Why Automation is the Key to Successful Downline Management

Leverage Automation to Stay in Touch With Your Agents in the Most Efficient and Effective Way Possible

When it comes to managing your downline agencies and agents, communication is key. It is crucial to ensure they are supported and kept up-to-date with pertinent information. But whether you have a handful of agencies or thousands of downline agents, it can be difficult to ensure you’re communicating with each of them regularly and not missing any critical points of contact.

That’s where automation can help!

By using automation, you can rest assured that your agents receive meaningful communication when it matters most. In this blog, we’ll cover why you should use automation at your organization to communicate with your agents, examples of communications you can automate, and how you can use technology like AgencyBloc’s AMS+ solution to do just that.

Why You Should Use Automation to Communicate with Your Downline Agencies and Agents

No matter how many downlines you have, it would be nearly impossible to manually communicate with all of your agents without forgetting someone or missing something at some point. Automation tools handle tasks for you, increasing your productivity and ensuring that no important information is missed by your agents.

Automation is typically broken down into two simple steps:

1. The trigger: The trigger is what needs to happen in the system in order for the workflow to begin. Usually, this means a change, like a record being added or updated. For example, in AgencyBloc’s AMS+, you can have a workflow trigger when a new agent is created in the system.
2. The action: The action is what happens once the trigger occurs. It could be one thing or multiple things. In the case of a new agent being created, you could set up an email to be sent to the agent welcoming them to your organization and also a task to be assigned to them to complete onboarding tasks.

Automated Workflow Trigger in AMS+

Automated Workflow Actions in AMS+

You probably know that client retention is an important metric to track at your agency. After all, keeping and retaining existing clients is more cost-effective than acquiring new ones. The same can be said for retaining agents. 

Not only can automation make your downline communication more effective and productive, but it can also improve agent retention and engagement.

Plus, keeping track of every single one of your agent’s license expiration dates, birthdays, work anniversaries, and more is extremely difficult without a system managing it for you, regardless of your organization’s size. Without automation, something would be missed sooner or later. By implementing automatic emails and more, you ensure no important communication falls through the cracks.

You can also send information to your agents immediately instead of relying on someone to distribute it manually. Time-sensitive information, especially license and E&O expiration notifications, needs to be sent to agents in a timely manner so they can act quickly. Without automation, you run the risk of not getting information to agents in time, accidentally leaving out an agent, and more.

Examples of Agent Communication to Automate

There are times throughout the year when you know you’ll have to communicate with your agents. Depending on the scenario, those communications can most likely be automated. Here are some examples to help you get started.

New Agent Welcome/Onboarding

When a new agent starts at your GA, IMO, or FMO, you are most likely sending them an email welcoming them to your agency. This email probably includes:

• Office information and schedules (if applicable)
• Technology log in information and access to help documentation
• Training materials
• Incentive structures
• The next steps in their onboarding process
• Contact information for direct reports/managers
• & more.

If this information doesn’t vary significantly from agent to agent, this is a perfect opportunity to implement automation.

To set up this workflow, set up an email to go out automatically when a new agent is created in the system. If you have different types of agents who need different information depending on their role, you can utilize filters and set up a few different workflows specific to each type of agent you might have at your insurance organization.

If you want to take it a step further and don’t yet have an agent onboarding process, use this checklist to set one up and ensure you have all the steps you need to set your agents up for success.

Birthday/Work Anniversary

An agent’s birthday or work anniversary is an easy but meaningful opportunity to connect with them. Even a simple “Happy Birthday!” or “Congratulations on your work anniversary!” can brighten their day and improve morale.

This workflow can be set up to automatically trigger when the agent’s birthday is approaching or when their work anniversary is approaching. Then, create an email with your celebratory message.

License Expiration Date Approaching

A lapsed license is something no agent wants to happen. If their license and E&O information is stored in your AMS or CRM, you can give them extra peace of mind by automating license and E&O expiration reminders for them.

Set up a workflow to trigger when the agent’s license or E&O expiration date is approaching. Then, create an email reminder to be sent to them and assign them a task to renew their license.

New Lead

When a new lead comes into your agency, it’s imperative that it be responded to and taken care of as soon as possible. Your agency’s lead response time is crucial to making or losing the sale. Studies have shown that the quicker the response to an inquiry, the higher the likelihood that the lead converts.

Use automation to notify your agents immediately when a new lead is assigned to them. You can create a workflow to notify the agent via email of the new lead, and also assign a task to them to reach out as soon as possible.

Depending on the technology you use at your insurance organization, you can also take this one step further. Automation can also be used to automatically send an email to your lead once it’s created in your system and assigned to an agent. This can significantly reduce the lead response time and empower your agents to be more successful.

Policy Renewal Date Approaching

Keeping your agents up-to-date with their policies, individuals, groups, etc., is a great way to set them up for success. One example of this is automating a notification to be sent out to the agent when their client’s policy is approaching renewal.

Set up a workflow to send an email notification to an agent when a policy is approaching renewal. You can also add an action to create a task for the agent to contact the client and begin the renewal process.

This is just one example of how you can keep your agents informed about their policies, individuals, groups, and more. Other ideas for automation include:

• A group/individual is created
• A group/individual’s status is updated
• A group/individual’s primary servicing agent changes
• A group/individual activity’s due date is approaching
• A policy is created
• A policy’s app submit date is populated
• A policy’s primary servicing agent changes

Using AgencyBloc’s AMS+ Solution to Automate Downline Communication

AgencyBloc’s AMS+ solution has the automation tools your team needs to make your downline communication more efficient and effective.

The Automated Workflow feature in AMS+ has triggers to help you stay in touch with your agents. Triggers include:

• An agent is created
• An agent’s status or type is updated
• An agent’s birthday is approaching
• An agent’s E&O expiration date is approaching
• An agent’s license expiration date is approaching
• An agent’s contract status is updated
• An agent’s contract termination date is populated

You can also filter by various other criteria, such as agent type, agent status, agency, and more.

Once your trigger is finalized, send an email automatically to the agent or create an activity for the agent (or both!) with the information they need to succeed. If you need to tweak or edit the workflow, you can! Otherwise, your workflow will run for you until you tell it not to.

Automation is becoming a more significant part of our everyday lives, especially in our careers. With the help of automation, your agents can feel supported and do their jobs more effectively and efficiently. With the help of automation, you can take your GA, IMO, or FMO to the next level and see improved efficiency, agent retention rates, and much more.

Posted by Sarah Rosonke on Tuesday, June 11, 2024 in Agent Management

1. insurance automation
2. productivity