“We all need somebody to lean on,” as Bill Withers
said in his famous song Lean on Me. Yet, it can be challenging to know
when and how to ask for help. Working in an independent agency, you likely need
more help than you know. With a small team, everyone is usually tackling more
than one job at a time, making it easy for something to fall through the
cracks.
Though you may intend to put effort and thought
into something, invariably other time-sensative matters comes up. For many
agencies, that something is insurance agency marketing. Whether it’s a customer
request, an uptick in claims, or another important measure, marketing gets put
on the back burner again.
So how do you know when it’s been too long since you paid attention to your insurance marketing? There are a few signs that it’s time to get help.
1. You can’t remember when you last updated your website
In the last five years, websites have gone through
many changes. If you don’t remember when you last logged in to your website’s
editor, you
need to get in there now. Do you have your current logo and branding?
Recent photos of your staff? Is your website readable on mobile devices as well
as desktops? The time to update is now.
2. Your social media presence is stale…or nonexistent
When it first came on the scene, social media was primarily
a tool for personal connection. Now it’s a powerful business tool, too. If your
agency doesn’t have an up-to-date social presence, you’re missing out on
numerous marketing opportunities. Look for help to bring social to your agency.
3. You don’t have (or know how to use) marketing automation
One
excellent tool to help with your social presence is marketing automation. With
marketing automation, you can schedule social media posts to keep your feeds
fresh and reply to interactions with your followers. Plus, marketing automation
can send an automatic email and social messages, track customer and prospect
engagement, and more. It’s now a must-have tool to gain insights into how to
market effectively and streamlines your marketing processes.
4. Your lead generation and closing strategies are old (or don’t exist)
You absolutely need a lead generation, nurturing,
and closing strategy. While
word of mouth marketing is powerful and effective, it cannot be your only
strategy. In recent conversations with independent agency owners and insurtech
providers, we’ve repeatedly heard that finding and cultivating quality leads is
essential for modern independent agencies to survive. Get help to define and
hone your strategies.
5. You don’t have a CRM (or know how to use it)
An insurance CRM is critical to creating and
managing your lead generation and closing strategy. CRMs hold all your customer
and prospect information and help you see the links between
who is your ideal customer and why. It also provides data on what methods
convert leads and keeps customers around. But it can be confusing and
intimidating if you don’t know what you’re doing. If you’re unsure about an
insurance CRM, get help in implementing and customizing. The investment is more
than worth it.
Find out more about how the Partner Platform
agency management system and insurance CRM, and the Partner Platform community,
can be your lifeline. Get
in touch with us at [email protected]
or 800.747.7005, Option 6.
Our next “Behind Our Insurance Agency Software”
series focuses on encrypted email and
signature provider RPost. Based in Los Angeles, CA, the team at
RPost operates in the U.S., the U.K., and more than 100 countries worldwide.
Formed in
1999, RPost filled an emerging need in online communications. While the
convenience of email made it the dominant form of business communications, the
team at RPost saw a worrying trend in email security. Organizations were
sending sensitive information via the web and needed to protect it.
RPost stepped up to fill that gap between convenience and security, adding legal verification to email content and attachments through encryption technology. I talked with RPost’s VP of Business Development, Jake Finnell, about how RPost brought its powerful encrypted email and esignature services to SIS and the Partner Platform community.
How did you first become connected with SIS and Partner Platform? What prompted you to want to collaborate?
Our partnership started around 2013 thanks to
mutual clients who saw a possible collaboration. They reached out to us and
SIS, asking to integrate our services with the Partner Platform system. When we
connected with the SIS team, we saw the opportunity – it was apparent that SIS’s
clients needed a secure way to send and sign documents. After talking more with
the SIS team, we knew they were someone we could work with; the drive to
collaborate and innovate was there.
How did you first become connected with SIS and Partner Platform? What prompted you to want to collaborate?
Our partnership started around 2013 thanks to mutual clients who saw a
possible collaboration. They reached out to us and SIS, asking to
integrate our services with the Partner Platform system. When we
connected with the SIS team, we saw the opportunity – it was apparent
that SIS’s clients needed a secure way to send and sign documents. After
talking more with the SIS team, we knew they were someone we could work
with; the drive to collaborate and innovate was there.
What services do you provide for the Partner
Platform customer base?
