It’s no surprise that insurance agents always feel like they are playing catch-up since the job consists of varying responsibilities, and can pull them in many different directions. In order to stay on top of things and achieve their goals, many agents use a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system. With so many helpful functions, CRM systems stand as one of the most important tools in the insurance industry. And it would be very beneficial to use one. With technology at our fingertips, it’s important to stay up to date on the latest insurance trends, and learning more about CRM systems is a great starting point. In order to drive this point home, we’ve created a guide specifically for insurance agents that explains what CRM systems are, their main functions, and the top benefits of using one.
What is a CRM System?
A CRM system is a type of software that can help its users better organize and manage their relationships with customers. CRM systems are particularly useful in industries such as the insurance sector because of their ability to streamline customer interactions and profiling. CRM systems are also able to effectively automate certain business processes, as well as manage large amounts of client data. One way to think about these systems as a central place where all of your clients information can be stored and consolidated. This consolidation can ultimately help you to better understand each customer as an individual, making it easy and efficient to provide them with personalized services.
Main CRM Functions
CRM systems provide insurance agents with a wide range of functionalities, all of which can help to boost efficiency, and build strong relationships with clients.
Client Management
One of the main functionalities of CRM systems is their ability to help manage your contacts. Within the system is a database that stores and manages client information. This information could include details such as contact information, purchase history, communication history, and any other preferences related to their insurance policy or policies. Being able to view all your customers’ details in one place, will help keep you organized and give you a better understanding of their needs.
Collaboration
CRM systems make it easy to communicate and collaborate with co-workers and colleagues. Most CRM systems include ways to quickly share information and plan out tasks, making it easier to work with others.
Lead Management
These systems are commonly used to accurately track and manage client leads. This helps you to make sure that opportunities never get left in the dust. CRM systems can help by setting reminders and assigning tasks so that you’ll never have an excuse for forgetting about any one person. By organizing your leads based on varying qualities and characteristics, you will be able to easily gain insights about consumers and ultimately make more sales.
Claims & Policy Handling
Specific types of CRM systems have certain functions that are only relevant to the industry at hand. One of the great functionalities of an insurance-specific CRM is its ability to manage insurance policies and claims. Specific features include policy creation, policy updating and policy renewal. CRM systems can also streamline the claims process by helping you to reduce errors and improving accuracy.
Task Automation
CRM systems can make you get more work done by automating certain repetitive tasks that you’d traditionally have to perform manually. An example of this include customer services communication such as automated emails, chatbots, social media posting and more. With these tasks taken care of you’ll be able to focus your time and energy on more pressing matters.
Agent Specific CRM Benefits
There are countless benefits of integrating a CRM system into your insurance agency or business. We’ve laid out the top ways that a CRM system can help you be as efficient and effective as possible.
Client Segmentation
In addition to being able to gather consumer information with ease, CRM systems can also group or segment your client base depending on specific characteristics. Some segmentation details include demographics, buying habits, and policy type. By grouping similar customers together in the system, you will be able to personalize your sales approach to each group and easily develop niche marketing campaigns to attract new customers with specific attributes.
Automated Policy Notifications
A CRM system has the ability to automatically send out notifications regarding urgent matters to both you and your clients. This can help people in various industries across the board, but it is particularly helpful for insurance agents for important reminders and alerts such as changes in policy, renewal time, and coverage or claims updates. With so many clients at hand, it can be easy to forget about important client to-do’s, but with a CRM system in place, you’ll never have to worry.
Managing Documents
Insurance CRM systems can provide you with a secure way to store and manage all of your important documents, so you’ll be able to access them with ease. Most common uses of the document manager with a CRM include storing claims forms and compliance information.
Easy Integration
CRM systems also have a variety of integration features. By integrating your CRM system with insurance carriers systems, you can easily access policy information, and coverage details for a specific carrier. The integration process will ultimately speed up the time it takes to generate quotes, and perform underwriting tasks. Additionally, since information is being pulled directly from a carrier’s system, the likelihood of errors will be reduced greatly. To save money, you can also integrate your CRM system with third-party sites that your company may otherwise need to purchase a subscription. Examples of commonly integrated third-party sites include DocuSign, QuickBooks, and more. Integration of common email softwares such as Gmail and Outlook are also a common practice of insurance agencies. This will help you by creating contact lists for clients allowing you to communicate more easily.
Improved Customer Retention
By having a more detailed understanding of your clients, you’ll be able to resolve issues and identify problems much faster. Because of this, your customers will be satisfied with your service. And be more likely to stick with you when it’s time to renew their policy.
Managing Quotes and Proposals
Most insurance CRM systems have quote and proposal templates. Making it easy to create either one from scratch and quickly send them to potential clients. Instead of having to manually create a quote or proposal, your CRM system will do the heavy lifting for you.
Analyzing and Reporting Automation
Over time a CRM system will gather huge amounts of data. Not only about your clients, but also about yourself and your agency. The system will then be able to create reports for you and lay out valuable insights in an easy-to-understand format. This can benefit you by providing a good picture of what’s paying off and what isn’t as far as your sales efforts go. These reports will highlight trends and display ways that you can improve that will propel your company to a better financial situation. Additionally, with reports that display only the most important information, you can easily explain details to your customers that might otherwise go over their heads.
Managing Revenue
Another great benefit is the streamlining of billing and invoicing. Since these processes will be automated you will be able to quickly generate and send out invoices to clients with ease. You can also track payments and expenses with a CRM system. This will give you more control over your finances and allow you to more quickly identify discrepancies or unpaid invoices.
Campaign Automation
Insurance CRM systems are quite helpful for managing marketing campaigns. By automating certain marketing tasks, you can increase your chances of customer engagement. One example of how marketing automation could help you and your agency is automated email campaigns. These campaigns are set up to send out emails to certain customers when specific events or actions take place. This could be a date such as a birthday or when a policy needs to be reviewed. There are also social media management features that can save you time by doing things like automated posting.
Final Thought
CRM systems can provide you with power and flexibility by automating various tasks and streamlining the management of clients. By properly using a CRM system you will have the ability to develop personalized marketing campaigns. As well as increase your conversion of leads to sales and communicate more effectively with clients. By storing the detailed information of clients in an easy-to-navigate way, you’ll be able to strengthen the relationships you hold with them. And serve their needs and wants more efficiently. You can also be more confident in your decision making when using one of these systems since they have the ability to analyze and report on marketing metrics and revenue.
Additionally, you’ll have no problem sharing information and collaborating with likeminded agents. By learning about and exploring the features of an insurance-specific CRM system, you will be able to open up new opportunities, get more done in less time, save money and increase customer satisfaction. With so many amazing abilities, there is no reason that you shouldn’t be using a CRM. So, jump into the world of automation and never look back!
