Hey everyone!
My name is Mike, and I'm a team member for a State Farm agent in Virginia. I was reading over this post, and I found it very interesting that there are several major carriers without either an E-App or fillable PDF for Life policies.
To provide context, because I work for a State Farm agent, I'm unable to sell products for any other carriers. I'm still pretty new to the insurance field (started last December), so working at a captive agency limits my exposure to other processes and business practices outside of the State Farm world.
State Farm has a fairly advanced, easy-to-use online application available for customers and agents/agent staff, with the customer/agent portals linked together. A customer can start a quote online, call an agent (or the 1-800#) for help, and the agent will be able to pull up the customer's quote in real-time. The entire application process is electronic, even allowing for electronic signatures on all documents. If the agent is closing the sale at the customer's home, the agent can print a hardcopy of the application, obtain the signature(s) from the customer, scan in the signed pages, and attach them to the E-App. It makes things very easy, and all of the Underwriting guidelines are included throughout the application in the form of (?) icons beside almost every item. Agents can access the online Life application from an Ipad or laptop to allow for increased mobility (they're working on integration for Smart Phones, but haven't finished yet.)
From your posts, it sounds like writing for a company without an E-App would be harder than writing for one that does offer an E-App. How do you guys handle that? Do you have to manually calculate the rate while you're with the customer, or are you able to use their information to run a quote ahead of time? Is there a benefit to not using E-Apps or fillable PDF's? If you've written (or are writing) for 2+ companies that have both formats, do you have a preference?
Thanks for taking the time to read this. I think this forum is a really great resource, and it's definitely helped me to get acclimated in my new role. I appreciate everyone who has shared their knowledge and experience.
_Mike
I want my MTV!!!!!!!!!!!