Initially, we integrated our
RMail service with Partner Platform’s email integration. RMail provides
HIPPA-compliant email security and encryption, allowing Partner Platform users
to email documents with sensitive information to their clients. We recently
expanded our services with our RSign esignature service.
With RSign, Partner Platform agencies can send and receive secure, binding
signatures on documents. This makes it easier for agencies to sign new
business, update existing coverages, and process claims for their clients.
What prompted you to want to
collaborate and integrate your technology with SIS and Partner Platform? Why
did you feel the collaboration would be beneficial?
The market demand was strong. Partner Platform is
a popular management system among independent agencies, and insurance agencies
need better ways to send and receive the confidential documents they deal with
daily. We’re excited to partner with the SIS team to provide this essential
service to their agencies because they’re a great team to work with.
What do Partner Platform clients like about
RMail and RSign? What type of feedback do you hear?
We hear great feedback. Agents and brokers are
constantly focused on revenue-generating activities, and the combination of
“ease of use” and affordability are the top two comments we hear. That
combination makes it easy for agencies to generate revenue rather than worry
about security, compliance, and collaboration.
What has been your experience with the
SIS/Partner Platform team so far?
The SIS
team is highly responsive and constantly provides top-tier support and
educational content for their customers. That combination is rare – we can see
how we can grow together, continually improving our services.
What emerging needs do you see for
cybersecurity and insurance in the next 3-5 years?
Every day, we learn something new about how
technology can help us and how it makes us vulnerable. Cyber
threats and attackers are constantly evolving,
and the insurance industry needs to evolve, too, to stay one step ahead. We’re
focused on continually improving our services, and we know SIS is as well. Armed
with SIS and RPost, insurance agents and brokers can keep ahead of these
threats.
As a community-minded, independent agency, you can’t afford to expose your customers to that risk. Not only would it affect you financially, it would also damage your reputation in the community. How can you keep your customers and agency protected?
Know the Possible Threats
Your first step to protecting your agency is to know
what you’re up against. Cybercrime has evolved over the years, and there
are now multiple common attack methods. Some notable ones to watch for are:
Phishing: when a cybercriminal tries to
get an employee to provide information to help them access funds or data (i.e.,
bank account number, access to password-protected data). Phishing usually
originates in an email link or attachment sent from the cybercriminal posing as
someone in the organization or a member of another trusted organization.
Spear-Phishing: when a cybercriminal
targets a specific person in a phishing attack, delivering a personalized
message rather than a mass email.
Malware: a type of software that gets
downloaded and causes data on a device to become scrambled or locked by a
hacker. Malware typically comes through an email attachment or link.
Ransomware: a specific way hackers use
malware, asking for a fee to release control and/or refrain from sharing data
in a way that would harm the organization or person.
Spyware: a type of software used to give
hackers access to a device, allowing them to look at files and use the device’s
camera and microphone. This helps the hacker gather information to manipulate
an organization to give access to their data unknowingly. Spyware is also sent
through an email attachment or link.
Educate and Equip Your Agency
Once you know what to watch for, you can put
together tools and training to help your team stay alert. You can also
update your processes and tools to ensure they’re providing the highest level
of protection. Some critical steps to take include:
Upgrade your software and tech, especially
if you’re still using Windows XP or 7. Virus protection and support ran out for
these a few years ago, so your agency is vulnerable if you’re still using them.
Use two-factor authentication to log into
your agency’s systems, especially your management system, to add extra layers
of protection.
Use a VPN to access your agency’s system,
especially when accessing it out of the office.
Upgrade or install firewalls on browsers to
filter out malicious websites.
A large part of upgrading your protection is
educating your staff. Have regular training to keep them alert for suspicious
activity like:
Unexpected emails from you or your management
team
Emails marked as “URGENT!” or asking them to
take quick action
Receiving an attachment they weren’t
expecting
Requests for passwords or links to re-set
passwords
With your staff as your first level of protection,
you can close potential openings for hackers. Simple actions like googling a
link before opening it or sending someone a separate email when you’re unsure
if they sent a message can go a long way.
Partner with Like-Minded Providers
A final way to keep your agency safe is by
partnering with providers that are protecting themselves (and you!), too. Data
privacy laws hold data owners responsible for all data breaches, so if a
third-party provider makes your agency’s data vulnerable, the blame ultimately
falls on you. Vet your partners accordingly to make sure they’re as on top of
their cybersecurity game as you.
