How Adopting Broker Technology and Services Grows New Business
December 9, 2020
Here at BenefitMall, we are big proponents of both broker technology and the streamlined services it produces. We see technology and new services as tools for growing a broker's business. Any broker looking to add new business cannot rely on the old ways of doing things. Times change, and brokers have to change with them.
We believe that technology and insurance do not have to be at odds. We also don't think it's wise for brokers and general agencies to ignore technology for any reason, let alone the false assumption that the old ways of doing things work just fine.
Are you looking to grow your business? Are you looking to bring on new clients and expand your total book of business for the coming year? If so, make a point of embracing new broker technology and its related services.
On the surface, the insurance industry seems to be one dominated by the older, stuffy class of agents and brokers who remember selling insurance before the information age. This perception is not a good one. In fact, our industry has had trouble recruiting younger workers because this image persists. But things are changing with technology.
An entirely new sector of the technology industry, dubbed 'insurance tech', is laser focused on bringing insurance into the 21st century with all sorts of technology. We are seeing everything from artificial intelligence (AI) to mobile apps being brought to the table.
This is the sort of technology brokers need to attract new business. They need to be able to sit with clients and discuss how new technologies can help them choose benefits packages and sell those packages to their employees. The more we involve technology, the more appealing insurance becomes to the consumers who actually use it.
Nowhere is the need for technology and related services more apparent than in the online arena. Twenty years ago, employees were content to thumb through thick paper manuals disclosing everything they needed to know about their insurance benefits. Those days are long gone. Today's younger workers do everything online.
Insurance tech embraces the online model. It promotes publishing documents online in easily accessible digital formats. It encourages carriers and benefit plan administrators to give employees direct access to their account information online.
Putting everything online is another way to attract new business. As a broker, you can tell your prospects all about the advantages of managing benefits online. You can talk about the strength of cloud computing, individual account access, real-time data, and so on.
The strongest selling tool brokers have is pricing. This is yet another area in which technology makes it possible to grow brokerage business. How so? By giving brokers instant access to a broader range of carriers with competitive pricing.
Consider our business model. We are a general agency with access to more than 125 carriers nationwide. We work with some 20,000 trusted advisors. Our network alone gives brokers access to more than enough options to meet their clients' needs. Best of all, the options are always at the brokers fingertips.
In the end, it all leads to better pricing. Brokers can instantly check dozens of benefits packages for real-time pricing and nearly instant quotes. They can do in a couple of hours what used to take weeks to do.
Technology and the services that flow from it are ideal for growing your business. If you are looking to add new business for 2021, go all-in on insurance tech. You will be glad you did