has a direct impact on perception about brand /grievance handling
of sales force in insurance industry

H0: The age of the customer does not have a direct impact on perception about brand and
grievance handling of sales force in insurance industry

H3: The income of the customer has a direct impact on perception about tax benefits/clarity of
sales person/customer service/follow up of sales force in insurance industry

H0: The income of the customer does not have a direct impact on perception about tax
benefits/clarity of sales person/customer service/follow up of sales force in insurance industry

H4: The occupation of the customer has a direct impact on perception about
product/industry/competitor knowledge of sales force in insurance industry

H0: The occupation of the customer does not have a direct impact on perception about
product/industry/competitor knowledge of sales force in insurance industry

1.5 SCOPE AND LIMITATION OF STUDY

The study has a scope of finding the customer perceptions on selling insurance products and
finding out the best characteristics of efficient salespeople who sell insurance products.
The limitations are:
 The analysis is limited to branded insurance products.
 The study is limited to 118 samples
 The time limit for the study is 30 days

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2. LITERATURE REVIEW

Ali Tizroo, K. F., &Farzad, S. A. (2013),The object of this study was to investigate how role
definition within insurance companies based in Ardabil Province is related with the performance
of sale networks of the companies. Performance enhancement of sale networks in insurance
companies was considered as dependent variable as based on customers' satisfaction scale and on
policy selling rate. Statistical sample of the study included 180 employees from sale network of
insurance companies based in Ardabil Province, which were randomly selected from all 544
employees in sale network of insurance companies in the province, the study provides evidences
that decrease in these variables plays a key part in improving the performance of sale network in
the insurance companies.

Ashfaque Ahmed (2013) examines the present state of affairs of rural life insurance in India and
attempts to explore the issues and challenges, which led to poor penetration of rural life
insurance markets. A field survey in Aligarh & Agra. Region of the rural customers has been
conducted to examine their perception and attitude towards buying life insurance products. He
also summarize the rural insurance marketing practices by life insurance players in India and
offers suggestive remarks for capturing the rural potential and lastly this paper discuss about
micro-insurance & its challenges in short details which is an opportunity as well as a
responsibility.

Emmanuel ErastusYamoah (2013) found that motivation and sales goals have a significant
correlation. The importance of people being able to sustain energy and drive to accomplish goals
is appreciated across disciplines. An increasing number of companies sees motivation as a key
consideration when it comes to company success in today’s competitive environment to reach
work-related goals. He also referred to Bearden et al., 2001 saying many insurance companies in
Ghana are increasingly relying on salespeople to generate revenue. The primary reason for this is
the adoption of the push marketing strategy by the insurance companies in their dealing with
consumers. The push marketing strategy involves convincing intermediary channel members to
“push” the product through the channel to the ultimate consumer. He referred that there are many
factors that affect the performance of sales personnel. The factors include motivation,

5
resourcefulness, product knowledge, aptitude, job satisfaction, role perception, personal factors.
(Churchill et al. 1985)

Freyedon Ahmadi, Adel Fatemi, and Reza Pashaie (2013) evaluate customers’ general
expectation and perception of insurers in terms of services offered at the insurance service
counter (ISC).Also examines the relationship between the demographic factors and SERVQUAL
mean score.Study utilized the survey approach.The sample consisted of 319 respondents.The
result shows huge gap for reliability, responsiveness, and empathy, which reliability shows
highest gap between customers’ perception and expectation.Customers expect to be able to reach
their insurance company at any time, by phone, online or face-to-face.Customers expect
complete, consistent, accurate answers to their entire question, whether they are inquiring about
the status of claim or the cost of new insurance
.
Mohnish Kumar and Priyanka Anjor (2013) underscore the need for Life Insurance providers
to gear customer service and quality improvement efforts towards components of reliability. To
study the factors of perception and expectation of customer on service quality in Life Insurance
Sector.To analyze the customer satisfactions drivers specifically to assess the relative impact of
service quality in Life Insurance Sector. This study is based on 500 Life Insurance customers
from five major cities of Uttar Pradesh KAVAL (Kanpur, Allahabad, Varanasi, Agra, and
Lucknow).The five dimensions of service quality are reliability, responsiveness, assurance,
empathy, and quality of tangibles referred to as SERVQUAL.

