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3 minute read
May 20, 2022
For over 50 years, Washington National Insurance Company has created and sold supplemental health and life insurance products. They partner with insurance agents and independent marketing organizations to provide 2.5 million Americans with insurance that fills gaps in their current coverage.
For many Americans, especially those buying insurance on a market exchange, such as the Affordable Care Act (ACA) exchange, open-enrollment plans don’t provide coverage for everything they need. Washington National relies on the conversations that insurance agents have with prospective policyholders to understand what the customer is looking for and then identify potential gaps in coverage with their existing plan and their financial pain points. Washington National’s critical illness insurance or indemnity plans, which provide a per-day cash benefit in the event of hospitalization or an accident, can help close those gaps and provide financial security.
For Washington National to serve the needs of its end customers, it’s critical to have seamless communication and technical processes with their partners for enrollment, billing, and even commission tracking. There’s where e123 has dramatically simplified their back-office processes to enable growth.
e123 Helps Insurance Carriers and Their Partners
Washington National currently has three products on the e123 platform – a critical illness supplemental plan, accident indemnity insurance, and hospital indemnity insurance. The e123 platform simplifies multiple aspects of the sales process for their partner agencies. First, it enables an electronic signature to replace a wet signature or voice stamp, which accelerates the application and approval process. Second, it allows for combined billings. Agents often sell multiple products from different carriers. e123 allows the agent to bundle those products into a single bill which is a more seamless experience for the end consumer.
Third, it provides customer relationship management (CRM) tools for back-office support. As Dave Stephan, Director of Field Sales for Washington National explains, e123 gives you “a complete view of what you need to manage your business not only an agent, but also as an agency and then as an agency owner. You can see how your business is performing and where you need to change things. It’s a huge tool for that.”
Enabling Growth During the Pandemic
When Covid shut down face-to-face meetings, virtual become the only way to do business. e123’s technology enabled Washington National to continue to grow using the virtual signature and fulfillment processes. In Dave’s words, “I can’t overstate the importance of what e123 has done for our ability to work with carriers that are making this [virtual] insurance space theirs.” Face-to-face sales may not completely go away, but the e123 platform will enable sales through electronic communications to continue to grow.
A Cost-Effective Solution
Washington National is heading into its fourth open enrollment season with e123. Prior to e123, they used proprietary software, including voice stamping. They have found e123 not only to be a huge jump in technological capabilities, but also extremely affordable, as costs can be shared with their partners. With the ability for agents to manage their business in a new way, “It’s been a deal that has been well worth the return on investment,” says Dave.
e123 is also saving National Washington significant time on the commission tracking. When Washington National’s partners use e123, back-office support is simplified as commissions and contracting often shifts to them. Large partners not only handle the commission payouts, but also the management of the agencies working under them.
Growing into the Future
Washington National is excited about the future relationship and potential opportunities with e123. To date, the e123 processes have been implemented seamlessly, which has benefited numerous of Washington National’s existing partnerships. While the technical side is working “flawlessly” from Dave’s perspective, the sales side is just developing. “We have seen a path forward where we can mutually grow our relationships. The opportunity in front of us is exciting and I can’t what to see what the future holds between our two companies.”
Ultimately, Washington National anticipates putting additional products on the e123 platform. With a more robust product offering, more agents will have access to more supplemental policies that can help close insurance gaps for many Americans.
As Dave concludes, e123’s platform “gives you an edge that makes you perform better than the next agency down the road that is taking care of a renewal. It’s a good product that solves a lot of stuff that just happens in agencies, back office and service type stuff that can easily fall through the cracks.”
