It makes sense for insurance agencies to embrace technology, as you can use it to enhance your productivity, customer satisfaction, and nearly every other aspect of your agency. But you must use digital tools carefully. You don’t want to lose that consultative, personalized service that your clients enjoy. It is easy for your service to accidentally become impersonal if you aren’t careful.
With a few tips, however, you should be able to leverage technology while still maintaining that personal touch.
Choose the Right Technology
The technology that you choose will have a major influence on your ability to deliver personalized services to clients. It should have tools that will let you track customer interactions, build a thorough customer database, and more.
You may be surprised at which tools can help you maintain that personal touch while boosting productivity and efficiency. For example, email integration may seem like a simple feature. But think about it, and you’ll realize that if you can write an email while viewing a customer’s profile on the Jenesis platform, you can easily personalize the message based on their policy and other information.
Alternatively, consider a feature that lets you make notes about clients. You can use this feature to document important details about them that you can use to deliver more personalized service. Take note of conversations, from upcoming life changes to hobbies. Some notes will highlight cross-selling opportunities, while others will just help you connect with clients.
You can also use similar features as to-do lists so you don’t forget to deliver on promises to clients.
Continue to Prioritize Your Clients’ Needs
No matter what tools you use in your insurance agency, one of the best ways to deliver a personal touch is to make it clear that you focus on your clients’ needs. This will show clients that you take the time to understand them as individuals instead of just numbers in a spreadsheet or software program.
Even just taking a few minutes to understand what makes a client’s situation unique can lead to a significant difference in customer service. You will also be better able to connect with your clients, as you will have information that lets you do so. This can be as simple as sending a holiday card to their family, including everyone by name.
Always Personalize Messaging
Address your clients by name and give them information that is relevant to them. This is easier to do if you know more about their life. As a bonus, knowing more about clients and personalizing messaging helps with cross-selling and up-selling while showing clients that you care about their needs.
At the very least, segment your email list before you send any marketing emails. While this won’t allow for complete personalization, it helps ensure that you only send emails that are relevant to a given client.
Be Authentic
Whether you are talking to clients in person, over the phone, or via email, always strive to be authentic. It will put your clients at ease and help you develop a connection with them. Importantly, you don’t want to change who you are to sell insurance. You want your clients to feel comfortable interacting with the real you, as that personalizes the experience.
Always Answer Questions
One of the potential traps of using technology for your insurance agency is getting too caught up in improving efficiency. This can lead to neglecting clients, specifically not taking the time to explain things to them in the level of detail they want.
So, make a conscious effort to always answer your clients’ questions. Encourage them to ask questions about the policies you offer and even insurance in general. Then, don’t rush the answer; make sure they are satisfied with their new knowledge.
This will help make your clients feel as if you truly care about them and they aren’t just a number.
Consider Yourself a Resource
As an extension of being ready to answer questions, think of yourself as a resource for your clients. Always be willing to update them with the latest developments, whether that is via a blog, newsletter, phone call, or face-to-face conversation. This will help your clients feel comfortable approaching you with questions in the future.
Respond Promptly
Whether you are answering questions or just sending information to a client, be sure to always do so as promptly as possible. Start by making sure that your clients know how to reach you and when you are available. Include your contact information on relevant printed documents, your insurance agency’s website, and your client portal. Then, be prompt in your response.
A simple way to ensure this is to set aside a chunk of time in your schedule for responding to clients. Block off time for it just like you would anything else on your to-do list.
Don’t Just Communicate About Insurance
While you don’t want to overwhelm your clients with communications, you should occasionally interact with them in ways that have nothing to do with insurance. Sending a holiday card is the perfect example. But you can also consider sending a birthday message with a small gift card to their favorite coffee place.
You can take this to the next level and even host the occasional event. For example, your insurance agency can have a holiday party, Valentine’s Day party, or celebrate any other occasion. You could even just have a monthly or quarterly client appreciation gathering with drinks and appetizers.
Conclusion
Becoming a digital insurance agency lets you take advantage of technology and improve productivity. But you want to make sure that you don’t rely on technology to the point of removing personalization. With the above tips, you should have no trouble maintaining that personal touch in all your client interactions.