Lincoln Financial Group Earns Prestigious Center of Excellence Recognition for Customer Service

RADNOR, Pa., Oct. 17, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Lincoln Financial Group (NYSE:LNC) announced today that its Individual Annuity Customer Contact Center has earned the designation of "Certified Center of Excellence" from BenchmarkPortal, a national benchmarking firm. The Center of Excellence recognition is one of the most prestigious awards in the customer service and support industry. Only the top 10 percent of contact centers that apply for certification earn the designation. 

The certification program uses the largest call center benchmarking database program in the world, where experts scientifically measure operational metrics, and customer and agent satisfaction.

"Lincoln's Individual Annuity Customer Contact Center team earned the designation upon the conclusion of their initial assessment," said Bruce Belfiore, CEO, BenchmarkPortal. "It's a rare and tremendous achievement for a center to be assessed as more efficient and more effective compared with its industry from the onset."

"Our knowledgeable and experienced Customer Contact team is thrilled to be recognized with such an esteemed award," said Nancy Jordan, Senior Vice President, Head of Individual Annuity Operations, Lincoln Financial Group. "We are looking forward to our continued work with BenchmarkPortal to ensure we continue to deliver best in class customer service." 

Lincoln's Individual Annuity Customer Contact team joins their colleagues on the Life Customer Contact team who achieved the Center of Excellence designation earlier this year. "We are thrilled to be exceeding industry benchmark results and to be providing a competitive advantage for both our Individual Annuity and Life insurance business partners and customers," said Ken Solon, Senior Vice President, Head of Shared Services and Information Technology, Lincoln Financial Group. "This achievement affirms Lincoln's dedication to deliver a superior customer experience."

About Lincoln Financial Group

Lincoln Financial Group is the marketing name for Lincoln National Corporation (NYSE:LNC) and its affiliates. With headquarters in the Philadelphia region, the companies of Lincoln Financial Group had assets under management of $189 billion as of June 30, 2013. Through its affiliated companies, Lincoln Financial Group offers: annuities; life, group life, disability and dental insurance; employer-sponsored retirement plans; savings plans; and comprehensive financial planning and advisory services.

About BenchmarkPortal

Founded in 1995, BenchmarkPortal is a global leader in the contact center industry providing benchmarking, certification, training, consulting and industry reports. The BenchmarkPortal team of professionals has gained international recognition for its expertise and an innovative approach to best practices for the contact center industry and hosts the world's largest database of contact center metrics. BenchmarkPortal's mission is to help contact centers reach peak performance in operational effectiveness and efficiency so that the centers will realize increased levels of agent and customer loyalty while containing costs and building enterprise value. For more information on BenchmarkPortal please call 1-800-214-8929 or visit www.BenchmarkPortal.com.

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SOURCE Lincoln Financial Group