Technology

Streamlining the sales effort

ProspX delivers sales collaboration and networking capabilities
to the agency sales force

By Nancy Doucette

You have a lot of smart people in your agency, don't you? Your producers, CSRs, and marketing staff have a body of knowledge that makes your organization the success that it is. They're the resident experts on the coverages needed for health care facilities, oil and gas ventures, alternative energy companies, and transportation operations. They've built a network of contacts in their respective specialties and probably even know which carriers to go to for complex risks and which underwriters to contact to create the best program for the client.

But how do you share that collective knowledge across your enterprise? In particular, how do new producers find out who the experts are—both internally and externally—so that when they begin to work on a new account they can tap that expertise in real time?

That's what Mark Penland, LUTCF, RFC, was contemplating not long after he came on board in mid-2010 as director of business develop­ment at Fox/Everett, Inc., head­quartered in Jackson, Mississippi.

Fox/Everett has more than 100 employ­ees in its four offices—three located in Mississippi and one in Louisiana. As Penland began to acquaint himself with his new organization, he recalls thinking: "Wouldn't it be nice if all of our internal and external experts knew about the accounts we were working on and could provide their expertise when we needed it most?

"I wanted to find a way to bring our knowledge, efforts, and wisdom together in one forum," he remembers.

Fox/Everett had no electronic collection point for this information, though. Critical intelligence was on spreadsheets, yellow pads, and in people's heads. And with 14 producers, Penland says it was like trying to meld 14 separate agencies because each managed their own prospects and had their own methodology for operating and managing their pipeline.

He decided that a CRM program like ACT! would be an acceptable first step. But before he finalized that decision, the agency's IT manager told Penland about ProspX. "It addressed all our needs in one system," he declares.

Mother of invention

ProspX is a Software-as-a-Service solution that combines enterprise search, sales collaboration and social networking technology, according to Todd Young, president, CEO and co-founder of ProspX. "This product automatically connects commercial insurance agents, brokers, and carriers at the initial point of a new or renewal opportunity to streamline communication and collaboration throughout the sales cycle," he explains.

Before founding ProspX, Young was a producer and manager. By way of a series of mergers, he worked for four of the top national brokers in an 11-year period. During that time, he discovered first-hand the inefficiencies that confound producers in their sales efforts. He says the process is "very manual, disconnected, and labor intensive." What's more, "it's tough for a producer to stay on top of all the critical issues and the changing carrier appetites."

While the firms he worked for used horizontal CRM products like ACT!, Maximizer, SalesLogix, Salesforce.com, Microsoft CRM and iAvenue, Young notes: "These programs didn't help those of us in the field make money. They didn't help us leverage the intelligence within our firms and our carrier partners. They didn't help us acquire information faster so we could manage opportunities better and spend more time selling.

"The insurance industry needed a solution that would help agents acquire intelligence and connect with the right people; find the best white papers and benchmark data online; and collect relevant and timely collateral, surveys, RFPs, and presentation materials," he says.

That left Young wondering about the possibility of a technology solution that would draw on an agency-unique knowledge base in much the same way that Google does where "you put in a few keywords and you have incredible intelligence dropped into your lap," he says.

In the two years between ProspX conception and its roll-out, Young says he and his team spent a lot of time listening to brokers and carriers to make sure that the product addressed their needs.

ProspX also began to build its Risk Specialist IndX™ database. "Historically, it has been difficult for producers or agency marketing personnel to find the right underwriter who is equipped and authorized to assist with a 'hot opportunity,'" says Young. "Through our Risk Specialist IndX, carriers participating in the ProspX broker network can publish their specialist resources and categorize them by industry, line of business, insured size and geography." (As of late 2010, there were 540 carriers and more than 16,000 carrier underwriters in the directory.)

Early on, Young also called on Jim Hackbarth, president and CEO of Assurex Global, an international network of some 110 "partners" (independent insurance brokerages).

Hackbarth recalls that he initially set aside an hour to meet with Young to hear about ProspX. In the ensuing three hours, Hackbarth invited most of his management team into the meeting to see how ProspX helps producers manage all the resources that need to be assembled in order to best serve the client. "We were very impressed by how the ProspX team developed and architected this product. It's flexible and powerful," Hackbarth says.

An endorsement by Assurex followed, Hackbarth continues, but only after a number of Assurex partners had used ProspX and found it beneficial. "We're pretty stingy with whom we have strategic partnerships," he says with a smile.

Improving the pre-submission process

Like Fox/Everett, Brower Insurance Agency, LLC, headquartered in Dayton, Ohio, and with three other locations around the state, is also an Assurex partner. Dan Driskell, CIC, is a producer for Brower and an enthusiastic user of ProspX. "I use the collaboration piece extensively," he begins. "I recently 'discovered' an alternative energy underwriter by way of ProspX who is with a carrier that I probably wouldn't have considered for this account. We were able to put together a very good deal for the client.

