A software startup were sure they had a winner on their hands when they developed software to connect insurance companies directly with consumers in a way that was intuitive for the consumer and easy to implement for an established insurance company with legacy software systems. Their product arrived at the market at the right time - just as insurance companies had started developing direct sales channels en masse. The brilliance of their software was in the ease of integration with a variety of enterprise management systems. Yet despite the obvious attractiveness of their solution, not a single US insurance company had even agreed to a beta testing.
Our research showed that the product had no obvious defects and client’s market timing was practically perfect. It was also clear to us that our client had a rather limited window of time to solidify their customer base due to the threats posed by competitive products from third parties as well as from internal development by insurance companies.
Additionally, we observed that the startup value proposition built around the idea of removing of distribution intermediaries such as insurance agents was generating more tension than excitement within insurance company management. While it was evident to everyone that direct sales channels would be a big part of the future, most of the established players in the insurance market were not ready to alienate their distributors who, over time, had become an integral part of the insurance brand. Rather than a general and full-frontal approach, this situation required a more nuanced strategy built specifically for each prospective client.
Incupoint proposed that the startup completely abandon their existing value proposition and all marketing materials built around it. After selecting several insurance companies with whom our client had developed the closest relationships, we developed a new product placement strategy built around a direct insurance sales strategy: augmenting the existing sales model rather than competing with it directly. Critically, in doing so, we worked with insurance agents; thus, making them stakeholders in the project. This change in marketing strategy allowed our client to build a dialogue with insurance companies based on opportunities for the new distribution channel while supporting their existing distribution channels. In order to capitalize on the new marketing strategy, it was necessary for our client to modify their overall approach to their sales, giving their sales people more discretion and building internal infrastructure to ensure long-term relationships with the insurance companies.
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