Insurance is now digital insurance. The same goes
for almost every consumer sector – from banking to healthcare and beyond, most
consumers are finding what they need online.
But just because people are searching for what
they need online doesn’t mean they only make purchases via digital means. Customers
still want that personal connection, they
just want to get business done faster.
This is the conundrum of the independent insurance agency – responding quickly, yet personally, to prospects and customers. These statistics tell that story.
Stats on the Move to Digital
Almost 70% of consumers searched for
insurance online before making a purchase
When they started searching, 68% of insurance
consumers didn’t have a specific company in mind
Close to 75% of customers who attempted
to make an online insurance purchase encountered problems
Approximately 67% of Millennials say they
want digital shopping experiences
More than 70% of consumers aged 55 and over say
they want online chats or video to replace in-office claims processing
Stats on the Desire for Personalization
66% of consumers said they would share
“significant data” to obtain personalized services (up 54% from two years
ago)
Close to 50% of insurance customers said
they’d trust a human advisor over an automated chatbot or web system when
making a claim
88% of insurance customers demanded
additional personalization, such as personalized call experiences
After running an online search, 78% of
consumers call a business to make a purchase
Look into how to integrate your systems, like
your email and phone, among others, into your agency management system.
Improve information flow with digital
document storage and a CRM
system to hold customer and prospect information. And improve your website
with a simple, branded, easy-to-navigate site and an integrated client portal
to streamline customer service access.
Each of these innovations can upgrade your
internal processes, increasing your customer response times and bringing
high-quality service to prospects and customers quickly and efficiently.
See how you can find all these tools in one
intuitive management system: get in touch with us at
800-747-7005, option 6, or at [email protected].
When it comes to your insurance prospects and
customers, there are three main areas to focus on:
Improving ease and speed of service
Personalizing prospect and customer experience
Gaining data for expert advice
Each of these areas answers the question, “what do insurance customers want?”. Are you leveraging the right insurance sales software and processes to respond to these needs?
Improving Ease and Speed of Service
The best way to improve your service is by being
accessible and responsive. The two key technologies to make that possible are
your agency management system and your website.
Your agency management system needs to present
information quickly and accurately so you can respond to clients and have the
right analytics to measure and improve results.
If you need a Ph.D. to pull reports, you may want to reconsider your
options. The faster you can interpret your customer data, the faster you can
respond to needs.
An often-overlooked service tool, your agency website
can be a meaningful communication platform – when set up correctly. Make your
site intuitive to navigate and include
a client portal that’s integrated with your management system. Client
portals are essential in today’s digitized service experience. With a client
portal, your customers can view coverage, print insurance cards, and check on
claims processing 24/7. That immediate and always accessible service is vital.
Personalizing Prospect and Customer Experience
Prospects and customers now expect personalized
service. With an integrated Customer Relationship Manager (CRM), you can gain
the data you need to personalize the entire prospect journey and build better relationships
with your customers. Reminders to follow-up on tasks to engage with your
prospects come with a comprehensive picture of the prospect so you can target
each conversation to their individual needs. Timing and content are critical
when communicating with a prospect. Good timing with good information improves
the probability of a quality conversation, the catalyst for driving new
business results.
Marketing
Automation adds another level of personalization with custom marketing
campaigns that speak to different prospect segments. Each campaign gains
information on individual prospects and their segment, allowing you to improve
personalization with each message.
Gaining Data for Expert Service
In our recent
conversations with Partner Platform agencies, we’ve heard again and again
that the need for expert insurance advice is rising and will continue to rise
for the foreseeable future. To bring that advice, you need better data on your
customers. An
integrated CRM system is the ideal tool to gain and interpret data.
With that data, you can create expert proposals
with the help of an integrated
proposal creator. With a proposal creator, you can create a professional proposal
in minutes by flooding policy and submission information. This tool is excellent
for conducting an account review and offering cross-selling opportunities as
well.
