1. 5 Steps to Selecting an Agency Management System
Adam Lewis & Cory Schmidt

2. What is an agency management system?

3. 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

4. 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 marketing capabilities

5. Why use an AMS?

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

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

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

9. 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

10. Identify Your Agency’s Goals

11. 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

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

13. 2. Identify Your AMS Needs

14. 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.

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

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

17. Sources of Data

18. 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

19. 3. Consider Your Budget

20. 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)

21. 4. Make a Decision

22. 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.)

23. 5. Manage Change During the Transition

24. 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

25. What about data migration?

26. 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

27. Does your data look like this?

28. Clean data looks like this:

29. 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?

30. Where should I start?

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

32. What is AgencyBloc?

33. 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.

34. Contact us: