Designing Your Own Quote Software

[Quote]

Guys, I am finally at the finishing stages of my website and have been evaluating all the different quoting softwares. Honestly, I am happy with quotit and compulife, but really haven't found what I want from the P&C side of things. Currently EzLynx is the only real option, but they are really expensive if you are getting any real traffic to your site. Between all three softwares I will probably be spending at least a $1000 a month. If I get a lot traffic from the P&C side of things that could go up to 5-10k a month. So I am currently talking with several oversea software developers to possibly design an all in one program for my website(They do really good work for somewhat affordable).


So it would cover quotes for health, life, auto, home and commercial. It would only support companies I have contracts with and in all states(working on getting non res licensing). The site we have built looks amazing and now just need to get everything finished as far as quoting, etc.


My basic concept is once a potential client comes to my site they enter their information and request quote. Then that info leaves my site and gets quotes from 5-10 different companies and returns to my site. They are then able to select a plan and apply online. For P&C we will actually have binding authority so they will be able to purchase as well. Same goes for guaranteed issue life plans.



I have a strong background in the SEO field so I figured might as well take advantage of it for my insurance sales. Let me know what you guys think and if there is anything I should be aware of in selecting a software developer for this type of project.
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Also please don't think I am just some kid with this pipe dream. I have spent a lot of time and money building this dream. Just need to put the finishing touches on the site.

 

[JRoot]

Just some heads up you may or may not know about...It seems you want this to be for all 50 states. Be aware that on the health side, Quotit doesn't quote all states, not even close. Also, to get non-res licensing for just life insurance, it'll run you over $10k (not sure if it's extra when you add other lines).

Also, for home/auto online quoting, have you checked out FSC Rater? Not sure if it's any good, just heard about them.

I'm interested in seeing your final results. Good luck.

 

[Quote]

Actually it's 5k for non res life insurance.

 

[JRoot]

You're right, $5k. Thinking of something else.

As far as choosing a software developer like your post is asking for, I don't think you sshould ship the work over seas. There's a local agency in my county that has over 20 developers and marketers whose sole purpose is to create web leads for their agents and sell their excess leads to other indys. They are very good at it, but spend hundreds of thousands of dollars (probably more) to get their leads. I write this because you will be competing with companies such as this one with large pockets...and theres a bunch of these guys out there. So if you're really balking at price and thinking of shipping it over seas for cheaper labor, then good luck competing with these companies when you do get your finished site.

I wish selling insurance was as easy as building and marketing a website, but maybe you thought of something none of us have. Good luck.

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

You also need carrier approval if you're designing a quoting tool - it can take a few months to a few years to nail that down.

 

[TXINSURANCE]

it can take a few months to a few years to nail that down.

About 10 years if you are lucky.

 

[Quote]

Ya, selling insurance isn't easy, but there are a lot harder things in life to sell. Just imagine selling 25k a month SEO package where there are no guaranteed results or product to view!

 

[djs]

Be prepared to do a lot of upkeep on rates, underwriting factors, geographical stuff. Online P&C quoting isn't easy, which is why there isn't a generic equivalent of Norvax or Quotit.

Life and Health is pretty easy online, of course, not necessarily accurate, but easy. For instance, health might quote preferred rates when the real BMI won't come close, but you can deal with that.

P&C is hard enough to quote accurate when the client is sitting in front of you. They give you eight different answers to 1 question. Online, it gets tougher, much much tougher.

I wish I had the money to sink into a venture like this, I'd do it, mostly because my background is high tech / web stuff. I'd have to make sure the business plan includes a way to convert web visitors to buyers though, something e-surance, geico, progressive and others all struggle with, to the point they all added call centers.

Dan

 

[Alston]

One issue you will have is updating the rates and policies. When a company that you are currently working with changes their rates, you will have to hire a programmer to update your system.

The person who writes the code should be able to give you a good estimate on the number of hours s/he will need to bill you for these kind of updates.

However, you may not be able to anticipate how often this will happen each year.

Unfortunately policies change in other ways. It will be impossible to get an estimate from your programmer regarding other types of changes.

The whole system may need to be recoded to accommodate a change because some changes are impossible to anticipate.

You will pay significantly more to update your system when a company changes the way it rates policies as opposed to just changing the rates. In my state one health insurance company went from charging a rate for families based on the age of the older spouse to rating family members as individuals and adding the premiums together. Another went from rating everyone in the state based on the same table, to using a different rate table for different counties.

Another issue you will have is when a carrier adds a new policy.

You may be find yourself married to your original programmer because a new programmer may not be able to update your system.

You can do what you are attempting to do. However, you will need to have significant volume to justify the expense and you will need to recognize that some of the expenses will be ongoing and hard to predict.

Coding a term life insurance quote engine will probably be the easiest, since those rates are more stable than most other lines. You may want to start there.

 

[Quote]

Ya, it is really coming down to a big decision.


Quotit, Compulife, EZlynx vs. Custom Quote Software



I have gotten about 10 software quotes and several others looking at the project. Quotes ranging from 7k-60k so far and I am leary about who I am going to hire. I need someone who will do the job exactly like I want without any major issues or bugs.


At the current moment I have leaning towards just using existing softwares and bitting the bullet on the monthly bill. It will get me set up and running a lot quicker. I also won't have to worry as much about bugs and issues since hopefully most of those are already worked out with current softwares. I can then focus my time on the SEO campaign which is going to get the traffic for the site.



Yes, getting the traffic to convert into sales is the hardest part and I know we will be getting a lot of inbound calls.
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Been on the phone all day with EZlynx(expensive) and also SilverPlume(formerly AMS setwrite).


I really life SilverPlume because of the features and 3rd party features like credit report and driving history built-in. They are also a lot more affordable. One big problem is they don't have a consumer quoting engine. Only one for agents is available which puts a big dampner on my site.



I keep going back to the idea of a custom software.