AI: Your Sidekick, Not Your Replacement

This was a bold statement, but when I reflected further, I realized it wasn’t really the case. In fact, this was part of an elaborate April Fool’s joke that the company happened to be running.

But, I couldn’t help but think that this is the perspective that many insurance agency owners and employees—especially those who do not regularly use it—have on AI, that it’s coming for their job.

In talking with agencies over the past year, since AI became a big buzzword in the industry, I’ve seen the exact opposite results for agencies that are betting big on the technology.

In particular, I’ve seen how it’s made a drastic impact on how agencies are using it to save time and build efficiency, and using that time spent to instead focus on nurturing client relationships.

In this article, I want to show you exactly how AI is not coming for your job as your replacement, but rather, how it’s becoming your sidekick to be more human for your clients.

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The human side of AI.

The insurance industry, especially for independent insurance agencies and brokerages, has always been directly tied to client relationships.

In fact, on the independent side, it’s the main draw and differentiator from a captive agent, where you can build and grow relationships with your clients in an advisory capacity.

That means, by definition, you need to put more time, focus, and effort into being there for your clients and having that human connection. But when I ask most agencies, they often tell me they don’t have time to reach out to their clients as often as they would like.

Here are some of the reasons I hear:

• There are too many day-to-day tasks to handle.
• I don’t have a way of regularly reaching out to my clients.
• I don’t have the capacity to respond to clients right away.

Most of this revolves around client communications, or lack thereof. So, when I say AI makes you more human, here’s what I really mean: AI helps handle those tasks that otherwise take up your time, leaving you more time for one-on-one interactions with clients.

As your sidekick, AI balances the scale to put time back into your day-to-day, while also streamlining how you communicate.

How can AI save insurance agencies time?

Time is the biggest barrier for most agencies that want to be more engaged with their clients, but simply aren’t able to keep up with that and the rest of the work they do each day.

However, when I dig deeper with agencies that say they don’t have enough time, I often will find out the reason why is that their team is overwhelmed by paperwork, filing, and other repetitive tasks that reduce the time they have to be an advisor, and instead, they are spending that time on administrative tasks.

AI is that secret weapon that I’ve seen agencies use to get around this, and by combining it with automation, they are able to significantly reduce time spent on repetitive tasks. And, what I’ve seen most agencies do is take that time saved and direct it toward direct client outreach and relationship-building initiatives.

My challenge to you is this: Identify what your team does that is repetitive and not directly tied to revenue-generating and relationship building activities. Ask your team to list out those tasks.

With this list, the next step to take is to determine where technology can come into play. Yes, AI will be part of it, but you can look into automation and other tools to streamline your operations.

To give you a specific, common example that I’m sure your agency is (or has) dealing with regularly: Answering common, repetitive client questions.

Every agency I talk with has a few top-of-mind issues that they always get questions about. Things like, “Why are my rates going up?” So, what if you had a way to answer those questions quickly, without having to go through the manual steps of responding to a simple question?

Well, in this case, agencies have added all of their frequently asked questions (FAQs) and used AI to compile a list of those questions, along with their answers. So, all the agency has to do is copy, paste, personalize, and send the responses, meaning less time on the repetitive tasks, and more time and capacity to spend on those complex scenarios and relationship building overall.

This is just one example, but to take it even further, our complete insurance marketing platform features a built-in AI Sidekick that can be used to create FAQs, like the above example, as well as helping you develop streamlined workflows and processes, adn strategies for other time-saving opportunities.

In fact, here is an example of what you can ask AI Sidekick, and the kind of response you can get.

I asked AI, “We are a Personal Lines agency looking for help creating FAQs (frequently asked questions) for our customers.
Can you help by creating an FAQ template of what the most frequently asked questions from personal lines clients are and add them to a list?”

AI Sidekick answered back, “Here are frequently asked questions that personal lines clients often ask: How can I make changes to my policy?
You can make changes to your policy by accessing our Client Service Center on our website. Here, you can request policy changes, update your contact information, or add/remove coverage.”

And the response goes on, listing out simple copy and paste templates for an agency to use and save for future reference. But as you can see from these real-life applications, using AI to assist with the day-to-day workflows you have in place can build efficiency and streamline the busywork.

How can AI increase client engagement?

When it comes to client engagement, we typically see agencies that send 1-2 emails per month for each client to get the best results in terms of retention.

If you are using a marketing automation platform, like Fuse, you are able to send out emails automatically to your book of business based on specific triggers. In addition, there are built-in campaigns you can start using right out of the gate.

However, agencies that put the effort into personalizing those messages to align even more with their brand often see higher open rates in general. You might think that this takes a lot of time and writing skills, but actually, with the help of AI, you can use it to tweak existing content that you or someone else has written and edit it to fit your brand’s tone and voice.

For example, with our built-in AI Sidekick tool, you can ask AI to help you identify your brand voice based on communications you’ve previously sent as an example. It can scan that information and tell you how to portray your agency, and you can use that to edit existing content by asking AI to rewrite it (and this is where you would input your brand voice).

In fact, in trying this out, AI Sidekick even helped me create a detailed Brand Voice Guide that I could use to customize and edit the existing email campaigns. It even creates a copy/paste prompt to use in the future for additional communications.

So now, using AI, you can create more consistent communications that really sound like they are coming from your team by injecting the brand voice of your agency.

To take this one step further, another application for AI in increasing client engagement is by personalizing the one-to-one communications and responses.

