yext, yelp, yikes. the story of a modern day insurance agent The story of a modern day insurance agent

Confessions of an Insurance Agent

Okay, I am getting a little older and there is a gray hair or two starting to show. I have managed, for the most part, to keep up with all the technology changes that have occurred over the past two decades. My insurance business is doing okay. Our growth is positive but not like it was before the recent recession. I have a corporate sponsored web site for my office, we use a combination of traditional letters and emails for our marketing and I have a couple of producers making cold calls in our area. When business gets really slow, I buy a few months of real time internet leads.

Lately, I have been wondering if time and technology is starting to pass me by. I do not want it to but I am getting frustrated trying to find the right way to catch up. Can I do better finding new customers using technology? Can I move my business from just doing okay back up to a performance of good or very good or even Great?

I start to make a list of where I think I need to do better.

First: I google my business and look at the search results. They look okay. I then look at a couple of my other competitors in town. One of them has listings everywhere. I go to their website and it is not a standard corporate listing – it actually looks pretty cool. Resolution #1 – I need to get my own web site and I need to show up on more listings.

Second: I look at our business process flow and the number of prospects we are working through each day. My people are busy with what we are doing but I want to grow more. I am thinking if we are to handle more volume the same way we presently are processing prospects, the cost to support the growth will eat into any benefits from the increased revenue. Resolution #2 – I need to re-engineer my calling and follow-up process in order to get more new customers.

Third: I want to be able to quickly see how well I am doing. I do not want to sit down every six months and do a post mortem on why I am doing okay. I want to be able to react quickly to changes in customer levels – positive or negative. I also want to be able to show all those Regional and Corporate types that I have still got it and I am getting better. Resolution #3 – I need a business/data management system that is easy to use and gives me the key numbers I need.

I start looking up ideas on the internet and talking to various colleagues about their processes and ideas. I find on the internet that there are some pretty good solutions out there. There are web design companies, third party call centers and software companies that help organize sales activities. I took to a few of the bigger companies and though I find their capabilities impressive, I find their pricing to be too rich for my business. Then one of friends reminds me of presentation that we sat through at company sponsored conference. I vaguely remember that this company helped businesses facing challenges just like mine. I dug through my desk and found the business card from the presentation. It was for a company called Contactability.com.

I look them up online and there it is: my solution. #1 – they design web sites but you also get a free web presence when you sign up for their other services. #2 – they perform live transfer calls on internet leads with a follow-up campaign of up to 10 calls and 5 emails. #3 they have a software management system that has an easy to use dash board that almost instantly lets me know how my business is growing. Best of all the pricing fits my budget. I call the number on the business card.

To learn more about how Contactability can help you in your YIKES moments and move your business forward, please contact Mark Overstreet at 877-323-7750 ext. 706 or via email at moverstreet@contactability.com. He is excellent at helping business to figuring out to grow faster.

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