When my son introduced me to generative artificial intelligence tools, I dove right in and started using AI tools like a personal assistant.

I was amazed by what the tools could do, especially when it came to creating communications. As a big Star Trek fan, I couldn’t help but think of the scene in the original Star Trek where Spock would talk to the computer. At the time, that seemed so futuristic. But that’s essentially what I’m doing now when I use AI tools: “Hey computer, help me.”

I’m not alone in my interest in AI. In the 2024 Agent-Customer Connection Study from Liberty Mutual and Safeco Insurance, 64% of agency principals said they are interested in how AI can improve their business.

However, not many principals have taken the leap to actually implement AI in their agencies. The study found that only 6% of agency principals said they have already implemented an AI solution in their agency, but 36% say they are likely to be using AI in the next five years.

AI might seem like a gimmick or a toy right now, but it’s quickly changing the way people work. It’s important for agency leaders to take the time to explore AI and set parameters for their team about what AI is for and how they can use it.

For my small team at Top O’ Michigan Insurance, AI has been a great tool to boost our marketing automations and help us communicate quickly and efficiently throughout the client lifecycle.

Our approach to implementing AI

As independent agents, our brand is about the experiences that clients have with us. Clients want their agent to regularly communicate with them, educate them on insurance, and provide good service. These are key to driving retention and building trust.

Our team at Top O’ Michigan is small, but we value our clients and want to make sure we stay in regular contact with them. We wanted to find a way to communicate with clients in ways that are timely, consistent and personalized without adding more to our staff’s workload.

The solution we found was AI-powered marketing automations using our agency management system, Applied Epic, and generative AI tools.

We took a four-phased approach to implementing our new process for AI-backed automations:

1. Build the base

First, we made sure the whole agency understood the standards of data entry. You can’t really use AI to its full potential if your data is poor. Data integrity and consistency is key.

Fortunately, we had a solid base to start with, since data consistency has been one of our agency’s objectives for at least 20 years. Customer information is consistent across the agency. This has helped our team service accounts, and now it’s helping us build out automations and craft consistent messaging.