CRM and Mapping Technologies Help Insurance Brokers and Providers Find and Keep Loyal Customers By Bob Sullivan, President, InfoGrow Corporation (Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio) Recent market research notes that the insurance-banking-finance industry should invest in technology solutions for better customer service.a To this end; the insurance-banking-finance industry was one of the biggest spenders for CRM (Customer Relationship Management) technology, which grew 12% in 2012, worldwide. "Customer service and support" was the most common use for CRM (for 37% of all uses).b

A few years ago, some industries, such as life insurance, were slow to adopt CRM. Many others invested heavily in a CRM program that did not live up to expectations. Even more, 42% of purchased CRM software became “shelf-ware," software paid for but never installed.c

Earlier problems that turned some CRM users into CRM haters have been resolved with easier-to-use CRM software and enhancements. Not surprisingly, CRM software is forecast to increase at a 15% annual growth rate, exceeding $36 billion by 2017 worldwide.d

Even more, investing in CRM technology pays off. For every dollar a company spends on CRM, it earns $5.60.e One of CRM's best enhancements is mapping. When mapping is combined with a CRM system, data are revealed graphically with color- and symbol-coding capabilities, as well as street and satellite images. This significantly helps CRM users see customer intelligence that often lies hidden in spreadsheet rows and columns. Here are typical benefits that mapping-enhanced CRM can provide insurance sales managers and reps: Benefits to Insurance Sales Managers • Help assure that reps target all key companies in a given area. Although you could look at the data in a table, a map makes the data more visible for making better decisions. • Manage sales territories more efficiently. Reviewing customers and/or prospects by territories displayed on a map often reveals the need for changes in territory assignments and balanced territories. • Easily evaluate competitive risk by seeing and better understanding where competitors have penetration in your sales areas. Benefits to Insurance Sales Reps • Find all customers and prospects in a particular area. Let’s say a rep is travelling to location X and wants to visit customers and prospects in a radius of, say, 10 miles of that location. With a map inside CRM, a rep can easily make callbacks and work out appointments to visit all nearby key customers and prospects. The CRM-mapping combo also saves time when planning trips.

• Filter sales calls by specific CRM data (such as sales volume), build a radius around a call location, and spend time setting appointments with higher valued targets. Because not all customers or prospects are created equally, reps need to ask, "With limited resources, where do I spend my valued time?" To learn more about how CRM and mapping technology can help you to find and keep loyal customers, please call 800-897-9807 ext. 224. References a http://www.gartner.com/DisplayDocument?doc_cd=251301&ref=g_sitelink

b http://www.forbes.com/sites/louiscolumbus/2013/04/26/2013-crm-market-share-update-40-of-crm-

systems-sold-are-saas-based/ c http://www.itp.net/490384#.UgUAoZKTjSg (Gartner)

d http://www.forbes.com/sites/louiscolumbus/2013/06/18/gartner-predicts-crm-will-be-a-36b-market-by-

2017/ e Nucleus Research, Boston, MA

Bob Sullivan is president of InfoGrow Corporation. Bringing 24 successful years of experience in CRM, mapping, lead management, business intelligence, and B2B market analytics, InfoGrow helps clients identify their best prospects, discover missed opportunities, focus reps on the most profitable accounts, and reduce marketing waste. Contact Bob at 800-897-9807, x224.

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