Agency Management System Best Practices, Marketing
Using Your Partner XE Agency Management System to Market Effectively
In a perfect world, clients would never leave for greener pastures. Instead, they would continuously refer your independent insurance agency to friends and neighbors who would be on the phone, signing with you immediately. In a perfect world you would never have to spend, time, effort or money on marketing your business.
Realistically, this is rarely the case.
In April we talked about targeting prospects who match the profiles of your best customer and about creating educational marketing content and messaging relevant to that market. Just as important is consistency. It has oft been reported that a prospect needs to see or hear your message up to seven times before they decide to take action.
Because of that it is important to not only stay on top of your sales and marketing efforts, but to do so in a strategic fashion.
Your Partner XE agency management system is a great tool to help you execute your marketing strategy.
One of the best marketing features within your Partner XE agency management system is the ability to track conversations and set reminders. If, for example, you want to run a targeted drip marketing campaign you can use the system to create your list, send the mailings, set up reminders so that you stay on track and your mailings go out at set intervals and set reminders for follow up calls.
In addition, with the release of version 1.6 you now have direct access to our direct mail partner, Allegiant Marketing Group. AMG offers pre-formatted insurance marketing campaigns at a special rate for Partner XE customers. It is our hope that easy access to this reputable and proven direct mail resource will assist you in streamlining your marketing efforts.
Click Here for insight on executing an affordable, effective marketing campaign.
If you need assistance in maximizing the marketing potential of your Partner XE agency management system, just give us a call at 800.747.7005, Option 2.
Marketing, News and Events, Product Updates
SIS Announces Release of Partner XE Agency Management System V. 1.6
To serve you better, the SIS product development team has been working hard to enhance the overall function of our Partner XE agency management system, addressing your requests and adding new capabilities. As a result of their efforts, as of today the release of Partner XE version 1.6 is just about complete.
Here is a quick overview of some of the new and enhanced functions you will find:
Enhanced Marketing Campaign Functions
- Newly added Marketing System Searches (with prefix MK under Policy System Search) will pull the appropriate name and address information for use with direct mail campaigns.
- We have also included a link to our direct mail partner, AMG. AMG offers pre-formatted insurance marketing campaigns at a special rate for Partner XE customers.
New Searches/Reports
- Downloaded policy reports now include Producer Code and Agency Code information which will make it simpler for agencies with multiple producers and locations see what policies are being downloaded.
- In addition, we have added a new Individuals with a Birthday in a Specific Month by Producer report so you can easily acknowledge these important dates with birthday cards or letters.
- Another new report entitled Clients Without Email Addresses was added to make it quick and easy for you to identify which clients to ask for this important contact information. Because so much communication with your clients is done via email, this will give you a quick snapshot of those missing it.
Additional Updates/Enhancements
- Over 160 Partner Forms have been updated to the most recent ACORD version plus the following specific issues have been addressed:
– ACORD 28 – Evidence of Commercial Property Insurance fixed to save all edit changes
– ACORD 90 – Texas Personal Auto Application editing issue fixed
– ACORD 37 – ACORD Statement of No Loss header flooding issue fixed
– ACORD 126 – CGL Application form Schedule of Hazards Classification field wrap issue fixed
The release of Partner XE version 1.6 came about in part due to the input we received from NASPA . As always, we value the input provided by NASPA and appreciate their role as a clearinghouse of ideas. If you are interested in participating in and contributing to one of their work groups, please contact John Heinsz at [email protected].
Agency Operations, Marketing
Our last post focused on targeting. This one will focus on how to open your clients’ and prospects’ eyes to what you have to offer.
Even when marketing to a targeted list, it is not likely that everyone will be ready to buy right away. The trick is to start the conversation – to open eyes and ears to the benefits of your solution by providing education based content that makes buyers think about all the reasons why they SHOULD be interested.
As business growth expert, Chet Holmes wrote in his book, “The Ultimate Sales Machine,” at any given time only 3% of people are actually buying, another 6-7% are open to it 30% aren’t thinking about it, 30% don’t think they are interested, and 30% know they are not interested.