Get all the Best Insurance Sales Software in One Place
We know the value of each of these tools because they’re just what our Partner Platform agencies asked for to enhance their sales and marketing experience. See how you can get all these sales and services tools and more in one system – contact us to view a Partner Platform demo today.
We strive to provide the best insurance agency
software to our Partner Platform agencies, but we don’t have all the answers on
our own. That’s where our trusted technology partners, our Partner Allies, come
in. In this series, we get to know more about our industry
partners and how they bring innovation and expertise to the Partner
Platform system.
Lightspeed
differentiates through high-touch and high-service, which aligns nicely with
Partner Platform’s approach – and is also true for the way our independent
agency clients sell. Both Partner Platform and Lightspeed strive to be
hands-on, building relationships with clients just as our independent agents do
with their customers.
I talked with Lightspeed’s VP of Sales and Marketing, Steve Mohr, about the partnership.
How did you first become connected with SIS and Partner Platform?
One of our customers came to us with the suggestion
– they were a Partner Platform customer and saw an opportunity. I happened to have
a trip planned to the Columbus area, so I connected with (Director
of Product Management) Bryce Lee while I was in town, and we took things
from there.
After meeting with the Partner Platform team, we
saw that SIS has many of the same values we do as a company. We both provide personalized service above
and beyond what many others in the industry provide. Both of our customer bases
are very loyal, which is a testament to the product and company.
How does Lightspeed integrate into the Partner Platform
system?
We offer a complete VoIP phone solution that
provides numerous benefits such as a live switchboard, the ability to listen in
on live calls, record all calls, and real-time performance metrics. We also offer a screen pop-up on inbound
calls, so when a prospect or customer calls in, Partner Platform will automatically
pull up that contact’s information.
How do independent agents benefit from working with Lightspeed
versus a big-name provider?
I often say we have a similar value proposition as
independent agents. There are undoubtedly huge online carriers in our field
that many use, but they’re missing out on personal service, strong
partnerships, and knowing they’ll always get a human to talk to when they call
us. We also own all of our infrastructure, so we can fix any issues on-site and
don’t have to rely on third-party systems to place our calls.
What do Partner Platform clients like about working with Lightspeed?
The pop-up screen integration stands out as the
feature most users love about the system. Overall, it’s the level of service we
provide and how thorough we are, especially when agencies get started with us.
We do a full network check when working with a new agency to ensure the best
possible call quality is delivered right from the start.
What emerging needs do you see for independent insurance
agencies in the next three to five years?
I’ve been doing more research recently on what
agencies are doing to keep up with technology and product offerings trends. The
biggest challenge I see is maintaining the balance of keeping up with
technology without losing that personal touch customers get with an independent
agency. Finding the mix between
leveraging the latest technology to improve processes and keeping employee-customer
interaction at the forefront is the secret to success.
——–
Thanks to our Partner Allies like Lightspeed, we
at Partner Platform can be confident we’re offering our agencies the best
technology. Lightspeed’s commitment to provide a quality product and prioritize
client service echoes our own pledge to our Partner Platform agencies and their
promise to their insurance customers. We’re thankful for our Partner Allies like
Lightspeed, who think and act with the client’s needs first.
ZYWAVE ACQUIRES STRATEGIC INSURANCE SOFTWARE (SIS), STRENGTHENS POSITION AS AN INNOVATIVE LEADER Challenge the Status Quo More than an agency management system, Partner is who we are View Partner Platform What’s Important to You An agency management system that...
How did the COVID-19 pandemic change your insurance
agency management?
Most agencies are emerging from pandemic lockdown with
their business still healthy – perhaps even healthier for those that benefitted
from restrictions that reduced claims. An agency that emerges from such an
immediate and drastic change with economic strength speaks to their resilience
and preparation.
