In my previous blog, I discussed how crucial it is to digitize client information and how this can enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of your insurance business. I talked about how digitized information plays a huge role in decision making and business growth. This is because it allows us, insurance agents, to quickly access or make analysis of our clients’ accounts. Therefore, it’s safe to say that information is the most important link between us and our clients. Which brings me to the purpose of article:

What important information of our existing and potential clients should we digitize and keep track of at all times?

Basic information

Can you even consider someone your client if you don’t even have their basic information? If you don’t have someone’s basic information, how will you contact them? How will you know how to address them? So, you need to always keep track of your clients’ first and last names, phone numbers, email addresses, and physical or postal addresses.

You want to avoid situations where you address them by the wrong names, or mix up their customer service issues because they have the same first names. This can be a nightmare for customer service. Phone numbers are also important because they give personal and immediate access to your clients. On the other hand, email addresses are very important in this digital age because they’re a key preferred method of communication by a large number of people. In fact, email communication that’s business-related is preferred by 73% of millennials. The great thing is nowadays all contact forms ask for email addresses, so it’s easy for you to collect and record email addresses in a database. Finally, physical addresses come in handy when you want to send something to your client, or when they’d prefer you to physically meet them.

Digitizing this information will help shorten the communications chain, remove redundancies, and provide better accessibility.

Customer relationship information

We’re living in a world where personal preferences are key in sales and customer service. This is the information that helps you know and contact your clients in a personal way. It’s the type of information that will help you customize their products and services more efficiently, and serve them better. This is information like:

• Client’s preferred mode of communication – Is it email, text message, phone call, or a combination of two different methods?
• Client’s birthday – This will help you personalize their birthday emails or text messages, or even send them birthday gifts.
• Contact type – Is it an old or new client, a prospect or a former prospect, or your clients’ beneficiary?
• Lead information – this can include the date you collected the lead information and the source of the lead.
• Contact status – Is your client’s policy up to date? Has your client cancelled their policy? Who is your customer who always pays on time? This information can help you strategize on how to get lost customers back, and how to retain your loyal customers.
• Policy information – You must have your client’s policy number and status, their type of coverage, the premium, the insurer, effective and renewal dates, and maturity dates where applicable. You also want to stay up-to-date, so you can easily calculate and track your commissions.

Digitizing all this information will greatly improve your efficiency when it comes to providing personalized services to your existing and potential clients. This is because digitized information gives you faster access.

Historical information

I’m sure most of us have received phone calls or text messages from clients with issues they wanted solved; for instance, claims issues. So, picture a scenario where a motor insurance client calls you with an issue. From your records, you are able tell if the client has contacted you with a similar issue before. This helps you know how you’ll best serve the client on a personal level. Also, historical records will help you know when they became your client, which means that you can talk to them like you know them. For example, before you serve them, note: “oh by the way, thank you so much for being my client for 2 years now. Your continuous support is highly appreciated.” It will mean a lot to your client that you know them on such a personal level.

Digitization makes it easier to utilize client’s historical information in this manner. Being able to view historical data improves your ability to meet their needs. Things like previous emails or payouts mean that you can offer them a personal touch when dealing with them in the present.

Bottomline

Making client information the center of your business allows you to make quick decisions and understand your customers better. This enables you to provide more personalized service, solve customer issues in a timely manner, and customize their products according to their needs.

Finally, managing this information more effectively and efficiently can greatly benefit from workflow automation, improved customer service, streamlined commissions processing, and automated email reminders. For more information on how you can use software to achieve this, please talk to Agencify via our email contact@agencify.insure.

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Dennis Njenga

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