When it comes to your insurance prospects and
customers, there are three main areas to focus on:
Improving ease and speed of service
Personalizing prospect and customer experience
Gaining data for expert advice
Each of these areas answers the question, “what do insurance customers want?”. Are you leveraging the right insurance sales software and processes to respond to these needs?
Improving Ease and Speed of Service
The best way to improve your service is by being
accessible and responsive. The two key technologies to make that possible are
your agency management system and your website.
Your agency management system needs to present
information quickly and accurately so you can respond to clients and have the
right analytics to measure and improve results.
If you need a Ph.D. to pull reports, you may want to reconsider your
options. The faster you can interpret your customer data, the faster you can
respond to needs.
An often-overlooked service tool, your agency website
can be a meaningful communication platform – when set up correctly. Make your
site intuitive to navigate and include
a client portal that’s integrated with your management system. Client
portals are essential in today’s digitized service experience. With a client
portal, your customers can view coverage, print insurance cards, and check on
claims processing 24/7. That immediate and always accessible service is vital.
Personalizing Prospect and Customer Experience
Prospects and customers now expect personalized
service. With an integrated Customer Relationship Manager (CRM), you can gain
the data you need to personalize the entire prospect journey and build better relationships
with your customers. Reminders to follow-up on tasks to engage with your
prospects come with a comprehensive picture of the prospect so you can target
each conversation to their individual needs. Timing and content are critical
when communicating with a prospect. Good timing with good information improves
the probability of a quality conversation, the catalyst for driving new
business results.
Marketing
Automation adds another level of personalization with custom marketing
campaigns that speak to different prospect segments. Each campaign gains
information on individual prospects and their segment, allowing you to improve
personalization with each message.
Gaining Data for Expert Service
In our recent
conversations with Partner Platform agencies, we’ve heard again and again
that the need for expert insurance advice is rising and will continue to rise
for the foreseeable future. To bring that advice, you need better data on your
customers. An
integrated CRM system is the ideal tool to gain and interpret data.
With that data, you can create expert proposals
with the help of an integrated
proposal creator. With a proposal creator, you can create a professional proposal
in minutes by flooding policy and submission information. This tool is excellent
for conducting an account review and offering cross-selling opportunities as
well.
Get all the Best Insurance Sales Software in One Place
We know the value of each of these tools because they’re just what our Partner Platform agencies asked for to enhance their sales and marketing experience. See how you can get all these sales and services tools and more in one system – contact us to view a Partner Platform demo today.
With so many options and diverse needs, it can be challenging
to determine how to choose the best agency management system for your agency.
Are you looking for ease of use? Quality training? Integrated systems? Robust
marketing? Is it possible to find a system that meets all your varying agency
needs?
Chances are, there is a right system out there for your agency – if you know how to look for it. Narrow your options by starting with the base “must-haves” for any management system.
Your Management Systems Musts
Customization.
Find a system with the ability to create custom workflows, personalized
dashboards, and agency-unique data fields.
Ability
to upgrade. Tech moves fast, and you want your management system to be
malleable enough to keep up. Find a system with update-able tech.
Cloud-based.
You don’t want access tied to one physical location – give your team
flexibility with cloud-based access.
Security.
The data you store in your management systems is valuable, and you
want it to stay protected with top-of-the-line, disaster-proof storage.
Beyond these base elements, there are a few standard
additional capabilities your agency may need to fit your unique service.
Best Management System Capabilities to Improve Service
Integrated
website. You need a quality
website to stay competitive in today’s market and should have it integrated
with your management system to streamline service.
Client
Portal. Self-service
client portals are becoming a must-have across industries, including the
insurance market. Give your customers the best tools with an integrated client
portal to access and update their policy information.
Email integration. Use
integrated email to send messages right from your management system and
automatically attach all incoming and outgoing messages to each constituent
profile, streamlining processes and improving E & O coverage.
CRM
and Marketing Automation. These
essential prospecting tools can help you gain and leverage vital data,
empowering you to improve sales and marketing and grow your agency.
Find What You Need with Partner Platform
Our Partner Platform agency management suite starts
with the basics in access, security, and customization and offers all the
essential integrations to serve your agency’s unique needs. Our
dedicated team works with each Partner Platform agency to provide in-depth,
personalized training and a host of always-accessible resources to keep
agencies informed.
Let us bring you the tools to achieve exceptional
customer experiences, win more business, and grow your agency in the long term.
Get in touch at [email protected], 800.747.7005, Option 6, or fill out a simple contact form here
to find out more.
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 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.