"ProspX provides a database of experts. I simply input the SIC code for the type of account I'm working on, its sales, number of employees, the number of years the company has been in business, and the system will generate a list of 'premier matches'—underwriters 'in network,' colleagues in one of our other locations, or an Assurex partner—who have an expertise in this area. Some I know; some I don't. It builds a list of 'experts' for me to reach out to. The knowledge base grows as more producers enter information about different accounts."

Using Driskell's alternative energy account as an example, Todd Young explains that the ProspX collaborative search capability brings together a number of individuals who could provide input to Driskell, which would increase the amount of intelligence and reduce the amount of research he would have to do on his own. (See diagram on page 43) For example:

• One of the agency's account executives could e-mail him to let him know that the agency competed against the incumbent firm before on a similar risk and won the account by emphasizing certain key points, which she itemizes.

• A colleague could e-mail a pertinent white paper. Another colleague may know the principal at the alternative energy company's accounting firm and offer to introduce Driskell, enabling him to start building that relationship and shortening what could be a long cold call sales cycle.

• An underwriter might e-mail a special filing that is unique to that carrier.

"ProspX organizes and archives internal, partner, and marketing e-mail correspondence related to a particular deal so it's easy to track," Driskell explains.

Additionally, Young points out, ProspX e-mails each producer a pipeline-specific newsletter called "InsiderConnect"™ which aggregates news from across the industry, within the agency, as well as from agency and carrier partners and shows which opportunities each news item impacts. Carriers can select producers to make announcements to depending on the types of accounts they're working on. Where appropriate, Young says, producers may want to share some of this information with clients.

Fox/Everett's Penland says the "opportunity snapshot" which ProspX generates—a stewardship report of the placement process—convinced him that this was the solution the agency needed. "It documents the e-mails between the agency and the carriers; it documents the declinations. It truly shows how much work you've done on the account."

Young adds that the final opportunity snapshot for an account can be attached to the client file in the agency management system to serve as a roadmap when the renewal comes up.

Smarter organizational brain

Young explains that some of the "intelligence" that ProspX provides comes from producers evaluating how quickly underwriters and other specialists respond and critiquing the quality of their response. So the next time the agency has a similar opportunity, it doesn't have to start from scratch.

The "debrief" feature collects producer feedback about what worked and what didn't in the marketing process for a particular opportunity. Because the feedback process is ongoing, Young says that the ProspX system identifies obsolete strategies and adjusts their ranking accordingly.

"Everything related to a particular opportunity is captured so the brain of the organization gets stronger with every deal, through every person who is out in the field working," he points out. "Our technology filters, rates and ranks the best information that ProspX collects, so much like with a Google search, the producer, the account executive, or the marketing person is able to get the most current, relevant information."

Before ProspX, Fox/Everett monitored sales prospecting activities using a spreadsheet. Prospecting activities were discussed in sales meetings and jotted down on yellow pads, so there was a possibility that a producer in one office might be chasing the same account as a producer in another office.

Once Fox/Everett went live on ProspX, all the leads and current clients were put into the system, so that concern was diminished.

Penland acknowledges, though, that for some of the veteran producers, the transition from legal pads and spreadsheets to ProspX has been a "big shift," so he's easing them into using the system by requiring that only the most basic account information be put into ProspX: the company name, expiration date, and several other "pipeline management" details. With that basic information he is able to get what he needs to do his job and the producer can get a snapshot of his business.

He notes that the newer producers (he hired six shortly after coming on board) are required to use the system to its fullest.

"It helps any producer be more organized," Penland explains. "The system generates an individual pipeline report that serves as a quick reminder of where the producer is from an inventory standpoint. It shows a calendar with the week's tasks, the 90-day x-dates, and where the producer is in the process."

He says ProspX also helps him be more efficient and effective in his job. "Now I can get a snapshot of where we are as an organization—what's in the pipeline, what our closing ratios are, I can project what our revenues are going to be in the next quarter. I can look at all 20 producers and know if one of them isn't using the system correctly. I can also see if a producer has only one opportunity in the next 120 days…there's a training issue there. I can see where the training issues are—with 20 producers in three different offices—and address them accordingly."

Todd Young concludes: "ProspX is a good fit for agencies or brokers that are dispersed. If yours is a four-person shop, obviously, you have the chance to communicate effectively. But when you have people in multiple locations—regional, national, or international—you need a tool to help your organization win more deals, do a better job for the customer, and work more effectively."

For more information:

ProspX, Inc.

Web site: www.prospx.com