Leveraging Technology, Optimizing an Existing Small Business Book, and Maintaining the Right Level of Service for Small Business Customers
Small businesses are facing dynamic and demanding market conditions which create significant challenges that they must overcome, providing more opportunities for independent agents to prove their worth as experienced advisors and designing strong and innovative insurance programs. As small business operators are prioritizing their most pressing concerns while experiencing rate increases due to market conditions, agents are under pressure to step up to offer more advice and services, creating an opportunity to provide clients with crucial insurance protection and discover new business opportunities in the process.
To improve their small business books, agents are increasingly relying on three effective strategies: leveraging technology, optimizing an existing small business book, and maintaining the right level of service for existing customers. In this article, we will explore each of these strategies and how they can be effectively utilized to streamline small business operations and maximize growth opportunities.
Leveraging Technology to Drive Efficiency in New Business Placement
Agents are leveraging technology as a point of differentiation, supporting their customer service efforts by delivering complete, accurate, and customer-focused quotes in real-time. With limited time and smaller staff, they rely on new technology solutions to generate fast and accurate quotes. Carriers are investing in new digital portals through API technologies to make it easy to get multiple, binding quotes at once, based on appropriate coverage levels and limits. This eliminates non-binding quotes and incorrect coverage levels and limits, which often create more questions for agents and customers, unnecessarily delaying the quote-to-issue process.
Some carriers, like The Hanover, enable linkable quotes and have added the ability to select the most common coverages directly on the provider’s platform, delivering a quote that is more responsive to customer needs and saving agents time when going to issue the policy. Choosing a provider, offering both standard and specialty lines within their online listing, can help streamline small business location, enabling agents to access one system to quote and issue a cohesive solution to their clients to help meet the needs of all small business exposures, saving time and energy.
Optimizing an Existing Small Business Book
The typical median agency has at least 50 carrier relationships, leading to diluted relationships and potentially missed opportunities. When accounts are split, agents must work with different carriers on the service, on different systems, spending more time than necessary on accounts. This is wasted time that could be spent on meaningful customer conversations, allowing agents to discover additional opportunities to write new coverages the customer needs. Additionally, customers often benefit from a single provider solution by having the convenience of a single bill, seamless coverage to avoid coverage gaps, and access to a customer portal for self-service.
For agents to optimize their existing small business book, they must understand where opportunities exist within their business books between split accounts, monoline accounts, and spreading business across different carriers to get the most out of their small business accounts. Partnering with a carrier that offers agency-focused tools can help identify opportunities to consolidate markets or round out accounts. The Hanover offers a unique consultative engagement to agency partners through Hanover Agency Insight, which includes a comprehensive view of an agent’s entire book of business to help discover and identify opportunities to better serve clients. This information can help agencies improve their small business strategy and prioritize where opportunities for improvement are greatest.
Maintaining the Right Level of Service for Existing Customers
The most successful agents spend more time engaging with customers in meaningful ways to help reduce risk and align coverage, rather than getting bogged down with administrative tasks. Agents must extend their agency’s service efficiently, taking advantage of carrier-dedicated customer service centers that offer authorized agents to complete transactional requests, discuss renewals, offer consultation services, and new business sales support. Carriers that offer an account-centric approach within their service center, including servicing any specialty policy, will support new business growth and customer excellence.
According to data, agents who work with a service center write 46% more new business in the first year, demonstrating the importance of maintaining the right level of service for existing customers. For agents to be successful, now and in the future, it will be critical to partner with carriers dedicated to supporting independent agents and investing in solutions to help streamline their small business operations.
Expanding On The Topic: The changing landscape of the insurance industry
As we enter the 21st century, the traditional ways of selling insurance are no longer feasible due to the ever-evolving insurance landscape. Due to the complexity of this landscape, insurance agents need to be creative and innovative in order to provide solutions that fit the client’s needs.
One of the key factors is the increasing role that technology plays in the insurance industry. Technology is helping insurance agents be more effective in their job, as it helps them to connect faster and more efficiently with clients. Agents that are utilizing modern technology, such as the internet, social media, and mobile applications, are more likely to have greater success reaching potential clients.
Another key factor is the shift in the business model of insurance companies. Insurance companies are recognizing the need to make their services available to the public through cost-effective channels, such as direct-to-consumer models. This change in approach is slowly but steadily impacting the traditional insurance distribution channels.
Furthermore, the insurance industry is gradually moving from a transaction-based model to one that is advisory and service-oriented. This shift is exemplified by the growth of independent insurance agents who have proven to be more successful than captive agents due to their focus on providing personalized services to clients.
