The insurance industry has changed over the past 20 years. Paper files and phone calls have given way to digital processes, email, texting, and more. Your insurance support team’s needs have changed, too – or so we hope.
Technology usage is the first thing new hires will notice. Members of the young workforce are used to using tech for business and leisure. They’ll expect you to provide more than a laptop and cell phone; they’ll look for paperless processes, modern communication and collaboration tools, and opportunities to get work done virtually.
Young hires expect information to be found and shared easily through a centralized location. Leverage your agency management system to bridge the processing gap. Tap into your system’s ability to store files, capture emails, and add tasks among other capabilities. And, make texting part of your communication strategy, both internally and externally. This is an area where young hires will be savvy – they’ll expect to use texting for communicating with their team, lead generation, and closing deals.
The best thing you can do to attract and keep young talent is to embrace virtual work systems. Sales hinges on creating and growing relationships, so a virtual sales team may seem counterintuitive. However, as a virtual team your agents can connect more efficiently. Virtual work allows them to connect from anywhere, making it easier to bring meetings to clients and get work done while they wait. In less than ten years, it’s estimated 73 percent of businesses teams will have remote workers. Offering virtual work opportunities is not just smart; it’s inevitable.
Getting Millennials and Gen Z to apply is only the first hurdle. Once you have a quality candidate in the door, how do you get them to say yes for years to come?
Start by updating your interview process. The work has changed, the workforce has changed, so how you interview needs to change, too. Focus more on how candidates work in a team and their ability to understand and leverage technology. Be sure to talk about how you’re team-focus and tech-adaptive, too. And, focus more on culture. One author found millennials were willing to take an over $7K pay cut to gain a better workplace culture. Now that’s leverage.
You’ll also need to update your onboarding. The first few months in any new position are challenging, so the smoother you can make the ride, the better. Culture again plays a key role. Be intentional about introducing new hires to team members, setting aside time to outline the processes and tools used within each environment.
Provide training + mentorship. Pair new hires up with someone to walk with them through training, serving as a guide to answer questions along the way. This pairing provides a double benefit to you: new hires feel connected, and veterans get a refresher on your tools and processes. Assuming they have a positive experience, new hires can later pay-it-forward to the next fresh team member.
Growing your team is about more than adding new people to your staff contact list, it’s about listening and providing people what they need to improve. Meet up regularly with old and new team members, both individually and as a group. This simple act shows you care – and that goes a long way.
We know how important it is to listen and connect because that’s what we do at SIS: listen and learn to mutually grow. Through our workgroups, Regional Learnings, and forums, we focus on staying in touch with our Partner Platform community. Like any community, when our clients grow, we do, too.
You’ve read the reasons to become a paperless insurance agency. The time, money, and environmental savings are just the tip of the iceberg. Bottom line: a paperless agency serves customers better.
We’ve packed our bags and are ready to hit the road! This past month, Jake Thaxton, Manager of Client Services, and I headed east to start off our 20-city Partner XE Regional Learnings tour. (more…)
No one knows more about being a good partner than the Strategic Insurance Software team. A driving force of the SIS culture, working with and for our partner agencies is the cornerstone of our work. We asked SIS CEO Alex Deak to share what it means to go beyond a provider and become a partner for the many independent insurance agencies we serve.
When did you start at SIS? What has your journey been like so far?
SIS has been providing service to independent insurance agencies since 1995. I got involved with SIS in 2008 as our parent organization, NuGrowth Solutions, was providing sales and marketing services to expand the market presence of Partner XE. When NuGrowth acquired SIS in 2009, I took on the role of CEO.
Working with the SIS team has been very rewarding. We work hard every day to improve our Partner XE system and the services provided to our partner agencies. Our investment in technology and people has increased our capability to serve a broader spectrum of agencies in terms of size, complexity, and lines of business. As the company has grown, we’ve been able to increase our investment and the pace at which we can improve to serve more clients.
Describe the culture at SIS. How does it reflect your values as a company?
At SIS we say “Partner is who we are and Community is how we work.” Our goal is to build long-term partnerships with our customers, suppliers, and the organizations we connect with.
We operate in a highly collaborative team environment. We look to our customers to provide us insight into the capabilities and services that will help them most. Then, we work together to find a way to deliver good solutions through innovation and collaboration. Collaboration is a huge part of how we work. Each system update comes from the combined work of our team, our customers, and other technology organizations that have a good solution we can connect to Partner XE.
We value our customers and our relationships. I think that comes through in every interaction we have.
What does it mean to you to be a partner to Partner XE agencies?
Partner is more than a brand or slogan for us; it’s how we do business. Partnership and relationship is everything to us.
We want healthy and valuable relationships that last many years and decades; just like the agencies we work with.
And we daily renew our commitment to make that happen. The biggest thing is to listen to our customers to learn who they are and what’s important to them. That allows us to serve them well, which is really our number one goal.
What do you do on a daily basis to achieve that goal?
We want our customers to feel heard, that we care about what’s going on in their world. To let them know we are here to help. Even if we can’t provide a full solution immediately, we want our customers to feel we understand and will use all our resources to bring resolution.
How would you describe the Partner XE User Community?
The Partner XE User Community is a highly active and collaborative group of our partner agencies. They’re interested in the same thing we are: serving their clients in a mutually beneficial way. They’re full of new ideas and inspire us to innovate Partner XE to not only do more, but do more of the things our customers really need. And they like to have fun along the way, making it even more enjoyable.
What are some memorable moments you’ve experienced with the SIS team and Partner XE community?
