Quick: call tech support!
If your agency is made up of just a few employees, you probably don't have a tech department. You have one or more people who are more skilled at troubleshooting than the others. As you look at developing the insurance agent career of those in your small insurance business, examine how you can cultivate the technological competency of your tech-oriented employees so that they can help the rest of your small business grow.
Insurance Agent Career: Tech Guru
How can you create tech gurus in your agency? Look for those who are naturally filling this position already, and help them to enhance their skills. This could mean that they take a course. Coursework doesn't need to be expensive. In fact, many companies offer free, online training that focuses on their products. Venues, such as Coursera, also offer free or low-cost courses that can help employees gain skills as diverse as social marketing or conquering Quickbooks. Don't expect your employees to do all of this on their time off or off the side of their desk. If you want to invest in technological competence, give your employees dedicated time to do this.
Investing in targeted technology training can be one of the best decisions you make.
Establish a Basic Skill Level
In addition to tech gurus, your company needs a general level of technological competence. That way, your gurus won't have to work too hard on simple problems that are relatively easy to solve. Determine what level of competence all of your employees should have with the different systems that you use. Hire for this, and set up times when your gurus train others in tech troubleshooting. This might be as simple as running specific reports or managing common email problems. Give employees an opportunity to ask for sessions on specific topics. Everyone has different level of technological competence. By increasing the level of competence in your agency as a whole, you'll reduce the stress on your gurus.
Create Resources For Your Company
Your tech-savvy employees may move on from your agency, or they could be sick on the day that everyone in the office has trouble with the computer systems. That's why you also need to create written procedures. Create resources for your employees that include common problems and solutions. Develop an agency "How To" manual with FAQs that complements the more general information available for each technology product that you use.
Develop Tech Systems That Work
One of the best ways you can develop competency at your agency is to choose technology systems that are a true fit for the work that your insurance agency is doing. For example, if you're having challenges integrating client data so that you can look at your sales trends over the last few years, implement an agency or client management system that has reporting features that allow you to create these reports with very little effort. Your technological systems need to make it easier for your employees to get the information they need with minimal difficulty.
Don't Be Afraid to Seek Outside Help
Some technological problems are small, everyday occurrences. Others involve substantial troubleshooting. If you're running into a knotty problem over and over again, look to a technology consultant or educator who can either fix the problem permanently or give your employees the opportunity to learn about the problem and how to fix it in the future. Investing in targeted technology training can be one of the best decisions you make.
As you look for support building your small insurance agency, talk with the American Agents Alliance. We're here to help you develop your business. We've partnered with one the insurance industry's top IT experts to bring members a discount on IT services for their agency. Learn more about our many membership benefits and contact us today.
