Small businesses point to accountants as some of the most important professionals for their business. That may be because 60% of small business owners say they don’t know the first thing about finance and accounting. As a small business owner, you can probably relate. Many independent agency owners find themselves in an accounting crash-course when they start or take over their business. How can you beat the odds to get a grasp on your agency’s finances and position yourself for future growth?
The answer is quality insurance accounting
software and training. In fact, close to 65% of small
business owners make use of accounting software. With the right technology,
you can make your agency finances more manageable and even find a way to bring
on an expert with the money you save. To get you started, here are some of our
best insurance accounting posts.
1. Getting Your Insurance Finances in Order eGuide
More than just a blog post, this
eGuide provides a wealth of tips on how to get your agency finances set up
right. With a solid base, you’re ready to delve deeper into assessing your weaknesses
and opportunities.
4. Ask the Experts: Top Financial Questions and Best Accounting Software for Insurance Agents
Before we talked to our accounting experts about
perpetuation and M&A, we looked to Donovan, Sullivan, and Ryan CPA and
Partner Chris Ryan and our in-house expert, Director of Product Management
Bryce Lee, to talk best accounting software for the independent agency. In
this post, Chris and Bryce cover common accounting questions, how to face
challenges and the best tools to manage accounting in insurance.
5. Five Insurance Agency Accounting Blogs to Add to Your Summer Reading List
We pride ourselves on bringing our readers the best
agency accounting information, but we know we can’t contain it all. This
post highlights some of our favorite blogs for the latest in insurance
accounting and finance.
Get the Right Accounting Software and More from the Experts at SIS
Beyond these tools, we also provided a wealth of information on how agencies can build their brand and grow their business on our blog. As we start a new year, we hope you’ll benefit from some of the tips and tricks we’ve captured.
Finding Your Niche for Insurance Agency Marketing: Finding your agency niche means discovering a customer segment where you have an advantage. Use your individual agency expertise to strengthen your brand and grow your customer base.
Making Your Agency Website Your Own with Partner Connect: In our digitally-driven market, your agency website is your best and most prominent marketing tool. Discover how to make it modern, branded, and poised for sales enablement.
Gain Outreach Power: Marketing Automation and Your Insurance CRM: If you’re looking to increase lead qualification by more than 450%, the CRM and marketing automation combo is your answer. See what each tool brings to the table and why they’re on our “must-have” list.
The year 2020 was one like no other: it provided
individuals and businesses worldwide with some interesting and rarely seen
challenges. Innovation, flexibility, and adaptation were required in increasing
measure to reduce risk and make the most of the opportunities that came our
way.
For the Partner Platform team at Strategic Insurance Software, the foundational service principles we practice every day were exercised in new ways and to new heights, helping us turn the many challenges of 2020 into some amazing successes. The growth and achievements of the team are truly remarkable.
In this unpredictable and challenging year, our
team worked with the Partner Platform Community to improve the Partner Platform
experience and achieved significant accomplishments including adding and
enhancing features such as:
Through it all, we as a team welcomed a dozen new
team members, celebrated births and marriages from afar, and supported each
other and our Partner Platform agencies through each new test and transition
2020 brought us.
We are thankful for our Partner Platform Community,
who expressed encouragement and appreciation as we worked through the
challenges of 2020 together. Countless positive emails and conversations on
service team experience and product enhancements make us all exceedingly proud
of our team’s commitment, effort, and accomplishments in serving the Partner
Platform Community.
We look forward to building on these successes and assisting our clients in growing and flourishing in the years ahead.
Ever feel like the once critical phone call is now
irrelevant? You’re not alone. The rise of data-driven prospecting and digital
outreach sparked this rumor that phone prospecting is dead.
Yet, successful development teams still leverage the phone with insurance prospecting software for great results – in fact our Partner Platform agencies are emphasizing that a phone conversation is more important than ever. But how are they getting to that conversation?
The Facts Don’t Lie
Insurance prospecting software evolved, and savvy
agencies took these new tech advances and leveraged them to improve
time-honored outreach methods. Studies show there is no reason to put the phone
call to rest:
69% of buyers accepted one or more cold
calls in 2019
More than 80% of buyers said they set
sales appointments as a result of multiple contacts that started with a cold
call
Almost half of buyers say cold calls are
their preferred first contact
57% of C-suite executives report they
value information gained from phone calls with reps
These stats show phone outreach is alive and well.
