The PZU Group has created the geographically biggest sales network in Poland. As a result, clients enjoy easy and convenient access to financial products and services. The Group also ensures quality service by upskilling the sellers and providing them with modern tools, removing architectural barriers for people with disabilities.
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The PZU sales and service network
with 189 in small communities;
The PZU Group’s clients in Poland have also access to Bank Pekao’s distribution network (597 branches) and Alior Bank’s distribution network (534 branches, including 168 traditional branches, 7 Private Banking branches, 13 Corporate Banking Centers and 346 partner centers; Alior Bank offers its products through the network of 10 mortgage centers and approximately 3,000 intermediaries. The Bank also conducts its business through a Branch in Romania, where customer service is provided through remote channels). Both banks have professional call centers and mobile and internet banking platforms.
When it comes to bancassurance and strategic partnerships, the PZU Group collaborates with 13 banks and 23 strategic partners. The PZU Zdrowie network has almost 2,200 partner and over 130 own centers.
Cooperation with the banks within the PZU Group (Alior Bank and Bank Pekao) forms an additional platform for PZU to build lasting client relations. At the end of 2022, more than 7.9 thousand banking advisors (4.6 thousand in Bank Pekao and 3.3 thousand in Alior Bank) were enrolled in the Register of Insurance Agents.
A comparable number of advisors compared to the data for 2021 is a result of the deletion from the register of persons whose type of cooperation with PZU does not require a license from the Polish Financial Supervision Authority, or persons who no longer work at the banks. In 2022, PZU examined and registered approximately 1,700 new individuals who obtained license from the Polish Financial Supervision Authority.
Traditional channels
The network of 409 standardized PZU branches is evenly distributed across Poland in carefully selected locations. PZU branches are the only distribution channel ensuring comprehensive sales and aftersales service of PZU Group’s non-life, life and pension insurance and investment products in each outlet. The offering in PZU branches is targeted at individual clients as well as businesses from the small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) segment.
The agent network helps with the accessibility of products and services for clients. The priorities for the management of the tied agent network include implementing the PZU Group strategy and adapting the sales network to the challenges of the modern world. To this end, an important change was implemented in 2022 in the sales structure of the Own Sales Department. In the new structure, the sales function is clearly separated from the administrative and support functions. The purpose is for all sales managers to be able to focus more on supporting their agents in retaining existing clients and attracting new ones.
There were 4 Macroregions, 20 Sales Networks and 215 Sales Teams established. Also, 4 Sales Process Support Teams were separated for product and system support to the Agent Teams.
At the level of Agent Teams, there was a change to divide salespeople into Premium Agent Teams, Key Agent Teams and Tied Agent Teams, depending on the volume of sales made by salespeople and their business maturity.
The changes resulted in a significant increase in the efficiency of the underwriting process, which has a direct impact on the competitiveness of the channel’s Tied Agents in the insurance distribution market. In addition, additional positions were identified within the structures to support business processes: Product and System Trainer and Group Offer Coordinator. The role of the trainers is to develop the competence of agents by updating their knowledge and learning new skills in order to ensure that the quality of advice, for which this channel is famous, remains consistently high.
One of the priorities remained the development of the sales network in terms of its universalization and comprehensive service. This means that the same agent offers products of many companies within the PZU Group. Agents become professional advisors at each stage of the client’ life. Thus, through one agent, a client can insure assets, buy medical and life insurance, take care of retirement and obtain financing from a PZU Group bank. However, in late 2022, over 3,000 out of approximately 5,000 tied agents had authorizations to sell PZU and PZU Życie products.
The number of tied agent offices in Poland amounted to over 1,4000 as at 31 December 2022. Improvement of the professionalism and quality of customer service in the agent’s offices, and increasing their physical presence in the field are the priorities of the network development. Training on service quality standards, substantive support for the sales teams and even financial support from PZU – all this helps agents to attain the highest level.
In 2022, also PZU Życie continued its development and professionalization of the PZU Życie Tied Agent network, increasing client service standards and implementing new products. These activities are primarily aimed at high quality and availability of products and services to the client.
The MDRT.PZU Club was launched in 2022. It is a mentoring program aimed at supporting salespeople in achieving sales goals that enable them to join the Million Dollar Round Table (MDRT), an organization of the top 1% of the world’s best financial agents and advisors. The program includes development activities to improve participants’ sales skills and competence in organizing and managing their own work.
In 2022, the PZU Życie Tied Agent network introduced the Mystery Shopping program. After the meeting, the assessors prepare a report on the meeting. The result is to obtain detailed information on compliance with sales standards, and then to implement directed development and management actions to correct potential deficiencies.
Increasing importance is being given to an effective and legally compliant way of obtaining referrals to potential clients. In 2022, work began on an electronic application to support the referral conversation during a sales meeting and to ensure that the referrer is comfortable with providing the agent or advisor with contacts to third parties. This will result in the use of an electronic process for communicating with the referral before direct contact is made, obtaining confirmed consent from the referrer for the referral, and a secure and GDPR-compliant process for processing and archiving personal data.
Remote channels
PZU sales hotline
Clients interested in buying insurance remotely can contact PZU via a dedicated number: 600 600 601. On the other hand, clients with active contracts are taken care of by specialists who take care of the continuity in insurance cover, which allows to keep in touch with the client.
Thanks to modern technologies, including the integration of automation and robotics into the phone service process, the risks of spam or phishing are minimized. In 2023, an effort was launched with partner Hiya to identify the hotline number with the PZU logo. In 2022, the possibility for clients to call back a PZU consultant was introduced. In 2023, text messages announcing a call from PZU and informing of an unsuccessful attempt to contact the customer were also launched.
| Number of sales hotline calls: | |
|---|---|
| 2021 | 982.5 thousand |
| 2022 | 1.05 million |
Development of offerings
The hotline’s product offerings in 2021 focused on vehicle, housing, travel and personal accident insurance risks.
