A quality customer relationship management (CRM) system is a powerful tool that can make a dramatic difference for your insurance agency. However, many businesses have additional software platforms that play an integral role in their agent’s daily workflow. The good news is, that with the right CRM, you are able to integrate your existing software and your CRM to create a robust and powerful solution for your business. CRM software integration is an essential component of a quality CRM. But how can CRM integrations really help boost your sales?
What is CRM integration?
CRM integration is the ability to seamlessly connect your CRM platform to other third-party software applications in order to expand the functionality of all software solutions. This integration allows you to benefit from all software platforms without having to bounce back and forth between each and, in many cases, allowing for a single data entry to populate between all platforms.
What is customer data integration?
Customer data integration is a process of consolidating and managing your customer information across multiple platforms in order to achieve a clear picture of each customer’s information. By integrating third-party software with your CRM, your customer data is connected through every platform, offering all data to every team member when access is needed, giving them a clearer picture and allowing them to better focus on improving customer service and relationship nurturing.
How does CRM integration work?
While as a stand-alone, CRM software is a powerful business tool. However, it reaches its full potential when integrated with other third-party applications. CRM integration works by connecting your CRM system to other third-party systems your business already utilizes. This connection allows customer data to be seamlessly integrated, giving more power to every software application. CRM integration is different for every business and depends on which third-party applications you currently use and which systems your CRM will support.
Benefits of CRM integrations
While quality CRM software offers a wide range of benefits, integrating your CRM with other software applications allows your business to boost the performance of each application, ensuring seamless customer data management and improved productivity. Additional benefits include automation, better customer care, and improved efficiency and productivity throughout your entire team.
Opportunities for automation
When there are only so many hours in a day, businesses strive to make the most out of every hour. Automation allows businesses to do just that! Having your CRM integrated with third-party platforms opens the door to many additional automation opportunities. For example, when a lead visits your website and enters a contact form, that information can automatically transfer into your CRM and trigger automated welcome messages, task assignments to team members, and more.
Better customer care
When you integrate your CRM with all the other platforms used by team members, every member is able to access the full customer profile with the click of a button. When a customer calls in with a question or concern, your team member can see all their customer data, including previous communications, and are able to assist them without the need to switch between different platforms. This ensures they have all the information they need, when they need it, in order to best serve your customers’ needs.
Improved efficiency
When you have to open up multiple platforms in order to get all the information you need, it can be time-consuming. By integrating with your CRM, all the information you need is centralized in one location. This helps reduce the time needed to perform the tasks at hand and allows for better communication between team members and your customers.
Examples of CRM integration
With CRM integration, the possibilities are endless. Here we take a closer look at some of the ways CRM integration can make a difference for your business.
Client communications
As an insurance agent, customer communication and nurturing your customer relationships are essential. CRM integration offers a wide range of customer communication solutions.
Phone
Integrating your phone system with your CRM offers multiple benefits. When a customer calls in, the CRM can automatically recognize a client’s caller ID, pulling up their client record automatically before the call is even answered, allowing you to immediately have access to their information. In addition, the integration can allow for call recording and the immediate transfer of information into the CRM software.
Chatbot or live chats
Chatbots are quickly becoming a staple for websites or social media accounts, allowing prospective clients to access information on their time. When these chatbots are integrated with your CRM, information entered by a lead can automatically generate a lead in your CRM and trigger follow-up tasks.
An email is the main form of communication in many businesses, both internally and with clients. However, moving back and forth between your client information in the CRM and your email platform can become time-consuming. Integrating your email platform with your CRM allows you to generate and send emails directly from the CRM.
Team communication integration
When you work with a team, collaboration and effective communication are necessary. Many businesses turn to applications, such as Slack, to help improve team communication. Integrating communication platforms, like Slack, with your CRM allows team members to communicate through Slack while also in the CRM, allowing them access to customer data as needed, without having to switch between applications.
Forms and data collection integrations
Oftentimes, businesses use surveys to learn more about what customers are really looking for when it comes to insurance needs. Tools, such as Survey Monkey, allow you to create surveys that can be website-based or sent directly through email. When you integrate these tools with your CRM, the responses are automatically synced within the CRM, allowing for new client contact data as well as the ability to analyze responses.
Calendar integrations
Calendars are an important part of any business. Integrating your calendar platform, such as Google or Outlook calendar, with your CRM allows you to instantly create meetings in the CRM that are automatically added to your calendar, and the CRM can also automatically send out invitations to those in the meetings.
Social media integrations
Integrating your CRM with your social media platforms, such as Facebook or LinkedIn, allows you to schedule automatic postings and track your social media interactions which can provide valuable insight into your audience.
Connector integrations
Connector integrations, such as Zapier, are applications that connect your CRM to over 1,000 third-party applications that offer a wealth of different productivity tools and automation. For example, you can sync your ARM with QuickBooks to automatically manage your invoicing.
Calling software integrations
Whether you are placing traditional phone calls or scheduling and attending Zoom meetings, calling software integrations to allow you to schedule, manage, and record these interactions directly within the CRM.
Sales forecasting
Integrating all your sales data tools together with your CRM allows for much more accurate short-term and long-term sale forecasting.
Lead management
It is not uncommon to have leads generated through external systems, such as through a website or social media platforms. Having these systems integrated with your CRM allows for all the lead information to automatically transfer into the CRM where it can be assessed, classified, and scored automatically based on pre-established criteria, such as demographics. The CRM can automatically create new lead accounts and trigger team member tasks for follow-up.
CRM integration offers a powerful business solution
A quality CRM, partnered with powerful integrations, offers a wealth of tools that can help improve customer relationships, team collaboration, and productivity. When considering a CRM, it is important to consider the tools you already use and whether integration is possible, as this can truly make a difference in the effectiveness of all your sales and marketing tools.
Better Agency CRM offers superior solutions for the insurance industry
At Better Agency, we understand how beneficial a quality CRM is in the insurance industry. We created a CRM for insurance companies that is designed to meet your needs, including integrations. To learn more about how our quality CRM and integrations can improve your customer relationships and boost productivity, schedule a Discovery Call.