I enjoy attending our Regional Learning workshops. They’re intimate, collaborative sessions focused on gaining new ideas and insights. Attendees are able to share learnings with each other and with the SIS team.
We usually have more than 20 people from 10 or more agencies, making it the right size to foster collaboration and innovation. It’s always interesting to see how each agency has a unique approach to their common daily operations.
At Regional Learnings, our customers constantly tell us they learned just as much from their fellow users as from our product experts. And the groups are lively. Both our team and the attendees always share a lot of laughs.
What makes SIS different from other management system providers?
The thing that sets SIS and Partner XE apart is our focus on relationship and service. Our actions around those foci are important. It’s not just lip service. The features and technology part are important, but in the end, most management systems do similar things. We work with our clients to provide the capabilities they want, the way they want them, at a cost that makes sense. And when they have a question, suggestion, or idea, they can talk to someone who is ready to listen and do something about it.
What is the most important thing you can provide for Partner XE agencies?
The most important thing we provide to Partner XE agency customers is trust. They can trust us to do the right thing, work to serve their needs every day, and be there when they need us.
Remember those Febreze commercials where people didn’t notice the smell in their homes, cars, and other spaces? They had gotten used to the unpleasant order they lived with in these places. But, when other people came by, it was obvious something stunk.
When I meet with individuals about switching agency management systems, I have a similar experience. I find too often they’ve gotten used to the system they have, even if it does stink. They’ve put up with limited functionality, found workarounds, and have given up on the slow-moving customer service offered by their provider.
Are you ignoring the smell of your agency management system? Check out our “must-have” list below to see if you’re missing these critical pieces for a more fragrant management system experience.
System Must Haves: The Short List
Below are the absolute musts for your management system. If you’re one short, it’s time to move to greener pastures.
Independent insurance agencies never settle for “good enough.” Go beyond the minimum with these capabilities to set your agency apart.
Outlook Integration
Customer and company communication is almost exclusively through email. Outlook integration brings email into your system, saving you from switching back and forth.
Integrated Accounting
An integrated accounting system eliminates doubling data entry in Quickbooks or Peachtree. You also get the ability to run extensive reports using all the data stored in your system.
Client portal access is quickly becoming a must-have for customers. With this online portal, customers essentially serve themselves after regular business hours.
Proposal Creator
A customizable proposal creator allows agencies to provide clients with professional, agency-branded proposals in 10 minutes or less for all renewals.
See more on SIS’s Proposal Creator and Client Portal in our latest releases
Mobile App
Another emerging must-have, a mobile app gives employees on-the-go access to customer and policy information. This allows staff to enter follow-up activities and update info in the moment so business can keep moving no matter where you’re located.
Finding a System that Has It All
Is it possible to find a system and provider that has it all? The short answer: no. But the long answer is: if they’re willing to grow. Each agency is unique, requiring a system that fits them. A provider that is open to changing and improving their system can make that perfect fit happen again and again as your needs grow.
Collaboration and growth are integral to our success at SIS. Our Partner XE management system is continually improved to directly meet partner agency needs, ensuring good stays the enemy of great. Find out more about how we work with our agencies through Workgroups and Regional Learnings. Visit us at sispartnerplatform.com to get in touch at [email protected].
The insurance industry – like others today – is understaffed. In late 2021, an insurance labor market study showed that 53% of agencies planned to “aggressively hire” within 12 months to fill vacancies. The same study also showed that it’s becoming increasingly difficult to fill open positions. As an owner, your insurance agency management relies on knowledgeable staff, but it can be challenging to fill positions in today’s market.
With hiring season just around the corner, your agency needs to focus on how to recruit new talent for your team. Past tactics may no longer work on a younger, more tech-driven workforce. It’s time to expand your outreach, position insurance differently, and look for diverse qualities to keep your agency growing.
Mike Maranda has been in the insurance business for over 40 years. He’s guided his agency through many seasons, but his recent journey to find the right agency management system for his team was one of the most painful.
After many years with a system they loved, Quality Insurance Service was forced to make a change when one of the big-name providers acquired their original system. Mike and his business partner decided to pick one of the big-name systems to avoid needing to make a change again anytime soon.
Yet, after selecting one of the dominant providers, they were frustrated to move through a cumbersome system with unresponsive service. After four years, they’d had enough and started searching for a new system, eventually joining the Partner Platform community.
As the insurance industry grows more competitive, the particulars of your specific insurance agency management will make your business stand out. Those particulars could be location proximity, ease of doing business, or even something as simple as how your website looks. Though price still matters, changes in cost can only go so far.
The true test of what makes your agency the best choice is the overall customer experience. Seemingly small touches that make each interaction easier, more personable, and leave each customer with a positive feeling have a real impact. Today it’s about more than the best price and the latest tech; it’s how you use these tools to empower, differentiate, and create the best experience in your agency.
We’ve packed our bags and are ready to hit the road! This past month, Jake Thaxton, Manager of Client Services, and I headed east to start off our 20-city Partner XE Regional Learnings tour. 
No one knows more about being a good partner than the Strategic Insurance Software team. A driving force of the SIS culture, working with and for our partner agencies is the cornerstone of our work. We asked 
The thing that sets SIS and Partner XE apart is our focus on relationship and service. Our actions around those foci are important. It’s not just lip service. The features and technology part are important, but in the end, most management systems do similar things. We work with our clients to provide the capabilities they want, the way they want them, at a cost that makes sense. And when they have a question, suggestion, or idea, they can talk to someone who is ready to listen and do something about it.
