A Day in the Life
Steve, an insurance agent in a bustling city, starts his day early, reviewing client inquiries on his smartphone while sipping coffee. His schedule is packed, as he needs to meet a couple of prospects, negotiate an important contract, and sign a new incentive scheme. But he’s determined to stay focused, deliver top-notch service, and come home on time for a relaxed evening with his partner.
As he heads to the office, Steve taps into the agent portal, quickly generating quotes for clients needing urgent coverage. The system shows commissions that closing policies based on his generated quotes would bring him. Using the AI assistant, he creates personalized letters highlighting how the coverages address each of his client's unique needs.
A client calls worried about a recent accident. Steve accesses the claims management system and submits additional details in real-time. As another client calls, Steve explains the claims settlement details with the help of an AI bot, giving the client clarity, setting his expectations, and increasing his satisfaction.
Between meetings, Steve uses the agent portal to send personalized follow-ups and check reminders. The mobile app keeps him agile, allowing him to manage tasks on the go. Steve also sees the outcome of his activities and their respective incentives on his performance dashboard. This keeps him focused on the right activities and clients and makes him confident that the new incentive scheme he just signed is fair and motivating.
Despite the intensity of activities and demands on his attention, Steve remains calm, knowing technology has his back. By evening, he closes two new policies, reassures a long-time client, gets feedback on his performance, and stays ahead of his workload. Exhausted but satisfied, Steve reflects on how technology allows him to focus on what matters most: his clients.
How Technology Sets the Stage for Success
Helping your sales team be productive and focused with the right technology is table stakes. An insurer has to create efficiency and effectively manage outcomes just to compete.
When it comes to productivity, SAP Financial Services Accelerator (SAP FSA) provides a comprehensive platform that facilitates the entire customer journey from product discovery to policy issuance, from first notice of loss to claims, from policy changes to renewals. This ensures a unique digital experience for insurance customers and helps agents be productive with the fewest distractions and effort.
When it comes to focus, SAP Sales Performance Management (SAP SPM) helps deliver business outcomes with effective sales planning, incentive compensation management, and automation. SAP SPM provides mechanisms to set specific targets and structure incentives to guide agents' focus on high-priority areas for the business and delivers real-time feedback on their performance, keeping agents engaged and informed and helping them adjust their activities to drive behavior.
What Lies Ahead
How can AI be leveraged to optimize sales behavior to align with strategic targets? Commission plans structured with strategic deliberateness play a key role in driving that behavior. AI can help with that alignment and make your business more profitable.
- Data-Driven Decision Making. AI can be useful for analyzing historical sales data, agent performance, market conditions, and other relevant factors to create a data-driven approach to commission structures. This eliminates the guesswork and ensures the commission plans are fair, competitive, and structurally aligned with company goals.
- Predictive Modeling for Future Success. AI can be used in predictive modeling to forecast sales trends, model the impact of different commission structures, and experiment with those models before implementing them, reducing the risk of making costly mistakes.
- Reducing Bias and Increasing Fairness. AI can help eliminate human bias in creating commission structures by relying on objective data and algorithms. This ensures all agents are rewarded based on their performance, leading to a more motivated and loyal sales team.
- Alignment with Business Goals. AI can help align commission structures with broader business goals by identifying key performance indicators (KPIs) that drive success. By focusing commissions on these KPIs, we ensure agents work towards the company's objectives.
- Build Personalized Policies. Machine learning algorithms can help insurers create personalized offers based on individual customer needs and preferences instead of relying on one-size-fits-all solutions or policies.
- Finding Prospects. Automation and AI make it easier for agents to find, target, and engage potential customers online. AI-driven analytics identify potential prospects, and agents can access customer data in real-time, allowing them to respond quickly to inquiries.
- Detect Fraud. AI-driven automation tools sift through multiple data points to identify suspicious activities, such as duplicate policies or fraudulent claims. By analyzing customer data in real-time and comparing it against policy details, agents can quickly detect any discrepancies that may indicate potential issues.
AI provides the tools to continuously optimize and personalize insurance quotes and commission plans, ensuring they remain effective in an ever-changing market environment. This yields more loyal and satisfied customers and a more motivated and productive sales team, driving better results for the company.
If you’re into ‘80s pop culture, this makes me think of the Ferris Bueller quote: “Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” And maybe AI can make looking around a bit easier.
If this topic resonates with you check out our co-creation sprint, where we will tackle leveraging AI in commission planning and to sell more effectively.
