---

With social distancing restrictions in place, insurers need to boost agent and advisor assisted sales by cultivating virtual sales.

During this time of disruption and sustained social distancing restrictions, consumers continue to adapt their purchasing behaviors. They are buying more products and services online and expect to be able to connect with companies virtually. In insurance, that means agents will need to embrace different methods of engagement. They’ll need to expand their digital capabilities and competencies.

Insurers have an opportunity to differentiate themselves by offering more support for virtual selling to their agents and advisors. One way to do this is by ramping up the level of digital coaching and marketing support you provide agents. For example, you could consider helping your agents and advisors with how their personal brand is represented online or perform digital health checks to identify opportunities for them to gain greater returns from their local digital marketing efforts. Or you could enrich coaching and marketing support by tailoring digital reporting, making search campaigns location-specific and customizing social ad creative campaigns.

If you really want to give your agents and advisors’ sales a boost, consider taking the following actions: 

• Help producers interact with clients virtually so that they don’t need to meet face to face. At the very least, provide screen-sharing and a digital whiteboard to help them communicate with visual aids.
• Provide data-driven recommendations to producers to help them cultivate active clients. Recommendations should include as much context as possible, and the most relevant products, offers and messages for a customer.
• Give your producers a digital coach so that they feel supported in this new virtual world. Help them improve their digital skills and create a virtual presence in their communities.
  Find new ways for producers to attract clients without taking to the street. Show them how to use direct and social marketing to create new opportunities to make sales.
• Offer virtual in-person needs assessments so that producers can diagnose and recommend the right solutions for customers. This is particularly valuable for complex financial planning and commercial applications.
• Simplify growth by making it easier for producers to nurture relationships with their existing clients. Recommend a series of direct and digital interactions that lead to sales. 

In this new reality, digital marketing and digital selling competencies and tactics will win the day. 

If you’d like to know more about the human and business impact of COVID-19, please see our site for insurers. Or, if you’re interested in how to grow your producer-to-consumer sales, reach out to me directly.