If you’re a commercial insurance agency, chances
are you need better insurance software. A
recent Deloitte study found commercial insurance “has lagged (behind)
personal lines development considerably” over the last years. Personal
lines-heavy insurers seem to invest more in technology than their commercial
lines counterparts, despite the volume of data commercial agencies process.
Capabilities. Service. Affordability. Partner Platform is a comprehensive agency management system that gives you the tools needed for retention and growth – all integrated for sales, marketing, and financial management so it’s easy, unified, and affordable. Contact...
As customer
expectations adapt in all industries, insurance is no exception. Customers seek
a more personalized experience, based on rapid digitization. Companies are gathering
information on client preferences and adjusting quickly to meet their needs.
Yet, many independent agencies find it difficult to capture and analyze the
wealth of data needed to meet these expectations.
Marketing
automation + an insurance CRM are building blocks to capture this meaningful
information and turn it into relevant action and communication. Each has its
own benefits, but agencies need both to make a real impact. Studies show
businesses that combine these tools increase lead qualification by more than 450% and sales productivity by close to 15%.
The combo of
marketing automation and an insurance CRM allows agencies to see data at a
granular level, revealing customer insights and new market opportunities. Each
works on a different end of the sales funnel to help agencies bring in more
customers, improve service, and expand business.
Marketing
automation software is designed to streamline and automate marketing
tasks. Leverage marketing automation to get to know customer habits and launch
targeted outreach campaigns. Schedule and track each campaign and use the data acquired
to identify new markets and dial in on winning marketing techniques.
Some of
marketing automation’s main benefits include:
Segmented marketing lists by interactions, interests, preferences, etc.
Automated content distribution based on list segmentation
Scheduled drip campaigns based on actions such as website visits or email response
One
system for lists, content, and distribution to clients
Integrated
email, texting, and letter campaigns
A
library of professionally written marketing content
High-impact
templates that can be customized for any agency
Marketing
automation allows agencies to program high-impact client communication tasks so
they can do more in less time. Though the beauty of automation is powerful,
it’s missing one critical element: the human touch.
CRMs
(Customer Relationship Management systems) bring that human touch. The
human connection brings the personalization prospects need to become customers,
and customers need to become long-term clients. While marketing automation
provides context on where a lead came from and what they’re interested in, a
CRM helps producers implement a targeted outreach strategy to bring the
lead home.
Critical
CRM uses include using it to:
See the
complete prospect journey, including the last contact
Understand
a particular individual’s or segment’s interest and concerns
Receive
daily reminders to stay in touch and follow-up at a determined pace
Send
alerts to remind of scheduled calls, meetings, renewal dates, or other
important events in the prospect or customer’s life
Get the Sales and Service Solutions You need with Partner Platform
Partner
Platform brings the power of the CRM and marketing automation combo, along with
a connected Client Portal, Agency-Branded
Mobile App, and website, providing
all the data agencies need to customize interactions for their prospects and
customers.
And, we
continue to add tools to grease the wheels of the CRM-marketing automation
machine to meet the growing demands of our Partner Platform agency family. See
for yourself – view a demo or contact us at [email protected].
If you describe your insurance agency management
system as “fine,” you’ve got a problem. Something so central to your agency
operations should be operating at a higher level than “okay.” If you’re
patchworking numerous systems from accounting to doc sharing with your
management system or relying on a self-created workaround to make your system
function, you need to take a step back and ask, “Is ‘fine’ good enough for us?”
It may not be what it’s always been – and it may surprise you how preferences have changed. Advancements in insurance tech and changes in purchasing patterns mean your current and prospective customers may be looking for something more. Though you’ll have variation among different generations, there are commonalities within what your customers are looking for to get excellent service.
Next in our series on what’s behind our Partner Platform insurance agency software community is the management and operations consulting group, Eisenhart Consulting Group. For over ten years, we’ve been lucky to work with owner Mary Belka and her team.
Mary Belka, CEO and founder of Eisenhart Consulting Group, has been part of the Partner Allies team for more than a decade. When she was first introduced to the Partner Platform system, she was impressed by the hands-on, personalized service the Partner Platform team provided to one of her clients. Since then, a mutual dedication to personalized service has made Partner Platform and Eisenhart Consulting the perfect team for our independent agency clients.
I spoke with Mary to talk about how she came to meet the Partner team, the unique and transformational service she brings to Partner agencies, and how she prepares agencies for the future.
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.
Based in Nokomis, FL, Lightspeed Voice® is a VoIP, cloud-based IP telephone provider founded in 2009 to provide the insurance industry with reliable VoIP and client relationship management (CRM) solutions.
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.