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15 Digital Insurance Agent Tools to Help You Sell More
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Technology has had an immense impact on our day-to-day lives in financial, healthcare, and other industries. Yet, the insurance segment is still heavily dependent on the traditional branch-led physical model with manual services and face-to-face interactions. Insurance purchases, updates, and claims required a trip to the office and signed hard copies of official documents for customers. For agents, tasks were largely manual and time-consuming.
In the past two years, spurred by Covid and the development of technology designed for the insurance agency, the insurance industry has made a digital shift. New technology helps agents generate leads, streamline manual processes, and resolve claims faster. If you're interested in closing more deals and growing your agency, insurance tools can help. Our guide is designed to help you understand how insurance tools work and to discover some of the best tools to help agents.
What Are Insurance Agent Tools, and How Are They Helpful?
Various insurance tools exist to help agents complete different tasks and streamline traditionally slow processes. Digital tools for insurance agents typically come in the form of advanced software. They can generate leads, allow customers to complete transactions online, streamline the transfer of information, provide quick quotes, and speed up processes. The result is improved customer service and more hours for agents to sell more products and increase agency growth.
How Can Insurance Agents Adapt to the Changing Insurance Technology?
Successful insurance agents are talented multitaskers, experienced communicators, and educated risk management experts. They are typically required to have strong communication skills, good listening skills, and enthusiasm for the products they sell. Digital insurance tools don't change the need for these skills. This is good news since most customers want a combination of the personalized service they've always depended on and technology's convenience.
Digital insurance tools are designed to make the most of the skills agents possess and free up time for high-value tasks. Agents can use changing insurance technology to complete time-consuming tasks, generate more leads, and collect essential information. Such uses complement insurance agents' existing skillset to speed up processes and improve the experience.
What Is an FMO in the Insurance Industry?
A Field Marketing Organization (FMO) is a company that works with independent brokers to serve as an intermediary for representing insurance products. FMOs are a middleman between insurance agencies and insurance agents or brokers. While some insurance companies contract directly with independent insurance agents, many in the life and health insurance industry only work with agents that join an FMO.
Besides acting as an upline for independent insurance agents, an FMO may offer additional support like training and marketing resources, Medicare and Medicaid approved quoting tools and building an offerings portfolio. FMOs are usually centered around products like health insurance, disability insurance, Medicare Advantage, and Medicare Supplements. Some insurance agents may be required to join an FMO for licensing in their state. It's important to note that FMOs have different release options. By choosing an FMO with an open-release policy, you can leave the relationship with no strings attached.
What Software or Online Tools do Insurance Agents and Brokers Use?
The insurance industry is a fast-paced business with many moving parts, meaning that manual processes can be time-consuming, waste capital, and human resources. Software designed for the insurance industry is equipped with many capabilities to help you run your business and manage a large client base. For this reason, insurance agents and brokers may use software to help with customer management, lead generation, data collection, and communication. Online tools can enhance the use of software and add other benefits for your agency. Common online tools used by insurance agents and brokers may include websites, blogs, customer portals, and marketing tools.
What Software Do Independent Insurance Agents Use?
Independent insurance agents complete many of the same daily tasks as captive agents. However, as an independent agent, you're the boss, which means all the responsibilities fall on your shoulders. Along with typical insurance agency software like data collection software, an agency management system, and AMS, independent insurance agents may depend more on additional software for offering multiple quotes and tasks like marketing and scheduling.
Some of the most common digital tools agents help with website monitoring, customer management, marketing, document management, and organization. By learning more about how these tools work in the insurance industry and some of the most popular options for agents, you can save time by streamlining daily tasks, and increase your sales rate.
Website Monitoring Tools
Your insurance website offers many convenient options for customers to complete business without directly interacting with an agent. For your customers, this means conducting business quickly. For you, it means focusing on other tasks that need your expertise while still meeting your customers' needs. Yet, if your website isn't working properly, you could even lose business.