Agariya, Arun Kumar; Singh, Deepali (2012) aims at developing and validating CRM scale
for Indian insurance sector. A robust scale development methodology is followed which
ultimately results into Six-factor CRM scale comprising of claim payment security, product
knowledge, personalization, transparency in product selling and service quality. The
generalizability of the proposed scale can be tested by replicating the study in other nations. The
proposed scale will serve as a strategic tool for effective and efficient pre and post CRM
implementation outcomes. Apart from this, it can also be used to identify the opportunities and
bottleneck areas requiring attention. They mainly concentrated on CRM effectiveness.

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Gautam V and Kumar M(2012) illustrate the attitudes of Indian consumers towards the
insurance services.Study probe into the attitudes of Indian consumers towards insurance services
by using basic socio demographic and economic variables.The study has been made by
collecting the responses of consumers through structured questionnaire on five point Likert scale.
A total 377 responses were collected to assess the level of awareness about the insurance
services and their attitude towards insurance services.Findings of the research show that basic
socio demographic and economic variables have significant impact on consumers’ attitudes
towards insurance services in Indian scenario.

Ho, T. Y., Dubinsky, A. J., & Lim, C. U. (2012), have conducted a research on the misselling
activities that the customer feels that predominantly takes place in the financial services industry.
The potential for financial services industry salespeople to behave unethically has received
extensive research attention.The article seeks to address partially this gap in the literature. Sales
managers should seek to educate consumers about the various types of financial products, their
respective strengths and weaknesses, and the appropriate conditions under which they should be
purchased. Sales personnel should receive extensive ethics training to help enhance their ethical
attitude in the job. Salespeople should also seek to establish and maintain long-term relationships
with their customers and to pursue long-term profitability. The life insurance companies in the
study tended to employ a reward system that was a combination of a high basic salary and a
comparatively low commission level.

Jung-Kee Hong, &You-il Lee. (2012),studied that "Perceived value", "Trust", "Image", and
"Satisfaction" were found to be the determinants of customers' cross buying intentions in the
banking services of Korea and Taiwan, out of which "Trust" and "Satisfaction" were
significantly influenced by "Collectivism. The purpose of this paper is to be the first to explicate
the determinants of customers' cross-buying intentions in the banking services of Korea and
Taiwan, and then explore the influence of cross cultural values, such as "Collectivism", to the
relationships between these determinants and customers' cross buying intentions. The authors
employed a triangulation approach of structured surveys to 700 actual customers, and six
interviews with professional senior managers engaged in customers' cross-buying activities of
banking services in two countries - Korea and Taiwan.

7
Olumoko, TajudeenAbayomi; Abass, OlufemiAdebowale; Dansu, Sewhenu (2012) identifies
the challenges faced by Francis Nigerian insurance industry and found the most prominent is the
low awareness level among the insuring public. This may be resolved through effective personal
selling as promotional tool for insurance services. Personal selling is a unique element of
marketing, it does not only create awareness and provide information about the features of the
products; it also adopts individualistic approach that is designed to meet specific need of
prospects and specific market segments. This study will be useful to insurance and marketing
practitioners who wish to understand why there is variation in the demand for similar products of
different producers. It will arouse the reasons for constant review and update of marketing
strategies as response to changes in the business environment. The roles of personal selling in
enhancing clients’ satisfaction in Nigeria insurance market are examined. Findings from 110
respondents from selected insurance firms revealed that personal selling strategy is the most
beneficial marketing communication tool that should be embraced by Nigerian firms and may be
used to improve the image of the industry.

H. S. Sandhu and Neetu Bala(2011) aims to measure customers’ perception towards life
insurance service quality by applying a framework developed by Sureshchandar et al. An
advocated procedure has been used to develop, refine and validate a scale. Data has been
collected from 337 customers from the three cities of Punjab (a progressive State of India). The
findings of the study demonstrate that five-factor structure as proposed by Sureshchandar et al.
(2001) has been refined to seven-factor construct (consisting of 34 items) representing
Proficiency; Media and presentations; Physical and ethical excellence; Service delivery process
and purpose; Security and dynamic operations; Credibility; and Functionality. It reveals that
among these seven factors, three viz., Proficiency; Physical and ethical excellence; and
Functionality have significant impact on the overall service quality of Life Insurance Corporation
of India.

