This summer, we made the announcement about our new product innovation Applied Epic for Salesforce, which connects the world’s most widely used agency and brokerage management system with the world’s #1 CRM platform. (You can check out this blog post on our initial announcement for more details on product features.)
After only a few months on the market, we've already seen a strong contingent of early adopters on Applied Epic for Salesforce. We thought it would be valuable to hear from one of these agencies, so we sat down with two of Core Assurance agency’s employees. Read a few sound bites from our interview with Zack Brandau, Executive VP, and Diandra Carpenter, Insurance Strategy and Operations Leader, to learn about the implementation process, the benefits of using the product, and more.
Applied Communications: Can you tell us how the integration process went for your agency?
Diandra Carpenter: We've integrated a handful of different platforms in our agency, and the Applied Epic for Salesforce integration has by far been the easiest. From the layout of how we would use the platform to the training to the ease of use of the program itself. We have found this platform's integration to be very well laid out and executed from start to finish.
AC: What were some of the features in Applied Epic for Salesforce that really attracted you to it and helped close the deal for you?
Zack Brandau: The dashboards and reporting capabilities were appealing. Another big thing for us was not having to re-key data in two different places. It saves a tremendous amount of time when we can input data into Salesforce and on the backend the service team can access it.
AC: Any advice for other agencies that are contemplating adopting this platform?
ZB: Pipeline management is crucial to sales and new data sales is critical for any agency if they want to survive. An efficient way of measuring your sales is needed and typing into Excel or a notebook is not the most efficient way to manage your deals. I'll add that I think the barrier to entry for many agencies is probably implementation, both from a cost and time perspective, but that just wasn't an issue with Applied Epic for Salesforce.
AC: Were you using Salesforce before this product or was it completely new to you?
DC: For me, it was brand new but I found it to be very user friendly. The Trailblazer Community that Salesforce offers is a great tool to resolve technical issues and learn best practices.
AC: Do you see Applied Epic for Salesforce helping you grow new business?
DC: Absolutely. We have dashboards that Applied helped us set up during our implementation phase that show us where we are towards our goal as an agency and where we are on opportunities for the next 90 days that are greater than 50%. We have quite a few things set up from a sales perspective that we've been able to integrate. We can pull the information exactly how we want it in Salesforce based on how we are looking at numbers and opportunities.