This post is part of a series sponsored by AgentSync.
If there’s one area where insurance agents and carriers can stand out, it’s the quality of the producer experience they provide. After all, compensation tends to be standardized, benefits are usually all pretty much the same, and the actual job of selling insurance is the job of selling insurance, no matter what product you’re selling.
All things being equal, a competent insurance agent with a good track record may choose to work with a sales partner who makes their job easier and more enjoyable.
A personalized producer experience
Everyone likes to feel special and seen as an individual. Insurance agents are no exception. It all starts with onboarding, Payment of fees And understanding the relationship as a whole is one way to do just that.
But if you’re an agency or carrier that works with dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of licensed producers, you might be wondering what exactly you can do to add personalization to your business operations. How can you provide producers with high-touch attention at scale without needing hordes of administrative staff?
The key is to use the right kind of technology to create an experience that each producer is happy with, without adding extra administrative burden along the way. Here’s one example of how a solution like AgentSync can help you in your efforts to give your producers the type of experience that sticks in their minds and makes them more likely to want to work with you (and recommend the same to their friends).
Customized Onboarding Portal
What would it mean for a producer to agree to join your agency? If they have to fill out a lot of paperwork or visit a lot of websites to enter their information, they might quit before they even start working.
A customized, branded, user-friendly onboarding portal transforms the tedious process of getting producers ready to sell into one that rivals the convenient online experience producers expect in their personal lives.
This setup gives producers access to a pre-populated profile with up-to-date license information based on basic inputs such as NPN. The system retrieves each producer’s information from industry authoritative sources, so producers do not need to enter existing details. Producers can also double-check that their information in the producer database is up-to-date and request corrections if it is not.
Additionally, the portal allows producers to upload documents such as E&O insurance and answer background questions, and integrates with other technology solutions such as background checks and compensation management, eliminating the need to duplicate data entry elsewhere.
A customized producer onboarding portal not only removes obstacles for producers, it also reduces the burden on your compliance management staff. You can see exactly where each producer is in the process, so you don’t have to chase them down for missing information. This significantly reduces the workload, improves the experience, and gets producers ready to sell faster than ever before.
Two-way daily data sync
A personalized experience is only truly “personalized” if it contains accurate data. If a pre-populated form is full of incorrect information, it won’t help your producers or management staff. In fact, it will be counterproductive rather than helpful.
If your goal is to deliver a personalized experience, two-way syncing with industry trusted sources is essential. Updated with new information daily, this advanced feature helps producers expedite the onboarding process, allowing them to enter only information that’s new or different from what’s already on record. If they spot something incorrect, they can even initiate a change request. All of this can be done without ever leaving your browser tab.
Some technologies offer the same data syncing capabilities, but only upon request (at an additional cost). These regular updates are not the same as ensuring that accurate, day-to-day information is built into your system and that what you see reflects the industry source of truth, day-to-day.
Requiring producers to enter information into a system that they previously updated in the insurance industry system of record but can no longer access because the data source is out of date is not “personalized.”
Personalized License Renewal and CE Reminders
How many people would it take to send individual emails to every producer an agency or carrier has contracted with informing them about their upcoming license renewals and the continuing education credits they need for license renewal? Don’t forget to multiply this number by the number of states in which your producers are licensed and the different license types.
With AgentSync, the answer is “zero.”
Using technology that pulls information from industry trusted sources on state licenses and career appointments, AgentSync can automatically proactively alert all producers when their license is approaching expiration, including reminders about missing CE credits that need to be completed before submitting a renewal application.
This is a level of personalized service that most agencies and insurers can only achieve for their producer force if they have a large team of administrative staff. Even if you had unlimited resources, no one wants to be responsible for manually contacting each producer to notify them of renewals and CE deadlines. This is a job that is much better left to technology. As a result, producers can feel personally cared for, without burdening licensing administrators and other compliance officers with unpleasant hassles.
How personalization drives engagement
When people see a generic message, they instinctively ignore it. You can point to evidence of this in your daily life: after all, how many emails do you ignore that don’t concern you? On the other hand, when you receive a personalized message that is highly relevant, you are more likely to pay attention and take the necessary action. Voila! Engagement!
Employee engagement is essential to business success. In an insurance organization, producers are the frontline in generating revenue, so keeping them engaged is crucial to overall success. And personalization is key to that engagement.
Personalization Beyond Producer Onboarding
Producer onboarding, licensing, appointments, and continuing education are some of the areas where technology can transform personalization from a tedious, manual task into a painless experience. Producer compensation management is another.
Giving producers an individualized and transparent view of how they earn commissions increases producer engagement: they know where their efforts are most effective and where there is room for improvement that will actually generate revenue.
To deliver a personalized, engaging producer experience that differentiates your insurer, agent, or MGA/MGU from the rest, Trust, Transparency and Technology, Check out AgentSync.
Additionally, to integrate seamless, personalized producer compensation management into your workflow, Read our partner Varicent’s blog on this topic.
