ALLIANZ COMPANY PROFILE
avenue which is frequently overlooked is acting as a partner with one of the insurance companies specialising in the music industry. Of those, among the most active is the giant Allianz, which claims to be the largest musical instrument insurance provider in the UK, having established several hundred partnerships with UK MI retailers and it has just launched a new website, designed to make the business even easier to operate, it says.
An Allianz of convenience A
We all know that having some form of insurance has become something of a necessity in virtually everything we do these days, but thanks to Allianz’s new dealer website, the company tells Gary Cooper, it can be a two-way street…
t a time when retailers of all kinds need to squeeze the highest profit possible from their floor space, one
we work with. They have already referred a lot of business to us and we want to build on that,” says Allianz’s marketing executive, Lawrence Davies. “We also think it might help some of the smaller retailers who are perhaps struggling a bit in the online environment by giving them a bit more of a profile.” This refers to a feature that is due to be added to the website in the near future,
Allianz’s new site –
amipartner.co.uk – is dedicated to retailers, allowing them to register on the site to kick-start the process of becoming an ‘Allianz Musical Insurance partner’. It gives them, the company says, access to a range of support materials to help promote musical insurance to customers and earn commission every time a new insurance policy is taken out.
And that commission certainly isn’t to be sneezed at. It’s a healthy 25 per cent on every policy sold until the end of November. “We have historically seen a good business channel with the music retailers
WWW.MI-PRO.CO.UK “
to reach thousands of potential customers every month.
Allianz has set its sight not just on
music retailers, but is also very interested in working with repairers, too. It is the latter, after all, that usually see the broken instruments on which claims might have been made, so it seems a logical connection for an insurance company to make.
We think it might help some of the smaller retailers who are perhaps struggling a bit in the online
environment by giving them a bit more of a profile. Lawrence Davies
Marketing executive, Allianz Musical Insurance
Davies reveals. While retailers can already order stock and promotional material online, soon, those signed up to
amipartner.co.uk will also be able to advertise their business for free – a facility which will kick in when Allianz Musical Insurance launches its business listing tool ‘Find a Retailer’ on
allianzmusic.co.uk – the company’s consumer website. Allianz says this will give retailers the opportunity
Does a retailer who is interested need specialist knowledge to take part? “They don’t need to know a huge amount at all,” Davies says. “Basically, all they are doing is referring customers to us. In fact, there are limits on what they can say, because we are regulated by the FSA. They can say that insurance is a great idea and hand over one of our leaflets, but they can’t say ‘Allianz is great and we
wholeheartedly recommend them’. We provide retailers with lots of material they can hand to customers, with details of our policies and what we are doing now is trying to build more links to our website. “The longer term plan is to offer the
‘find a retailer’ tool that will sit on our consumer-facing website, but we’re anticipating that this will take possibly three months. What we’re trying to do first is recruit enough retailers to populate a database, so it’s useful to the public from the start. The aim is to provide a short reference guide to our customers who, if they are on our website, may be in the process of making a claim and will be looking for someone in their area. “From a retailer’s perspective, there is very little effort involved and it will generate commission without costing them anything – it’s a no lose situation with no financial commitment from them and with a lot of support from us to help them. Importantly, we feel, is that it also helps retailers build long term relationships with their customers. Many retailers – particularly independents – do repairs and if a customer becomes loyal to a retailer as a consequence, it can be a very good source of repeat business.” ALLIANZ: 0800 197 5783
miPRO OCTOBER 2010 39
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