In 2022, the portfolio of products offered by telephone sales expanded to include crop insurance, among other things. This was accompanied by technological changes in the purchasing process, focused on client satisfaction. The breakthrough was the implementation of the property inspection function via the Video Inspector application. This solution meets the needs of clients interested in quickly purchasing insurance that requires vetting by a PZU employee, especially MOD insurance or unusual real property, such as a vacation home. At the same time, it safeguards the interests of PZU and prevents the risk of extortionate claims. The sales hotline is also piloting the sale of selected insurance from offerings of PZU Życie starting in 2022.
In 2022, PZU made it possible for Ukrainian customers to purchase a border liability insurance policy over the phone. For this purpose, a team of Ukrainian-speaking consultants has been established, and the already existing team dedicated to the English-speaking client has been strengthened.
Remote insurance distribution contributes to the omnichannel strategy. The client can talk to a consultant at their convenience about any insurance, including insurance previously concluded with an agent or in a branch. The development is supported by innovative AI-based tools such as Comadso (an interactive GTCI comparison engine) and Nexidia (AI that supports listening to recorded calls).
Premium written in the remote channel
Year after year, an increasing percentage of customers are choosing a remote form of signing an insurance agreement. Premiums written by PZU in remote channels increased by 29.2% y/y to PLN 180.1 million in 2022. The number of clients using this form of purchase is also growing steadily. As recently as 2021, it was 229,000. In 2022, the number increased by 33% – to 303,500.
mojePZU – all services in one place
The service is continuously being developed and upgraded with new functions. In 2022, a number of redesign-related changes were made to the moje.pzu.pl website, including: a new layout of tabs, simplification of the top menu, all with the aim of providing a user-friendly and intuitive tool.
In the health area in 2022, the view of the page for managing medical services was redesigned by adding, among other things, new tabs and options. One of them is the ordering of an e-prescription for follow-up treatment without additional consultation with a doctor, the option to conveniently schedule laboratory tests ordered by a specialist, or the presentation of medical records issued by PZU Zdrowie physicians in one place. The health offer was expanded to include more medical packages for individual clients or special offers for 67+ clients and young clients up to 28 years of age.
In the area of insurance product sales and renewals, it is now possible to offer PZU Gospodarstwo Rolne, General TPL and PZU Firma. With this solution, clients may easily start insurance without the need to leave their home.
In the category of client communication, PZU Auto renewals were fully transferred online in 2022. Clients whose insurance is coming to an end receive a reminder containing a renewal offer and the option to renew their insurance directly through the service. This has had a positive impact on paperless rates. In addition, a pre debt collection process was launched, thanks to which the client receives a reminder of an upcoming or overdue payment with the option of paying it immediately. Communication in the claims handling process was also expanded. With messages in the inbox and push notifications in the mobile app, the user has quick access to information about the claim documentation.
In 2022, the payment area was expanded. Relying on the intuitive nature of the solution, PZU created its own payment gateway. Thanks to this, it was possible to extend the offer of payment methods by adding, among others, Blik, OneClick or Google Pay. Also, basket payments were introduced. As it is possible save a payment card, recurring payments, so much desired by users, were implemented. At the same time, the client has access to upcoming payments and the history of completed transactions in mojePZU.
By the end of 2022, over 1,560,000 users downloaded the mojePZU app. We know how important it is to make the mobile app time-saving and intuitive, so its functionalities are constantly being developed. In the health area, over 450 screens were designed and implemented over the past year to best adapt processes to the mobile device user.
In the interest of client data security, changes were made to the password rules for mojePZU. In addition, we show the strength of the entered password.
mojePZU comprises also the PZU Pomocni Club. It is a loyalty program through which clients obtain access to a catalog of discount codes and additional benefits.
inPZU – an online platform for selling and handling mutual funds and pension products
inPZU is also dedicated to participants of Employee Capital Schemes, and since November 2022 – all other TFI PZU SA products, for instance Employee Pension Schemes (EPS), Employee Savings Plans (ESP), GPE products, registers at PZU FIO Parasolowy, SEJF+ products. Client service is done solely in the online channel without having to pay a visit to a branch while the platform is available on all network-enabled devices. inPZU has enabled the PZU Group to build the first offer of lowcost special purpose funds in Poland.
inPZU in numbers:
accounts, investment portfolios,
PZU FIO registers, EPS and ECS
registers, and IRA and IRSA products
regarding inPZU SFIO
participation units by TFI PZU clients
In 2022, the following was performed on inPZU:
- migration was performed for both productive systems of transfer agents, which comprised migration of client servers. The inPZU platform became the sole client service handling all TFI PZU products under one login and password;
- Seven special purpose funds were added to the offer;
- The IRA and IRSA offer was extended by adding seven special purpose funds;
- Sales and handling were implemented for a new pension product based on special purpose funds – “Higher Retirement Package”, consisting of EPS, PPO, IRA and IRSA products;
- New method of identity verification through video identity check was implemented;
- A newsletter was sent out for the first time to inPZU clients;
- The video identity check process was changed, introducing the option to verify identity based on a Polish passport and residence permit;
- Actions were continued to increase sales effectiveness in the online channel and to strengthen communication with new and existing clients by organizing webinars, video recordings, e-mail communication, text messages and in social media;
- Product campaigns were conducted for IRA and IRSA.