You can learn more about how we put security first
and get a first-hand demo of our Partner Platform agency management system by contacting us at [email protected] or 800.747.7005,
Option 6, today.
The coronavirus pandemic accelerated trends in several
areas, including digital insurance customer service. A
recent survey showed that almost 90% of American consumers think customer
service is more important now than before the pandemic took hold of the world.
Consumers not only expect more from service providers, they also have more options, meaning they’ll choose an agency that offers quicker and smoother interactions over one that’s, say, unable to process esignatures. As your team transitions back to the office, now is the time to reevaluate your customer service tools and processes to keep up with expectations.
1. Get more customer data
The more you know about each potential customer or
group of prospects, the better. Set your agency up to gather customer data through
marketing
automation and record that data in an insurance
CRM integrated with your agency management system.
With
all your customer data in one place – your insurance CRM – producers and
CSRs alike can look up a customer profile and get to know everything they can
about a customer before speaking with them. The more you know, the better you
can serve their needs and streamline interactions.
2. Focus on the customer
With so many choices and access to reviews,
consumers can easily tell when they’re being “sold to” rather than actually
helped. Use your customer data to focus on each individuals’s goals rather than
your own. Train
your producers to ask questions to understand what would best benefit the
customer. Selling lower-priced coverage may seem like a loss in the short run,
but if that’s what the customer needed to be happy, you’ve got a net positive
in a life-long customer.
3. Stay in touch
You have a great deal of customer interaction
leading up to signing a policy, but what about after? Take time to follow up
with customers to see how things are going and if they have any new needs. If
every contact isn’t about a sale, your customers are more inclined to trust you
when it comes time to talk about an upsell or cross-sell opportunity. Use your insurance
CRM and marketing
automation to put in reminders to get in touch and automated messages to
reach out regularly.
4. Be accessible in many ways
You
know each customer is unique, so why don’t you offer them unique ways to
get in touch? Some customers may prefer a phone call, while others want a text.
Some may only look at email, while others want to talk over online chat. Whatever
the way, make sure you have it as an option.
Marketing automation can let you know those
preferences, tracking individual engagement with certain types of outreach, and
options like integrated
text and email
make it easier for you to respond and capture customer data at the same
time.
5. Offer self-service
A
self-service client portal is a must for the modern insurance agency. A
self-service portal allows customers to access their policy, claims, and other
information 24/7. During the COVID-19 lockdowns, consumers got used to
self-service, and now many prefer it to get information almost instantly. With
a self-service portal, customers can make payments, print ID cards, and update
information without needing to call your office. That ease of use is essential.
6. Make feedback available and public
As we mentioned, online reviews play a big part in
consumer choice. With so many seemingly similar insurance options, people often
go to reviews to make their final decision. Make it easy for your customers to
leave reviews about their experience. Ask for a review after a service call and
add a link on your website and in your team’s email signatures. Check out your
review pages to respond to less than stellar experiences, too. Your honestly
and attempts to “make it right” go a long way.
7. Make more time for people
After lockdowns and social distancing for more than
a year, people are craving more personal interactions. Structure your agency so
you can give more time when needed. With a system like the Partner Platform agency management
system and insurance CRM, you can automate and speed up processes thanks to
real-time integrations and esignature capabilities, among other time-saving
tools.
With less time spent on small tasks, you can give
your time to the most important job: being there for your customers. Find out
how you can give your customers back more time with a system that gives you
that competitive advantage: get
in touch with the Partner Platform team today.
In the latest of our “Behind Our Insurance Agency Software” series, we talk with Brad Ruben of IT services provider Archway Computer. Archway has been one of our industry partners for years, and we rely on Brad and his team to keep us and our community up-to-date on the latest insurtech and cybersecurity.
Brad Ruben
has been working with insurance agnecy software since 1985, when he first
helped a family friend install and run a Coast Premium Rater software as part
of the friend’s insurance business. Since then, Brad founded Archway Computers
to help independent agencies get the best insurtech and IT support at a price
they can afford.
I talked with Brad about Archway’s partnership with SIS and the Partner Platform community, aiding agencies with IT services and providing expert consultation around insurtech and security.
How did you first become connected with SIS and Partner Platform? What prompted you to want to collaborate?
