Consistent, ongoing contact will get you in front of prospects when they are ready to talk about their insurance programs. ASP SaleSource is a combination software and service product that will help you manage the daily marketing activities necessary to stay in touch with a larger number of prospects than you could on your own.

SaleSource has been around for quite some time. It was originally developed by as a DOS program called ClientSource, and used very successfully by a number of agencies. Delphi Information Systems (now Ebix, Inc.) licensed the software from ClientSource around 1992 and converted it to a Windows program. Unfortunately, the company paid little attention to the product in the ensuing years and, while it had a loyal following of users, the product stagnated.

Dave Schuppler, an agent in Milwaukee, Wis., and a loyal user, purchased the source code to the program from ClientSource and began selling it to other agents. In 2003 the program was completely rewritten as a Web-based application. This latest version is based on the same philosophy as the original DOS version. New programming tools correct some of the problems found in the old version and new features have been added to make the system easier to use.

The biggest change is the move to a Web-based service or ASP (Application Service Provider) model. One of the advantages to this model is being able to access the program from any Internet connected computer. Remote locations can all use the same database and producers can work from home or use a laptop with a wireless connection.

In order to use this product, you have to perform two key functions. The first is the creation and setup of the individual campaigns that your prospects and/or clients will be run on. The setup process is done when you want to change the existing campaign or add new campaigns to the system. The second function is the daily processing of activities. Let’s look at each of these activities in more detail.

Campaign setup
There are three parts to creating and managing a campaign — templates, events, and strategies.

Templates — (Individual letters sent out as part of the contact with a prospect.) SaleSource has a built-in word processor and does not use Microsoft Word. This Active X control is automatically downloaded and installed the first time you edit a letter. You do not need a copy of Word to use the service. We found the included word processor to be quite capable. Normal formatting options are available including fonts (bold, underline, size, etc.), tables, find and replace, image insert, spell checking, and hyperlinks. Data can be merged into the letters from the contact database. The field code is inserted into the letter by placing the cursor where you want it inserted and picking the description from using a simple drop down list (see Figure 1 at left — The Template Manager).

Events — (Individual steps that are chained together to make a full campaign.) An event can be a letter, a telephone call, or a to-do item that shows up on the producer’s list of activities. Currently you cannot set up an event to send a fax or an e-mail, due to concerns about the legality of using both of these methods of communication. We believe these options should be added and left up to the agency to make sure all communication conforms to any legal requirements (see Figure 2 at right — This section allows you to add events).

Strategy — (A series of individual events linked together to provide the ongoing contact with a prospect or client.) A 10-month term wait strategy links 10 events together to send a letter or schedule a phone call. The timing of each event is selected when you build the strategy.

You could have each event spaced 30 days apart. You could also have some events trigger 15 days after the last event. You create a different strategy based on the number of contacts (or events) you want. Each of these different strategies could use the same events or different ones (see Figure 3 at left — Add a new strategy by linking events together).

The campaign manager pulls the above three parts together to launch prospects in your database on a specific strategy and to track the progress. The system provides complete control for picking specific prospects out of the database to include in an individual campaign (seeFigure 4 at right — Many options are available to create a new campaign).

The service also provides the necessary tools to import prospects into the system. Comma separated files (a standard data format) can be imported into the database and Excel file format will soon be available. During the import process you can designate each record as a commercial or personal prospect, which producer they belong to, the source of the list, and the type of prospect (current client, life prospect, P&C prospect, etc.).
A unique feature is the ability to delete an imported list. In our experience, the import process often does not work exactly the way you would expect. You often need to tweak the import process to get all of the information into the correct format and fields in the target database. The service keeps track of each record in an import and allows you to delete all the imported records. So if you put the telephone number in the zip code field you can delete the records from the database and start over.

The service comes with a variety of preinstalled, ready to use letters, events, and strategies. You can literally launch a campaign the first day you sign up for the service. We suggest you use what is included to get started. As you become more comfortable with the system you can use the preinstalled material as a template to create your own customized versions.

Once a campaign is launched the entire campaign is run and managed by the service. The only interaction necessary is to run the daily processing function and update the system with the results of each activity.

Daily processing
As the name implies, daily processing is done each workday. It is a three-step process. The first step is to run the daily process option on the software. During this process all contact records are examined and any events that are scheduled to take place on that date are created. For letters that need to be printed, SaleSource will print individual letters as well as any action worksheets and exception reports for the day. Scheduled phone calls are placed in the producer’s (or telemarketer’s) list of activities. The next step is to sign and mail letters, follow up on any calls that need to be made, and go on any scheduled appointments.

The system can also track what activities are not being completed. An exception report is generated after a designated number of days if a specific activity has not been updated in the system. This allows a manager to know what activities are not being completed so they can take appropriate action.

Action results
The final step is to update the results of each of these items in the Action Tracking Module for the individual prospect. This allows the producer to record any notes and change the campaign as needed. This history is maintained by the system and is a reference that can be used by the producer to know what communication a prospect has received and when.

One of the enhancements to the new system is how individual events are processed. Under the old system, the interval between events within a campaign were processed based on the number of days between events. This could create problems for a producer who is out sick or on vacation and unable to suspend activity. Under the new system the number of days between events is based on the number of completed daily processes. If you want to place your marketing activities on "hold" don’t perform the daily processing function. When you are ready to start up again you simply perform the daily processing. This is a subtle but important improvement.

ASP SaleSource will not solve all of your marketing problems. You still need a product to sell, prospects to sell to, and a sales staff with the ability to sell. It will, however, take the grunt work out of staying in contact with prospects and help you get in the door for that all important first appointment. The real value of ASP SaleSource is the organization and discipline it provides on the marketing process for an agency.