Zurich’s Direct Markets Operations team:
Helping auto dealers meet the challenges
of their business and succeed
Zurich’s Direct Markets team is actually several teams, each tasked with different though often intersecting missions to deliver for the auto dealerships we serve. Operations is one of those vital groups. Through their dedicated efforts, we ensure dealerships are equipped with the products, support and innovative solutions they need to thrive in a dynamic market.
Head of Operations Elizabeth Moore explained her team is responsible for supporting other Direct Markets groups to help them achieve their goals, as well as assisting Head of Direct Markets Jason Meador and the business unit’s other leaders in making informed decisions about Zurich’s strategic vision and focus.
Summarizing how some team-to-team relationships function, Moore said, “A big part of our work is supporting and enabling our Sales staff and our Underwriting teams. As dealers seek faster and simpler ways to access the information they need and want, we try to respond and make things as easy as we can.”
Meeting those needs requires close work with multiple arms of Direct Markets. For instance, Moore noted, “As we think about different projects and initiatives Operations is leading, it’s imperative that we are in lock-step with Finance as we look at changes we’re making and the impacts those could have in other areas.”
Moore described her role as “providing guidance, oversight and help with decision-making and overcoming obstacles, and that spans across product development, sales support, technology, project management and other areas.”
Pivotal in setting and meeting objectives is industry knowledge and analysis coming from Operations’ Business Strategy and Insights (BS&I) group, which helps Zurich stay attuned to the latest trends and better anticipate the future of auto and our customers’ needs. Through research and analysis, the team strives to understand the buy-sell market and interpret overall consumer sentiment.
“Understanding what’s going on in the market helps the leadership team make decisions on where they want to take the organization,” said Daniel Lampert, Vice President, Business Strategy and Sales Operations.
BS&I tracks key automotive data points, including new car sales, inventory levels, average car payments, used car values and more. These insights equip Zurich’s field reps with information they need to effectively service dealers. This information also assists executive decision-making. For instance, BS&I was instrumental in the business decision to transition from our previous reinsurance trust bank to the Bank of Oklahoma Financial (read more in the article in this issue).
BS&I was able to show how this change would directly benefit our customers and why it should be a priority.
Cost benefit analysis from BS&I even helps inform dramatic business actions, Lampert noted.
“We might look at potential mergers and acquisitions — the target, their business, their staffing and the overall economics of the deal.”
More common is gleaning data that reveals the need for a new F&I product or an update to something already in Zurich’s Vehicle Protection Product suite. When that need comes to light, Operations’ Product Development team leads the initiative to deliver the right products at the right time. Dealership feedback also drives these projects.
“We always come back to the question of whether this is going to benefit all of the stakeholders — the consumer, the dealer and Zurich,” explained Head of Product Development, Marti Sanderson.
Zurich’s EV Maintenance Plus Plan, launched in July, is one recent example where the answer to that question was a resounding “yes.”
We rolled out the EV Maintenance Plus Plan to add another product for dealers to offer to customers to help them feel more comfortable with purchasing an EV,” said Sanderson.
A regular challenge in developing new products and maintaining current offerings is navigating the varied regulations and requirements that dealers and other stakeholders must meet.
“There’s a lot of differences in what states or different lenders may require,” Sanderson said. “We monitor the laws and regulations and lender requirements that pertain to these products and ensure they are updated as needed to stay compliant.”
Government regulations are usually front and center in industry news, but F&I Product Distribution Consultant Cindy O’Dower explained that, as lending institutions have become more stringent, Product Development has increased their efforts on that end as well.
“Our knowledge about these lender requirements lets us provide a lot of options for dealerships and their lending sources,” O’Dower said.
As the world becomes increasingly digital, paperless and app-driven, Product Development is more closely aligned than ever with the Operations and Technology team, led by Kandace Spotts.
“We spend a lot of time working with Product Development to understand the road map of new product needs and refreshes of existing products,” Spotts explained. “And we need to align on how to present those products to our customers and other distribution and vendor partners we work with.”
One example of a major project Operations and Technology had oversight on was upgrading the My Zurich Navigator customer portal. Maria Kellogg, Organizational Innovation Consultant, and part of Spotts’ team, explained the holistic importance of this enhancement.
“That project was aimed at giving our customers a higher level and more satisfying digital experience,” Kellogg said. “Our dealers, in the F&I space especially, need that kind of effective platform to easily access contracts and other vital information. But the platform also impacts our sales team, underwriters and other Direct Markets team members.”
Spotts also emphasized that her group’s purview extends far beyond the products Zurich offers. “Technology encompasses the application, the data — all the tools we use to enable everyone to do their jobs more effectively and efficiently,” she said.
And, as with Product Development, the work of Operations and Technology also needs to be in step with overall business strategy.
Jess Hartzog, AVP of Sales & Distribution Enablement, is part of Sales Operations within Lampert’s BS&I group. Hartzog helps bridge Sales Operations’ efforts with the rest of Operations and Technology, often collaborating with Kellogg.
“Maria and I work very closely together. We’re like a true yin-and-yang together,” Hartzog said. “Together our teams ensure that the ‘boots on the ground’ folks — those who are supporting our dealers’ success — are always kept in mind.” For all the different areas Direct Markets Operations touches — business strategy, product development, technological innovation, compliance and more — Moore says they all unify around one action: listening to our customers.
“Engaging with them, hearing their challenges and struggles highlights the importance of what we do and how the work impacts our customers.”