How to Use CRM and Digital Tools to Streamline Your Sales Process

We still have insurance agents who use a notebook, a stack of business cards, and a phone that dings constantly with reminders set three weeks too late. For these agents and all the rest of you, the 21st century is calling you!

Current technology empowers agents to be their “best agents” and increase sales with organizational capabilities businesspeople haven’t experienced before. Today, we’re looking at how using today’s technology, such as Customer Relationship Management systems (CRMs) and digital tools, streamlines the insurance sales process to enable agents to work smarter and close more business.

What’s a “CRM” and Why Should You Care?

For insurance agents, a CRM is your command center, allowing you to track:

• Leads

 

• Quotes

 

• Follow-ups

 

• Client policies

 

• Renewal dates

 

• The status of your commissions

 

• Notes about a client’s dog’s name and anything else you think is relevant to know about a client.

 

All this information is at your fingertips; you can access it whenever you want or need to. Without it, you’re guessing what you’re supposed to do next, chasing papers, and losing details you need on deals you need to complete.

The Practical, Daily CRM Usage For Insurance Agents

Lead Management

• Every referral, website lead, and all other prospects you meet go into one system.

 

• You track where each prospect came from with a “Lead Source” category in the CRM (referral, Facebook ad, cold call, etc.).

 

• Set and track their status, such as:

 

• • New lead

 

• • Quoted

 

• • Follow-up

 

• • Closed/ Not Interested

 

• • Any others you believe are relevant

 

The lead management function avoids having leads fall through the cracks and getting lost at your agency.

Automating Follow-ups

• Set tasks or automatic reminders: “Call Dave back in 2 days.”

 

• Schedule recurring reminders for annual policy reviews or renewals

 

• Performing automatic outreach from your CRM by sending emails, text messages, and “robocalls” to prospects with important follow-ups.

 

Easy Access to Notes and Client History

• Log every prospect/ client conversation, email, quote, and question

 

• Pull up a lead’s full history when you need it before your next call

 

• Access previous quotes for their objections and what you chatted about.

 

Sales Pipeline Tracking

• Visually see how many people are in each stage of your process

 

• Determine where in your pipeline you’re losing people to evaluate strategy and tactics used with these prospects

 

• Evaluate where you focus your time on the deals closest to closing.

 

Reporting & Analytics

 

• Produce lead generation, quotes sent, and sales closed reports to determine lead sources performing the best in each area

 

• Calculate closing rates to find your weak and strong spots in lead sources and products most selling.

 

Must-Have CRM Features for Insurance Agents

Here’s what insurance agents need for success in our industry:

• Lead Capture Forms: Connect your website, Facebook lead ads, or any landing pages generating leads right to your CRM

 

• Pipeline/Stage Management: Customizable sales stages, such as Quoted, Followed Up, Awaiting Docs, Closed, etc.

 

• Automated Follow-ups: Tasks, emails, or texts triggered in the CRM by status changes or dates

 

• Renewal Tracking: Set automatic reminders for policy reviews and renewals

 

• Mobile-friendly Access: Because we’re always on the go, make it easier for people to access information you send on their phones

 

• Email Integration: Sync with Outlook or Gmail to track conversations automatically

 

• E-signature Integration: Close deals without needing a printer or scanner

 

• Policy & Commission Tracking: Keep tabs on what’s in force and what’s paying out.

 

An Agent’s Daily Life Using CRM and Digital Tools

Here’s how this technology can work in a typical insurance agent’s daily scenario:

1. A lead fills out a health insurance quote form on your website and instantly drops it into your CRM.
2. You get a notification from the CRM about the lead and follow up with a call to the prospect that you log into the call notes inside the CRM.
3. After your conversation, you send a quote to the prospect using your quoting tool and attach the quote to the lead’s CRM profile.
4. You schedule a follow-up task in the CRM for 2 days later, and your CRM sends you a reminder.
5. The prospect accepts the quote, and you send an e-signature request using your e-signature software program you document in the CRM notes for the prospect.
6. Once the client signs, move them to the “Closed” status in your CRM lead system, log the policy into the prospect’s record in the CRM, and set a renewal reminder for next year.
7. Send a quick thank-you text using your integrated texting app.
8. Add them to your “client newsletter” email list to stay in touch automatically.
9. Track your commission once the policy is active to keep your accounting clean

 

How to Get Started Without Getting Overwhelmed

Start small and add tools as you go.

• Pick a simple CRM with lots of technical support available to ask answer questions for instant answers.

 

• • Upload Your Leads and Clients: Add your current prospects and clients. It’s not about perfection, so messy data is better than no data.

 

• • Set Up Follow-ups: Create a simple follow-up system with due dates and reminders.
    
    
• Integrate One Tool at a Time: Start with a quoting tool, then add e-signatures. A calendar link can follow. One small win at a time.

 

Insurance sales are all about consistency, timing, and relationships. A good CRM with smart digital tools empowers agents to maximize these three aspects.

Insurance agents can use these 21st-century tools to follow up faster, quote cleaner, and close more business. Most Medicare and ACA agents find ConnectureDRX and HealthSherpa handy, productive tools.

Agility has step-by-step guides for registering and using the ConnectureDRX and HealthSherpa Medicare platforms and the HealthSherpa ACA Marketplace platform. It also has its own MyAdmin platform, which provides insurance agents with reliable and timely digital access to agency data.

Agility webinars are also available on these platforms, so register now on our events page for the latest training. The Agility team of product experts and Market Leads has direct experience with the latest CRMs and digital technology available to insurance agents.

Contact them directly using our Sales Support Team page for their phone number and email address. Contact Agility at (866) 590-9771 or email [email protected] to reach the agent support team about these platforms or find alternative CRM and digital tools to streamline your agency operations and maximize your business revenue.

Act now to take your business to the next level with technology proven to work.