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Every broker gathers customers’ information and interest in their offerings differently, whether they have a single-page web form or an extensive form that collects more data from a prospective client about their potential insurance needs. When a customer only fills out half a form or visits a broker’s website and doesn’t end up buying insurance, there’s a wasted opportunity to attract new business that lead management software can solve.
Ken Sedgewick, VP of sales for Trufla Technology, which offers a suite of digital products for insurance brokerages including lead management software, told Insurance Business that despite the benefits of following up with prospects and having a way to track their interest, many brokerages aren’t implementing lead management strategies into their processes.
“As an industry as a whole, I have to think that 80% of brokers aren’t using it,” predicted Sedgewick, based on his experiences working with brokerages. “The common thing with technology for brokers seems to be, how do I get my staff to engage? It’s a change management thing – it’s not necessarily the tool itself, it’s how does the broker implement this new tool and get the brokers, who’ve been doing this job for one year [or] 20 years, to change their process and adopt this new tool? That seems to be the constant problem across the industry.”
Lead management software can help a brokerage improve their performance. For example, if a broker sees that their conversion rate is higher for their web page on auto insurance, they can dedicate more resources into that channel to drive further growth. A brokerage can also see the workflow for all their brokers, from who’s been assigned which leads to which brokers are getting more new business, which is beneficial for training opportunities where better performing brokers can share insight into their strategies for success – and success often does come when implementing this kind of digital product.
“In some of our case scenarios, we have increased conversion rates by 300%,” said Sedgewick, adding that while a broker would typically only know who got to the end of a form, this software can help them see who’s dropping off in the middle, as one example, which would help a broker reengage with their customer through automated marketing and other methods of reaching out.
Lead management is not new, explained Sedgewick. If people are providing their information to a broker and it’s being redirected to a general email, that’s a waste of money. “You’re just leaving money on the table,” he said.
Tracking data and using analytics to the benefit of an organization is already the way things are going, said Sedgewick. It shouldn’t be any different for brokers looking for more business.
“All the trends are showing this is the way that it’s going,” said the VP. “We’re not reinventing the wheel here. Access to your information through a mobile app, that’s available everywhere. Our clients use that – banking, telecom, your power bill – I don’t call people to see what my balance is. So why is insurance any different?”