IrinjaMa¨enpa¨a, RaimoVoutilainen (2011) imply that financial service providers should

develop their one-stop shopping concept in the SME segment by creating a customer loyalty
program that would reward customer companies according to the use of multiple products in

8
their total portfolio. SME customers, who tend to acquire their banking and insurance services as
non-related products from separate providers, do not fully support these trends. The results
indicate that providers should pay special attention to the recognition of customers’ value
expectations related to cross-selling of combined offerings.

IrinjaMäenpää, &Voutilainen, R. (2011),The purpose of this paper is to investigate how

financial service providers cross-sell combined bank and insurance service offerings in a
business-to-business context with the aim of increasing understanding on the creation of
corporate customer value through cross-selling. The results imply that financial service providers
should develop their one-stop shopping concept in the SME segment by creating a customer
loyalty program that would reward customer companies according to the use of multiple
products in their total portfolio. Additionally, the possibilities of introducing hybrid products
solely for business customer use should be further investigated. This study is the first to show
how business customers perceive the value of cross-buying bank and insurance services,
presenting a reminder to managers about the importance of recognizing their SME customers'
value expectations.

Karthikeyan.K, R.Karthiand S. Sakthivel (2010)assess the quality of services offered by the

insurance company; attitude towards the customers regarding the policy and the services; and the
behavior of the customers towards future bustle. The study is conducted mainly to find out the
customers attitude towards the services of various insurance companies at Nagapattinam (Dt) -
Tamil Nadu in India. Primary data was collected by the researcher with the help of structured
questionnaire administered to 602 customers from leading 6 insurance companies at
Nagapattinam District- Tamil Nadu. In spite of the availability of many techniques and systems
for monitoring and measuring customer satisfaction and using it in decision-making, there are
major implementation problems facing a customer satisfaction strategy, which have been totally
ignored.

Masood H Siddiqui, Tripti Ghosh Sharma (2010) developed a reliable and valid instrument
for assessing customer perceived service quality for life insurance services. Service quality needs
to be measured using a six dimensional hierarchal structure consisting of assurance, competence,

9
personalized financial planning, corporate image, tangibles and technology dimensions. It would
help the service managers to efficiently allocate resources, by focusing on important dimensions
first. The gap scores show that there is ample room for service quality improvement in life
insurance industry in India. In the competitive insurance sector, these findings can be
transformed into effective strategies and actions for achieving competitive advantage through
customer satisfaction and retention.

Hsing-chan Tseng and Xin-zong Huang, Chang Jung (2009) found that the healthy operation
of insurance company depends on the performance of insurance salespersons and the number and
quality of clients. The key of the performance is the factor of “person”. The importance of right
position for right talent and right personality is non-negligible. The higher degree of optimism,
work pressure and work efforts had significant effects on the performance of salespersons.
Besides, the higher degree of optimism of salespersons would have significant effect on
performance through the medium effect of work pressure. The higher degree of optimism of
salespersons would also have significant effect on performance through the work pressure and
work efforts.

Popli, Gurmukh Singh; Rao, Dabbeeru (2009),conducted an empirical study to understand the
Indian customer's perception of the new channel for insurance. They studied whether the
customers preferred banks to insurance agents, who are offering them some commission also and
bank's ability to work as an effective conduit for selling insurance products. The Insurance
Companies in developed countries are using the Banking channels for selling their insurance
products. With the opening up of the Insurance Sector, the Banking Companies are tying up with
the Insurance Companies for the cross selling of insurance products. This study has provided
insights about what the customers actually perceive about the way the insurance is sold to them.

Min-HsinHuang(2007) provide some important managerial implications to a service firm. The

study says if a service firm is to be successful, it must understand what customers expect from
service employees in their market, and make sure that their employees meet those expectations
and further maintain a good relationship with their customers. The service firms like financial
service firms and insurance agencies are especially dependent on the development of long-term

10
relationships with their customers. This study suggests that expenditure on service development
and promotion can be, at least partially, negated by the poor performance of a selling behaviour
of a service employee and by decreasing quality of relationship with their customers. On the
other hand, a service employee adopting a customer-orientated approach may help a consumer
overlook shortcomings in the areas of service difficulties, providing these problems are
satisfactorily resolved and increase the quality of relationship with their customers. The results of
this research further suggest that service employee training emphasizing customer orientation
can add additional value to a company’s service offering and influence customer retention of the
service organizations.

