Have you ever heard the phrase, “time is money”? It’s especially true for sales agents.
Between prospecting, client follow-ups, policy admin work, compliance tasks, and everything else in between, the hours go by extremely fast! But what if you could get back at least 10 hours a week? Would you be willing to put in the work to free up that time?
Automation is one of my favorite topics!
By incorporating automation into your growth strategy, you will streamline repetitive tasks, eliminate human error, and free up time to focus on revenue generating activities. Sounds pretty nice!
Here’s how insurance agents can harness automation tools to save time and grow their business. I have personally worked with many of these tools that I reference below, but there are plenty alternatives that can help you accomplish the same automation goals.
Put Communications on Autopilot
Staying in touch with your customers is likely the most important element to retaining your renewal income stream. And, unfortunately the insurance industry in many ways has been late to the game in terms of adopting the technology to streamline communications.
Below are some tactics you can deploy.
- Automated Email Campaigns: Use email platforms like Mailchimp (free depending on the size of your customer list) or HubSpot to create sequences for lead nurturing, client onboarding, or renewal reminders. These two platforms are easy to use, but if you want more customization, Active Campaign is my platform of choice and it’s very intuitive.
- Text Message Automation: Platforms like Twilio can integrate into your automation tools to allow you to automate appointment reminders or policy updates via SMS, ensuring clients stay informed without you lifting a finger. The one thing you’ll need to really button up on the front end of this is getting consent to contact via text. But, if you take the time to capture consent and then embed consent on future email automations, automated texting will be extremely effective for you.
- Personalized Templates: Use CRM systems like Salesforce or AgencyBloc to send pre-written messages that feel personal but require minimal effort. Zoho is another system that is pretty simple system to use. The key here is taking the time to list out all the types of templates you can create and then building them into your system so they can be quickly deployed by you and your team.
Time Saved: Automating communication reduces hours spent writing emails or making reminder calls while improving client retention.
Automate Your Lead Generation
Leads baby!
Finding and qualifying leads can be one of the most time-consuming and frustrating aspects of a career selling insurance. You leave everything up to human error when you’re not leveraging technology, so this one should be a no brainer.
- Lead Scoring Tools: Platforms like ActiveCampaign, Pipedrive and Salesforce Einstein can automatically score leads based on their behavior, helping you focus on the most promising prospects. There is some setup needed on the front end based on your KPIs, but once that is set, the scoring produces really good analytics which allow you to get extremely granular with automated, needs based communications.
- Landing Pages with Automation: Use tools like Unbounce or Leadpages to create lead capture forms that feed directly into your CRM. You can also use platforms like ClickFunnels that make building pages and conversion optimization easier for those of you that aren’t very experienced with technology or webpage builders. Once a lead opts in from your landing page, they are simultaneously added to your preset email templates to continue educating and providing value with the intention of bringing them through a conversion funnel to become a customer.
- Retargeting Ads: Set up automated ad campaigns on platforms like Facebook or Google Ads to re-engage prospects who visited your website but didn’t convert. These are all your landing page visitors that didn’t fill out the form, but you know have some level of awareness to your brand.
Time Saved: With automation, you can focus on closing deals rather than searching for leads as your email and text journeys will guide your prospects through a well thought out, educational funnel, arming them with the information needed to schedule an appointment with you based on their needs and pain points.
Simplify Appointment Scheduling
It’s hard to believe this is still something insurance agents aren’t using.
The back-and-forth of scheduling appointments wastes time that could be spent building client relationships. You need to fix this and get your time back!
- Scheduling Software: Tools like Calendly (this is the one I use) or Acuity allow your prospects and clients to book meetings based on your availability, removing the hassle of coordinating schedules. You will be pleasantly surprised when you realize how many seniors use these tools.
- Integrated Reminders: Sync your scheduling software with your calendar to send automated reminders via email or text, maximizing attendance. Calendly has a great journey builder that’s very easy to set up, it only takes a few minutes to create an event and add confirmation journeys.
Time Saved: Automating appointment setting eliminates the need for dozens of emails or calls to confirm meeting times. You can run your ads to your landing pages and use the calendar appointment scheduling to keep your calendar full while at the same time maintaining a high level of quality communication with your prospects.
Manage Policies and Renewals with Ease
Policy administration and renewals are critical but often tedious. Automation can handle the heavy lifting, keeping your clients covered and your business running smoothly.
- Automated Policy Renewals: Use your CRM to send renewal reminders and pre-fill policy updates for easy client review.
- Policy Management Tools: Platforms like Applied Epic or Vertafore can streamline workflows, making it easy to track policies and identify renewal opportunities. Or, you can customize your existing systems with the required information and build the workflow. It probably sounds harder than it is, but you can certainly do this.
- Document Generation: Tools like DocuSign or PandaDoc can automate the creation and signing of insurance documents, saving hours of manual effort.
Time Saved: Automating renewals and document processing can save several hours each week while minimizing errors.
Enhance Your Marketing Efforts
Marketing doesn’t have to take up half your week.
- Social Media Automation: Tools like Buffer, Hootsuite or SEM Rush allow you to schedule posts across multiple platforms, maintaining your online presence without constant attention. Yes, you need to develop the content, but once you have it, it’s a breeze to schedule. We are seeing some people utilize AI which is okay, you just need to have watchful eye to ensure the information you’re putting out is accurate and matches your communication style.
- Content Distribution: Platforms like Zapier can connect your blog to your email list and social channels, ensuring your audience sees your latest articles without extra effort. Zapier is extremely intuitive and if you don’t have the time to learn it, you can find really great freelancers online who can help you think through your automation process and build out the corresponding “zap” to begin executing the process.
Time Saved: Automating your marketing efforts ensures consistency and reach without requiring daily oversight.
Build Workflows That Work for You
Automation isn’t about replacing or removing your personal touch, it’s about bringing efficiencies to your daily activity that allow you to have more focus on the customer experience. The options are endless and there are a variety of tools at your disposal.
- Custom Workflows: Platforms like Zapier or Make allow you to connect your favorite tools (e.g., CRM, email, and scheduling software) into seamless workflows. You can even automate your content development and publishing on your website. One of the bext automations I have seen is a P&C agency adding life quote summary page in real time with every homeowners quote that includes a personalized letter and report. They spent the time thinking through the customer experience and then turned it into an automation.
- Trigger-Based Actions: Set triggers like “new lead added” or “policy renewal approaching” to automatically initiate required actions from you or your team, such as sending an email or scheduling a call. One of the best and easiest trigger based actions is collecting online reviews when you classify a customer as sold. This one single triggered action is a great example of reducing human effort, automating email, and driving an activity that is ROI positive as online reviews are a strong indicator in local SEO rankings.
Time Saved: Well-designed workflows can cut hours of repetitive tasks each week while maintaining personalized service.
Conclusion
Insurance agents who embrace automation gain a significant competitive edge by saving time, reducing human error, and focusing on delivering exceptional customer experiences.
By automating repetitive tasks like client communication, lead generation, and policy management, you can easily reclaim 10+ hours per week back that allows you to refocus your efforts into revenue generating activities in both sales and customer service.
Work smarter and harder, on revenue generating activities! 🙂