In conclusion, independent agents must adapt to new market challenges, such as economic pressures, supply chain issues, labor shortages, and changing customer expectations. Leveraging technology to streamline insurance processes, optimizing existing business, and maintaining high levels of customer service are essential to staying competitive in the evolving insurance industry. As the insurance industry continues to evolve, it is critical that agents remain innovative and keep up with the latest trends in order to stay ahead of the curve and continue to provide high-quality services to clients.
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Dynamic and demanding market conditions have created challenges that small businesses must overcome, creating more opportunities for independent agents to prove their worth as experienced advisers, design strong and innovative insurance programs, and ultimately grow their businesses.
American businesses, like those in other countries around the world, are struggling to respond to formidable market challenges that include recessionary economic pressures, supply chain issues, labor shortages, and changing customer expectations and demands. .
As small business operators prioritize their most pressing business concerns while simultaneously experiencing rate increases due to market conditions, agents are under pressure to step up to offer more advice and service. This creates an opportunity to provide clients with crucial insurance protection and discover new business opportunities in the process.
As we work with our agent partners, we’ve seen many benefit from the following three effective strategies to improve their small business books.
Leverage technology to drive efficiency in new business placement
Agents are leveraging technology as a point of differentiation, supporting their customer service efforts by delivering complete, accurate, and customer-focused quotes in real time. Agents have limited time and manage workloads with smaller staff, so they rely on new technology solutions to generate fast and accurate quotes.
Agents are increasingly working with carriers who are investing in new digital portals through API technologies to make it easy to get multiple, binding quotes at once, based on appropriate coverage levels and limits. Non-binding quotes and incorrect coverage levels and limits often lead to more questions for the agent and customer and unnecessarily delay the quote-to-issue process. Some carriers, like The Hanover, allow linkable quotes and have added the ability to select the most common coverages directly on the provider’s platform, delivering a quote that is more responsive to customer needs and saving agents time when going to issue the policy.
Beyond these new digital connections, for direct listing capabilities, choosing a provider that offers both standard and specialty lines within their online listing can help streamline small business location. This allows agents to access one system to quote and issue a cohesive solution to their clients to help meet the needs of all small business exposures, saving time and energy.
Optimize an existing small business book
More than 60% of small business customers who buy more than one policy are split between multiple carriers and brokers. As a result, the typical median agency has at least 50 carrier relationships and sometimes more, leading to diluted relationships and potentially missed opportunities. When accounts are split, agents have to work with different carriers on the service, on different systems, spending more time than necessary on accounts. This is wasted time that could be spent on meaningful customer conversations, allowing agents to discover additional opportunities to write new coverages the customer needs. Additionally, customers often benefit from a single provider solution by having the convenience of a single bill, seamless coverage to avoid coverage gaps, and access to a customer portal for self-service.
Unfortunately, it can be challenging for agents to understand where opportunities exist within their business books between split accounts, monoline accounts, and spreading business across different carriers to get the most out of their small business accounts. Partnering with a carrier that offers agency-focused tools can help identify opportunities to consolidate markets or round out accounts.
For example, The Hanover offers a unique consultative engagement to agency partners through Hanover Agency Insight, which includes a comprehensive view of an agent’s entire book of business to help discover and identify opportunities to better serve clients. and streamline your small business book. This information can help agencies improve their small business strategy and prioritize where opportunities for improvement are greatest. This approach is just one of the tools available to agencies to help ensure their clients are properly protected while improving their performance metrics.
Maintain the right level of service for existing customers
The most successful agents spend more time engaging with customers in meaningful ways to help reduce risk and align coverage, rather than getting bogged down with administrative tasks. Unfortunately, many agents get stuck spending time on the transactional aspect of customer relationships, and not spending enough time on what will grow their business: more time consulting with customers. In all markets, we are seeing small business customers seeking more service and guidance from their agents, especially in the wake of increased claims activity and rising fees. To extend an agency’s service efficiently, they should take advantage of carrier-dedicated customer service centers that offer authorized agents to complete transactional requests, discuss renewals, offer consultation services and new business sales support. Carriers that offer an account-centric approach within their service center, including servicing any specialty policy, will support new business growth and customer excellence. In fact, according to our data, agents who work with a service center write 46% more new business in the first year.
For agents to be successful now and in the future, it will be critical to partner with carriers dedicated to supporting independent agents and investing in solutions to help them streamline their small business operations.
https://www.propertycasualty360.com/2023/06/13/three-ways-to-optimize-profitability-and-efficiency-in-small-business/
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