The topic was inspired by my obsession for service excellence. Having served the retail industry as a photographic salesman and ultimately as director of a chain of retail stores, I was startled by some of the blasphemous remarks made to the insurance industry. Furthermore, I was personally subjected to poor customer service by some of the large insurance companies. In my current tenure as a life assurance consultant, I have made it my mission to harness good quality, good values and provide excellent service to the countless patrons of the insurance industry. The purpose of this study was to analyse service quality at Sage Life Insurance Company. Particular attention was paid to the five dimensions of service quality and consumer behaviour. To provide a background to the evaluation, a brief history of the life assurance industry and companies was explored. The evolution of new legislations and the governing bodies was put into perspective. The findings of the study showed that clients' perception of service quality at Sage favoured some dimensions more strongly. Recommendations were made to improve the gaps in customer-relations and a model for Sage Life's customer relationship management was suggested.

Thesis (MBA)-University of Natal, Durban, 2003.