What should my agency automate first?

I’m Chris Cordon, a 17 year benefits producer, and DoBetter (dobetter.plus) is my [AI consultancy for benefits agencies](/articles/ai-consultant-for-benefits-agencies). When I map how an agency works, the most common surprise is anything with manual data entry. “It’s shocking how many agencies are still typing things in by hand.”

Why start with manual data entry?

Manual data entry is the best first job to automate because the work is already defined. The steps repeat, the inputs are files you already have, and the output is easy to check.

Typing by hand is also where the mistakes live. When you rush a renewal comparison, “that’s where you miss a rate, do the wrong math, and go blind from all of the individual cells in the Excel spreadsheet.”

A job nobody has written down is a poor first pick. An agent follows rules. If nobody at your agency can say how the work should go, the agent can’t either.

Which job should my agency start with?

Find your agency below. Each question links to the fix.

### Are you retyping carrier quotes into proposals?

Start with a [proposal generator](/articles/insurance-proposal-generator). We used to send clients the carrier’s quote as is. “In retrospect, sending the carrier quote was embarrassing because we didn’t know there was a better way.” Now I drag the quote into an app, it pulls the rates for 8 plans across 4 coverage types, and the proposal is ready a split second after I download it.

### Are you typing renewal comparisons by hand?

Start with [renewal quote comparison](/articles/renewal-quote-comparison). Our account manager used to find last year’s quote and do the increase math by hand. Now the new renewal PDF goes in, and last year’s plans line up next to this year’s with the premium change already figured.

### Are you copying census data from one spreadsheet to another?

Start with the [census file](/articles/employee-census-file). We used to dig three sheets out of a client’s workbook, fill a spreadsheet with about 11 columns, then turn around and fill another one with 163 columns.

### Are account managers answering the same emails all day?

Start with [service requests](/articles/service-request-management). ID cards are, “by a country mile,” the number one thing account managers get emailed about. If you know the top five requests and have a template for each, you can clear them off the desk and free account managers to call clients before clients call them.

### Do you walk into sales meetings cold?

Start with a [research agent](/articles/ai-research-agent) for [meeting prep](/articles/sales-meeting-prep). How long did a meeting brief take me by hand? “I didn’t do one.” Now the brief is ready in about 5 minutes, with six questions to ask before I leave the room.

### Are replies and follow ups sitting in the inbox?

Start with an [inbox agent](/articles/ai-email-assistant). A campaign sends 30 emails a day per mailbox, and the one real reply gets buried under out of office notices. A [reply agent](/articles/cold-email-follow-up) sorts every reply, drafts the hot ones, and waits for a person to send.

### Do renewals sneak up on you?

Start with [renewal tracking](/articles/renewal-tracking). I once had a March 1 effective date move to April 1, then May 1, after the client hired three people late. “We should have got ahead of it by about 90 days, but instead it was about 30.”

### Is your lead list full of bad phone numbers?

Start with a [lead list with real phone numbers](/articles/lead-list-real-phone-numbers). My first year as an SDR, about 45% of every list I pulled was fax numbers, missing names, and P.O. boxes.

### Does every morning start from scratch?

Start with an [AI executive assistant](/articles/ai-executive-assistant). I used to leave myself notes at the end of the day. “The only problem is I’m forgetful, so a lot of times I would open up, and no one had closed.” Now a digest of what’s due lands at 7:00 every weekday morning.

What if more than one of these sounds like my agency?

If more than one job sounds like your agency, pick the one with the most typing and the most people touching it.

If you can’t tell which job that is, map it first. A [business process map](/articles/business-process-mapping) shows who touches each piece of information and where it gets typed twice. An [AI readiness assessment](/articles/ai-readiness-assessment) tells you whether your agency is ready to hand a job to an agent at all.

What happens in discovery?

Discovery is a granular look at your agency: who’s on staff, how the data flows, who touches the information, and how you bring business in. After 2 to 3 hours, I can tell you where I can help, and whether I can. Discovery costs $1,500. Every build after it is a fixed fee, scoped from what discovery finds.