Trust and transparency in the Prize Promotion industry

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Tom Stagg, Sales Manager at Worldwide Special Risks  headline sponsor of IPM CONNECT 2019, shares the importance of ‘trust and transparency’ in the prize promotion industry.

To learn more about this topic, join us at CONNECT 2019 by registering here.

It’s always the insurance companies fault isn’t it? The small print, the red tape, the complicated terms and conditions in size 8 font that nobody can even read let alone understand – it’s no wonder they get a bad reputation.

As provider of Promotional Insurance Solution, we consider ourselves to have one foot in each camp, Promotions & Insurance Risk.  Our challenge, like many agencies is to sell ourselves as much as our products. Our prerogative is to have an actual human connection with our clients and co-workers. How often to make a purchase online, and the screen flashes and you’re back to the homepage and you’ve got no idea if your purchase went through or went through correctly, or in my case often whether the pizza is actually on its way?

Our clients don’t just purchase promotional insurance so they can make a claim when far too many customers strike it lucky than their budget allowed; they purchase peace of mind and freedom to progress before during and after their promotion safe in the knowledge that their budget is fixed.  Without trust they’ve got sufficient cover, they’ll never get that peace of mind, and the gloss can quickly come off what should have been a successful promotion.

“What would you do if you won lottery?”

Prize Promotions can sometimes raise questions about the difficulty and frequency of winners. Our challenge is present a promotion that consumers can connect with, understand and for a brief moment, allow a sliver of excitement and belief that they’re going home with a dream prize, or at least a smaller reward. Working with agencies, we stress the importance of clarity, simplicity and transparency in a promotional mechanic.  “Explain it to me like I’m 5 years old” is a phrase I often use when discussing a promotion. Trust is the most complex five letter word in the dictionary. For us, trust between agencies, brokers, clients, our underwriters and suppliers is a tangled web that requires navigating carefully.

The first stepping stone for trust, is transparency. Our prize promotions are underwritten by the oldest and most trusted insurance company in the world: Lloyds of London. The relationship goes both ways – by audit and review we are held to the highest standards – when everything goes south and you need insurance to pay, you can be rest assured that the underwriters who paid out on the Titanic will be there!

If trust and transparency are the fire, honesty is the fuel. In my time I’ve sold everything from electrical cable to coffee (although I drank more than I sold) and the biggest weapon in my arsenal was honesty. I don’t oversell, push products that clients don’t need or want, or try and twist a brief or campaign to suit my targets. Because of this, my relationship with agencies and clients is one of trust.

If you would like to find out how Worldwide Special Risks can help you, contact Tom Stagg at Tom.Stagg@wwsr.co.uk or meet him at IPM CONNECT 2019