5 Steps to Selecting an Agency Management System Adam Lewis & Cory Schmidt

What is an agency management system?

AMS vs. CRM AMS: Industry-specific Track clients & prospects Track agents Track policies Track sales cycle Commissions processing capabilities Industry-specific marketing tools CRM: Generic Track contacts Track sales cycle Marketing tools

What is an agency management system (AMS)? An agency management system (AMS) is a SaaS (software as a service) technology that insurance agencies use to organize their book-of-business and more effectively run their operations. Beyond tracking clients, a worthwhile AMS can also: Track agents Track policies Track carriers Process commissions Automate workflow Integrate email marketing capabilities

Why use an AMS?

It’s 40% faster to process commissions in an AMS than in an Excel spreadsheet.

CRM gives an average of $8.71 for every $1 spent. Nucleas Research, 2014

Three out of four consumers say they spent more money with a company because of a positive customer experience. Global Customer Service Study, 2013

5 Steps to Selecting an AMS: Identify your agency’s goals Identify your AMS needs Consider your budget Make a decision Manage change during the transition

Identify Your Agency’s Goals

What do you want to accomplish? Before you can even begin looking at software solutions, you must identify the problem you’d like to solve. Goals you might have: Grow your agency by X% Improve your client loyalty by X% Save X hours on commissions processing or another time-consuming task Eventually sell or pass down your business: For this, data must be accurate → organized & updated

Goal-setting best practices Make them SMART: Specific Measurable Attainable Relevant Time-bound

2. Identify Your AMS Needs

What do you need your AMS to do? These needs will be based off the goals you set for your agency in step one. Certain features of an AMS/CRM will help you reach your specific goals.

Main needs every agency needs: Policy tracking Agent tracking Follow-up/activity tracking

Specific needs your agency might look at: Cloud-based software (can access from anywhere) Real-time analytics (crucial monitoring growth) Email marketing capabilities (needed for prospecting & client loyalty) Workflow automation (necessary for creating efficiencies)

Sources of Data

How do I get my data from each source? Previous AMS: sometimes they export for you, sometimes you must do it manually Excel spreadsheets: you must format it to be imported (clean data—we’ll talk about data migration later) Carrier commission statements: download from carrier website

3. Consider Your Budget

What is your budget? It’s expected that you’ll have a certain number in mind, but AMS/CRM systems vary so much in plans or contracts that you’ll need to do extensive research in this step. Make sure you: DON’T over buy → purchasing a system that has too many features that you’ll never use DO ask about volume discounts DO ask about contracts (and read the fine print)

4. Make a Decision

Deciding on an AMS... Include your team in this step in order to create buy-in. Present this information to anyone you’re including in the decision: Your goals & subsequent needs The budget you planned & why it changed or did not change The 2-3 AMS/CRM systems you’ve narrowed it down to and why (list specific features and how you think they’ll meet your needs) How you’ve decided to make the decision (vote, debate, discussion, etc.)

5. Manage Change During the Transition

Deciding on an AMS... Change is scary. You must manage the change process until your team feels comfortable with the new technology. To effectively manage the process: Present the new system in a similar way as step #4 → showing how the new system will meet your needs & help you reach your goals Roll out the new system to each department separately Assign someone as the AMS/CRM expert who other team members can go to for guidance Hold a review with the entire team after a few months of using the new system to discuss any concerns

What about data migration?

Data Migration Best Practices You need clean data Dates not in “date” format, numbers not in “numeric” format Consider hiring an intern to “clean” your data if you don’t have the manpower

Does your data look like this?

Clean data looks like this:

Data Migration Best Practices Will your data “fit” the new system? Fields you’re currently tracking might not be available in the new system Are custom fields available? Do you have rules going forward that anyone who manages data in your AMS must follow?

Where should I start?

Where to search for an AMS Google search terms: Insurance agency management system Insurance CRM Health & life insurance CRM Capterra Ask your peers

What is AgencyBloc?

and integrated marketing automation. AgencyBloc is an agency management system that helps life and health insurance agencies grow their business by organizing and automating their operations using a combination of an industry-specific CRM, commissions processing, and integrated marketing automation.

Contact us: www.agencybloc.com 855-338-7075 adam@agencybloc.com cory@agencybloc.com