Lymberopoulos, Konstantinos; Chaniotakis, Ioannis E; Soureli, Magdalini (2004)aims to

identify whether or not there are opportunities for banks in Greece effectively to cross-sell
insurance products through their branch network. In addition, it seeks to investigate the areas of
insurance product portfolio that could have a better potential to be distributed by Greek banks,
and to identify the profile of potential customers. The analysis from 720 bank customers showed
that the greatest opportunity comes from the fact that consumer awareness of the offering of
insurance products by banks is low in contrast to their willingness to use banks as insurance
products providers, which is very high. Additionally, there are indications that based on
consumer attitudes; there are identifiable market segments, which are more attractive.

Jackie L.M. Tam, Wong Y.H. (2001) finds that trust and satisfaction are the effective elements
for establishing successful relationships. Satisfaction, the salesperson’s self-disclosure and
relation orientation significantly influence future business opportunities. He finds that empathy
with employees, the freedom empowered to employees to serve their customers and the emphasis
of ethical behaviour are key dimensions to consider. As the salespersons are able to enhance the
relationships with their clients, clients will be more satisfied and more willing to trust, and thus
secure the long-term demand for the services.

Collins, Kathleen W; Starr, Richard D (2000) describes the legal, regulatory and legislative
developments affecting the permissibility and the manner in which banks sell insurance products
as agents are described. Focusing on events beginning with the Supreme Court's 1996 decision in
Barnett Bank v. Nelson, an explanation of the starts and stops encountered by banks, particularly

11
those located in the 25 or so "anti-affiliation" states, which traditionally forbade agents and
agencies "affiliated" with banks from selling insurance, is given. He explains how the Gramm-
Leach- Bliley Act of 1999, financial modernization legislation long sought by banks to resolve a
variety of insurance issues, actually complicates, at least for the short term, how banks sell
insurance, is explained.

Barron, John M;Staten, Michael E (1995),coercive and excessive pressure on the borrowers to
purchase credit insurance has been cited as an important variable affecting an individual’s
purchase of life insurance. A simple theoretical model of the demand for credit insurance is
tested using data from 63% of respondents to the 1993 CRC survey that purchased some form of
insurance and 37% of respondents who have not purchased any of the insurance products.
Observed relationships match those predicted by the model suggesting that the purchase pattern
for credit insurance are readily explainable without reliance on seller coercion as a factor. I% of
the purchasers did so because they thought that it was required. 1.6% thought that it increased
their chance to get a loan from the bank. 0.6% of the customers said that they purchased the life
insurance because of the sales pressure.

Morgan, Glenn (1993) Banks and building societies are increasingly selling insurance and
investment products within their branch networks. Case studies of three major UK financial
services institutions show the different ways this process is managed. The case studies examine
how the different forms of integration create distinctive problems for management. It is argued
that management has to balance the requirements for integration with the need to develop a
change process that minimizes conflict and encourages cooperation between different groups
within the companies. Such a change process can be most effective where it develops from a
strong customer orientation so marketing has a central role to play.

Morgan, R. E., & Chadha, S. (1993)attempted to measure some of the factors that contribute to
the ability of UK life insurance companies to create a competitive edge. They used a
questionnaire to get the responses from the sales force of 15 large life insurance companies. Most
respondents (85%) indicated that they wished to commit their long-term career to the selling of
life insurance. The findings indicate that the salespeople were of the opinion that they provided
quality. In most high-contact service operations, such as life insurance sales, the perception of

12
service quality is linked to the quality of the service provider. Life companies need to consider
ways of institutionalizing a relationship marketing philosophy at the service encounter in order
to move toward greater client-orientation. This paper has been spent discussing the fine-tuning of
life companies sales Strategies whilst their attained size must reflect some match with customer
needs in the first instance.

3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research Design:

This study is the analytical study to find out the customer perception on sales force concerning
insurance industry

Sampling:

Method of Sampling: Random Sampling method was used to collect samples in this study

Sample Size: 118

Data Collection: Primary data was collected from various professionals and business men for
this analysis

Tools of analysis:

The tools used for analysis in this study includes

 Correlation
 Regression

Correlation:

Corrrelation is used to find the strength of linear association between two variables is quantified
by the correlation coefficient..

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Regression:

Regression is a statistical process for estimating the relationship between a dependent variable
and one or more independent variables.

