What software do you use to manage your clients?

[rayholt]

Blue Cross offers their agent assist software, then there is Microsoft's Business Contact Manager, sugarcrm, and many many more. Let me know what you are using or what you've heard of other people using.

I'm looking for the best solution that makes it easy to maintain the current status and policies of all my clients. If I were just selling for one company I'd simply use their agent/broker access on there page, but like most independant agents, i'm appointed with many.

Sometime's I'll go to a providers website, export and then import to our current system (MS Business Contact Manager which I wouldn't suggest using), but it's not letting me create a relational database scheme with policies. Instead it just wants to create a flat file. Is there a perfect solution out there or should I start developing my own. I want it to also look professional and not something that was created in one of my beginner programming classes back in the day. Does it exsist?

 

[djs]

Depends a lot on what you sell....
It also depends on your budget.

If you want to spend some $$$$, and if you do P&C as well, there are a few that work. In some situations, they will even do carrier downloads.

Sounds like you only do health, maybe life. You'll need to be clearer about what you want to accomplish, then find a solution that solves about 80% of it. You will have a problem finding a 'perfect' solution, since your wants will be different from others.

Dan

 

[Charpress]

I use Outlook with BCM and will be the first to admit that it is far from perfect.

I've tried everything else and just did not find anything much better. At least Outlook is compatible with everything, including some programs for handling marketing and emails.

One think nice about Outlook BCM is the marketing campaign portion that allows you to track the people that came to you from a particular campaign and then see how much the campaign made, is very elegant and easy to use. So, if you did a seminar last October and someone is now coming to see you, you can link him to that seminar and track him all the way through the process. I know other programs have this capacity, but BCM seems to handle this better to me.

 

[Frank Stastny]

I use Your Insurance Office (YIO). It seems to work pretty well for agents throughout the US and in eleven foreign countries.

I'm probably a little prejudice though.

 

[Charpress]

Frank's software is very good and I did give it a trial. It was not quite what I wanted because I have another business that is not at all insurance related.

I would think that YIO would be a good fit for most folks here.

 

[Newby]

I've used ACT for years. I recently went to I-Relay and really liked a lot about it BUT it is very rigid. I can't modify the layout or put custom fields where I want.

So I'm back to ACT. I just bought the 2009 version and it's very much improved. Works better than ever. I had an extra computer so I'll host one at home and have my wife's and my laptops sychronize throughout the day.

I just can't find anything else as easily modifiable as ACT. And no, the perfect database doesn't exist. You have to create it. Everyone's business is a little different. Everyone tracks different things. People have different lead sources etc. I also require my database info on my phone.

I like what I've seen of Frank's program too.

If you started with Frank's program, hosted on the web like i-relay, and was easily modified and added to like ACT...you would have the perfect database.

 

[MedMalAgent]

I use www.salesforce.com and love it. I took the time and really learned the system which most agents don’t do. I setup custom fields, workflows, production charts, and it syncs with Outlook. I can say for a fact that it has increased my sales.

 

[motoxxx]

I used Outlook and Act but then I just set up a commercial Yahoo Email account that allows me to send and receive from multiple email addresses and 6 different URLs. I can also synchronize my Yahoo contacts and email with Outlook. The best part for me is that I can access my client data base from anywhere and Yahoo is better at protecting information than any firewall I can put up!

It does have some limitations but I set up reminders and renewals in my Outlook. The cool thing is that Outlook can also synchronize with Excel so you can easily compile many different types of lists.

 

[Charpress]

I have done pretty much the same thing with Gmail which is synced with Outlook.

Anyone who is in this business and is not taking advantage of all the opportunities to have whatever office/home system they are using also sync with something like Yahoo or Gmail is really missing out.

Gmail's online calendar and mail systems are really, really well done and go with Outlook seamlessly. I can access this info from anywhere on my cellphone.

And, they are free.

 

[GreenSky]

I use Your Insurance Office (YIO). It seems to work pretty well for agents throughout the US and in eleven foreign countries.

I'm probably a little prejudice though.

I use the PREMIER edition of YIO. By paying a little extra, Frank flies out and enters all your data into YIO for you. This also includes a monthly update where he shows up again and makes certain everything has been entered, etc. He also brings lunch for everyone.

Really, it's worth a few dollars more.

He also has provided me with links to all the free porn sites.

What a guy!

Rick