Section 1: Maximizing the Benefits of Consistent and Timely Communication

Better communication increases conversion and retention.

Your clients and leads are number one; they make your entire livelihood possible. You want to be able to serve them at the level they deserve, but communication can be hard to keep up with, and time-consuming for a growing insurance agency.

One way you can provide better service to your clients, leads, and prospects is by utilizing technology that helps you automate your agency. 52% of insurance customers describe themselves as “relationship buyers,” so communication is an essential part of crafting a prosperous relationship. In fact, 81% of insurance clients who left an agency noted lack of communication as their reason.

Automated workflow allows you to stay ahead of prospecting and lead tracking and helps you stay connected with your current clients. By doing this, you can build your book of business up from both sides.

What is automated workflow?

By definition, a “workflow” is the sequence of processes through which a piece of work passes from start to finish. For insurance agencies, an automated workflow is a way to automate manual pieces of your business processes.

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An example of an automated workflow would be lead follow-ups.

Research has found that 80% of sales require 5 follow-ups, but keeping notes and staying on top of your follow-ups isn’t always straightforward and easy. This is where an automated workflow can help.

You set requirements for when you want a certain message sent; then, when that criterion has been met, your message will go out. You can customize the timeframe for when the message is sent before or after the criteria is met (1 week, 1 month, 3 months, etc.), so you can send a follow-up every week, every other, or whatever pattern works best for you.

Here’s an example of what your renewal timeline could look like for your clients:

3 Months Before Policy Renewal Date

• An email is sent to the client reminding them that their policy is due for renewal
• An email is sent to the agent alerting them that the policy is up for renewal and they need to reach out

2 Months Before Policy Renewal Date

• A slightly more urgent email is sent to the client reminding them that their policy is due for renewal (include date of expiration)
• An email and/or task is sent to the agent alerting them that the policy is up for renewal and they need to reach out

1 Month Before Policy Renewal Date

• A slightly more urgent email is sent to the client reminding them that their policy is due for renewal (include date of expiration)
• An email and task are sent to the agent alerting them that the policy is up for renewal and they need to reach out now!

2 Weeks Before Policy Renewal Date

• A very urgent email is sent to the client reminding them that their policy is due for renewal (include date of expiration)
• An email and task are sent to the agent alerting them that the policy is up for renewal and they need to reach out now!

Automated Workflow allows you to work leads and prospects right away.

Studies show that following up with a web lead within 5 minutes makes you 9 times more likely to convert them. And, 50% of sales go to the first salesperson to make contact.

You can set up alerts and notifications to be sent directly to you whenever you have a new lead come in from a lead form or have a new prospect added to your book of business. That way you can work your leads immediately and boost your chances of conversion.

Since it’s directly integrated with your CRM, the triggers and criteria set will work directly off of the information in your book of business. This relieves you of your sticky notes, Google/Outlook components, or red-penned planner reminders.

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But it isn’t just for leads and prospects!

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The rule of thumb in business is that 80% of your future revenue will come from 20% of your existing clients. Automated Workflow can help you in stay in touch with your current clients, nurture them further, and help ensure retention.

Keep them informed about policy-related matters or show them how important they are to you with personal notes. You can set up triggered emails for things like:

• Their birthday
• Policy renewal reminders
• Policy status updates (submitted, approved, declined, etc.)

Don’t let your prospects fall between the cracks!

If you want to grow your book of business and expand your client base, you need to be closely tracking your leads and prospects. Use an AMS with built-in analytical tools to help understand your growth and make more informed decisions for the future.

Dashboard Analytics, like in AgencyBloc, provide you with crucial insight into your lead pool and show you information like:

• The number of prospects you have
• What stage your prospects are in
• What your best lead source(s) is/are

One of the biggest benefits of having an analytical tool like Dashboard Analytics built into your AMS is that it draws from the information already in your book of business. You’ll get a more concise and real-time snapshot into the health of your lead generation operations so that you can make the necessary decisions at the right time.

AgencyBloc helps you to keep track of both clients and prospects to ensure no one falls between the cracks. Learn more with a live, 1-on-1 demo and check out the tracking capabilities below:

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Analysis like this is crucial but is more of a high-level look into your book of business. To drill down into the data and get to the nitty gritty of everything, you must have an integrated reporting tool. In AgencyBloc, you have the ability to craft and build the reports that make sense for you with Custom Reporting.

Build the report once, then save and share it with those in your company. You can run these reports daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly to best understand your data. Use this information to get a pulse on your agency and truly understand how it’s fairing. This helps you to make more informed decisions for the future.

If you’re not sure where to start with your reporting and analytics, check out the following resources to being your journey:

• [Blog] The What, Why, & How of Data Analysis for Insurance Agencies
• [Downloadable] 8 Reports Life & Health Agencies Should Run Each Month

When you’re busy, it can be easy to push internal communication to the side or file it away for “later;” but having strong internal communication is essential for success.

It’s important to stay in touch with each other.

If you handle lead distribution or work on the customer service side of an insurance agency, then you know it can be troublesome to assign and transfer messages to your other agents about changes, updates, and new opportunities (leads, prospects, or clients). You can send emails with all the information, but you run into two problems:

• Compliance
• Overstuffed inboxes

Automated Workflow helps you manage your to-do list while also making it easy to convey clear messages to coworkers.

Do this by assigning tasks to other agents directly in the system so you can localize your information. These alerts and tasks will be displayed on the agent’s activities dashboard so they can easily access the message, understand the severity, and act on it accordingly.

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This also means that your communication is protected. You won’t have to worry about compliance as all the data is encrypted, and the activities won’t add to the user’s already full inbox.

Make your day work for you, not the other way around.

Insurance is a people-driven industry and the relationships you build are essential. By automating various part of your process, you’re able to put more emphasis and time into improving your agency rather just maintaining. It gives you the chance to start making your goals a reality and build deep relationships with your clients.

Your clients and prospects are investing in a partner that will be there for them when they need it most. They want someone they feel connected to, know they can rely on, and someone they trust. Having the luxury to spend more time with them can really make all of the difference when it comes to retention, cross-selling, and referrals.

Automating your agency can make this a reality.

An Agency Management System Can Help!

Communication is essential to a healthy and prosperous insurance agency. An agency management system (AMS) can help make this communication easier, automated, and consistent to help you build stronger relationships with your prospects and clients. Using an AMS like AgencyBloc gives you the tools to provide fantastic customer service.

AgencyBloc is an AMS that helps life and health insurance agencies grow their business by organizing and automating their operations using a combination of an industry-specific CRM, commissions processing, and integrated business and marketing automation.