| TRUSTED CHOICE COMMITTEE |
Try again
Trusted Choice resources for consumers
and agents continue to evolve
KRISTY WILSON
Trusted Choice Committee Chair
I
f at first you don’t succeed ... try and try again.
How many times have you told your kids that,
or remember your parents or teachers telling
you that? This the same approach Trusted
Choice is taking. Some of the previous links that I
referenced in past issues may or may not still work for
you as things have been changed around a little bit.
I, for one, was completely confused! Let me explain a
couple different websites and services that are out there
now. They may be different than before or have had
information moved around since you last visited them.
trustedchoice.com
First off, TrustedChoice.com is now completely
consumer-focused. There isn’t anything here for agents
to do EXCEPT sign up for your Agency Profile. At the
top of the home page there is a “For Agents” link that
will take you to the screen to sign up. By signing up and
claiming your profile it will allow your agency to receive
leads that come through this consumer portal. The big
plan is to advertise and promote TrustedChoice.com
to consumers so this is where people go when they are
wanting to shop for insurance online. The consumer
answers two questions – what is your zip code and what
type of insurance are you looking for? At that point they
can click “Get a Quote” or “Find an Agent.”
Get a Quote. If they click get a quote they will be taken
through a series of screens to provide information based
on the type of insurance they are shopping for. They are
then provided an indication from three companies that
are participating in Kansas. The consumer then has the
option to contact one of the agents that pulled up near
them. Hence, the importance of having a profile for
your agency. You may not represent all of the companies
10
that the quotes come from, but you’ll have an opportunity
to visit with the consumer and get them additional quotes
from your own companies.
Find an Agent. If the consumer clicks “Find an Agent” they
are given a list of agents near them based on zip code
and they can contact you directly so that you can gather
the information needed to provide a quote. Again, it’s
important to secure your TrustedChoice.com profile so
consumers can find you.
In January, there were 205,000 consumers visits to
TrustedChoice.com. Of that, 7,954 leads were generated
and insurance buyers performed more than 3,000
searches related to commercial lines, which produced
1,993 online referrals to independent agencies in the U.S.
So are we beating up on all the other online insurance
shops out there? No ... but Rome wasn’t built in a day.
The more agents and company participation we get, the
more successful this will become.
agencynation.com
If you were at the Rural and Small Agents Conference you
may have heard Paul Martin talk about AgencyNation.
com. Here you can find all kinds of articles, videos
and other resources. This website is powered by
TrustedChoice.com, but is completely focused on agents.
Bottom line: this is a learning process for everyone
involved. Some things have worked well and some things
they have revamped. We can’t quit our fight to regain
market share as independent agents. The more of us that
promote the Trusted Choice brand, the more consumers
will be driven to independent agents and realize how darn
valuable we are!
KANSAS INSURANCE AGENT & BROKER |March-April 2015|