While financial health is one measurement of the
overall business, strategic health is another. Given the challenges over the
last year, you likely had meaningful conversations with business partners or
significant others about ways to strengthen your independent agency for the
long-term. These forward-thinking conversations are a testament to your
agency’s longevity.
Some considerations to add to your reflection include:
How well did we adapt to shifting work from the office to
home?
How did the shift affect associate productivity and
efficiency?
How did our client experience change?
How did the shift impact agency team culture?
What did we learn about client experience and expectations?
When everything was no longer in person, how did
that impact results like retention and new business?
What new technologies (beyond Zoom) were
highlights for supporting clients?
As we head back to the office, how is the agency
operating differently to improve results?
Over this past year of transitions, we on the
Partner Platform team learned our independent agency clients are adaptable and
nimble. We saw many agencies promote leadership at the top of the agency and in
key “on the ground” roles to meet adversity and find ways to become more
valuable to clients. That ability to rise to the occasion and work as a
team is what sets our Partner Platform clients apart.
Some of the meaningful changes we witnessed among
the Partner Platform client base included:
Commitment to Learning
We saw an openness and willingness to learn at all
levels, including owners. Those working directly with clients, like CSRs
and producers, attended more of our Partner Platform webinars, eager to improve
how they respond to clients. Owners leaned into how to understand the
health of their agency better. And more agencies praised the simplicity of
the Partner Platform dashboards, helping them access key client information as
soon as they log in.
As the stay-at-home orders began to lengthen, we
saw our agency
customer portals, agency-branded
mobile apps, and agency
website design services more rapidly adopted. Agencies were concerned
about how to strengthen the client relationship during this time of distance,
but these features quickly eliminated that fear. Our agencies now had multiple
ways to serve clients with information affordably.
Everything from auto ID cards to certificates and
policy information was easy for clients to access and understand. We heard
from our clients that the insured appreciated the convenience, and these tools caused
clients to view their agency as progressive and personal – a nice
combination.
With cloud access, agencies seamlessly moved from in-office
to at-home work without interrupting service. However, some agencies using
in-house systems or even terminal services (sometimes called VPN) found
themselves scattered as they needed to transition to an at-home system.
Too often, they ended up with cloud access that was slow, clunky, and too
disconnected from their main desktop, causing productivity issues. For
agencies like our Partner Platform clients, having a reliable cloud-based
system in place made the transition less stressful and more efficient.
Overall, amidst an unknown crisis, the independent
agent channel rose to the occasion. While there’s still work to do, those
who criticize the independent agent channel for their inability to adapt should
slow down and pay attention.
We’re proud of all our Partner Platform agencies for
taking care of their clients and team during such a challenging period.
Keep up the great work – and we look forward to how we can tackle the
challenges and opportunities of the future.
Recent surveys found the average insurance agent is just shy of 60 years old. That means two things: there are a lot of experienced agents out there, and there are a good number of agents reaching retirement age. As these agents retire, they’ll take their experience...
When your focus is community-minded, personalized insurance, it can be challenging to translate your skills to sales, marketing, and lead management. It can seem like a herculean task to figure out an insurance CRM and how it can help you identify and gain your ideal customers, growing your book of business.
When everyone in your agency is doing two, three, or more jobs, how can you manage to keep up with sales and marketing, too?
Our Partner Platform agencies can attest that it’s easier than you think. With our integrated management system and insurance CRM, we take the guesswork out of creating and managing customer and lead profiles in a CRM system. When everything is linked in one place, you can leverage the sales and marketing power of an insurance CRM with relative ease.
If you’re still wondering how to improve your insurance agency marketing, the answer is: data.
While that one-word answer is simple, the process of gathering, analyzing, and acting on data isn’t so easy. But if you put in the effort, it’s worth it; that’s why Everest Company found data analytics use in the industry could quadruple in just one year.
With over 70% of consumers looking for insurance quotes online, the data is out there for you to capture. Get your team started with honed marketing by breaking data analytics down into five parts.
