Spinfield: Web marketing trends today, tomorrow, and beyond…

I am always interested in how our customers use our technology solutions.  Recently I was invited to listen to a training seminar for new insurance agents.  It was a phone call-in conference along with a LiveMeeting presentation.  The subject was the online Agent Resource Center (ARC) which my company, IdeaStar, built for the new national health and life insurance agency.

The National Sales Director had about a dozen new agents on the call.  He went through each section of the ARC demonstrating and explaining many of its key functions. The ARC contains nearly everything the agent needs to do the job. Some of the main features are:

• News: keep informed about the latest company policies, news and updates
• Leads: work new prospects, update status, and request more leads
• Sales tracking: convert leads to sales by submitting applications and confirming policy issue
• Commission reports: review individual sales and see how much commission is coming
• Agent hierarchy: track both up-lines and down-lines
• Carrier appointment: add more products to sell and add more states to sell in
• Training materials: get up-to-date on the latest products and learn how to sell more

The ARC is the daily regimen for the hundreds of agents who access it everyday.  They read the news, check for new sales leads, work those leads, track their sales, check their commissions, sign-up for new products to sell and get some training about those products.

For the administrator, the ARC makes it easy to track activity, pass on important information and to maintain the work flow.  The ARC allows the administrator to:

• Get new agents up and going faster
• Standardize communications and provide an information archive
• Put everything at the agents fingertips without handling constant requests
• Automate processes like agent appointments and sales tracking
• Provide self-service for go-getter agents
• Eliminate time-consuming requests from agents such as commission reports or appointment follow-up

There are many other features in the ARC such as customizable agent Web sites, lead incentive accounts and contests/promotional programs.  But the real power is the ability the ARC gives the agency to manage its field operations through the Web.  Instead of wasting time instructing agents over the phone on how to do the things found in the ARC, the sales manager can spend more time on relationship building and motivation.  In the end, that’s what really counts.

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