Client & Prospect Information Insurance Agents Should Track

 Client & Prospect Information Insurance Agents Should Track

Client & Prospect Data to Track

We talk a lot about smart data and making your data work for you in our blogs, eBooks, and webinars. That's because your data likely holds the key to your insurance agency's growth by telling you how your agency has performed in the past and areas you can improve. 

Data is also helpful for better connecting with your clients and prospects. In this case, the data I'm talking about means any information on your clients and prospects that's important for contacting them, connecting with them, and best serving them.

Must-Have Information

The “bare bones” of what you should be keeping on your clients and prospects are:

• First name
• Last name
• Phone number
• Address
• Email address

Yes, I include email address in the "bare bones" of what you should be collecting. Why? Because email is how many people wish to receive information—72% prefer it, in fact!

Some agents aren't sure how to ask for an email address at the beginning of the relationship. Often, it's as simple as letting them know you'll email them a summary of your conversation or more details of what you discussed in person or on the phone. It's also a field agencies now typically place on their paperwork and their website lead form for clients and prospects to fill out. 

More advanced agencies keep even more information on clients and prospects like:

• Preferred method of contact (email, phone, both)
• Contact type (client, prospect, ex-client, ex-prospect, employee, beneficiary, etc.)—you'll update this as they progress with you
• Contact status (quoting, app submitted, enrolled, canceled, etc.)—again, you'll regularly update this
• Birthday
• Lead information (lead date, lead source, etc.)

Next, it's obvious you need all of the information on the policies clients have with you:

• Carrier
• Policy number
• Status
• Coverage type
• App submit date
• Effective date
• Renewal date
• Term date
• Servicing agent (& additional agents)
• Account manager (if applicable)

You also want to keep up-to-date, thorough commission information:

• Premium
• Pay frequency

Lastly, insurance agencies need to document every contact they have with clients and prospects for E&O and compliance reasons. This means being able to write up notes and attach documents after each contact quickly.

This blog should serve as a guideline for the types of information your agency should be striving to keep up-to-date on your clients and prospects. Why? Because knowledge is power. If your agency maintains clean, thorough data, you can put that data to use.

Agencies who maintain data like this benefit from workflow automation, streamlined commissions processing, enhanced customer service, automated email communication, and an overall better grip on their day-to-day tasks—more on this later.

Relationship-Building Information

What else does your agency need to collect and keep up to date on your clients and prospects? You need to ask yourself what kind of relationship you'd like to have with your clients. 

You know how your dentist remembers details about your life or something you were discussing six months ago at your last appointment? You probably know by now that they (or someone on their team) documents it once you leave. 

They keep it in your record to connect with you on a personal level the next time you visit. And this is precisely what every insurance agency needs to be doing.

It shows that you care enough to keep up with what your clients and prospects are doing in their personal lives; not to mention, especially in the insurance world, this can help you provide the best coverage and services.

With that said, here are a few ideas of the more personal information you could be keeping:

• Birthday (mentioned above as well)
• Wedding anniversary (and spouse's info, of course)
• Children’s names and ages
• Hobbies
• Pets

I think what's most important to be said here for the list above is that you should be taking notes on even the "small talk" or personal things you and your clients/prospects chat about. What are their weekend plans? Do they have a vacation coming up? Did they do anything fun for the most recent holiday?

Then, the next time you chat, you can pick up right where you left off. You'll look competent to your clients, and they'll feel you genuinely value your relationship with them enough to care about their personal lives.

Storing the Data

There's only one constructive, organized way to store a mass amount of data on your clients and prospects, and that's by using software. For life & health insurance agencies, the best option is an industry-specific agency management system (AMS). Why? Because industry-specific AMSs are built for insurance agencies; generic CRMs are made for various industries. An AMS is also often tailored to a specific niche, like how AgencyBloc is explicitly built for life and health agencies.