Making sure you have what you need in place to satisfy customers and grow your business
Don’t fall victim to the shiny object syndrome, which is what many owners do. Be patient, block out the noise, and involve your teammates in making the best decision.
By Chris Paradiso
Most agency owners started off in the insurance industry as salespeople and most have had massive success at sales. Not only are they really good at selling, they understand insurance policies and love sitting down with prospects/clients to educate. Most importantly, agency owners know how to build trust and grow long lasting relationships and is why over time they have become an owner.
The area most agency owners struggle with is technology—one of the most important ingredients in scaling your agency and helping your agency’s bottom line.
Infrastructure is key
My opinion is that the core of your agency runs off six pieces of technology. These six tools are critical to your success, whether you are a three-person shop or a 100-plus-person firm operating in multiple locations. These include:
- Agency management system
- Customer relationship management tool (CRM)
- Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) system
- Net Promoter Score (using ClientCircle)
- SentiMeter® score from DONNA (an AI platform to identify unhappy clients and a platform that identifies other sales opportunities)
- Agency mobile app
We’ll explore these and see what you need to consider as you put each to use in your own operation.
The basics
The well-equipped agency starts with the right agency management system for your firm. One very important question is: Which management system does not own your agency data. The second thing to understand is what else your management system connects with when it comes to other technology.
To be useful, your management system must “play nice” with others, because it matters to the customer experience.
Agency owners and team members should understand the ins and outs of an agency management system before purchase. Do your research, but most importantly, do not simply pick the management system that is the cheapest or the most expensive. Choose the one that you believe is going to suit your agency in 10 years.
One major mistake I’ve made is that I have been on four different agency management systems over the past 20 years. I didn’t look ahead 10 years; I picked the system that worked for my agency that day, and that error has caused me many issues.
Invest in making sure you are on the right system for your agency.
Another major tech tool your agency needs is having the right CRM. For our agency, we wanted a CRM tool that was easy to use and that had integration with our management system.
The second most important thing we wanted in our CRM tool was the ability to have a sales cycle within it. Our agency knew exactly what we wanted out of our CRM; I would challenge you to sit down with your team and identify your CRM must-haves, and then go on the search for the right company.
Newer add-ons
Your VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) phone system is particularly important, especially if your agency employs virtual assistants or other people in other states. Every agency needs a good VoIP system.
When we started looking, our agency was specific about what we wanted out of our phone system. First, we needed a system that made it easy to drag and drop information into our management system. Second, we wanted something that allowed texting and integration with our management system. Our agency drops every single call into the management system; when we sought out a VoIP system, the number one thing we focused on was ease of use.
Do your research—all phone systems are not created equal.
Net promoter score (also called NPS) is vital to the customer experience. We use a company called ClientCircle to help us manage this, and we love all the features they have come out with.
Why is NPS so important? Because it’s your clients responding and telling you how happy they are with your agency. It’s not good enough to just get an NPS score; if clients are giving you low scores, I would highly recommend picking up the phone and calling those unhappy clients and listening to their feedback and learning from them.
We have been getting our NPS for about seven years, and during that time our clients have taught us an awful lot. We have made many changes thanks to them and their feedback.
Also, vitally important in 2024 is artificial intelligence (AI). We have been on one platform for a bit over two years and it’s amazing how it has changed the way we do business.
We use a tech platform called DONNA, which gives us three especially important pieces of information without ever asking our clients: First, it gives us the SentiMeter score, which tells us how happy or unhappy a client is with our agency. Not only does it give us a score, but it even gives us the data on why the client is either happy or unhappy.
Second, it gives us a probability indication on whether the client is going to stay with or leave the agency. Third, it gives us recommendations of policies that we should sell.
This platform has helped us raise our retention numbers and identify many sales opportunities.
In their pocket
An agency mobile app is essential—and has been for some time—because your clients are attached to their smart phones. While using a mobile app delivers great value to you and your agency, most importantly, it is loved by clients.
The app our agency offers is integrated with our agency management system, which allows clients to have full access to their ID cards and full policy documentation. Other great features include the ability to take photos for an insurance claim, which stamps them with date and location; this has been great for our clients to share claim photos and file a claim.
Customers can pay their bill through our agency app, which is another excellent benefit for both the agency and the client. Have an agency app for your clients—they want it.
Our noisy world
The insurtech world is noisy and loud, so when you or your team are looking into technology, make sure you do your homework. Do not rush the decision; reach out to fellow agency owners and get the good, bad, and ugly on each company’s offerings.
Start with understanding what you want out of the technology and then invest time in demos and even more time in talking with other agents. Don’t fall victim to the “shiny object” syndrome, which is what many owners do.
Be patient, block out the noise and involve your teammates in making the best decision.
Technology is key to every agency of any size that is looking to scale or help its bottom line, but it’s not here to replace teammates. Technology has assisted my teammates to not only do a better job but to help assist them in doing mundane everyday tasks.
The investment is not only in your team but helps in the health of the overall agency. I’ve identified six pieces of technology that every agency needs but may not have; I recommend that you as an agency owner invest time and research each of these six areas. If you have questions, reach out to me at any time and I will walk you through each of them.
The author
Chris Paradiso is president of Paradiso Financial & Insurance Services, headquartered in Stafford Springs, Connecticut. His agency won PIA National’s Excellence in Social Media Award in 2013. He also heads up Paradiso Presents, LLC, which provides social media consulting, seminars and workshops to help agencies thrive in the online marketing world. Contact Chris at cparadiso@paradisoinsurance.com.
