What communications can agents create and provide so they are seen as helping make their clients more savvy?

Become a truly customer-centric organization
Being a customer-centric organization begins with a commitment to understanding the client's industry almost better than they do. It's about making sure that everyone in the organization is learning about the customers, their industries and their markets--and responding appropriately. How can you use good market research to become the savvy consumer for your client? What internal marketing activities can you deploy to make everyone in your organization connected to your clients' needs?

Your clients want information when they want it. The digital revolution has made it possible for companies to provide customized service levels across multiple points of contact. Companies that provide a more efficient experience across every sales touchpoint achieve higher conversion rates. One area every company should consider is improving or upgrading the online RFP processes. Taking cues from some of the leading online retailers, agents should ensure their sites/processes recognize returning visitors (either through browser-side cookies or server-side registration), anticipate their needs based on past submissions or browsing activity, suggest coverages or risk management options and automate the completion and submission of forms. Finally, whatever can be done on the brokerage end of the transaction to expedite quoting should also pay off in increased conversion rates.

Know your clients as you know yourselves
The best way to impress the savvy policyholder is to be savvy yourself. Do you know what your clients face in this economic environment? Are you up at night thinking about the same things as your clients? Employ marketing research to create and own insight into your customers' worlds. Divine from that research unique ways you could add value to their businesses, over and above the "table stakes" value your competition delivers. Once you determine what that value is, communicate the advantage from your target's perspective. Lead with the benefits. Can you save your clients time, money, aggravation? Tell them what aspect or feature of your company can make that happen.

Technology tools can make clients as independent and self-sufficient as they want to be. How can agents/brokers provide the best tools while monitoring transactions and staying top-of-mind to clients? What role can carriers play in facilitating a high-touch, high-tech relationship that connects agents and brokers with policyholders? Can carrier service centers be part of the solution?

Work with IT to ramp up online presence with search engine optimization (SEO)
If your clients search online for the "best" insurance deal, you have a better chance of retaining them if you are one of the first links they find. Some basic SEO techniques:

? Evaluate and prioritize keywords
? Add relevant content to main home page
? Increase depth of content on sub pages
? Add dynamic content (RSS, video/audio podcasts, SMS integration, blogs, live chat)
? Generate frequent press releases that leverage keywords
? Reorganize site map based on core business objectives
? Enhance number of backlinks pointing to the home page.

Communicate consistently
The most trusted companies present themselves consistently over time. Add an unstable economy into the mix and the need for trust increases. That's why it is more important than ever to maintain a continuity of message, look and feel across all points of client contact. Take an audit of all of your materials. Place them side by side on a table. Look for inconsistencies. If you find your materials are out of brand standards or simply don't "play well" together, it's time to call an ad agency or meet with your internal department. If you don't think your clients notice this type of inconsistency, think again: your competitors will.

Make your sales tools work harder for you
When it comes to sales presentations, your prospects have little time and higher expectations. If your competition is using printed materials, use PowerPoint. If they are using PowerPoint, develop next-generation presentations that incorporate animation, sound and video to increase engagement. Position your company as progressive and, more importantly, tell a larger story in less time. Use technology tools and social media to stay current with your clients. Take a cue from independent agents who are seeing the advantages of social networking tools such as LinkedIn or Facebook to learn more about their clients, engage in more meaningful conversations and provide more fluid customer service.

Expand the services offered
The key to a successful relationship between agents and policyholders may take the form of value-added services. As businesses look to reduce costs, they will continue to be concerned about reducing risks. Working alongside carriers, find ways to be trusted advisors and extend your role by bringing loss prevention and other risk management services to the conversation.

In the next 10 years, the fundamental risks facing most businesses will remain unchanged. However, the growth of digital avenues of communication will change the way risk managers seek information and ultimately purchase their policies. Agents and brokers who are willing to investigate new approaches to using those tools to build stronger customer relationships will most certainly reap the greatest long-term rewards.