Customer Service Specialist, Life

Key Responsibilities

• Respond to inbound calls, providing support to agents, policy owners, and third parties via verbal and written communication, adhering to company policy, procedure, and Service Level/Quality Standard Agreements.
• Handle inquiries regarding policy values, features, coverage options, product performance, interest rates, address and allocation changes, withdrawals, surrenders, transfers, exchanges, beneficiary and ownership changes, guidelines, regulations, statements, and form completion.
• Acquire and maintain working knowledge of company products and updated procedures, completing required training.
• Address questions related to policy loans, billing and accounting processing, grace processing, and lapse notification.
• Demonstrate working knowledge of premium and contribution regulations.
• Correctly identify and apply appropriate regulations for request handling.
• Verify and explain tax documents.
• Consult and coordinate with departments including New Business, Agency Services, Sales and Marketing, Customer Correspondence, and the Annuity/Life Division.
• Submit accurate and timely requests via workflow system, understanding departmental procedures and service level agreements.
• Meet departmental expectations for phone and written quality, average handle time, held and consulted calls, and availability checks.
• 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 to prevent service breakdowns or complaints.
• Maintain multiple job functions including calls, emails, noting files, and faxing, with flexibility between varying call volumes.
• Efficiently navigate multiple systems, Microsoft Word, Excel, and Outlook.
• Provide trends and feedback to department leadership based on customer and agent communications, discussing concerns and offering improvement ideas.
• Promote teamwork by supporting team members, sharing knowledge, and providing feedback/coaching ideas.
• Participate in continued training for department advancement and apply learning from developmental workforce courses.
• Assist management with determining and implementing efficient workflow methods.
• Drive to meet/exceed all performance goals including KPIs and SLAs.
• Proactively participate in daily huddle board discussions, offering ideas, insights, and support.
• Actively participate in problem-solving sessions as requested.
• Take ownership of implementing standard work and other changes into daily work processes.
• Continuously strive to create a positive customer experience across all interactions.
• Embrace Sammons Financial Group Companies shared values: Accountability, Connection, Openness, Respect, and Integrity.
• Maintain regular attendance as required by the Company Attendance and Punctuality policy.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Requirements & Tech Stack

• Efficiently navigate multiple systems.
• Proficient in Microsoft Word, Excel, and Outlook.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree (Preferred)
• Previous customer service/call center experience (Preferred)
• 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.
• Ability to adapt to frequent change.
• Criminal background check required.