This past February for Valentine’s Day, some entrepreneur in Milwaukee set up a drive-thru station at the area fairgrounds. Drivers could pull up and pick up cards, chocolates and flowers on the fly. Some said, brilliant; others said, what a sad testament to the fast, high-pressure times that we live in.

It is interesting that someone set up a way to allow a lot more people in very quick fashion to show that they care. It solved a need and probably made for a lot of happy households that night. The term for this is “scalable intimacy” and it should be in every broker’s strategic plan rolling forward.

So what does this mean to your business?

Zywave does employer surveys every year to gather insight into what employers want from their broker. In our most recent one, we surveyed over 5,000 employers and one theme rang through loud and clear. Employers are expecting more from their broker. They want contact at least once a month and they want to see relevant information that will help them navigate through compliance updates. What’s more, they expect their broker to support their business beyond their insurance needs, in areas such as risk management, compliance and employee communications. While this is good news speaking to the demand of an insurance professional, it can create an issue for a brokerage if they do not meet the need.

Believe me, I understand – you’re busy. It takes a lot of work to proactively contact each client on all these topics. Brokerages need to implement technology in order to meet this need so they can have scalable intimacy with their clients. It is impossible to be profitable and do things the old-fashioned way.

Your “drive thru” solution

We just released a new tool called MyWave Connect to address this very need. It is a portal that you can share with your clients, loaded with information on risk management, safety, and compliance. In addition, the tool is smart and so depending on your clients’ backgrounds or needs, the tool will deliver a customized experience. But here’s the big game-changer: it will “touch” your client as often as they want with relevant information that will get emailed to them. You don’t have to post anything to the site, you don’t have to remind them to log in. It engages your clients automatically – on your behalf.

Brokers can now not only succeed at scalable intimacy, but actually exceed expectations. In addition, brokers can set up prospects, knowing full well the incumbent is not delivering this information or reaching out to their client often with relevant info. You will be crumbling the walls of resistance to new sales while out prospecting to others.  With today’s technology, any size brokerage can flex the marketing muscle of a giant by simply implementing the right technology and executing.  For every producer in your organization, you should have a goal of engaging three hundred prospects in a warm, highly impactful way on a monthly basis.

Today’s world is changing fast and technology is helping brokerages shape their new futures, exceeding client expectations and differentiating themselves in the process. The great news is for brokerages who understand the opportunity and see that it is not that hard, it creates an exciting time ahead. And who knows?  With the technology doing the work, you might have time to shop for Valentine’s Day gifts versus racing through a drive-thru next year. Better yet, you may very well have clients sending you flowers and chocolates for driving their results. What a great time to be a broker.