American Express Case Study

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Death and money can be emotional 'opies Salos reps at American Express Company's $($NYSE AXP$)$ innuranc:e

division had to deal with those issues when sel'ing Ide insurance. Thoy wore starting to the strain ot working with

such volatile emotional matohnls daily Part of tho problem representatives faced seemed like an unavoidable Side

Of sewing life insurance. Many potential Clients needed to respond more to tho sales representatives' calls

Others turned their tears into anger They replied to the representatives' questions suspiciously or treated thom as

untrustworthy

The sales force at American Express believed in the value of their work. but over time. customers' negative emotions

began to erode omp$/$oyee morale. Sales o$\text{'}$ policies slowed. Management insisted that the representatives iqnoro

their customers' feelings and focus on making sales. The representatives' more aggressive sales tactics only

seemed to increase their clients' negative emotional responses. which started the cycle of suffering again. It was

apparent that something had to Change,

To understand the barriers between customers and sales representatives. a team led by Kate Cannon, a former

American Express staffer and mental$-$health administrator, used emotional resonance to identify employees' feelings

about their work. Looking at the problem from an emotional point of view yielded dramatic insights about clients,

sales representatives. and managers.

The first step she took was acknowledging that the clients' negative emotions were barriers to life insurance sales.

Cannon explained, "People reported au kinds of emotional issues$$fear$,$ suspicion. powerlessness, and distrust$$

involved in buying life insurance." Clients' negative emotions. in turn. had sparked negative feelings among some

American Express life insurance sales representatives, including feelings of incompetence. dread. untruthfulness.