We’ve all reached the point when we’ve had a task looming over our head and we must get it done today. Waiting any longer to complete the task feels like it would kill us. The task has become such a thorn in our side that we have to pull it out before it does more damage. The underlying question is why we wait so long to do important tasks, especially when it comes to our business. In this post, we look at why annuity sellers should take the marketing of insurance to the next level. It’s time to stop putting off for tomorrow what we should do to make our business stronger today.

The Importance of Customer Service

I came across an interesting thought in Micah Solomon’s Harvard Business Review blog post the other day. He described how insurance companies could learn how to improve their customer service models by taking benchmarks from other industries. One way would be to look at how a hotel provides service to qualify for a 5-star rating. This starts with the reservation booking system and continues through every aspect of a client’s stay, including valet, pool-side services, concierge, customer service, dining, and housekeeping.

Looking at Technology

One place where your business model could be lacking in customer service is in the area of technology. For example, insurance companies may not stand out as offering customer experiences reflecting their use of the latest tech applications. However, in the insurance industry itself, I’m thinking more specifically of the sellers who market annuities and life insurance products for multiple carriers. Regardless of where your consultation office is located, you represent a client’s customer’s first experience. Clients may access customer service in the future by calling the insurance carrier’s toll-free number, but they should come to you when they want to add or delete terms to their policy and to purchase additional policies. Or, at least, you hope that they will instead of choosing another annuity seller.

Efficiency Matters

In one agency, Starkweather & Shepley, Solomon noted that greater operational “efficiency has been accomplished by keeping a close eye on technological tools that support customers directly, and those that improve the performance of employees as they engage in supporting customers as well.”

Start Small and Then Build On It

If you’re worried about taking the marketing of your insurance agency to the next level, you need to choose at least one way to use technology to make the customer service experience more efficient. We’ve written before on Facebook marketing, which means that you’re taking the time to respond to questions that people post as comments on your page or that they send to you through Messenger. Have you thought about using free apps to post informational content on your website, blog, or Facebook page? For example, you can create a series of video blogs and post them on a free YouTube channel. Each blog in the series could answer a major question that people have about annuities. If you’ve got a customer who wants to participate, you could create a video blog and answer her questions in an interview format.

Put Clients At Ease

What we love about selling insurance and annuities is that social media applications are the easiest way to reach a wider audience. You can post content on any social media platform without paying to create a profile. Most platforms also make it easy to track where your leads are coming from, which you can then download into your own client database. If you’re sitting back this summer and lamenting that business could be better, it’s time to think about how to leverage the many technologies that are out there. Expand your reach without spending a dime.