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How Prioritization Technology Boosts Conversion Rates
It’s easy for salespeople to lose clients in the midst of multitasking and lead sorting. Kanopy Insurance, a personal lines business that provides coverage throughout California and New Jersey, leverages automatic prioritization software from Velocify to improve task management for salespeople and increase its customer base.
“Prioritization, to us, is of paramount importance,” says Kanopy co-founder and president Ryan McClintock, whose business receives about 300 leads per day. “It’s difficult to manage that volume of lead flow in a very fast and persistent way,” he says.
Kanopy’s leads are acquired online and immediately integrated into the Velocify software. The system provides a centralized holding space for lead data, determines which salespeople are logged in and whether they’re busy, and assigns each lead to an available representative in real time. An immediate connection to potential customers is key, McClintock explains, as they are less likely to purchase from companies who do not reach out first.
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Prioritization software helps formulate sales strategy by indicating which leads should be contacted, says McClintock, and personalizing contact attempts according to where each lead is in the sales process. The system enforces a persistent follow-up strategy by sending tailored emails and text messages, which potential clients may opt out of. It also determines when to stop contact with unresponsive leads.
“Sometimes people are put off by all our effort … some people really appreciate it,” he explains. “We’re constantly trying to figure out where we’re reaching the point of diminishing returns.”
Kanopy launched the advanced version of Velocify’s prioritization system the day it opened in November 2012, about two weeks after the start of implementation. There was no pushback from employees, most of whom came from insurance backgrounds and were accustomed to older technology.
The system is simple and intuitive for end-users, says McClintock, but large data stores and customization capabilities steepen the learning curve for administrators. Data is critical to Kanopy’s business optimization strategy, and the wealth of data contained in the prioritization system can help improve marketing performance and cost-effectiveness. Consumer-targeted emails and databases are constantly being adjusted as more data is added and leads are converted into paying customers.
“It’s constantly trial and error,” McClintock says of Kanopy’s sales strategy. “It’s just a matter of being more organized, being more focused and following a methodology that we know works.”
Kelly Sheridan is the Staff Editor at Dark Reading, where she focuses on cybersecurity news and analysis. She is a business technology journalist who previously reported for InformationWeek, where she covered Microsoft, and Insurance & Technology, where she covered financial ... View Full Bio