Magnum Insurance Agency, like many insurance companies, traditionally grew by opening new stores. With help from QuotePro, a significant portion of their business is now generated through their website, mobile site and QuotePro Kiosks.
By partnering with QuotePro, Magnum Insurance was able to efficiently expand their market presence without the associated traditional costs of staffing, employee training and licensing, cash management and expensive office rentals.
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The Opportunity
Since 1881, Magnum has been a major player in the Illinois non-standard auto insurance market, writing tens of millions of dollars in premiums annually. Their focus is selling non-standard, state minimum coverage auto insurance to the Hispanic community. From a single storefront in Chicago they continued to expand – now they have over 40 locations.
Magnum wanted to grow their business, but opening new stores is daunting and expensive: outlays of tens of thousands of dollars to rent and equip space, as well as the investment to hire, train and license staff. While it was difficult to justify the capital costs to open a new store, it seemed to be the only option to expand with a physical presence to cater to their cash-preferred customers. Chris Roman, Magnum’s Vice President, said, “Cash is expensive.” Costs for cash handling alone often precluded the opening of a new store.
The Solution
Magnum was one of the earliest adopters of online insurance in their market. They chose QuotePro to power their website and mobile site, to quote and sell auto insurance. Additionally, QuotePro created a payment portal so that customers could pay their monthly insurance bill online.
Rather than opening a new store, Magnum placed a cash-accepting QuotePro Kiosk in one of their busiest storefronts. The store was handling over 30 payments per day, almost all were in cash. The results were impressive:
- QuotePro provided full cash management so that Magnum didn’t have to. Customers’ payments were posted in real-time to finance companies, carriers and Magnum’s agency management system – providing full reconciliation and real-time reporting
- Magnum’s customer service reps could now concentrate on billing and sales issues that required consultative solutions, instead of handling everyday payments
- Customers easily adapted and appreciated the option to use to the self-service kiosk to make payments in cash or with debit or credit cards, instead of having to wait in line on paydays. They could make their payments quickly and leave with their proof of insurance in-hand
Getting creative: QuotePro Kiosks support Magnum expansion
Seeing the benefits provided by the QuotePro Kiosk inside of their office, Magnum was eager to expand their presence in other ways.
QuotePro was able to secure seven locations that complimented Magnum’s presence within the community. The Magnum-branded kiosks replaced traditional ATMs inside a local chain of Hispanic grocery stores.
The kiosks serve not only as an ATM, but also enable Magnum customers to look up and make auto insurance payments, get auto insurance quotes and buy auto insurance on the spot.
The relationship has paid off for both the grocer and Magnum:
- Their customer demographics are virtually identical
- The grocer’s locations filled in the gaps between Magnum’s office locations
- The kiosks met the ATM needs of the store’s clientele
- The longer hours of the grocery store, including Sundays, extended Magnum’s operating hours for its customers