NAILBA Perspectives Virtual Symposium Special Edition | Page 21

One thing that the recent pandemic has proven is that we need electronic solutions, and most clients in today’s world actually prefer it and expect it. Key features of a complete digital sales process Multi-Carrier/Multi-Product Access – Advisors need quick and easy access to their various carriers and products to sell products to their clients effectively. Make it easy by providing them a single spot to shop and submit business. Workflow Flexibility – Firms have various workflows and requirements. Workflow flexibility allows firms to implement and replace existing paper processes across multiple lines of business and sales activities. In a digital world, data is entered one time and flows into the next activity, creating connected, more efficient, and streamlined sales processes. Client Fill and Sign – Provide advisors the ability to fill in required advisor information in an application and then send a request for the client to fill in missing information and sign in one step. This ability is valuable in required remote sales situations. e-Signature – Capturing signatures is part of the sales process and shouldn’t cost more when conducting business electronically. Look for a solution that includes, at no additional cost, various e-signature options to enable advisors to collect signatures face to face or remotely. Authentication – Signer authentication is vital in conducting compliant, in-good-order sales. Having various types of e-Signature Authentication and the ability to define the authentication required for each activity allow firms to create compliant processes that best fit specific sales situations, especially in remote sales. Transfer/Share/Case Access – Each sale is different. Sometimes the sales process involves a call center, a sales assistant, or someone other than the advisor that will complete the application. In these situations, your firm will want to support various sales workflows by providing a share or transfer feature. Field Underwriting – Many carriers are beginning to add automated or field underwriting at the point-of-sale by leveraging rules within e-App solutions for simplified underwriting or integrating underwriting engines with the e-App solutions. Some carriers are creating new products for automated underwriting processes. As more carriers implement field underwriting, firms will want digital processes in place for their advisors before it becomes the new standard, not after. Review Queues – Compliance/suitability/manager review is often part of the process that, in a paper world, requires shuffling of paper and faxes. In a digital world, firms can build in the reviews and manage the review electronically, keeping sales moving forward. APIs – Today’s technology uses APIs to make instant requests to various services to bring back data, verify information, and prefill or share data with CRMs and other systems. With robust API capabilities, it is much easier to create a holistic process that’s easy to use and eliminates jumping from system to system. Getting digital now If you’ve had the same technology for a while or haven’t really focused on a true digital sales process because you didn’t feel your advisors would really use it, you might be surprised if you assessed again. Today, new systems and tools are more powerful, quicker to implement and less expensive. They are also more connected and offer a more seamless end-to-end process than you’ve come to expect. One thing that the recent pandemic has proven is that we need electronic solutions, and most clients in today’s world actually prefer it and expect it. So, start thinking about how you can best meet the needs of your advisors and clients today. The tools are out there, and the time is now. www.nailba.org 21