Discover How Data Transforms The Digital Life Sales Process
Originally posted at Broker World Magazine
By Ken Leibow -March 1, 2022
You can control your own destiny with web-enabled Lead Gen and Data-Driven Decisioning.
Raise your hand if you want more leads.
Hands up if you think your website could be better utilized to capture interested prospects.
Okay, last one. Hands in the air if you have felt an intuition about a strategy that could make a substantial impact on your business, but had no facts or metrics to back it up.
If you have any hands above your head right now, read on. First, let’s talk lead generation. Lead gen has two primary impacts on your business: 1) the potential for new revenue and, 2) attraction and retention of agents. I have yet to encounter an agency that doesn’t want more leads. And with the right tools at their disposal, agencies can efficiently attract, capture, and distribute ample leads.
One of the biggest areas of lead capture opportunity? Your website. Think of your website as a storefront. When you don’t provide a virtual shop window for prospective clients to browse, you forfeit the chance to draw them inside. A consumer-based quote engine on your website can be a game-changer for your agency in 2022. You can increase lead volume, leverage existing CRM technology as you transfer leads to agents, and even jump-start an application. Sound interesting? Check out this clip: https://www.ipipeline.com/bgas-jump-start-your-lead-gen-in-the-new-year/.
Next up, data-driven insights and decisioning. Most agencies are short on resources—people, time, and money to examine strategies, test and analyze, execute, and improve. In the absence of humans, more hours in the day, and an influx of unexpected funding, the differentiator is data. What if you could look across your carrier partners and know where your cycle times are shortest and longest? What training would you prioritize for employees if you could pinpoint where execution breakdowns were occurring in case management? What if you could measure agent productivity by premium and cycle time? What if you were able to see that by reducing cycle time by five days, your placement ratio would go up by 13 percent?
If you were able to use metrics to drive decisioning, you would gain invaluable insights into your business, enabling you to confidently take courses of action using the resources of teams three times your size. Data is that powerful. And the best part? You don’t have to be a data scientist to utilize it. Check out this video of three BGAs discussing the results of their data-driven decisioning: https://www.ipipeline.com/bga-panel-how-data-is-driving-better-performance-more-business/.
Small adjustments can make big impacts. Ask yourself the questions above in a few months…and let’s get those hands down! These video links and metrics were provided by Roy Goodart who is head of product management at iPipeline, offering an end-to-end ecosystem for fully digitizing the life insurance industry. iPipeline provides distributors with the technology needed to differentiate themselves from their competitors by offering a comprehensive end-to-end platform. They provide you with the agent tool sets that a modern workforce needs in order to process business quickly in this ever-innovating market.
Agent Tools Using AI Predictive Data for Product Recommendations
Sproutt is a new kind of life insurance provider who is transforming how life insurance is purchased and distributed. I met the Sproutt team at the LIDMA conference last October in Denver. I found their sales model coupled with their Insurtech platform very innovative. I asked Sproutt about their technology: Using proprietary AI technology, Sproutt’s Quality of Life Index (QLI) identifies consumers’ “hidden” healthy behaviors to provide a personalized life insurance buying experience, in 10-minutes or less. Sproutt has established itself as a key player within the direct-to-consumer space, and following its rapid growth and technology evolution in the last two years, it is now pioneering agent distribution within the insurtech sector.
Sproutt is bridging the gap between traditional distribution and modern technology, providing agents a competitive advantage. They do things differently at Sproutt. “We put agents first and we provide them the tools and latest technology to be successful,” said Assaf Henkin, co-founder and president. Sproutt covers the full spectrum of omni-channel distribution including independent agents, brokerage, P&C, banks and wire-houses, along with partnerships and affinity groups.
Sproutt’s agent platform includes proprietary Smart Routing technology, which can accurately match clients to a personalized product that best meets their needs and buying preferences. The agent platform includes instant issue term and permanent life insurance covering protection and accumulation sale scenarios while enabling agents to reach clients in a much more effective manner. “We have fully integrated the needs of a life insurance agent into our platform and leveraged our proprietary technology to provide a best in class agent experience,” said Henkin.
As a data-first company, Sproutt is leveraging historical and real time data to provide a predictive experience for both agents and consumers. The ability to accurately predict customer needs, confirm that with agents’ input, and recommend the right product is extremely valuable in a digital buying scenario where speed, transparency, and responsiveness go a long way. Sproutt is preparing to launch a new, fully-redesigned agent portal that will feature a “next generation” series of products all hosted on the company’s predictive data platform later this year.
More Life Digital Sales Platforms and Using Behavioral Science
New from Covr Financial Technologies is Covr Pro, which brings Covr’s digital life insurance technology to independent distribution across multiple channels and agency business models. Originally built for Covr’s 30,000 financial advisor partners, Covr Pro gives independent agents, agencies and producer groups a new digital toolset to rapidly grow their business while future-proofing their practice.
In addition to term and permanent life insurance solutions, Covr Pro offers asset-based long term care, disability, and will introduce an annuities path from more than 30 top-rated carriers including Prudential, Protective and AIG. The fully digital experience also includes needs analysis tools, multi-carrier quoting, case status tracking, and policy delivery and review. The platform is the only one in the industry to offer drop ticket for 100 percent of the available products.
Covr Pro also gives agents access to Covr’s team of industry experts with omni-channel support and assistance. Signing up is easy and fast—agents can create an account and submit business immediately, and get paid some of the most highly competitive commissions in the industry today.
InsurAware™ is an end-to-end digital distribution platform built on state-of-the-art data analytics, behavioral science, and artificial intelligence which aims at matching clients with cost-effective insurance policies provided by leading policy providers. InsurAware™ is equally beneficial for financial institutions, as it leverages the power of precise digital marketing coupled with the accuracy of industry data processed with state-of-the-art AI to become a one-stop solution for the customer acquisition journey.
I asked the InsurAware team, “What are the market trends?” They replied, “We are seeing traditional and digital carriers coming to market with truly end-to-end digital products complete with APIs. Helping to identify the consumers that have the ability and intent to purchase while also providing agents with digital tools to better match these prospects with the right solutions for their specific needs will be table stakes in the future. The ability to take customers and agents through the fulfillment journey, achieved through using data services, data analytics, and state-of-the-art flexible rules engines and fulfillment systems, is becoming table stakes as well. Low code configuration tools are increasing speed to market and accelerating the pace of digital transformation within carriers and distributors. Real time interface techniques through APIs and SDKs are making automated underwriting and the intelligent quoting process much easier.”