Y = a+bX

4. ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

Location Split-up of Samples:

Location Sample Size

Coimbatore 20

Chennai 20

Thiruvanamalai 20

Krishnagiri 18

Madurai 20

Udumelpet 20

Total 118

Calculation of Mean:

Variables Mean
Brand 4.57
Personality 3.8644
Listening 3.6949
Communication 4.0678
Grievance Handling 3.1441

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Customer Service 3.4068
Follow up 3.4407
Product knowledge 3.8644
Industry Knowledge 3.1102
Competitor Knowledge 3.5508
Clarity 3.7288

Mean
5.00
4.50
4.00
3.50
3.00
2.50
2.00
1.50
1.00 Mean
.50
.00

The questions were evaluated on a five-pointscale; from the above table we can understand that
the customers were more concerned about the brand. Brand has the high mean value of 4.57.

Gender Vs Personality

Correlations

Gender Personality

Gender Pearson Correlation 1 -.011

Sig. (2-tailed) .909

N 118 118
Personality Pearson Correlation -.011 1
Sig. (2-tailed) .909

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 Correlations

Gender Personality

Gender Pearson Correlation 1 -.011

Sig. (2-tailed) .909

N 118 118
Personality Pearson Correlation -.011 1

Sig. (2-tailed) .909

N 118 118

Coefficientsa

Standardized
Unstandardized Coefficients Coefficients

Model B Std. Error Beta t Sig.

1 (Constant) 1.506 .280 5.387 .000

Personality -.008 .071 -.011 -.114 .909

a. Dependent Variable: Gender

Interpretation
As the Pearson coefficient for the pair is negative, they are inversely correlated. There is no
significant relationship between the two variables. Regression also shows that they are strongly
negative correlated.

Gender Vs Listening

Correlations

Gender Listening

Gender Pearson Correlation 1 -.123

Sig. (2-tailed) .185

N 118 118
Listening Pearson Correlation -.123 1

Sig. (2-tailed) .185

N 118 118

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 Coefficientsa

Standardized
Unstandardized Coefficients Coefficients

Model B Std. Error Beta t Sig.

1 (Constant) 1.682 .162 10.371 .000

Listening -.056 .042 -.123 -1.334 .185

a. Dependent Variable: Gender

Interpretation
As the Pearson coefficient for the pair is negative, they are inversely correlated. There is no
significant relationship between the two variables. Regression also shows that they have weak
negative correlation.

Gender Vs Communication

Correlations

Gender Communication

Gender Pearson Correlation 1 -.048

Sig. (2-tailed) .603

N 118 118
Communication Pearson Correlation -.048 1

Sig. (2-tailed) .603

N 118 118

Coefficientsa

Standardized
Unstandardized Coefficients Coefficients

Model B Std. Error Beta t Sig.

1 (Constant) 1.575 .198 7.969 .000

Communication -.025 .047 -.048 -.522 .603

a. Dependent Variable: Gender

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Interpretation
As the Pearson coefficient for the pair is negative, they are inversely correlated. There is no
significant relationship between the two variables. Regression also shows that they have
moderate negative correlation.

Age Vs Brand

Correlations

Age Brand

Age Pearson Correlation 1 .081

Sig. (2-tailed) .385

N 118 118
Brand Pearson Correlation .081 1

Sig. (2-tailed) .385

N 118 118

Coefficientsa

Standardized
Unstandardized Coefficients Coefficients

Model B Std. Error Beta t Sig.

1 (Constant) 2.325 .321 7.247 .000

Brand .060 .069 .081 .871 .385

a. Dependent Variable: Age

Interpretation
As the Pearson coefficient for the pair is positive, they are directly correlated. There is a
significant relationship between the two variables. Regression also shows that they have
moderate positive correlation.

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Age Vs Grievance

Correlations

GrievanceHandl
Age ing

Age Pearson Correlation 1 -.243**

Sig. (2-tailed) .008

N 118 118
Grievance Handling Pearson Correlation -.243** 1

Sig. (2-tailed) .008

N 118 118

**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

Coefficientsa

Standardized
Unstandardized Coefficients Coefficients

Model B Std. Error Beta t Sig.

1 (Constant) 2.993 .153 19.556 .000

GrievanceHandling -.124 .046 -.243 -2.693 .008

a. Dependent Variable: Age

Interpretation
As the Pearson coefficient for the pair is negative, they are inversely correlated. There is no
significant relationship between the two variables. Regression also shows that they are weakly
negatively correlated.

