5 Call Routing Strategies That Increase Insurance Sales Conversion Rates

Key Takeaways

• Performance-based routing can increase conversions by 30%+
• AI can automatically adjust agent proficiency by state and queue
• Eliminating manual proficiency adjustments saves management time

In a 100-agent call center processing 5,000 leads per month, the difference between random routing and intelligent routing can mean 200+ additional closed policies. That's not a theoretical number—it's the real impact of matching leads with the right agents. Modern cloud contact center solutions make this kind of optimization possible.

This article covers five call routing strategies, from basic to advanced, culminating in AI-powered performance-based routing that automatically optimizes your call center without manual intervention. Combined with click attribution tracking, you'll know exactly which leads are most valuable and who should handle them.

Strategy 1: Round-Robin Distribution (The Baseline)

Round-robin is the simplest routing method: calls are distributed evenly to all available agents in rotation. Agent A gets a call, then Agent B, then Agent C, and the cycle repeats.

Verdict: Round-robin is a reasonable starting point for new call centers, but mature agencies should evolve beyond it. When your top performer closes at 25% and your average is 12%, routing half your leads to lower performers is leaving money on the table.

Strategy 2: Skills-Based Routing

Skills-based routing matches incoming calls to agents based on their certifications, languages, or product expertise. This ensures callers reach someone qualified to help them.

Skills-based routing is better than round-robin, but it has a significant limitation: skills are static. An agent is tagged with a skill once and keeps it regardless of actual performance. An agent might be "certified" for Medicare Advantage but close at half the rate of their peers.

Strategy 3: Priority-Weighted Distribution

Priority-weighted routing assigns priority levels to agents, typically on a 1-10 scale. Higher priority agents receive more calls. This allows you to route more leads to top performers.

This approach is better than equal distribution, but it requires manual adjustment. Supervisors must regularly review performance and update priority scores. In practice, this rarely happens consistently—priorities get stale, and the system becomes less effective over time.

Strategy 4: Geographic/State-Based Routing

For insurance agencies, geographic routing is often essential. State licensing requirements, regional product availability, and local market knowledge all matter.

Here's the insight that most agencies miss: some agents perform dramatically better in certain states than others—even when equally licensed and trained. An agent might close 20% in Florida but only 8% in Texas. This variance is real, measurable, and usually ignored.

This observation leads to the most powerful routing strategy available today...

Strategy 5: AI Performance-Based Routing (The Game Changer)

What if your dialer could automatically track each agent's conversion rate by state and by queue, then continuously adjust routing to optimize for results—without any manual intervention?

That's exactly what AgentTech Dialer's AI-powered performance-based routing does.

Real-World Example

Consider Agent Sarah's performance across three states:

The system automatically routes more California and Florida leads to Sarah, while routing Texas leads to agents who perform better in that market. No manual intervention required.

Per-Queue Proficiency

The same logic applies to different queues or product types. Some agents excel at Medicare Advantage while others are better at Medicare Supplement. The AI learns these patterns and optimizes accordingly.

The ROI of Intelligent Routing

Let's do the math on what performance-based routing can deliver:

That's $240,000 per year in additional revenue—from the same leads you're already paying for, with the same agents you're already paying. The only difference is smarter routing.

Implementation Best Practices

Start Simple, Then Optimize

1. Begin with skills-based routing to ensure basic matching
2. Add geographic routing for licensing compliance
3. Enable AI performance tracking to gather baseline data
4. Activate automatic proficiency adjustment once you have sufficient data

Key Metrics to Track

• Conversion rate by agent, state, and queue
• Average handle time
• Agent utilization rates
• Lead-to-sale velocity

Common Pitfalls to Avoid

• Over-engineering rules: Keep it simple at first
• Insufficient data: Let the AI gather enough calls before making conclusions
• Ignoring new agents: Have a ramping period before AI adjustments kick in
• Not communicating changes: Help agents understand why routing is changing

Conclusion: Stop Leaving Money on the Table

Every lead you route to the wrong agent is potential revenue lost. Traditional routing methods—round-robin, static skills, manual priority—simply can't optimize at the level that AI-powered performance routing can.

The technology to automatically track agent performance by state and queue, then dynamically adjust routing based on actual results, is available today. Agencies using it are seeing 30%+ improvements in conversion rates without changing their lead sources or hiring better agents.

The question isn't whether you can afford to implement intelligent routing—it's whether you can afford not to.