Leveraging tech for streamlined agency operations in a remote world

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The COVID-19 pandemic is putting more pressure on insurance professionals to better support, engage and educate their clients. The shift to a primarily remote selling and servicing environment is adding another layer of complexity to the situation. There is an immediate call to action for agency owners to equip their teams with the proper tools required to support their clients. Failure to do so presents an opportunity for the competition to solicit not only your clients, but also your employees.

One way in which agencies can maintain prospecting efforts, consult their clients and create efficiencies in the process is by leveraging the industry’s latest technology tools and resources. Today’s employee benefits tech solutions can have a profound positive impact on each step of an agency’s operations — from identifying and engaging with new leads to automating quoting and proposals to maintaining consistent communications with your clients. All of these tasks can be executed efficiently regardless of where individuals are working.

Digital lead generation and prospecting
Finding the right leads and filling the pipeline is an ongoing struggle for any business, and COVID-19 has further magnified this challenge. To help insurance professionals, there are highly sophisticated tech tools available that can instantly identify the best leads from wherever you are and provide unique insights and insurance profiles specific to each individual prospect. For example, some solutions allow you to filter by industry so you can easily identify organizations that may need your guidance now more than ever. The days of social mingling, face-to-face introductions and traditional networking are on a significant pause.

Automated quoting and proposals
Configuring, pricing and quoting new employee benefits business and renewals is one of the most essential functions of any insurance brokerage. Unfortunately, the quoting and proposal process can be tedious, manual and inefficient, with spreadsheets being the most common solution for many brokers. But today’s digital quoting and proposal solutions can automate and streamline the process, creating efficiencies that increase productivity and free up time to focus on other tasks. At-home employees are dealing with a significant level of distractions, and automating the quoting process will make one of the most labor-intensive activities simple.

Centralized digital content library
Communicating with clients in today’s rapidly evolving marketplace is of utmost importance. Since many agencies are working remotely, it is extremely valuable for an agency to have a single, centralized content management system. Here they can upload their own content, or content from a carrier or other third-party, to have it all within one place to quickly reference and provide to clients. What would be even better is if your content library is integrated with an automated email marketing solution, so you can quickly set up or create campaigns and efficiently communicate with your contact list.

Self-service client tools
As business dynamics and guidelines continue to evolve, your clients will have more questions for you than ever before. The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the need for your clients to get information in real time. Everything from education, business continuation, remote work, cyber liability, return to work, legislative updates, and more has a real impact on nearly every single business. Utilizing technology to offer them self-service options, such as a custom portal or direct access to HR resources, is a great way for them to efficiently get the information they need, while also freeing up your time for more essential tasks.

As we continue to navigate this new normal, technology will play an even more vital role in everyday agency operations. Now is the time to consider the ways in which you can streamline and automate your processes to deliver more value to your clients and prove your worth as a trusted business consultant.

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