Given this information, your job is to create a message which will pique the interest of all involved.
Don’t just sell your product or service. Provide credible information that validates the need for your solution.
An education-based sales approach removes the prospects’ initial apprehensions and replaces them with a level of trust.
If you need assistance in maximizing the marketing potential of your Partner XE agency management system, just give us a call at 800.747.7005, Option 2.
Agency Management System Best Practices, Marketing
Use the tools in your Partner XE agency management system (system search list, advanced search list, and query builder) to strategically target the right message to the right customer.
Consumer insurance costs are rising, the economy is shaky and the competition among agencies to acquire new clients is fierce. Targeted marketing (to both current customers and prospects) is more important than ever.
As insurance industry expert Steve Anderson wrote in, “A Balanced Approach to Agency Marketing,”
“Most agencies focus their time and resources on obtaining new business… (but) a balanced approach is the key to creating a profitable book of business.”
He goes on to say that agencies should focus on:
- Keeping existing clients
- Upgrading existing clients
- Rounding out the portfolios of each client
- Getting more new clients
Keep, Upgrade, Round Out
To address the first three bullet points, consistent communication with your customers is critical.
Studies have shown that insurance customers expect effective communication from their carriers. To keep your customers you cannot write a policy and then forget it until renewal time rolls around.
You need to be proactive and systematic in your marketing. Use the tools in your Partner XE agency management system (system search list, advanced search list, and query builder) to strategically target the right message to the right customer.
Get More
Targeting your prospect lists isn’t quite as simple as simply running a query of customers with auto insurance but not homeowners and vice versa.
Start by looking at your existing book of business. Identify the traits your best customers have in common (age, marital status, geographic location, etc.) then go after individuals with similar profiles. Discover common attributes, find others with those same attributes and then whittle it down to the best of the best of the best.
Eric Weisgarber, principal at Allegiant Marketing and SIS’ west coast branch manager, has developed a proven six-step marketing system that drives results. Over the next several weeks, we will share some of his secrets.
If you need assistance in maximizing the marketing potential of your Partner XE agency management system, just give us a call at 800.747.7005, Option 2.
Choosing an Agency Management System, Technology Trends
Insurance Software as a Service
Proactively securing the costs of doing business
With an insurance Software as a Service model, such as SIS’ Partner XE agency management system, the real cost savings comes in the form of your ability to proactively secure your cost of doing business and effectively and evenly allocate your cash outlay over a long-term period. Instead of a large initial cash outlay followed by peaks and valleys of expenditures, you are dealing with a consistent, monthly, budgetable cost.
In addition, studies have shown that the total cost of ownership for SaaS models can be significantly less than on- premise solutions.
When you are looking at the total cost of ownership for SaaS, as compared to an on-premise insurance software model, you need to consider a number of factors. One way to look at it is to think about the cash outlay you put into your current system (both on capital and operational expenditures) and compare it to the monthly fee charged by your prospective SaaS provider.
What are you spending on…
Capital Expenditures?
- Servers
- Network storage
- Backup systems
- Disaster recovery systems
- Power and cooling systems
- Data centers
- Infrastructure stack software
- Third party modules or applications
- License & license support fees
Operational Expenditures?
- Installation
- Networking operations
- Utility costs
- Application implementation and support
- Licensed professional services
- Technical training
- End-user support
- Annual software maintenance fees
- Implementation of large scale patches and upgrades
- Routine and unexpected troubleshooting/ maintenance
- Employee down-time when they have to take time off to perform the above tasks
You may look at the upfront investments you have already made in your on-premise system as “already paid for.” If this is the case, consider the fact that the average shelf life of a system is anywhere between seven and ten years while server hardware will need to be replaced every 3-5 years. They won’t last forever. These are costs that will occur again and again.
The bottom line, when doing any sort of comparison, is that it is necessary to take in all costs, extended over the total lifespan of the application.
