If you’re not making use of the wealth of tech tools and apps available, you’re doing yourself a disservice. You may have managed to get by with the old way of doing things for years, but that doesn’t mean there’s not a better way. Consumer expectations and carrier processes have evolved. Besides, many of the tools available today are simply too good to ignore.
To help you discover new tools that can make your job easier, we’ve put together a list of options to consider. We don’t endorse any of these tools – you should do your own research and read reviews before spending money on anything – but this collection of options should give you an idea of what’s available.
Appointment Scheduling Tools
As an insurance sales agent, appointments with clients are a huge part of your job. Some of your appointments may take place online, whereas others may be in person. In any case, they all require you to be ready on time. Appointment scheduling tools can make this a breeze. Here are two options, but keep in mind that there are many more options available:
- Google Calendar may already be installed on your devices, but you might not be making the most of it. In addition to creating calendar events and setting up reminders, you can share your availability with others, letting clients book directly. You can also access insights to analyze how you spend your time.
- Calendly is a scheduling automation platform. It includes team-based scheduling options, which are perfect for insurance agencies with multiple agents.
Email Newsletters and Platforms
Insurance agents need to stay in touch with current clients and prospects. Email is a great way to do that. In addition to sending out emails about enrollment periods like AEP, you can create monthly or quarterly email newsletters with information your clients may find helpful.
To make your email campaigns successful, you need to be able to personalize them with the recipient’s name. You’ll also need to comply with regulations, including CMS marketing rules and the CAN-SPAM act. A good email platform can help.
- Mailchimp provides an all-in-one marketing, automation, and email marketing platform with tools to help you customize emails.
- Constant Contact provides easy-to-use tools to enhance your email and digital marketing.
Mapping Software
During AEP, you have dozens of appointments to handle each week. You may schedule all of them and think you’re in good shape – until you realize your schedule has you driving all around town and you don’t know where half of the addresses are. The right mapping tools can help you plan your route.
- Google Maps can help you find the most efficient route while avoiding traffic. You can also add stops on your route.
- Badger Mapping is designed for sales reps who have multiple appointments out in the field.
Receipt and Mileage Tracking
As a self-employed insurance agent, you may be able to deduct many expenses from your taxes. This is a great way to maximize your earnings, but it requires you to keep track of eligible expenses. Modern tools can make this easy.
- MileIQ simplifies mileage tracking for business purposes. It logs your drives and allows you to classify them as business or personal. You can also run reports to see your stats.
- QuickBooks offers expense tracking to keep track of your business costs.
- Keeper provides tax software designed for people with 1099 contracting and freelance income to help them discover tax breaks.
Password Vaults
At this point, you might be thinking that all these apps sound great – but how are you going to keep track of all your passwords? Having strong and unique passwords is an important part of cybersecurity. Since agents deal with a lot of sensitive personal information, they need to take cybersecurity seriously.
Password vaults can help you manage your passwords. These tools both store passwords and generate new passwords that are stronger than ones you might have come up with on your own.
- Lastpass is a password manager, password generator, and form filler. The tool also protects users’ data and notifies you about breaches.
- Dashlane generates randomized passwords, provides password strength scores, automates logins, and even monitors the dark web to check if any of your data has been compromised.
Western Asset Protection Tools
Western Asset Protection offers tools to help agents succeed.
- The agent portal puts everything you need in one place, making it easy to browse carriers, and search plans. You can also save or bookmark the results.
- Our quoting and enrollment tools bolster your client engagement, tracking, and follow-up efforts.
- Western Asset Protection allows agents to select and watch our training and informative on-demand webinars any time of the day or night with The Medicare Library.
We also offer training and compliance information. Our blog has the latest information on Medicare trends and tips to share with your clients. See everything WAP offers.