Income Vs Tax Benefit

Correlations

Monthly income Tax Benefit

Monthly income Pearson Correlation 1 -.078

Sig. (2-tailed) .403

N 118 118
Tax Benefit Pearson Correlation -.078 1

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 Sig. (2-tailed) .403

N 118 118

Coefficientsa

Standardized
Unstandardized Coefficients Coefficients

Model B Std. Error Beta t Sig.

1 (Constant) 3.331 .391 8.518 .000

Tax Benefit -.089 .106 -.078 -.839 .403

a. Dependent Variable: Monthly income

Interpretation
As the Pearson coefficient for the pair is negative, they are inversely correlated. There is no
significant relationship between the two variables. Regression also shows that they are
moderately negatively correlated.

Income Vs Clarity

Correlations

Monthly income Clarity

Monthly income Pearson Correlation 1 -.055

Sig. (2-tailed) .552

N 118 118
Clarity Pearson Correlation -.055 1

Sig. (2-tailed) .552

N 118 118

Coefficientsa

Standardized
Unstandardized Coefficients Coefficients

Model B Std. Error Beta t Sig.

1 (Constant) 3.257 .418 7.788 .000

Clarity -.064 .108 -.055 -.597 .552

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 Correlations

Monthly income Clarity

Monthly income Pearson Correlation 1 -.055

Sig. (2-tailed) .552

N 118 118
Clarity Pearson Correlation -.055 1

Sig. (2-tailed) .552

a. Dependent Variable: Monthly income

Interpretation
As the Pearson coefficient for the pair is negative, they are inversely correlated. There is no
significant relationship between the two variables. Regression also shows that they have
moderate negative correlation.

Income Vs Customer Service

Correlations

Monthly income Customer Service

Monthly income Pearson Correlation 1 -.227*

Sig. (2-tailed) .013

N 118 118
Customer Service Pearson Correlation -.227* 1

Sig. (2-tailed) .013

N 118 118

*. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

Coefficientsa

Standardized
Unstandardized Coefficients Coefficients

Model B Std. Error Beta t Sig.

1 (Constant) 4.102 .446 9.195 .000

Customer Service -.318 .127 -.227 -2.511 .013

21
 Coefficientsa

Standardized
Unstandardized Coefficients Coefficients

Model B Std. Error Beta t Sig.

1 (Constant) 4.102 .446 9.195 .000

Customer Service -.318 .127 -.227 -2.511 .013

a. Dependent Variable: Monthly income

Interpretation
As the Pearson coefficient for the pair is negative, they are inversely correlated. There is no
significant relationship between the two variables. Regression also shows that they have weak
negative correlation.

Income Vs Follow up

Correlations

Monthly income Follow up

Monthlyincome Pearson Correlation 1 .202*

Sig. (2-tailed) .028

N 118 118
Followup Pearson Correlation .202* 1

Sig. (2-tailed) .028

N 118 118

*. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

Coefficientsa

Standardized
Unstandardized Coefficients Coefficients

Model B Std. Error Beta t Sig.

1 (Constant) 2.212 .379 5.843 .000

Followup .234 .105 .202 2.224 .028

a. Dependent Variable: Monthly income

22
Interpretation
As the Pearson coefficient for the pair is positive, they are directly correlated. There is a
significant relationship between the two variables. Regression also shows that they have weak
positive correlation.

Occupation Vs product knowledge

Correlations

Occupation Product knowledge

Occupation Pearson Correlation 1 .092

Sig. (2-tailed) .322

N 118 118
Productknowledge Pearson Correlation .092 1

Sig. (2-tailed) .322

N 118 118

Coefficientsa

Standardized
Unstandardized Coefficients Coefficients

Model B Std. Error Beta t Sig.

1 (Constant) 2.455 .547 4.490 .000

Product knowledge .137 .137 .092 .995 .322

a. Dependent Variable: Occupation

Interpretation
As the Pearson coefficient for the pair is positive, they are directly correlated. There is a
significant relationship between the two variables. Regression also shows that they have
moderate positive correlation.

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Occupation Vs Industry knowledge

Correlations

Occupation IndustryKnowledge

Occupation Pearson Correlation 1 .169

Sig. (2-tailed) .068

N 118 118
IndustryKnowledge Pearson Correlation .169 1

Sig. (2-tailed) .068

N 118 118

Coefficientsa

Standardized
Unstandardized Coefficients Coefficients

Model B Std. Error Beta t Sig.

