La Croix-L’Hebdo : What makes you get up in the morning?
Pierre Jandeaux: Contact with customers, I enjoy talking to them. Even if the administration takes an increasingly important place in my work, I try to meet the insured as much as I can. Nearly 90% of them never come to the branch. Most often because they don’t need it, but I like to maintain contact with them. Proximity confers a real social role.
Anteo Guillot, IT developer: “Coding is better understanding the world”
The word “insure” has a lot of meaning for me, it is synonymous with peace of mind and serenity, for example in a very concrete way to drive your car legally. I love my job for that. I help people to move forward in life without too much fear and to face problems that they could not handle alone.
Some cases even go beyond individual consequences. I will never forget the fire in rue de la Boucherie (a historic street in downtown Limoges, Editor’s note)on the night of February 17, 2018. On the one hand, I had to find a solution for my clients whose apartments had burned down, and on the other, I was devastated by the loss of this municipal heritage.
At work, how is it going?
P. J. : I work with four collaborators. For the past ten years, I have tried to be a more present, more attentive manager. I am attached to ensuring that they are happy in their profession, that there is no routine, that they train regularly. It wasn’t natural at all, I’m from the old school.
Before, bosses did not care about these issues of well-being at work. I know business leaders who have not yet grasped these social issues. I tried to adapt. With the team, we discuss things other than work, to bond. I would not say that we become intimate, but these exchanges make human relationships more fluid. And it shows in our relationships with customers. We are more willing, I believe, to offer them the consideration and empathy that they expect from us.
Who do you trust?
P. J. : I trust my wife and my four children. But, outside the family circle, I admit that I tend to keep an eye on everything. I like to check. Being self-employed involves being in business every day. You often have to take it upon yourself, not rely too much on others. I made the choice to be my own boss, that’s the game. It takes a certain character, but I live it well.
One thing worries me all the same: the future of the agency. I am soon to retire, and I will have to learn to trust my successor. I would like this person to ensure that I remain close to the customers, in contact with them. I have built this relationship for thirty years and I would like to see it continue. Unfortunately, it is not me who will choose, it is the insurance company with which I am affiliated.
A scene that has marked you recently?
P. J. : I remember an elderly person a few weeks ago. She went to the agency with a bottle of champagne and chocolates. We had just fixed her water damage, something simple, but she was very grateful. His disaster had panicked her. We only did our job, but that brings us back to the social role I was talking about. It was touching.
Insurers sometimes have a bad image, so this kind of reaction is rewarding. For older people, a simple problem can be very stressful. I attach great importance to helping them, to keeping in touch. For the New Year, for example, I try to visit them. When I see happiness in their eyes, it makes me happy.
Something that would change your life right now?
P. J. : Less social media. They make me sick. This race for immediacy leads to bad information. A truth of today is not a truth of tomorrow. It is necessary to take a step back from the multitude of sources and channels. No one really takes the time to do their homework, and the slightest disagreement leads to conflict. It makes me anxious.
And for tomorrow, an idea to change the world?
P. J. : I would simply like us to apply ourselves to having a little human relations and empathy. On a daily basis, this involves dialogue and kindness. When I see traders who are unsmiling or unfriendly, it saddens me. And they are wrong. Customers appreciate kindness. Our society needs to recreate the link. I also think that we don’t listen to each other enough.
In politics, for example, elected officials detach themselves from their constituents once the ballot has passed. They vote according to the instructions of their party. I may be utopian, I know, but perhaps we could hear more from the citizens.
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Affable, Pierre Jandeaux welcomes his clients since 1994 in his insurance firm in Limoges (Haute-Vienne), with his voice… assured. At 62, he is thinking about approaching retirement. Having devoted all his time to his profession, he will find it difficult to hang up and allows himself an existential question: “Will I be happy in my new life? »
The future of his agency would have taken shape more easily if one of his children had wanted to take over. The insurer suspects that the hours spent at work, far from them, may have deterred them. This is the price of proximity to customers, listed on the board in the office: “Many take out insurance, some choose an insurer. »