The dynamic in the battle for clients between independents and directs is changing, and independents should be looking to the sky for a weapon that places them on an even footing with the heavy hitters in the industry.
For Tara Kelly, CEO of SPLICE Software, proactive notifications by integrating a brokerage’s client data base with cloud technology, can change a second-tier client into a high-value one.
“One of the things that brokers want to do but don’t always have the time to do is reach out to their customers before their policies are expiring, and do a ‘health check,’” says Kelly. “A notification that automatically asks the client, ‘How are you? How are things going? Is there anything new in your life?’”
By using real-time data, a broker can look at something like the children’s birth dates, and recognize that the child is 15 and will be driving soon, making it the perfect time to reach out and approach the client on renewing their home and auto policy.
“Most brokerage houses are not able to do that much research and be that proactive, so they only do a percentage of what they see as high value,” Kelly told Insurance Business. “There is often a tonne of opportunity in that second-tier customer that is not necessarily your highest-value customer, but you have the opportunity to graduate them into that first-tier category.
“Some of the smaller, mid-size brokerage houses can benefit from this, and that is where a lot of the automated programs can really make a difference – and that is just proactive notification on account briefings or account updates.”
The proactive notices can include payment reminders, which can save brokers from making a lot of follow-up phone calls.
“A lot of people don’t mean to let their payments go delinquent. But because of credit card expiries or changing banking accounts, those payments do,” she says. “Rather than making those personal calls, it is another great way to just be proactive, instead of waiting until something goes wrong.”
The latest cloud-based software from SPLICE is the Agent Initiated Message (AIM), which is primarily aimed at call centre agents.
With AIM, it is designed to provide a personalized message for live call agents who have attempted to reach the customer or the client, and didn’t get them on the phone.
“At this point, you’ve got two choices: As simple as it sounds, you can hang up and call them again – at which point, all of your investment up to that point is a net zero,” says Kelly. “Or you can leave them a message, spending a lot of time leaving a message on a voicemail.
“I always say, we should have people talking to people as much as possible, instead of people talking to machines. In this situation, they can leave a message by dropping a fully personalized recorded message on that answering machine, just as if they had left it themselves.”
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