The follow-up is the sale
Imagine your company had a million employees. What would you have them do? The work you’d love to throw bodies at today but can’t because it would cost too much. Follow up on every lead, answer every customer question, and help people through the buying process.
Insurance is a good example of what becomes possible when you are not operating under these constraints. Most people who get a quote never end up buying the policy because insurance carriers have too many leads to follow up with each one. With Sierra’s long-running Horizon agents, insurers can now proactively engage every prospective customer over days, weeks, or months — staying with them until they buy or move on.
One agent, one customer
It’s 8:46pm on a Saturday and Anne gets quotes for her auto coverage from three websites. Your quote is competitive but something prevents her from buying it. Maybe the price was higher than expected or she wanted to talk to her partner first. But without following up it’s hard to know.
Here’s what that looks like with one of Sierra’s Horizon agents:
- Day 1 – Saturday, 8:46pm: Minutes after Anne saves the quote, a text arrives: “Hi, it’s Jamie, Alder Insurance’s AI agent. Your quote for the 2025 Honda Accord is saved. I’m here by text or phone for any questions you may have, or to continue the process.” It’s clear she’s not ready yet, so Jamie doesn’t push.
- Day 4 – Tuesday, 12:40pm: Jamie checks in over lunch and Anne asks, “does my quote include uninsured motorist coverage?” It does and Jamie pulls up the exact application to confirm the selected limits. “If my car is in the shop after an accident, does the quote cover a rental?” Not currently. Jamie confirms the available limit, shows how adding it would affect each payment option, and offers a licensed representative should Anne want more personalized advice. She wants to discuss it with her partner, so Jamie leaves it there.
- Day 7 – Friday, 4:02pm: Jamie checks in. “Were you able to talk the quote over with your partner? I’m here if you have questions. Feel free to call or text anytime.”
- Day 7 – Friday, 9:58pm: Anne texts back and Jamie responds immediately, offering to chat. On the call, Jamie retrieves the saved application, confirms a few details, pulls the final quote, and answers her follow-up questions live. Later that night, Anne purchases the policy and Jamie immediately emails her a confirmation and the policy documents.
No single message here is remarkable. A good insurance agent does all of that today. What’s new is being able to do it for every customer. As one customer put it to us last week: “We just don’t have enough people to call them all.” Horizon effectively assigns one agent to one applicant until the job is done.
When they’re ready
Some customers come back on their own. The opportunity is to convert meaningfully more of the ones that don’t. And while this story is personal auto insurance, every line of insurance leaks the same way: commercial applications lost in the data chase, life and annuities applications that die of neglect.
With Horizon agents, insurers can build a relationship with every prospect, and that relationship gets more valuable over time. Every conversation adds context about the customer, making the next interaction more informed and the agent more effective. As AI models improve, that proprietary customer context remains uniquely yours.
Like all agents built on Sierra, your Horizon agent is designed to comply with the best practices of your business and the broader industry. You control what the agent communicates, whether it’s approved quotes, next steps, or coverage details.
Every industry has its version of the saved quote — the stalled authorization, the outgrown plan, the trip never rebooked — something a customer starts but does not finish. Over the coming weeks, we’ll explore them, one journey at a time.