It’s all about how you leverage it.
1. Start with a data
Data, gained through your insurance CRM, is your
starting point. Even though initial phone outreach is known as “cold calling,” these
calls shouldn’t be cold at all. The information gained from your marketing
automation campaigns and CRM should provide essential background
knowledge you can leverage to build a relationship right away.
2. Use more than one outreach method
While the prospecting call is very much alive for some, it
may not work for all. Your outreach efforts should be part of a multi-pronged
strategy. Content sharing, email, and social media are all elements of what
makes up effective, professionally persistent, data-driven outreach.
Whether via phone, email, text, or another method,
each of your conversations should contain an element of discovery. Focus on
understanding the person you’re talking to: what do they need most? What are
their barriers to purchase? Do they have any non-negotiables? The more you
know, the better you can tailor policy proposals to meet their needs, making
them more likely to choose your agency for coverage.
4. Make it easy to focus
Stay focused on the call and the prospect’s needs
at all times. Eliminate distractions: close your door, sign out of email and
social networking, and consider wearing headphones to block out other noise.
Show your commitment to the conversation by saying
the prospect’s name often, smiling, and leaving room for them to
talk. Over 60% of individuals surveyed said someone who listens to their needs
is more likely to win their business.
Keep the prospect engaged with a follow-up re-cap of
what you talked about, confirmation on your next communication (whether a call,
something you’ll email, or a meeting), and add in something they can use. That
“something useful” could be a link to client feedback, contact info for a referrer,
special offer, or any other content that provides more information. This
follow-up gives them a reference as they think it over, and it shows you care
more about meeting their needs than signing them as a customer.
6. Train your agents
Too often in sales, it’s thought you either have
“it,” or you don’t. Though there is some element of natural ability and
interest, successful agents grow from coaching and training.
Know your agents’ strengths and weaknesses and leverage
training to fill in gaps. Perhaps you need to bring in new agents to add to the
team or look to others in your agency who could grow into the position. To help
grow your group, establish mentorship and coaching, allowing team members to bolster
confidence and learn the ropes. And have a constant feedback loop for all team
members, ensuring each has someone to consult to assess growth and celebrate
successes.
As with all successful agency processes, you need
to review and improve your prospecting strategy continuously. Try different
outreach cadences, test various scripts, and add to training as is necessary to
help your team stay fresh and focused.
And keep your team equipped with the right
insurance prospecting software. Essential tools include your insurance CRM and
marketing automation systems as well as quality
communication tools like an up-to-date insurance agency website, integrated
email and texting, and a custom client portal. The easier it is for you to
connect with prospects, the better.
Discover more about essential
prospecting tools and how your agency can get them all in one place: view a demo
of our all-in-one Partner Platform agency management system today.
Challenge the Status Quo When selecting an agency management system independent insurance agencies no longer have to choose between capabilities you need, a team you trust, and a price you can afford – with the Partner Platform your agency gets it all. Partner...
Part of what makes our Partner Platform agency management system and insurance CRM so robust is the partnerships we foster with insurance tech companies. Our Partner Allies specialize in their arenas, from esignatures to comparative rating and more, each Partner Ally hones their technology to serve agency needs.
Our Partnership with Exago and Exago BI
Today we highlight our longstanding partner, Exago. Exago specializes in building and delivering customized business insights with intuitive reporting and dashboards that anyone can use. After designing and implementing our own BI ad hoc reporting system, we found it too cumbersome and confusing for our Partner Platform agencies. Acting on our spirit of innovation and efficiency, the team knew it was time to look for an expert to work with and for our community.
Gaining and retaining customers is a big deal in insurance. When you have a diverse, loyal book of business, you are set to grow and try new things in this evolving digital insurance landscape. In fact, according to the Harvard Business Review, retaining just 5% more customers can boost profits by 100%.
How can you bring that kind of growth to your independent insurance agency?
Know What Your Customers Want
A surefire way to retain customers is by giving them what they want. The same goes for gaining quality leads – give the people what they want!
