Case Study: Provide A Solution, Not A Product

Abstract

Human life is the most important asset of a human being. Insurance of one’s life is, therefore, an essential type of “assurance” that provides some measure of financial protection to the insured person and his family due to the uncertain risk or damage to life. Life insurance provides both safety and security to individuals and encourages and spurs savings among people. However, as the financial services sector has become highly competitive, financial institutions need to strengthen the relationships with their existing customers and defend their market share. The strategic dimension of marketing should focus on the direction an organization should take to a specific market segment or a set of needs to achieve the specified set of organizational objectives. In order to achieve the set objective, insurance companies adopt different strategies to achieve the “magic number” of the target. Some adopt ethical ways, while others mis-sell products and ‘miss the bus’.

This case study is designed to evaluate the marketing methods and sales strategies of the life insurance service sector, how these strategies boost sales and study the marketability of a product which ultimately should lead to customer satisfaction. The insurance scenario faces multiple challenges such as increased costs of operation, regulatory pressures and stiff peer competition. With the help of this case study, an attempt is made to indicate the different strategies of sales adopted by two sales executives - Sonam and Sukumar - and the consequences they face.