Insurance is one of those products that is customized by definition. There is no ‘one size fits all’ approach to buying and selling insurance coverage, whether for health, life, auto or home. Every person, car and house is different, and combined with desired coverage levels, pricing can vary widely. Insurers use a variety of tools and practices to determine what the appropriate cost is for a particular level and type of coverage based on different constraints. However, many insurance salespeople today are still not utilizing a tool that can make an immediate, direct and measurable difference to their bottom line – a configure, price, quote (CPQ) solution.

For the uninitiated reading this post, a CPQ is a software tool that enables users to customize a product or service offering and create an instant, accurate quote and proposal. It features your entire product catalog, as well as any constraints that affect pricing decisions. The system can be updated centrally so any changes in offerings or prices are updated instantly for all of your users and salespeople, as well as different channels such as eCommerce.

If you are an insurer not currently taking advantage of a configurator, you are behind the curve. Old paper or Excel-based systems may work, but they take significant amounts of time and are prone to error. These are the biggest perks of using a configurator – you are virtually guaranteed you will provide an accurate quote 100% of the time, and the time it takes to produce such a quote is reduced to mere minutes.

Customers appreciate not having to wait for the agent to gather all their details then come back to them later with a quote after it has been priced out. Many customers also like the fact that because all information is consistent across channels and can be automatically synced to your CRM system, they can create their own quote online then call later to ask questions or make changes without having to start the process from scratch. In today’s increasingly competitive environment, anything that improves your customer service levels and consumer perceptions is invaluable. Plus the time savings alone are typically enough to offset the initial setup and ongoing license fees of such a system, meaning real, rapid return on investment.

You can learn more about product configuration for the insurance industry by visiting http://www.cameleon-software.com/web/en/64-insurance-and-financial-services.php.