改变中国医疗服务的新势力

    信诺在中国的早期成功，使它可以借助正在重塑这个国家的各种力量所产生的合力，其中首当其冲的就是私人医院和诊所的兴起，它们是中国政府谋求为13亿国民提供医疗保健所付出努力的一个关键部分。这些VIP机构针对的是中国日益崛起的中产阶级和富人阶层，这个群体的财富将形成更多对于医疗保健和保险的需求——虽然这一点听起来有些不合常理。他们的寿命将更长，对于老年人常见的疾病，他们将需要特别护理和治疗；他们的饮食将发生变化（虽然不见得变得更加健康），他们会坚持要求服用以前因为成本太高而不会开的药物。

    伯恩斯坦研究公司（Bernstein Research）分析师安娜•古普特称，截止2015年，中国在医疗保健方面的开支将达到6,480亿美元，比2008年的1,820亿美元增加三倍以上。她推测，中国健康保险市场在2015年将达到150亿美元，而信诺集团在中国的年收入将接近10亿美元，几乎相当于它目前国际业务总收入的三分之一。信诺集团CEO柯伟健在访问上海时曾表示：“在我们的国际业务中，中国业务的增长是最快的。未来5至10年里，中国将成为集团业务中至关重要的部分，因为我们将为这个市场的个人和越来越多的雇主们带来更多产品和服务。这是我们未来业务中令人激动的一部分。”

    招商信诺在中国的心脏位于深圳市一栋普通办公楼的二层和三层，这是一个电话营销中心。这里的300名销售代表正仔细凝视着电脑屏幕上的销售脚本。25岁的电话销售员陶伟（音译）对着耳机，用礼貌的语气开始销售：“您知道的，治疗癌症的费用每年都在增加。”

    技术是信诺的优势：陶伟并不是随机给潜在客户打电话，他所联系的都是经信诺确认具有很强预期的客户，而且他会给客户推荐针对他们的需求而量身定制的保险产品。一切都得益于信诺的自有软件。这套软件从300个数据点进行筛选，如信用卡使用和人口统计特征等，进而帮助公司营销人员调整营销策略，当然，它自称这一切都会保护客户信息的隐私。目前负责信诺预测性产品业务的戴维•J•福格迪认为：“这就像是FICO得分一样。”他曾担任通用电气金融服务公司（GE Capital）高管，因此引用了信用评分模型FICO。信诺的软件会显示“这是出售给那位顾客最合适的产品。”

    例如，如果技术手段发现用户使用信用卡支付过多次国外旅行，这套软件就会将该持卡人与专门针对海外旅行的中国人设计的健康保险关联起来。在深圳等地的电话销售中心，接线员会使用预测外拨技术：电话营销人员的电脑屏幕上会自动提示客户的背景和适合推销的产品，以及量身定做的营销策略。

    仅深圳的电话营销中心每个月便能卖出80,000份保险。另外两个跨省电话营销中心分别位于上海和武汉，在有需要的附属公司附近还有一些规模较小的电话营销中心。深圳电话营销中心负责人之一科恩•杨认为，大多数中国人都会向银行提供他们的手机号码，好在他们并没有形成美国人挂断推销电话的习惯。杨表示，公司的客户实际上很愿意了解更多关于健康保险的信息。电话营销中心的营销人员形成了一种良性竞争，可以获得冰箱和国外旅游的销售奖励。

    Cigna's early success in China sets the company up to capitalize on a confluence of forces reshaping the nation, starting with the rise of private hospitals and clinics as a key pillar in Beijing's evolving efforts to provide health care to 1.3 billion people. These VIP institutions target China's rising middle class and wealthy, a group whose affluence will -- and this may seem counterintuitive -- actually create more demand for health care and insurance. They will live longer, requiring special care and treatments for diseases common among the elderly; their diets will change (not necessarily for the better); and they'll insist on drugs and medicines that previously had not been prescribed because of costs.

    Ana Gupte, an analyst at Bernstein Research, says spending on health care in China is expected to more than triple, to $648 billion in 2015 from $182 billion in 2008. She reckons that the market for health insurance in China will reach $15 billion in 2015, and that Cigna's revenues there could approach $1 billion a year, nearly a third of what the company now earns from its international business. "China is the fastest growing asset in our international portfolio," says David Cordani, Cigna's CEO, during a visit to Shanghai. "Over a five- to 10-year horizon, China will become the critical part of our business portfolio because we will bring multiple products and services to the market, both for the individual and the emerging employer landscape here. It's an exciting part of our future."

    On the second and third floors of a nondescript office building in the southern city of Shenzhen lies the beating heart of the Cigna venture in China: a call center with 300 sales agents in cubicles, peering at sales scripts on computer screens. "You know, the costs of cancer treatment are increasing every year," Tao Wei, a 25-year-old telemarketer, intones politely into his headset, beginning a sales call.

    Technology is Cigna's edge: Tao isn't simply cold-calling potential customers, he's contacting consumers Cigna has identified as strong prospects -- and offering them insurance products tailored to their needs. Cigna does this through proprietary software that sifts through 300 data points such as credit card use and demographics to help its marketers fine-tune their pitch -- all while claiming to protect the privacy of the customers' information. "It's like a FICO score," says David J. Fogarty, who now runs Cigna's predictive products business. He's a former GE Capital executive, thus the reference to FICO, the credit scoring system. Cigna's software shows "this is the best product to sell that customer."

    When the technology sees a lot of foreign travel charged to credit cards, for example, it associates that cardholder with a health policy that is designed specifically for Chinese who travel overseas. In call centers like the one in Shenzhen, operators have what is called predictive dialing: The telemarketer has the customer's background and what products to sell automatically cued up on their computer screen, along with a tailored pitch.

    At this one site in Shenzhen alone, they are selling 80,000 policies a month. There are two other multiprovince call centers in Shanghai and Wuhan, along with smaller centers based near affiliates who want them. Cohen Yang, one of the managers who runs the Shenzhen call center, notes that most Chinese provide a cellphone number to their banks and haven't yet adopted the American habit of hanging up on telemarketing calls. The customers, Yang says, are actually keen to learn more about health insurance. The call center telemarketers are in a friendly competition for sales bonuses that include refrigerators and trips abroad.