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Agency Acceleration Lab is the podcast for insurance agents and agency owners who want to scale smarter, not harder.
Hosted by Alex Branning, each episode breaks down real growth strategies, marketing systems, and client retention frameworks that help you attract better clients, increase lifetime value, and build a more predictable agency.
If you're serious about building a high-performance insurance business, you're in the right place.
Agency Acceleration Lab – Episode 13 - Voice AI for Insurance Agencies
Alex Branning:
We're talking Voice AI today.
I believe this is going to be one of the biggest shifts in the insurance agency market, and if you, as an insurance agency owner, have not yet started to look at Voice AI, or if you've been kind of dipping your toes in the Voice AI pond, this podcast is for you.
My goal is to really give you a good overview of what's possible with Voice AI, what problems you will solve with Voice AI, as well as how to avoid new problems by introducing Voice AI where maybe it's not going to be a good fit for you.
So I'm going to walk through the exact playbook that I think you should use to implement Voice AI safely, compliantly, and effectively into your agency.
Now, one of the first areas where I think Voice AI is going to help you a bunch is on the missed call problem.
Every missed call into your agency is money that is potentially slipping through your fingers.
That could be a customer who's calling and they need help, and when you don't pick up the phone, they get frustrated and could look for another solution.
Or it could be a referral who got your number from somebody. You have no idea who they are. They call your agency to get a quote, you don't answer, they don't give you another try.
Or it could be a new lead. Somebody who saw your billboard or something else, they call the number, you don't answer, that's money that's gone.
So I think missed calls are one of the biggest leaks in the insurance agency, and it's a problem that Voice AI is perfect to solve.
Now, I'm going to be referring to the Voice AI platform that we built called Loanne. You'll hear me talk about it a lot, but the tips that I'm giving you to implement Voice AI into your insurance agency will not require Loanne.
You'll hear me reference it quite a bit, so I apologize if this sounds like a pitch. It's not intended to. My goal is to train you on Voice AI and inspire you to take action to get it yourself.
Now, when people call into your office, they're either a new lead or an existing customer. I'm just going to put them in those two buckets.
A new lead is calling because they want a quote. Voice AI handles this really well.
Loanne is designed to understand whether this person is asking questions as an existing customer or if they're a new lead or referral that's calling in.
Once she determines the intent and discovers that this is a new lead, what Loanne will do, and what you should do as you build your Voice AI, is try to get this new prospect on the calendar with a designated appointment time so that you can come prepared to the call with the information they need to make a decision.
The Voice AI should first identify that this person is a new lead.
"Are you asking for a quote?"
They say yes.
"Great. First, I want to book a time so that my agent can come prepared and go over your options. Then I'll ask you some questions so they can get a quote ready for you. How does that sound?"
They're going to say great.
We almost never get someone who says, "Forget it, I'm out."
So it should first review the open time slots on your calendar.
Loanne works with pretty much all booking systems. Obviously Agent CRM, but others as well. It can read the open times on your calendar and book a slot.
The good news is you should have new leads booked on your calendar almost 90% of the time because if they want a quote, they're okay with booking a slot later today or tomorrow when they're told you're going to do preparation before the call.
In their mind they're thinking, "That's great because I really do want you to do the work before we talk."
So they book a time slot, and then Loanne asks a couple questions.
Let's say you're property and casualty and they say they want an auto insurance quote.
"Great. Tell me the year, make, and model of your vehicle."
Do you have any accidents in the last couple years? Yes or no?
If you want to ask another question like mileage or something else, you can.
The goal is to get enough information for you to be able to start the quote.
Every question they answer is a micro-commitment to you.
When they give you the year, make, and model, that's a micro-commitment.
When they answer the accident question, that's another micro-commitment.
The goal is to get enough information where you can start that quoting process, but we don't want to walk them through too many questions on the pre-quote just in case they leave.
We want enough information so that you're prepared and not doing your homework while you're on the phone with them.
That's how you handle a new lead.
The goal is to get them on the calendar.
Now let's talk about existing customers.
