iBoomerang and GatherWorks work with insurance companies to gather up sales faster
You'll recall that I introduced readers to a new Web conferencing company in January called GatherWorks. At the time, I told readers that its product, GatherPlace, was "easy to learn, easy to use, and even include[d] application sharing between pairs of participants." I said it was a bit too early to talk about sales and applications, but that I'd give you an update.
Well I got an update from GatherWorks this week, and POW! GatherWorks has upgraded GatherPlace, so that it now can run on virtually any computer and under any browser. It now runs on Apple Macintoshes, computers running Linux, or any computer that runs Java. In fact, it even runs on Netscape and Apple Safari, in addition to Internet Explorer, as it requires no download for participants. You get a URL; you click; you join!
Pricing?
Well GatherWorks took my advice in January and has simplified the pricing, making it very attractive. The new rate card has three stock rates- $29 a month for up to five participants ($25 a month for an annual contract), $49 a month for up to 25 participants ($39 a month for an annual contract), and a Corporate Edition that includes unlimited logins, for $99 a month for 35 guests ($79 a month for an annual contract). Users pay for their own phone calls.*
Sales?
Well, the company has signed up several new accounts since we last talked, in particular it signed an agreement with a "New Jersey-based videoconferencing service provider."
The contract that GatherWorks told me about, though, that really got me to stand up and cheer, was with a company called iBoomerang, an online marketing company, and one of its customers, an insurance company called USA Benefits Group, a division of America's Health Care Program. I gotta tell you that, once again, users have found a way to use Web conferencing in ways we in the industry would never have dreamt of. And, they're making tons of money using it!
"In the past, I was wasting 20 hours a week driving to appointments to sell insurance, said Doug Frankel, President of iBoomerang and Regional VP of USA Benefits Group, which sells insurance to sole proprietors and small businesses. "I can't tell you the number of times I drove for 60 minutes for a no-show. Since, 2003, we've been using Web conferencing to sell health insurance. We sell 100% on line, no signatures. Maybe you didn't know this, but 37 states have approved the use of ‘electronic signatures.' After years of selling, I know that no one wants an insurance salesman at their house in their face. They prefer meeting the salesperson online. Web conferencing is the gasoline to get to those meetings. I use iBoomerang to walk my clients through our offerings; it's like ‘click and go' now. Using Web conferencing, I've personally quadrupled my sales revenues. It's like putting away a horse and buggy and getting into an automatic red Corvette.
Doug told me that selling online through Web conferencing is not for everyone. While his younger sales people have adapted to it well, his older ones have not. Of the 3,100 sales people, he estimates that about 300 are now selling online. "With Web conferencing, I have agents making multiple six-figure incomes."
Here's what I think
Now tell me, who would ever have thought of going to a traveling insurance salesman and telling him he was a potential user of Web conferencing? Not me, nor most others in the field. Doug did, though, and he's now got some millionaires who are glad he did. By the way, he told me several times how much he needed a product that was highly customizable and easy to use. In doing so, he told me that he dropped one of the competitors' products when he found they didn't meet this requirement, and switched to GatherWorks.
Holly Morales (holly@gatherworks.com)
Doug Frankel (doug@iboomerang.com)
