Last time, I talked about building a bridge of systems to cross the raging river between you and a life of non-labor-dependent growth.

today, I’ll explain 3 of the most important systems an insurance broker/agent can start implementing today.

1. Sales funnel

2. Client success touchpoints

3. Customer service FAQ base

Read time: 4 min 56 sec

1. Sales funnel

If you want to grow your clientele, you need new people to seek your services.

A sales funnel outlines the process from the time a potential customer becomes aware of your existence to the time the deal is closed.

There are 3 major elements of a sales funnel:

1. Generate leads

2. Build trust / Qualify

3. Close the deal

The 1st stage, generating leads, can be done through Marketing or cold activity, like door-knocking, emailing, DM-ing, etc.

The 2nd stage is where (1) the prospect decides if they trust you, your organization, and your product, and (2) you decide whether the prospect is a good fit for your product or not.

The 3rd stage, closing the deal, is where you get the final signature or payment - whatever is necessary to finalize the sale.

Once the deal has been closed, your new client should enter a Nurture funnel, which I’ll discuss in the next section, “Client Success”.

2 important CRM views

I recommend using a CRM to visualize your sales funnel.

I use a free software called Airtable.

Inside, I have 2 pages that help me streamline my sales process:

1. A lead board: shows me how many people I have in each stage

2. An activities list: shows me what activities I need to do and when.

The Lead Board

In the lead board, each client is tagged with a “status”:

• Lead: They have reached out and shown interest

• Prospect: We have set a formal appointment

• Endzone: The close is near

• Enrollment pending: I’ve closed the deal, but need to check on their application

• Client: They have successfully been enrolled

• No opportunity: Not interested (I will sometimes make an activity to follow up in the future based on what they say.

Activities List

The activities list is the ultimate lifesaver, especially for an introvert like myself who isn’t chomping at the bit to reach out to people.

My activities list tells me when I need to:

1. Follow-up with a prospect

2. Cancel a Medicare Supplement

3. Check a Part B application

4. Send a handwritten letter

5. Email a quote

and much more.

One thing that has served me well is making an activity for EVERYTHING!

The more clients I get, the more my list of activities helps. I don’t know how many supplement cancellations I would have missed without it 😅.

In both of these views, I can open each record to see everything I need to know about the client (their plan’s EOC and SOB, Medicare number, doctors, and much more)

2. Client success touchpoints

In the past few years, there’s been a spike in “customer success” job listings.

These roles are in charge of enhancing the customer’s satisfaction.

As the fulfillment of products and services becomes more automated, we need to be intentional about our customer touchpoints, or else we will tend to neglect them.

In this section, I won’t bore you with dos and don’ts of customer service, but instead, I’ll outline the exact system I use to reach out to my clients regularly throughout the year.

I call it Nurture360

“Nurture” = consistently reaching out and providing value

“360” = an “omnipresent” system consisting of handwritten letters, direct voicemails, and emails.

The goal of this campaign is to reach out to each client in a way that feels personal, year-round, in a way that’s not annoying.

I’ll give you the nuts and bolts now, but I’ll save the deep dive for another newsletter.

The 12-4-3 method

Throughout the year, each client will receive:

• 12 emails

• 4 direct voicemails

• 3 handwritten letters

If you have a lot of clients, and you want to avoid a service avalanche, you’ll want to drip these out daily or weekly.

These touchpoints will boost client success (their satisfaction with your service) because they will consistently know you are there to help them throughout the year.

If executed well, this system will:

• Boost retention

• Increase referrals

• Prime upsells (life, annuity, etc)

I’m developing a system that will drip these out daily on autopilot.

I’m using it for my clients to start. If you want to learn more about this system, email me at [email protected].

Look out for a Nurture360 deep dive in a future newsletter.

3. Customer service FAQ base

The truth is, in business, you can have control or freedom (or some combination of the two).

As you grow your business, the goal is the shift slowly from the control side to the freedom side.

Now, let’s say you wanted to hire someone under you to help you service your clients.

If I had to choose one thing that would help you begin to transition from control to freedom in the servicing department, it would be an FAQ database.

What’s an FAQ Database?

There are most likely a handful of questions you are asked constantly.

Pareto’s law states that 80% of the questions you get are about 20% of topics.

• “How do I get a new card?”

• “How do I use my OTC benefits?”

• “How does the dental work?”

If you jot down detailed responses to these questions, 2 things will happen:

• You will be able to copy & paste the answer, freeing up your time.

• Your assistant can look up your answers to become an extension of you!

My favorite platform for storing information like this is Notion

Taking action (summary)

Here’s a summary of all 3 systems:

1. Sales funnel - Look up CRM tools. I like to start with Airtable because it flexible and free. Be on the lookout for a future newsletter with an in-depth walkthrough.

2. Client success - Plan out the 12-4-3 method this year for client touchpoints (emails, direct voicemails, handwritten letters). Be on the lookout for a future newsletter where I show how to automate this process.

3. Customer service - Every time you answer a question, record it! You can start by using Apple notes, Google Docs, Word, or (my favorite) Notion.

Hope that helps!

See you in a few weeks.

— Braden