IDA - Insurance Digital Assistant

[MrKropp]

I sell individual health, mostly using internet leads. Does anyone use IDA to manage leads? What do you like about it? What do you dislike about it? This program grabs emails off your pop account and extracts lead data from the emails and imports it into the program. Seems like this feature would save a hugh amount of typing time. The company already has templates set up for all the major internet lead companies. The program is $350 plus $30 for each lead source template.

The only other option I have seen is ACT with a email extraction add on program. Older versions of ACT can be purchased cheap, so this would be a less expensive solution. The downside is that it would take a lot of time to customize ACT and create lead source templates.

Are their any other options??

 

[Paradigm]

anagram (which is select text and one click contact creation) works with outlook and I use that with Avidian prophet (A CRM). The cost was about what IDA would be but I had Prophet first

 

[MrKropp]

So with Prophet and the add it sounds like the process of converting lead emails is not automated, correct? I'm looking for a program that automatically converts lead emails to contacts in a CRM database and automatically responds with an introduction email. With the IDA program you can set up automated emails that will continue to send new leads emails at selected intervals. The weakness of the IDA program is in the lead management features which are very basic.

After running some tests it's apparent that other agents in my area that are working internet leads are mostly using the Norvax autotransponder. All the emails from other agents look very similar. I'm trying to set myself apart from the pack by using a different system.

 

[Paradigm]

So with Prophet and the add it sounds like the process of converting lead emails is not automated, correct? I'm looking for a program that automatically converts lead emails to contacts in a CRM database and automatically responds with an introduction email. With the IDA program you can set up automated emails that will continue to send new leads emails at selected intervals. The weakness of the IDA program is in the lead management features which are very basic.

After running some tests it's apparent that other agents in my area that are working internet leads are mostly using the Norvax autotransponder. All the emails from other agents look very similar. I'm trying to set myself apart from the pack by using a different system.

Its not automated but it takes 15 seconds to create a contact. Then you check all in the boxes for the auto responder for which I have created pre formatted emails, thats another 15 seconds.

I looked at norvax's system and chose quotit because Norvax will charge additional funds to parse any leads other than propect zone for auto response.

IDA does not do live response Ie: calculating quotes automatically at intervals both norvax and quotit will. There isnt a one stop solution. I simply like Prophet because it uses Outlook and unlike ACT it works inside outlook and uses same contact manager which updates to blackberry and I can do voice activated dialing for entire prospect and client data base.

The key to competing is this you are your own competition and since you offer every major carrier and represent the client you are differentiated. Make your followup and Followthrough impeccable and timely and business will cascade in. For the dirty little secret of this business is 90% of agents doing this do not know what they are doing. You are a professional act as such whether you are working out of a highrise or your kitchen table.

 

[MrKropp]

I have a Quotit account. Does Quotit parse leads from companies other than Netquote???

I'm shying away from sending the intro email with an instant quote, because all the other agents in my area are doing the exact same thing. Many of the agents are also using the "I'm your local agent" and "I'm an independent agent with multiple carriers" pitch. I think most folks get overwhelmed when they visit the quote engine site and see hundreds of plans.

I'm thinking a better way to market myself as a health insurance expert is to send informative emails with "Facts you should know about Health Insurance". That way I'm demonstrating my knowledge and educating the prospect before I speak to them. Once I speak to them then I can send them a quote with the best plans for their situation and budget.

Thanks for your input.