With so many tools and resources at your disposal, it’s an exciting time to be an insurance agent. But the number of options can also feel overwhelming! We’re here to guide you through our top recommendations for marketing yourself, keeping in touch with clients, and staying organized.
We’re covering our top three recommendations here, but after reading about those, you might be left thinking… What about social media? Direct mailers? Email newsletters? Commission trackers? Calendar integrations? Don’t worry. We’ve got you covered!
Explore all our vetted vendor and service recommendations in The Ultimate Agent Resource List. To keep everything more organized, we divided it up into three blog posts and tackled categories of vendors and services in each. Save precious time searching for someone to build your website, print your flyers, or manage your social media. Check out our list and allow more time in your schedule for doing what you do best — selling insurance!
The Ultimate Agent Resource List
Now let’s dig into the top three tools for running your business we think you absolutely can’t live without.
1. Market Yourself with a Website
Think back to last week. What did you search for on the internet? “Breakfast restaurant near me,” perhaps? Did you click through to the restaurant’s website? Did you end up going to that restaurant? Why or why not?
In today’s marketing environment, you can’t afford to not have a website. Consider the gravity of these stats:
- 81 percent of shoppers conduct online research before making a purchase.
- 75 percent of website visitors admit to judging a company’s credibility based on its design.
- 46 percent of all Google searches are looking for local info.
- 36 percent of small businesses do not have a website.
Don’t be part of that 36 percent! Having a website for your insurance business is an extremely easy way to market yourself as a local resource 24/7 (especially if you hire someone to build and maintain your site).
One of our favorite vendors: AgentMethods
AgentMethods helps independent agents grow their businesses with modern, beautiful insurance websites tailored to the industry. Their expert knowledge of insurance sales, online marketing, and technology inform their state-of-the-art site builder. They’ll take all the pressure off creating your own site and provide dedicated customer service in the process.
One of our favorite vendors: Shop & Enroll
Want a low-entry, no-hassle website up and running in a day? Shop & Enroll could be your answer! Shop & Enroll is Ritter’s consumer-facing enrollment platform where your clients can search for, compare, and enroll in plans that you offer. Your site comes branded with your name and contact information and integrates into Ritter’s Client Relationship Management (CRM) system (more on that later!). On top of that, you can even include a simple landing page that leads to Shop & Enroll, where you can put your picture, bio, and a little bit more about your business. All you have to do is a quick and simple enrollment to get your free site.
Looking for more? Check out all our marketing recommendations for insurance agents
2. Keep in Touch by Texting
Maybe you’ve heard that email is dead. Well, it’s not (in fact, it’s very valuable), but we are going to highlight the importance of many people’s preferred contact method — texting. Sending off a quick text isn’t just for family and friends anymore, it’s for keeping in touch with your clients, too.
But my clients aren’t tech-savvy, you might protest. They might not know how to write code, but they know how to text and are sending and receiving daily messages just like everyone else. Texting a client is a quick, casual way to check in after an appointment, send birthday wishes, confirm upcoming meetings, and more.
One of our favorite vendors: Phone.com
While you can certainly use your phone’s native texting app, if you’re texting lots of clients, those messages can easily get disorganized and lost alongside texts from family and friends. Instead, establish clear boundaries between your business and personal life with a VoIP (internet) phone system. Phone.com is an affordable and HIPAA-compliant option for phone calls, texts, video, and fax that you can access directly from your current phone (and with your current number) through the Phone.com app.
One of our favorite vendors: Simple Texting
If you want to start sending bulk texts, consider Simple Texting’s platform built for small businesses. We love that you can have unlimited contacts and that there are no limits on mass texting. Their automation capabilities and personalized campaigns can really crank up your communication, providing customer service even when you’re not sitting at a computer or on your phone. Need to quickly communicate about an office closure due to inclement weather? Your clients will appreciate getting a text about it, which is easy to do with Simple Texting.
Looking for more? Check out all our communication recommendations for insurance agents
3. Organize Yourself with a CRM
If you have filing cabinets full of paper records, it’s time to shred them (but make sure you digitize them first!). Save yourself time, energy, and resources when you switch to online record keeping through a Client Relationship Management (CRM) system. You’ll save yourself time when you choose a system that’s tailored for insurance agents and integrated with other useful tools, like quote engines, call recording, and enrollment applications.
It can be hard to wean ourselves off old processes. Next time you perform an intake for a client, save yourself a step. Enter the info directly into the CRM from the get-go instead of onto a paper form and then the CRM.
One of our favorite services: AgencyBloc’s Plus Suite
If you’re looking for a powerful option with many integrated services, consider AgencyBloc’s paid Plus Suite platform, built for health and Medicare insurance agents. Not only will you find a full CRM, but also quoting and enrollment engines, a VoIP, appointment scheduling, email communication and marketing, agency management, automated workflows, and commission tracker. It’s highly rated and offers a lot to an agency or agent with lots of clients.
One of our favorite services: The Ritter Platform
We think what we’ve built for insurance agents is pretty special. Not only is it built for Medicare insurance agents with room for providers, pharmacies, and prescriptions, but it also comes integrated with all our other powerful tools, including:
- Online contracting with Contract Now*
- Medicare Quote Engine
- Call recording with CallVault
- Task management
- Our client-facing enrollment platform, Shop & Enroll
And guess what the best part is? It’s all free when you become a registered Ritter agent (which is also free)!
*Newly registered agents must contact their sales specialist to unlock online contracting through Contract Now.
Looking for more? Check out all our organizational recommendations for insurance agents
We sincerely hope The Ultimate Agent Resource List saves you time, energy, and effort. Have a resource you love but don’t see? Send it our way via your sales specialist, and we’d love to look into it!