5 key ways to automate insurance sales workflows

Insurance sales are highly regulated and can require a number of procedures that change depending on a variety of elements. This makes it essential that digital systems can be easily adjusted to account for changing variables and regulatory requirements.

In this piece, we will discuss how automated workflows enable a seamless, fully-compliant and efficient insurance sales process that also provides a superior customer experience.

Why partially digital sales cycles are failing insurance agents

Many insurance agents already make use of digital tools to sell more efficiently and easily to today’s impatient customers. Standalone tools such as eSignatures are now widely used. Yet over time, agents understand that point solutions cannot offer them the kind of automation and seamlessness required to maximize each sales interaction.

For example, insurance agents sometimes turn to robotic process automation (RPA) to automate specific tasks, such as automatically reaching out to prospective policyholders and collecting details. But due to the lack of end-to-end integration, such solutions show their weaknesses. In our example, prospects inevitably need to repeat personal information they may have already supplied. Cue manually following up with prospects, time-consuming paperwork collection, and the usual headaches that plague partially digitized insurance sales.

Most existing systems simply aren’t smart enough to sell in a fully automated and digital way. Due to this lack of cohesion, sales cycles are long and cumbersome. The customer often loses excitement or starts having doubts.

But there is a better way.

Why automation is critical for insurance sales

Automating insurance sales processes can make these inefficiencies a thing of the past. Rather than focus on adopting individual tools, insurance companies would do well to look towards the full insurance sales cycle.

Part of the wider category of business process management, automated workflows allow sales agents to easily put together mobile-optimized insurance product presentations, digitally co-review the insurance products that the customer shows interest in, share digital terms and conditions for instant approval, collect eSignatures, and set up automated billing.

The latest automated workflow solutions can allow admins to easily update business rules and automated processes in response to changing regulatory, product, or market conditions. There is no need for IT involvement or coding.

Insurance companies that incorporate automated workflows into their sales tech stack enjoy a number of benefits, including:

• Simplified procedures: One platform orchestrates the entire end-to-end sales process.
• Multiple digital tools bundled together: Business rules trigger the sending of requests for customer signatures, ID for verification, and consent to terms and conditions.
• Streamlined processes: Easy and intuitive conditional rules can be set to ensure business logic between steps, within steps, and within form fields.
• Optimized for each channel and touchpoint: Each sales interaction can be optimized across touchpoints and existing systems.
• Enhanced visibility: Dashboards help both agents and executives gain better visibility into how they’re doing and what’s driving (or preventing) sales.
• No coding required: Admins easily tweak their business rules in response to changing needs — all through a drag-and-drop interface.

5 essential elements of insurance sales automation

Automated digital workflows ensure insurers’ processes reflect the latest compliance requirements and insurance product offerings. At each step of the insurance cycle, the workflow prompts the agent to request customer information or action.

While on the sales call, the agent selects a request via the agent console. This activates a smart workflow that uses conditional logic to determine which action is required, such as consent on terms and conditions and eSignature. The workflow ensures the request instantly appears on the customer’s smartphone.

The following are five elements of an automated workflow that can help make over-the-phone insurance sales more efficient, digital, and personalized.

1. Collaborative product presentations

Insurance agents no longer need to rely on outdated PowerPoint presentations or PDF brochures to showcase insurance products. Digitization has gotten much more sophisticated than that. Automated workflows equip agents to create an “order” showing relevant insurance products. This can be shared with customers in real-time for instant feedback and discussion.

2. Shared review of documents & contracts

Once the customer demonstrates intent to purchase a particular product, the sales agent can share a contract draft with the customer to review together over the call. for an in-call review. Both agent and customer can zoom into various parts of the document and mark it up. This engenders customer trust and satisfaction, ensures transparency, and significantly reduces post-purchase complaints.

3. Instant consent

With automated workflows, agents do not need to read cumbersome compliance scripts out loud, which takes up precious time. Instead, agents can easily send terms and conditions to the customer’s smartphone for immediate click consent.

4. eSignature collection

Once the customer has consented to the terms and conditions of the plan, the workflow can be set up to automatically send a request for the customer’s digital signature. The customer can easily sign from any location via a text message interface, and an audit trail of the signed document is produced and stored in the CRM.

5. Automatic payment collection

Sales agents can set up newly signed customers with an automatic payment plan to ensure insurance premiums are paid regularly. The workflow can send digital ACH forms for the customer to fill out, making it easy for customers to pay premiums regularly and automatically.

Digital workflows for automating insurance sales

Automated workflows empower insurance companies to dynamically build and adjust processes to meet their current needs. This means that customer interactions with the insurer are more targeted, personalized, and compliant. Customers are asked to provide only the information that is needed from them, no more and no less. Automated workflows help insurers keep the ball rolling between critical steps in the insurance sales cycle, maximizing sales efficiency.

Zviki Ben Ishay is the co-founder and CEO of Lightico, a SaaS platform for customer interactions that digitally transforms millions of connections between businesses and their customers. With over 20 years of experience in customer experience, call center technology and service, Ishay has developed a keen understanding of what businesses can and need to do in order to provide better service through digital and remote means to the benefit of both businesses and their customers.

The opinions expressed here are the author’s own.

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