The Hidden Costs of NOT Having Insurance Agency Software

Running an insurance agency comes with a lot of hidden costs that can sneak up on you. Training and onboarding your employees, financial management, and yes—the ever-ironic insurance costs. But these expenses are all necessary to grow your client base and keep your business running smoothly. 

Where, you might be wondering, is a good place to tighten the belt?

When you’re trying to cut costs anywhere you can, it may seem like a good idea to ditch insurance agency software and manage your company manually. Why pay for something you can do yourself?

But can you, really?

Turns out there are any number of hidden monetary and opportunity costs that bare their teeth if you don’t have the right insurance CRM. If you’re contemplating cutting back on your agency management systems, keep reading to understand the hidden costs that you may run into without them.

Inefficient Use of Your Time

Insurance agency management software exists to make your job easier, and less time-consuming. So when you choose to “fly solo,” you’re giving up hours of your time to keep things running smoothly. That’s time you could use to scale your business (or relax at home).

For example, automation software helps you keep track of forms and data entry. Staying one step ahead can streamline your management responsibilities and keep your business on track. But without the automation of insurance agency software, you’ll waste time sifting through forms and contracts to make sense of the numbers in front of you.

So while it may seem like you’re saving money by not using insurance agency software, the opportunity cost associated with your time and effort can far outweigh the price of a subscription.

Risk of Missing Out on Potential Clients

Outreach is the backbone of insurance agencies. With the competitive nature of the insurance business, it’s crucial that you cast a wide net. But without management software, this is a difficult task to take on.

Between email marketing and social media marketing, automating your outreach means that you’re bringing in more clients than you could manually, in half the time. And with email marketing, insurance agency software tracks important data for you, so you don’t need to keep a haphazard calendar of your client’s progress in the pipeline.

If you choose to manage your agency without this software, the costs will tend to pile up. You’ll need to bring in more people to manage your outreach, thoroughly coordinate your social media marketing, and keep track of every individual you’re marketing to.

You also run the risk of human error in every step of your pipeline. Touch points can get mixed up, and you risk typos in your content. You could even confuse your clients through inconsistent communication — all of which can stop sales dead in their tracks.

Disorganization 

Insurance agency software helps you keep everything in one place. Your agency’s reports, crucial documents, and even your team’s communications are organized into accessible platforms. When you run your business without this software, it becomes much more difficult to keep track of your progress.

Organization is the key to efficiency. When you can pinpoint every piece of information you need the moment you need it, you’ll streamline every aspect of your agency. And when you can watch over your agency’s quarterly reports and analytics, you can adapt to changing markets and trends on a dime.

Without insurance agency software, you won’t be able to keep up with every minute detail of your agency’s performance. This can lead to extra man-hours to catch up with the trends, and you’ll miss out on opportunities that can be beneficial for your business.

Scalability Suffers

If you don’t use insurance agency management software, your competitors are going to take advantage of it. They’ll have access to new and vital strategies that give them a competitive edge in the market. Over time, you’ll be stuck playing “catch-up” while they’re already up to pace.

Overall, you won’t be able to grow your business as easily as your competition. They’ll always be one step ahead, which means that your potential clients are going to migrate to them instead of you. But if you do manage to scale, another issue arises… 

Cybersecurity.

Insurance agency software gives you access to anti-virus and cybersecurity programs that keep your data secure. When those barriers are down, you risk losing important documents and your team’s personal information is in danger.

You won’t be able to scale when you have outdated strategies. Don’t have cyber-protection? You are risking a nasty breach in security along with other liability considerations.

Client Retention

You can’t always trust that a client will stick around no matter what, so it’s important to manage their needs effectively. If you don’t have insurance agency software, this can be even more of a challenge.

When clients have questions, quick answers are the difference between them staying interested or leaving you for one of your competitors. With automation programs, you’ll be able to answer their questions and meet their needs at a moment’s notice. When you forego automation for manual service requests, this process becomes much slower.

Another benefit of insurance agency software is the easy-to-understand analytics for your clients. You can adapt your pipeline to match your unique market and clients, which gives you a competitive edge in choosing to serve clients that will be happy with you for the long run.

What does all of this come down to? Without insurance CRM software, you’re missing out on crucial client retention strategies.

Get the Ultimate Guide to Insurance Management Systems

Is it Worth it to Run Your Agency by Hand?

When you choose to run your business without insurance agency management software, it may seem like you are saving money. But in foregoing this small financial investment, you miss out on major payoffs in the long run. 

Between the organization, automation, and reporting capabilities of this type of software, you’ll have a greater ability to scale your business and bring in more clients. So while you can survive without it, it’s going to be much harder to thrive. 

If you’re interested in implementing insurance management software and are looking for a place to start, contact North American Software Associates today to learn about our Eclipse Insurance Agency Management System. We’re here to keep you safe and help you grow.