How to boost the role of insurance agents as trusted advisors

The ultimate goal of any agent is to provide such a high level of service that the client couldn’t imagine doing business anywhere else. In today’s competitive business environment, agents must be able to provide value to a client that they would not be able to get anywhere else through critical industry insights and specialized advice.

Two roadblocks that often prevent agents from providing top-notch service are work capacity and the generalized nature of agency work. An agent’s typical day often includes a great deal of manual rekeying of information and tedious administrative tasks. In addition, they’re typically working with clients across a plethora of industries and verticals, making it difficult to know offhand the intricacies of every industry.

Both of these issues can be mitigated through automation and specialization. When implemented, agents can spend less time rekeying data and more time providing strategic counsel to the clients they serve.

Increase specialization

As specializing in certain lines of business allows agencies to better understand specific client needs and improve customer lifetime value, two-thirds of middle-market agents are expected to shift to a more specialized model within the next half-decade. Emerging risks such as cannabis, cyber, autonomous vehicles and more, will quickly open new areas of business, and changing markets like these will force agents to embrace specialized avenues.

Specialization allows insurance agencies to brand and market themselves as the experts within that sector, and ultimately allows them to become a trusted risk advisor. In any given industry, an agent must consistently stay up to date with new regulations and developments, and gain an understanding of how these changes will impact the insured. This external research is put into practice with regular client conversations about their problem areas and coverage needs. A specialized agent who is able to convey their expertise effectively will attract similar companies to their practice through word-of-mouth referrals. Companies will always prefer an insurance agent that specializes within their given industry and who understands their specific risk over one-size-fits-all generalized agencies that lack that level of knowledge.

Leverage automated technology

Today, technology platforms allow insurance agencies to automate tedious administrative tasks and free up their agents’ valuable time. Setting up automated functions is simple and can be done for many different tasks. So, what can be automated? Client reminders for renewals and payments, duplicate data entry, e-signatures and more. All of this allows the agent to free up time for advising the insured, ultimately providing a deeper level of service.

In addition to the time saved through automation, the cost savings available for agencies are immense. Research firm IDC found that inefficiency costs companies anywhere from 20% to 30% of their revenue every year. Additionally, the dual 2018 report by the Association for Independent Agents (IIABA) and insurance distribution consultancy Reagan Consulting found that if agencies cut their agent’s time spent on outdated manual tasks by around three percent, the cost-savings alone — just over $15,000 — could be rerouted into more productive agency needs.

Save essential time

As stated in Indio’s State of Insurance Renewals eBook, over 40% of surveyed agencies servicing mid-market and enterprise accounts spend 11-30 minutes finding the correct insurance applications and supplemental forms to get their account’s submission packet ready for renewals. Therefore, an agency that has 100 customers and averages 15 minutes per customer finding supplemental forms wastes 25 hours per renewal period, which is valuable time that could have been spent on client-facing activities, such as advising.

To remain successful and competitive, agencies should view technology and software as a complement to their application and renewal process.

The takeaway

Agencies that have digitized and automated their full application and renewal process empower their teams with the time needed to elevate themselves into better risk advisors and increase their revenue per employee.

Becoming a trusted advisor means that agencies stay on the offense. By investing substantial time into clients and their needs, as opposed to data entry and submissions, agents become valued resources rather than just a provider of basic policy information. By providing this crucial value, agents create relationships with their clients that will keep them coming back for years to come.

Michael Furlong (indio@n6a.com) is the CEO of Indio Technologies. The opinions expressed here are his own.

Also by this contributor:

• The importance of specialization
• Four ways agents and brokers can capture growth
• Ensuring insurance applications are completed the first time