Top Tools for Doing Digital
Tools for Going Digital
Last month, we discussed how important it is to be able to adapt and embrace engaging with our coworkers and clients digitally. Some people have expressed concern that going digital would decrease the importance and presence of culture within a company, but we have found that having the right software and systems in place has led to our culture being stronger than ever. Here are a few of our favorite tools that have helped us:
Microsoft Office 365 - our entire company uses this platform to communicate! Here’s a few features we love:
● One stop sharing on OneDrive - information is available in the cloud, from anywhere, on any device. Plus, we can see real time updates and edits as they happen.
● Chat and video calling through Microsoft Teams is one of the most used features of this platform. We can easily chat during the day through instant messaging and can video call too. This has been especially helpful during the past few months as people are working from home or at various locations. It makes us feel connected as a company on a daily basis.
● A virtual interactive white board, aka Yammer - we share information and updated to make information accessible to employees right away and is a great forum for dialogue. We can upload files, documents, and PDFs easily and store them. We create different groups for leaders, administrators, or any other team within our company, so everyone who used to meet in in person to brainstorm, can do so virtually.
BambooHR - an HR management tool that has brought not only professionalism to our company, but has also helped us build consistency and set expectations! A few of our favorite ways we utilize it:
● A way to manage all our people. We use it to manage the onboarding of new employees, offboarding of employees, all HR functions, time off requests, benefits management, storage of personal information, and recording notes - all in one place.
● An easy-to-use, virtual job board. We use it internally to post jobs and manage the intake of resumes, and externally to communicate with potential employees through each step of the hiring process. It has a helpful feature to take notes about interviews and conversations.
● A calendar that shows everything. Everyone can access it at any time to see who’s in the office and who is on vacation. When a client calls, whoever answers the phone can quickly look and see if that person is in the office. This helps because we currently have 9 locations and calls can get routed to each location Best of all, it includes birthdays, so we can make each team member can feel special on their big day.
● An address book that’s in your pocket. The software maintains a current list of employees with their email, phone number, and office location. If we are looking for an extension, it is easily found. We can also filter by location to see the employees for each of our offices, and even see the organizational hierachy.
● A survey system. Questionnaires and surveys are sent out to employees to provide reviews of other employees, and also of themselves. This information is all stored confidentially within the system where it can be referenced over time. We can also use these surveys as a tool to help grow our current employees by identifying the areas they can improve upon in the eyes of colleagues and from their own standpoint.
Epic - our paperless, management system. Going paperless has been crucial to Element Premium Finance Alliance going digital, here’s exactly how it works:
● An at your fingertips server. It allows employees to pull up client information at anytime from anywhere. This way all of our employees from various locations can be on the same page, allowing them to assist any client that calls.
● A way to ensure there are no more lost or misplaced files. All client documents and call notes are logged so they are saved in one, secure place where everyone can see them. This ensures that we are taking the proper steps as a company to document and reference everything.
● A way to set up reminders. We can set up simple reminders, or even assign tasks so everyone can be held accountable for what’s needed when.
Forge3- a website provider that has access to many extra bells and whistles. Meet a couple of our favorite “extras”:
● A client satisfaction tool. Employees have the ability to send out surveys to get a feel for a client’s satisfaction level.
● A review requester. We can send review requests for Google and Facebook. These reviews help increase our company’s SEO rankings.
● A video proposal creator. A personal touch is always our goal. With this tool we can create video proposals that are recorded and sent to clients. This allows a new client to associate the face of a person with their account. That face to face contact is a great way to allow for clients to become more comfortable with our team in a virtual working environment.
Indio - an easy way to gather information from our clients. Here’s how it works:
● A way for premium financing to appear simple and familiar. Premium financing can seem like a foreign language to many. This tool allows us to gather information in an easily digestible way that feels comfortable to those who aren’t versed in the “insurance lingo.”
● An application simplifier. The document gathering process can be long & excruciating, but this tool turns it into a simple and easy experience which allows us to save both time and money. A win-win!
● A new renewal process. Having all the initial data stored on file allows renewals to be incredibly quick and easy by completely eliminating data gathering redundancies.
Rocket Referrals - the ultimate feedback gathering tool. Here’s how we use it to track how we’re doing:
● A way to gather Facebook and Google Reviews! We gather feedback from clients and request Facebook and Google reviews to increase our online presence.
● A form of personalized communication. Our employees can send personalized emails and note cards to communicate with clients.
● A way to measure results. We can measure our employee’s performance through feedback received from their active clients while also measuring our agencies performance in relation to other agencies, this can be done via our NPS (Net Promoters Score).
● An easier form of communication. We can send out insurance related articles that are of interest to our clients, while also being able to group clients together in various categories based on their policies.
Interested in joining our agency alliance to make sure your clients are receiving the best premium financing rates possible? Contact us today!