Company: EFG Companies
Company Description: For almost 50 years, EFG Companies has provided consumer protection programs for vehicles and residences across seven market channels. The company’s strategic intent is to build sustainable market differentiation and profitability for its clients and partners, including dealers, lenders, manufacturers, independent marketers and agents.
Nomination Category: Customer Service Awards Success Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Customer Service Success - Financial Service Industries
 Nomination Title: Quality Service Drives Market Expansion
- Which will you submit for your nomination in this category, a video of up to five (5) minutes, explaining the achievements since July 1, 2021 of the nominated organization, OR written answers to the questions? (Choose one):
Written answers to the questions
- If you are submitting a video of up to five (5) minutes in length, provide the URL of the video here, OR attach it to your entry via the "Add Attachments, Videos, or Links to This Entry" link above, through which you may also upload a copy of your video. If you are submitting written answers to the questions for this category, provide them in the spaces below.
- Briefly describe the nominated organization: its history and past performance (up to 200 words):
Total 194 words used.
For close to 50 years, EFG Companies has provided consumer protection products and claims administration programs across seven market channels. The company’s strategic intent is to build sustainable market differentiation and profitability for its clients, including dealers, lenders, manufacturers, independent marketers, and agents.
The team nominated today represents EFG’s continuous diversification and dedication to customer service. The Home Warranty customer service and claims team has made a powerful impact on all company stakeholders. In 2019, EFG made the strategic decision to insource its home warranty claims adjudication to provide customers with better service, expand on EFG’s Home Warranty early market success, and create revenue generation from a cost center. EFG launched its Home Warranty contact center during the tumultuous pandemic in early 2020. By December of that year, EFG outperformed industry customer service standards for call abandonment rates and hold times by 2% and 5% and reduced the average claim cost by 26%.
As EFG’s home warranty product suite matured, so did the contact center team supporting the business. Over the past three years, the claims and customer service advisors have drastically reduced all cycle times for each stage of a home warranty claim.
- Outline the organizations customer service achievements since July 1 2021 that you wish to bring to the judges' attention (up to 250 words):
Total 248 words used.
Since launching the home warranty division, the team has experienced rapid growth, expanding home warranty operations into 42 states [REDACTED FOR PUBLICATION].
As sales grew, the contact center team recognized the necessity for streamlined operating procedures to scale EFG’s services while maintaining the company’s high standards of excellence and support. They identified four target key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure success.
- Time to Onsite - the time between a customer initiating a claim and a service provider arriving at their home.
- Claim Turn Time – the time between a customer initiating a claim to the completion of covered repairs. This includes service providers acquiring the necessary parts/replacements for the repair.
- Claims Review for Payment - the time between a service provider submitting their invoice to EFG approving payment.
- Invoice Paid – the time it takes to pay a service provider after approving the claim amount.
December 2021 - December 2023: EFG’s Home Warranty contact center successfully scaled operations, improving customer service standards and supporting the company’s market expansion, reducing:
- time to onsite by 67%
- claim turn time by 36%, and;
- claims review for payment by 28%.
They also beat EFG’s 21-day service provider payment guarantee by 26% and beat the industry average of net 30 payments by 17%.
- Reference any attachments of supporting materials throughout this nomination and how they provide evidence of the claims you have made in this nomination (up to 250 words):
Total 33 words used.
[REDACTED FOR PUBLICATION]
Web page with 21 Day Guarantee: https://www.efgcompanies.com/who-we-serve/for-home-warranty-service-providers/
BBB rating and GlassDoor rating
- Explain why the customer service achievements you have highlighted are unique or significant. If possible compare the achievements to the performance of other players in your industry and/or to the organization's past performance (up to 250 words):
Total 244 words used.
EFG takes pride in leading the industry for the level of service provided on our contracts with the understanding that a negative claims experience colors a customer’s perception of EFG’s clients. The better the customer service, the more repeat/referral business our partners receive. Because of this, EFG has always operated with very high service standards, and this team pushed EFG even higher.
The first KPI they tackled was service provider payment. The industry standard is NET 30 days and EFG guarantees payment within 21 days. But for this team, 21 days is failing. EFG’s average time for payment from 2021 to 2023 was 4.54 days.
Next, they focused on time to onsite with the knowledge that the faster a service provider arrives at a person’s home, the faster the claim can be fully processed. The industry average time to onsite is 6 days (48 hours). Since 2021, EFG has reduced their time to onsite average from 4 days to 1.40 days in 2023.
These results were driven by a team of only 10 people. Most teams of this size might experience burnout and turnover, but the opposite was true for EFG. Based on annual employee survey results by Energage, EFG Companies ranks as a national standard for culture and career opportunities. In 2023, the home warranty team scored nine points above company average, with a 92% overall workplace experience score. Team members feel valued and motivated, with two team members already promoted.
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