We had a mutual client who told me about SIS and Partner Platform. There
was a definite connection around personalized service and commitment to
innovation. Once I met with SIS President Michael Doran, we immediately hit it off and have been working together ever since.
We had a mutual client who told me about SIS and Partner Platform. There was a definite connection around personalized service and commitment to innovation. Once I met with SIS President Michael Doran, we immediately hit it off and have been working together ever since.
We get
great feedback from our Partner Platform clients about how SIS and the team
support them, which we love to see in any insurance technology provider. However,
what really stands out is the seamless sales and marketing integrations SIS provides in Partner Platform. That’s
something few agency management systems do well.
What services do you provide for SIS and the
Partner Platform customer base?
Archway
Computer provides managed IT services exclusively for independent insurance
agencies. That means keeping their information secure and their technology
compliant with cyber regulations in their state. Small and mid-sized agencies
usually cannot afford a full-time IT person, and their local IT company knows
nothing about insurance technology. So, we’re a great fit for the independent agencies in the Partner
Platform community.
Beyond
being a preferred IT service provider for Partner Platform agencies, we also provide
educational opportunities for the broader Partner Platform and SIS community.
We’ve been part of numerous national conferences and hosted cybersecurity
webinars for the community. We’re a comprehensive IT resource for SIS and its
Partner Platform agencies.
We’ve
been lucky to work with SIS for years, establishing a solid relationship. As
cybersecurity and compliance issues grow, our partnership is that much more
important. Partner Platform understands that having a digital presence and
working from anywhere are vital issues for their agencies. Working with us,
they can help agencies grow while keeping them protected from cyber
vulnerabilities.
You have a unique value proposition that
aligns with independent agents (as does Partner). How do independent agents
benefit from working with you versus a big-name provider?
Independent
agents need someone who already understands the technology they’re using and
how to make it work better for them. Larger IT firms just don’t know insurtech and take a long time to get up to speed.
Agencies love that we’re knowledgeable, responsive, and hands-on right from the
start.
Also,
we’re not selling them anything they don’t need. Insurtech software providers
will often sell their IT services alongside their tech and then constantly try
to upsell. We’re a neutral party that fairly evaluates agency tech without a
stake in the game. Our only goal is to keep agencies efficient and protected.
What has been your experience with the
SIS/Partner Platform team so far?
We love
the SIS team. All our mutual clients experience excellent customer service from
them, and we know they’re always working for the client’s best interest, just
like us. It’s been great sharing our expertise with the Partner Platform
community, including the staff at SIS, who integrate our expertise into their
software.
Plus,
the Partner Platform team are just all-around great as people. We look forward
to getting to meet face-to-face again at the next convention.
——–
Our Partner Allies like Archway Computer provide
invaluable insights into tech advances and how to keep our Partner Platform
community connected and protected. You can learn more about Brad and his team
at myarchway.com, and see the remote
work tips Brad shared
with us on our blog.
Texting has quickly become one of the most popular and efficient pieces of insurance tech. Almost 90% of consumers say they’d like to be able to text businesses. It improves communication by making it easier to get in touch and get a response from customers and prospects, streamlining outreach with automation and integration into agency systems. Studies show that 98% of text messages are read, compared to 20-30% of emails and phone calls.
Texting is one of the tools all your team members can use, from producers to CSRs, as it speeds up communications and helps your agency move.
Social media marketing is nothing new in the larger marketing industry but may be novel for independent insurance agencies. This tool is something all agencies should include in their insurance agency marketing strategy for several reasons. Social media can help your agency show off your expertise, build trust with customers and prospects, and help you better engage your customer base. For independent agencies, social media is an excellent tool to amplify their valuable local and personal connections with their communities.
Whether your agency is on social media or not, you’re being discussed in the social media space. Join in that conversation! Get your agency started by following a few simple dos and don’ts in the social media sphere.
The insurance industry isn’t known for embracing change quickly: maintaining the status quo can seem easier than adapting new insurance tech. Despite this, insurance agencies tend to face a greater cybersecurity threat than other small to medium-sized businesses due to the sensitive and valuable data they collect from numerous avenues.
With cyberattacks on the rise, and the COVID-19 pandemic forcing many agencies to leave the traditional way of doing things behind, the need for insurers to maintain cyber regulation and compliance has never been greater.
With this in mind, here are four ways insurance agencies can secure their insurance tech to protect their business, employees, and clients.
