Digital Acceleration and Transformation
Advantage Insurance Solutions has always been an old-school agency operating traditionally with pen and paper and face-to-face interactions. As an independent insurance agency in Denver, CO, this gave the company the chance to center its focus on the community and its citizens. In this article, we will discuss digital tools to super-boost agency growth.
Up to a certain point, we should do our business transactions, such as signing the paperwork of the client and reviewing the policies of policyholders at the office or in person.
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AIS adopted the digital way and utilized the digital tools suitable and helpful to boost the agency. This made me realize how to level up our methods and ways in the agency. Hence, triggering our big move into the World Wide Web and digital marketing.
Conducting business transactions in person still has its perks and advantages. But, the agency had to grow to boost and keep up with the modern ways of society. Also, finding more ways to provide a more convenient customer experience to our clients. Moving into digital tools is a win-win situation both for the client and the agency. This is because clients who prefer not to go to the office may opt not to do so. And, independent insurance agents can cater to both virtual and personal meetings with customers depending on the customers’ preferences. This is making the agency and its agents flexible to whatever the customer needs.
Streamlining operations
Our agency to boost had a wake-up call to move to digital tools three years ago after being hit by a huge snowstorm. The whole staff had to work from home using our cell phones for more than one week. We realized that we should be able to work and answer customers even if we are not in the office.
We knew that we needed an upgrade in our system before and did not let snowstorms render is not functional. And for the agency to still run during times like this, we had to get a better system that is ready for any emergency, not just snowstorms.
We migrated from the traditional phone system to a Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone system. And, it allows us to communicate with our clients using the Internet which is more accessible nowadays.
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And to fully integrate the digital tools in our office operations, a web-based agency system AMS360 to boost was put in place. This is together with consolidated texting, implementation of DocuSign, and Neoteric for business transactions that mostly contain video instructions or information on some processes that a customer has to go through.
It is now convenient for our agency to boost to do business transactions either physically in the office. Or, virtually in the comfort of our homes. Our agency also has gone paperless by scanning files and ensuring that all documents are available online and offline. Our staff can move their office work. And, do their tasks in the comfort of their homes without having to bring all of the paperwork. But, when they do need to have a copy of something while in the office, they can just send a file to the copy machine electronically for printing.
The digital tools that we use and the way we utilize these tools have expanded our market. This is making us reach other parts of the world that we haven’t actually reached yet. The digital tools we have introduced us to new learnings and new clients to do business with. This shows that we can maximize these digital tools. And, help the agency boost the number of clients. And, also the number of members that we have in a team. With AIS starting to grow the team of insurance experts in 2007, we welcomed new team members in the first quarter of 2021. And, continue to hope that the growth would be a sure and, steady pace that is ready for the digital age.
Communicating efficiently
With all the advantages of going digital, still, nothing beats a human touch. And since we started out traditionally, we’ve incorporated a personal touch to our video proposals via Neoteric for first-time clients that are planning to move to the area. It showed great results as it makes the video more sociable and humane.
The videos are not just for new clients. We were able to produce more videos for different processes for transactions like renewals and inquiries, I make a 30- to 90-second video covering all the questions of the client. And, then send the video link to the client giving them the luxury to watch it on their own time. In the future, I plan to make a page with all the videos and then compile them. There will also be videos answering the frequently asked questions that the customers can rely on whenever they do have questions and inquiries.
One of the many advantages of the digital approach is the automation of ways to communicate. This is because by utilizing the features of email, websites, and other things on the Internet we could provide a better customer experience for our clients. In having these digital tools, redundant content can be used to our advantage. And, will give us an edge for going the extra mile just to reach out to our clients.
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To state an example of how the digital approach improved our communications, we created a page wherein our clients can fill out an online form to sign up for our client portal. We were able to utilize our digital tools to have the repetitive task of asking the clients to fill out a form, on paper, be automated by embedding a form on our website so they can sign up for our client portal.
Also, the client portal improved our communications by letting the staff and clients focus more on their more important or crucial concerns. This is rather than asking how to fill out the form. And, other frequently asked questions can now be found on our website. We also built this website to serve as a compilation of everything that a client needs to know about us such as our history (to show credibility). And, also the training packages and courses that we have, other articles that may answer clients’ questions, and job openings. And, if they did not find what they were looking for on the website our contact number and email address for more inquiries are also on the website.
Our communication with both our staff and clients is now better with the use of easy-to-use online web raters. And, to be honest the visuals on the website make information about our agency more entertaining to read. And, easier to comprehend than the usual black-and-white paper that we may hand out. Our instant email feature on the website also makes it easier for customers to ask us questions or raise concerns without having to fall in line in the office. And, can maximize their time to do other things.
Extending our staff’s capacity
The use of digital tools in the agency has helped us do our business more efficiently. And, at the same time help our staff grow. And, reach their maximum potential as they take advantage of the digital tools that we have. Also, the tools that we will find useful in the future.
As an example, our agency’s specialty offers auto/car insurance, homeowners, workers, business insurance, and others on our website. We have to make a yearly policy review for that product within a seven-week timeframe. Customers used to go into the office to ask questions or quotes. But now our agents can send clients the link to our website. A website wherein they could get an estimated quotation based on our available programs. Our agents do not need to meet with our clients personally now. Most of the questions that they may ask are already on the website including the link to our client portal. The client portal will serve and help them access their information with our agency online. And, also the website has videos that are helpful in discussing topics that are related to our offers such as the California Harassment Laws, Workers’ Compensation, and many more.
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Regarding the client portal, it not only allows clients to view the information that the agency has. But, this also facilitates business transactions between the client and the agency. Through the client portal, clients can make changes to their accounts or profiles. And, consult with their agents without having to go to the office for just a single inquiry. This makes our agents more flexible since they can serve our clients who do not want to go outside their houses to do something with their policies.
But still, if our clients prefer to discuss things about their policy face-to-face, our agents can still do so. This portal is a big help to our agents. This is also essential to our clients that most of the tasks for them are now automated and they mostly would just need to input information in the portal, then the portal will organize the information itself. This also makes data-keeping more organized and synchronized with what the client sees. Having to use digital tools maximizes our staff’s capacity and makes it less prone to human error.
Getting started
We started in 2005 and for the past 16 years, we are glad to have served (and continue to serve) 45 states. As we continue to expand the places that we cover, we knew we had to up our game and adapt to changes that would make us more efficient than ever before. Building our own website opened our agency to a lot more opportunities and made us more creative with the content that we want to produce. Our goal for the content that we post on the website is to inform our clients about the programs that we offer, and for new clients to get to know everything about our agency.
To add a human and personal touch to our website, we even added pictures of our team to make our new and current clients feel at ease that they are not just talking to some robot over the chatbox or AI on the screen. As we started going online and publishing more content, we had an online compilation of what most of our clients want to know and what they usually want to get done that they usually do when they come into our office. We even made videos on how-tos or good-to-knows and added a feedback submission feature on our website, together with the instant email. Studying the trend of what our clients want to see on our website made it more worth investing in.
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