To put it into a real-world scenario, think about each time a client reaches out to you. You are probably looking up their account information, policy details, and other data from your AMS. But, instead of just replying to their email on autopilot, you could amp up your email in seconds with AI.

Using our AI Sidekick as an example again, if I just wrote an email using a template I had created already, I could ask AI to look at my email, look at the information I know about the client, and personalize it to that recipient.

Here’s a real example where I was using AI Sidekick to help me rewrite an email. Here is part of the original version from an insurance claims follow-up:

“We are so sorry to hear that you have had a claim. The worst part about having insurance is needing to use it. We hope everyone is safe and free from harm, no matter what happened. Even the smallest claims can be the cause of major stress.”

I took this email, and asked AI to personalize it to a fictional client who has been with the agency for 10 years, lives down the block from the office, and who stops by to pay her bill in the office and often brings cookies for the agency staff. With just that simple input, AI Sidekick was immediately able to rewrite that email, here is just a portion of it:

”I wanted to take a moment to express how grateful we are to have you as part of our community for the past 10 years. Your visits always bring a smile to our faces—not to mention your delicious baked goods! I understand you’ve had to file a claim recently, and I want to reassure you that we’re here to support you every step of the way.”

It goes on from there, but as you can see, AI was able to help me add that level of personalization, which, whether it’s for a claims scenario or even a simple client question, adds another layer of trust and credibility with that client.

How can AI help with marketing for insurance agencies?

I’ll often hear from agencies that, when push comes to shove, marketing typically takes the backseat when other priorities come up. And that’s fair, given that your clients should always be your top concern.

However, not engaging in marketing can also hurt your business in the long run, and it can take even longer to catch up. Time is usually the biggest barrier here, and something that most agencies I speak with are not afraid to admit.

Where I offer my guidance to agencies, is that you can engage in impactful marketing even with the constraint of time, and without adding a lot of extra work to your plate. I already mentioned how AI can save your team time. The same goes for marketing and creating content (think emails, blogs, social media posts, etc.).

In fact, in a previous webinar, which you can find the recording for here, we showed agencies how they can go from nothing to a full 12 months of blog topics, strategy, and content in 2 hours or less (that’s enough blog articles planned out for the entire year in just one sitting).

I even had a live experience of this at a conference, where I was exploring AI and how agencies can adopt it into their agencies. One woman came up to me after the session and said she was able to plan out a year’s worth of radio ads for her agency, something that usually would take time each month to prepare, during an hour-long presentation I spoke at. I was floored, but not at all surprised.

As you can see, when it comes to marketing, this goes for any type of content across the board, even for social media. In addition, with our Social Media Add-On, we do have a built-in AI Curator feature that uses AI to suggest reputable articles to share based on preferences that you set. Meaning, when you have a dry spell of content in your social feed, this can fill the gap.

How can AI help nurture client relationships?

Every client goes through a journey, and there are key milestones and touchpoints that occur each year. Think beyond renewals and go deeper.

I’m talking about client anniversaries, birthdays, life events, new client onboarding, holidays, the list goes on. These are moments in the client journey that you should be actively participating in to make timely connections with them.

Let’s take client anniversaries as an example. In your AMS, you are likely already capturing this information, so you know when a client first signed up with your agency. Because the insurance business is based on loyalty (AKA retention), what better way to make your clients feel special than to hear from you on their client anniversary, thanking them for their continued business?

Better yet, what if you could create that messaging, and automate it out to clients that ensures they each get that email on their anniversary? AI can help come up with and create new content from just a few ideas that you might have and turn it into a well-written reality.

I would encourage you to come up with a list (or even ask AI to help you) of key client milestones, and then strategize on how and when to reach out to clients based on those, and you’ll quickly see that you can get closer and closer to that 1-2 emails per month goal for engagement.

From there, you can get help from AI to draft the content for each of these milestones, or if you use our Fuse marketing automation platform, you get access to a content library full of ready-to-use campaigns that align with the most common client touchpoints.

So, not only can you lean into AI to help you strategize what to send to your clients, and when, but also the drafting or editing of the content that you’ll be able to send out via automation or manually.

Embrace AI as your sidekick.

Throughout this article, I hope you got the hint that AI is your trusty Sidekick and is not slowly trying to replace the human side of your business or job. In fact, AI has the potential to enhance your capabilities, allowing you to focus on what truly matters: building meaningful relationships with your clients.

By integrating AI into your daily operations, you can free up valuable time to dedicate to personal interactions, thoughtful client engagement, and strategic growth initiatives. AI isn’t about replacing the personal touch that sets your agency apart; it’s about amplifying it.

Imagine AI as a tool that helps you streamline processes, automate repetitive tasks, and provide insights that you might not have had time to uncover on your own. With AI, you’re not just keeping up with the competition; you’re setting new standards for efficiency and client satisfaction.

So, I encourage you to embrace AI as an integral part of your agency’s toolkit. Explore the vast possibilities it offers to enhance your agency’s performance and make your work life more rewarding. Let AI handle the mundane, so you can focus on delivering exceptional service and nurturing the human connections that are the cornerstone of your success.

Remember, AI is here to empower you, not replace you. Embrace it, leverage it, and watch as your agency thrives in ways you never thought possible. And, you can see our AI Sidekick in action here, and how it plays an integral role for agencies as part of our complete insurance marketing platform.

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From marketing automation that keeps you connected with clients and boosts retention, to insurance websites designed to drive growth, and a suite of marketing tools to meet your needs, Agency Revolution is everything you need after your AMS.

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