10 Things Clients Want from You as an Agent & How to Deliver

What do your clients want from you?

Sometimes, it’s hard to tell what people want. Plus, everyone is different; so, once you figure one person out, it’s on to the next. It can be extremely overwhelming!

However, there are some commonalities to what many consumers/clients want from their insurance agent. These are things that every agency should strive towards in order to provide the best customer experience possible.

The Rough Notes Company revealed what clients want from you in a survey.

Individuals who took the survey ranked the following factors in order of importance to them when it comes to the insurance company and/or agent they do business with:

1. Value in the rates they find for me
2. That they are taking care of me and my insurance needs
3. Trust in the person or company
4. Quick service response
5. They will "go to bat for me" when necessary
6. Personal attention
7. They are able to offer me choices of coverage
8. They provide me with confidence that I am making the right insurance decisions
9. They are recommending sufficient insurance protection
10. They are able to offer me a choice of companies

We talked about this survey a few years ago initially, but we're revisiting it because of how important this is. 

Your prospects and clients want value. They want to be taken care of. They want to know they can trust you as an agent. They want you to be attentive and quick with service. They want you to assure them of their decision(s), so they can feel confident.

I'm sure none of this comes as a surprise to you, but what could this mean for things you should think about at your agency?
All of these things require regular, consistent communication between you and your prospects and clients. Almost every agent knows this, and yet things fall through the cracks. We’re human, and we forget things.

The only surefire way to make sure touchpoints are made with your prospects and clients is to automate them, or at least automate reminders to yourself to reach out.

Automated Workflow

Automation allows you to transition from manual processes to efficient and consistent processes. This way, nothing falls through the cracks—clients are contacted when they should be, tasks are assigned so they're taken care of at the right time, and you're able to monitor all activities happening so everyone is on the same page.

Automated workflow helps you deliver those ten items above that your prospects and clients want most from you.

Provide value by delivering relevant information to your prospects and clients at the time they need it.

Provide assurance that you’re taking care of them by reaching out often, being attentive to any questions or concerns they have.

Be trustworthy by providing quick service from your first initial contact with them as a prospect to ongoing support as a long-time client.

Help them feel confident by reaching out at the right times to let them know you’re on top of things.

You get the gist. So, how does it work?

Automated workflows allow you to use your data within your agency management system (AMS), like AgencyBloc, to set up the triggers and criteria behind the automation. In other words, you choose what happens and when.

Let’s look at a couple examples to illustrate the idea.

Like we said, providing attentive service from the get-go makes your prospects more confident in you. So, set up an automated workflow for when a new lead comes in from your website.

It looks like this:

Once the lead submits the form on your website, they receive an email letting them know your agency received their information, and an activity is simultaneously assigned to someone at your agency to follow-up with this lead ASAP.

Lead Follow-Up Automated Workflow Details

Trigger Type: Individuals
Trigger When: An individual is created via your website’s lead form

Actions:

• Immediately: Email is sent to individual who filled out the form ("Thanks for your interest!")
• Immediately: Activity assigned to user with due date to follow-up

So you’ve now sold this lead, and you want to make sure you retain them in the coming years. Set up an automated workflow for their policy renewal!

Automatically assign activities to the policy’s account manager to remind them to reach out and get the renewal process going.

Policy Renewal Automated Workflow Details

Trigger Type: Policies
Trigger When: A policy’s renewal date is approaching
 

Actions:

• 120 days before renewal date: Activity assigned to policy's account manager with a due date to get in touch with group's primary contact
• 90 days before renewal date: Activity assigned to policy's account manager to remind them to get the renewal process started or to check in on the current status
• 60 days before renewal date: Activity assigned to policy's account manager to check that the paperwork is in process for the renewal
• 30 days before renewal date: Activity assigned to policy’s account manager to tie up any loose ends on the renewal

You could also automate emails throughout this workflow to your client and/or anyone else in your agency that should be aware of any information about the policy renewal.

Another client retention Automated Workflow could be a simple “Happy Birthday!” Let your clients know you’re thinking of them by automating an email to them on their special day.

You can see with automation, the sky’s the limit. Automated workflows can be triggered by dates, status changes, new record creations, and more. It’s custom, so you can build automation uniquely to your agency’s needs.

AgencyBloc does, however, have 6 pre-built Automated Workflow templates to use as a starting point.

Automated Workflow Templates

• Happy Birthday: Send an email to any or all of your contacts wishing them a happy birthday.
• New Individual Prospect: Never miss a follow-up with automated activities assigned to users.
• Lead Form Submission: Thank the new lead for their interest, confirm their submission, and let them know you'll be reaching out. Assign an activity to a user to follow-up ASAP.
• Policy Application Submission: Never miss a step and make the policy application process a quick one.
• Group Policy Renewal: Get a jumpstart on policy renewals with an automated reminder ahead of time. Send an email to the policyholder to get them in the mindset as well.
• Agent License Expiration: Help out your agents with automated reminders for when their license is expiring and rest assured they're taken care of.

Give The People What They Want!

When you know communication is what prospects and clients crave, find the best way to deliver it consistently! And for busy insurance agencies, the best way is automation.

To use automation tools, you must be using a CRM or an agency management system (AMS). If you’re still not there, no worries! Switching from paper or spreadsheets to a CRM or AMS is a huge step in itself toward giving your prospects and clients what they want.

Ready to learn more?

Posted by Kelsey Rosauer on Wednesday, September 26, 2018 in Insurance Agency Management System

1. client retention
2. data management