Website monitoring tools perform regular tests and alert you when your website is down, making it easier for you to track and solve issues. Website monitoring tools range from simple uptime monitoring or transaction monitoring to complex web performance monitoring solutions. These tools can uncover why your website performance drops by monitoring the servers' resources or analyzing how the website responds to user input.
AMS Tools: Why Do Insurance Agents Need AMS Software?
As an insurance agent, you know how important it is to nurture prospects while keeping your existing customers happy. An Agency Management System (AMS) is designed to streamline workflows, maintain effective customer communication, and protect sensitive data. AMS software that is properly tuned to the environment can help insurance agents with these tasks.
- Storing customer and prospect information
- Recognizing sales opportunities
- Recording customer service issues
- Managing marketing campaigns
- Automating manual tasks
- Capturing leads
- Managing workflows
- Tracking activities
- Prioritizing tasks
What Is the Best AMS for Insurance Agents?
Typically, insurance agents use multiple tools to streamline processes and automate tasks. When choosing an AMS , it's important to consider how the system will integrate with other tools and tackle the complex requirements of the insurance industry. While there are many AMSs that could be customized for use in the insurance industry, specific tools that have been used in the industry for years are more likely to be effective. These AMSs are commonly used by insurance agents.
- Vertafore
- Partner Platform
- ZyWave
- Better Agency
- Radiusbob
Email Marketing Tools
Email marketing is an effective way to reach out to prospects and current customers. You may have a variety of mailers like a newsletter, retargeting emails for prospects, reminders for existing customers, feedback requests, and customer engagement emails. While email is integrated into some Agency Management Systems, an email marketing tool will likely have more extensive features. Email marketing tools can help agents through:
- Automation that sends specific emails triggered by user actions
- Mailing list segmentation to send targeted emails to different groups of people
- Customer support to help you sort out issues if you encounter a problem
Creating effective marketing emails can be painful. We’ve created 20 sales email templates to help insurance agents engage clients, cross-sell, and drive multiline accounts!
Document Management Tools
Insurance is an information-heavy industry with strict compliance standards. This means agents are required to store, share, collaborate, transfer, and protect official documents daily. Document management tools can help agents streamline paperwork processes, improve regulatory compliance, enable remote signing, and enhance document security.
- Document Collection: Insurance quotes and policy purchases require specific information for accuracy and effective risk management. Data collection software, like InsurGrid, can decrease paperwork significantly, allow agents to collect dec pages in half the time, and increase close rates by 50%.
- Cloud Storage and Management: Cloud storage with document functionality creates more efficient workflows while offering ample storage space and superior protection from disaster and theft. Google Drive, Microsoft Office 365, and Dropbox are popular document management solutions.
- eSignature Software: Agents can close deals more quickly and increase customer convenience with electronic signature software like DocuSign
Organization and Collaboration Tools
Effective communication and collaboration are essential for both remote and in-office work. Organizations and collaboration tools help bring your team together, streamline processes, reduce redundant tasks, and automate workflows. Google Workspace is one of the most popular options for collaboration. The tools bundled in Google Workspace offer insurance agents some of the best apps to securely share documents, manage schedules and meetings, and edit collaborative documents.
Password Safety
A password manager offers security and convenience by allowing you and your team to store and autofill passwords on any website. With a password manager, all office employees can remember individual and team passwords without using written lists or questionable security practices. Besides easy access to passwords stored in a single vault, users can enjoy other features like password generation and password sharing.
Social Media Management Tools
Social media is an important marketing tool for insurance agents. Yet, if you fail to engage with your audience, these platforms are reduced to wasted potential. Social media management tools allow you to create content when you have time in your schedule and automate postings across all the social media platforms. Since it's ideal to post across multiple platforms several times a week, an automated scheduling tool can help you engage with your audience even when you're not available.
Digital Insurance Agent Tools Offer the Best Service for Your Customers
When it comes to insurance, customers want convenience and the reassurance of human communication. Experienced agents can combine their existing skillset with digital tools to provide customers with the right balance of streamlined processes and communication to provide exemplary customer service and personalized risk management. InsurGrid provides insurance agents with a way to collect dec pages with a single link. Sign up for an InsurGrid demo.
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