An existing customer calls in. They have a problem. They want to submit a claim.
As long as you have your data in your CRM, Loanne can give them their next steps.
If they're asking a question about their policy or want to talk to somebody, Loanne is trained to ask questions so that when you call them back, you already have enough information.
If they need to file a claim and the system knows this is an Allstate customer calling about a homeowners policy, Loanne can give them the claims number immediately.
Now she's handling customer service for you.
No matter what type of call it is, you want to make sure you're notified immediately.
With Loanne, we send you a text message as soon as the call is done.
"We just spoke to this person from this number. Here's the name we got."
As soon as the transcript is processed, we email it to you and add it as a note to the contact record inside the CRM.
This keeps everything organized and ensures your CRM is updated with every interaction.
If it's a new lead, Loanne creates the contact record, adds the notes, and attaches the transcript.
Now let's talk about call transfers.
During business hours, the AI can transfer calls to you if that's what you want.
Some agency owners want the AI to gather information first and then transfer the call.
If it's after hours, Loanne will not transfer the call, but it will notify you by text message.
Then you can decide whether or not you want to call that person back.
Now let's talk about outbound Voice AI.
First, let me talk about a problem you do not want to create.
You do not want an AI dialer making cold calls.
Period.
It's putting you at risk, and it doesn't work.
You can use a Voice AI dialer to call existing customers.
When we do that, we want to make sure it has a good script and a clear objective.
We call this going on offense.
One of the easiest wins is using Loanne to pre-qualify appointments already on your calendar.
You can give it a set of questions you want answered before the call.
Typically, Loanne calls about 24 hours before the appointment.
If the person wanted an auto insurance quote and you already have the year, make, model, and accident history, maybe now you want mileage or number of drivers.
Loanne can gather that information before your appointment.
You could use text AI as well, but if you prefer voice, Loanne can handle it.
If you've followed me for a while, you've heard me say that I want agency owners doing revenue-generating tasks only.
I want your calendar filled with revenue-generating activities.
That means spending the shortest amount of time possible gathering information while still making the sale.
You should not be spending your time asking questions that AI can ask for you.
The second outbound sequence is reaching out to your database to schedule policy reviews.
Now, I get asked this a lot:
"Alex, when an AI dialer calls, should it say it's an AI?"
Yes.
If somebody asks, you absolutely want them to know they're talking to AI.
You do not want to lead with deception.
It is very important that your AI dialer is completely honest.
The second thing is you do not want your AI dialer using your voice.
If the customer has a relationship with you, they may know things your AI does not.
I had someone insist on using her own voice.
We advised against it.
Three weeks later, someone called in after seeing her social media post about attending a wedding.
The AI had no idea what they were talking about and started hallucinating responses.
It created a bad experience.
You want people to know they're talking to AI.
Give it a name.
Tell people it's Loanne calling.
If they ask if it's a robot, say:
"I am Agent Smith's AI-powered assistant."
Be upfront about it.
Now let's talk about two more outbound sequences.
Your playbook is:
Number one, use Voice AI to answer inbound calls.
Number two, use Voice AI for appointment pre-qualification.
Number three, use Voice AI to reach out to your warm list.
Number four, use Voice AI for check-ins after important events.
For example, if someone called to submit a claim, you can schedule Loanne to call them two weeks later.
"How are things going? Is there anything we can do to support you? Do you have any questions?"
It's not necessarily trying to get them on the calendar.
It's just creating a warm touchpoint and letting them know you're there to help.
If you're interested in Loanne, go to loanne.ai.
There are other Voice AI platforms out there too, and you can absolutely set them up yourself if you'd like.
At Loanne, we don't have setup fees. We can give you a full demo so you can see everything I talked about today.
Voice AI can be an incredible revenue-generating tool for your agency.
At a minimum, I highly recommend using it to handle inbound calls so that you're not glued to your phone and no opportunity slips through the cracks.
Hope this episode was useful for you.
Thank you for following the Agency Acceleration Lab.
We'll have more episodes coming up next week.
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