1 (Constant) 2.237 .425 5.259 .000

Industry Knowledge .240 .130 .169 1.844 .068

a. Dependent Variable: Occupation

Interpretation
As the Pearson coefficient for the pair is positive, they are directly correlated. There is a
significant relationship between the two variables. Regression also shows that they are weakly
positively correlated.
Occupation Vs Competitor knowledge

Correlations

Occupation Competitor Knowledge

Occupation Pearson Correlation 1 .001

Sig. (2-tailed) .995

N 118 118
Competitor Knowledge Pearson Correlation .001 1

Sig. (2-tailed) .995

24
 Correlations

Occupation Competitor Knowledge

Occupation Pearson Correlation 1 .001

Sig. (2-tailed) .995

N 118 118
Competitor Knowledge Pearson Correlation .001 1

Sig. (2-tailed) .995

N 118 118

Coefficientsa

Standardized
Unstandardized Coefficients Coefficients

Model B Std. Error Beta t Sig.

1 (Constant) 2.980 .477 6.250 .000

Competitor Knowledge .001 .129 .001 .006 .995

a. Dependent Variable: Occupation

Interpretation
As the Pearson coefficient for the pair is positive, they are directly correlated. There is a
significant relationship between the two variables. Regression also shows that they have a strong
positive correlation.

5. FINDINGS
It is noted from the analysis that
 Brand to which the sales person belongs to is positively correlated to the age of the
customer
 Follow up service done by the sales person is positively correlated to the income of the
customer
 Product knowledge, industry knowledge and competitor knowledge of the sales person
are positively correlated to the occupation of the customer. Among the above factors
competitor knowledge of the sales force ranked first with a significance of 0.995

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6. IMPLICATIONS

The major implications of this study includes

 This study helps the insurance company to know about the factors that are considered by
the customers before buying the insurance
 This study also helps in designing the training structure for their sales person
 The insurance company can get advantage over the competitors by giving importance to
the major factors that influence customer perception like brand, product knowledge etc
 The sales person can understand that the selling process should be different from
customer to customer as their need also varies

7. SUGGESTION AND CONCLUSION

Among the positive factors competitor knowledge, product knowledge and brand ranked the top
three. So, the customer perception is mainly based upon the product and competitor knowledge
of the sales person and the brand to which the sales person belongs.
 The sales force can be made aware of these parameters in order to successfully close the
sales.
 The perception of the customer also differs from location to location so the training for
the sales force can also include giving insight about the location where they are employed
and giving information about the institutions operating there.
 The insurance companies can also give proper training to their sale force on the above
mentioned factors before letting them for direct selling

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18. Morgan, R. E., & Chadha, S. (1993). Relationship marketing at the service encounter: The case of life
insurance.The Service Industries Journal, 13(1), 112.
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 APPENDIX
QUESTIONNAIRE

CUSTOMER’S PERCEPTION ON SALES FORCE SELLING INSURANCE

We, the IInd year MBA students of PSG Institute of Management collect the
responses purely for academic purpose.

Personal Information
Gender

 Male  Female

Age

 Less than 20  21-40

 41-60  Above 60

Marital Status

 Married  Unmarried

Occupation

o Businessman/self-employed o Post graduate

o Professional o Student

o Any other

Monthly Income (Rs.)

 Up to 15000  15001-30000

 30001-45000  Above 45000

Mode of Payment

 Monthly  Quarterly

 Half-yearly  Yearly

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CUSTOMER’S PERCEPTION

Please read the following statements and enter

 5 if you Strongly Agree with the statement

 4 if you Agree
 3 if you are neutral
 2 if you Strongly Disagree
 1 if you Disagree

QUESTIONAIRRE 5 4 3 2 1
1. Brand Influences buying

2. Staff appeared neat and professional

3. Salesperson instils confidence by proper behaviour

4. Salesperson cares and pays individual attention to customers

5. Salesperson listens patiently and understands the specific needs of their

customers

6. Salespersoncommunicates effectively

7. Prompt & Efficient Grievance handling mechanism

8. Speedy documentation and processes from the time of issue of policies up to the
settlement of claims (e.g. premium and default notices etc.)

9. Ability of agents to give truthful advice on investments /tax benefits etc.

10. Salesperson readily accessible

11. Timely revival of lapsed policies, change of nominations, addresses and mode
of premium payment etc.

12. Salesperson have adequate product knowledge

13. Salesperson have adequate industry knowledge

14. Salesperson have adequate competitor knowledge

15. Clarity in explaining policy’s terms and conditions

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31