Compare NextAgency vs Generic CRMs

NextAgency is Built for Life and Health Insurance Agencies. Generic CRMs? Not so much.

Summary: NextAgency vs. Generic CRMs

Category	NextAgency	Generic CRMs
Built for life and health insurance	Yes	No
Pre-built policy, carrier, and commission objects	Yes	No
Compliance forms and e-signature included	Yes	No
Configuration required before use	Minimal and simple	Extensive, often requires hiring an outside consultant
Sales tools fit how Life & Health agencies sell	Yes	No
Industry-specific integrations included	Yes	Hit or miss
True total cost	Lower	Higher than the sticker

For agencies selling benefits, senior, and life policies, NextAgency is the better choice. Generic CRMs require expensive customization, lack the objects and workflows life and health agencies depend on, and put the cost of insurance-specific configuration and compliance on the agency.

Should Life & Health Agencies Use Generic CRMs?

No. Agencies selling benefits, senior, and life policies need software built for their unique needs. Generic platforms have to be broad and shallow. They are built for plumbers, lawyers, contractors, and retail shops. This means generic CRMs aim for the minimum common denominator across all industries. That’s why customers of generic software spend so much on consultants. They have to build the tools that fit their needs on top of the generic scaffolding. Compare this to NextAgency, which is designed specifically to meet the needs of life and health insurance agencies. NextAgency comes with the pipelines, workflows, record templates, fields, and reports these agencies use—and can be easily personalized for a specific agency. The terminology used within NextAgency is specific to your business. So while generic CRMs force you to invest money and time building the software you need, NextAgency already is that software. No expensive consultants required. This is why NextAgency earns scores of 9.2 out of 10 for Ease of Use and 9.5 out of 10 for Ease of Administration on G2. In addition, the cost of generic CRMs is usually much more than their sticker price. Their real cost includes subscription fees, outside developers to build a usable system, spreadsheets to fill the gaps, rigidity, hassles and frustration. NextAgency eliminates this by already being ready for you to use out-of-the-box.

“We were able to build our CRM tool all by ourselves and did not require outside consultants to built it out saving much time and money.”

— Eric F., G2

Why are Generic CRMs Inadequate for Agencies Selling Benefits, Senior, and Life Policies?

Generic CRMs are ill-suited for agencies selling benefits, senior, and life policies for several reasons. And each gap is a project that the agency owner ends up running.

Generic Software Requires Major Configuration

Generic CRMs are designed to meet the minimum common needs of different types of businesses across many industries. By their very nature they cannot, and do not, include the fields, objects, pipelines, reports, workflows and terminology used by agencies selling benefits, senior, and life policies. To wrestle them into a usable shape, all these elements need to be built by the agency — usually with an outside consultant. With NextAgency, pipelines, policy templates, fields, and reports are already in place from Day One. Any desired personalization can be done in minutes without outside help.

Generic Software Models Don’t Fit Insurance Sales

Generic CRMs assume a linear funnel: lead to opportunity to close. That’s not how life and health agencies work. A household has multiple policies across multiple carriers. Renewals run for years. Open enrollment compresses a year of work into weeks. Service work is as important to track as sales. Generic CRM tools don’t match the reality of insurance sales. NextAgency’s tools do. They were built by experienced insurance professionals for insurance professionals.

Generic CRMs Don’t Naturally Track Policies, Carriers, or Commissions

“Objects” is data-model jargon that describes how information is structured around things like contacts, products, tasks, and the like. Generic CRMs have objects for contacts, companies, and deals. They don’t have any for policies, carriers, and compliance forms. Nor do their objects account for plan years, premiums, commissions, overrides, or sub-agents. Each one requires a special buildout and, even then, they may not work well together. NextAgency speaks insurance, which means our objects are ready for what you need to track and custom fields have a natural and appropriate home, integrating naturally.

Generic Software Doesn’t Know About Compliance

Generic CRMs don’t know about your compliance needs. They don’t address them. NextAgency includes ACA and Medicare consent forms, and commission disclosure forms. NextAgency also delivers HIPAA-compliant safeguards, with access controls, 2FA, and audit trails built in. Figuratively speaking, most generic CRMs can’t spell HIPAA.

Generic Software Has Generic Integrations

Generic CRMs market thousands of integrations as a strength. And it is. But life and health insurance agencies aren’t integrating with thousands of platforms. NextAgency connects you to the tools you use like Employee Navigator, Ease, and BerniePortal. NextAgency also integrates with Outlook, Gmail, the Intulse VoIP system and GReminders. And NextAgency can connect to thousands of additional tools through Zapier.

Generic CRMs Cost More Than Just Their Sticker

Generic CRMs often have low per-seat fees. But those are only part of their cost. Add the consultant to make the generic platform usable, the spreadsheets needed to track information the CRM doesn’t, the hassle, frustration, and annoyance that often follows, and the real cost is much higher. NextAgency’s pricing is straightforward, transparent, and affordable. NextAgency also offers a longer free-trial (30-days) than most generic CRMs, doesn’t require long-term contracts, and charges no setup fee.

What About Platforms Built on Generic CRMs?

Some life and health agency management systems are built on top of a generic CRM. The proposition is appealing: the power of the underlying CRM with the insurance configuration already built in. There’s a big downside, too. The agency is paying for both the core CRM and the customization layer. This can add up fast and often requires an added setup fee. Configuring a generic CRM to the insurance industry isn’t the same as personalizing the software. Adapting this layered approach to a particular agency’s workflows can be time-consuming and expensive, if it’s permitted at all. NextAgency was built from scratch for life and health insurance agencies by health insurance professionals. No layering and none of the hassles that approach brings.

NextAgency Is Easier To Manage Than Generic CRMs

Most life and health insurance agencies don’t have dedicated IT departments. And they certainly don’t have someone who can spend full time managing the agency’s CRM. Yet this is what generic CRMs often expect. NextAgency expects agencies to focus on selling and servicing their clients. NextAgency doesn’t require IT expertise. Which is why NextAgency has a 9.5 (out of 10) rating on G2 for Ease of Administration.