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Looking at the Competition?
We certainly hope so! We at GBS, Inc. want you to find the best Client/Agency Management software product for your money. It is no advantage for GBS, Inc to sell you a particular software package when a better product for you exists in the marketplace. In your review of our products and the competitors' products, you will run across various sales people with various opinions and a myriad of answers to your questions. Because we are well aware of the turmoil you will go through to make what you hope will be your final software purchase, we have prepared this "fact sheet."
GBS, Inc. has been marketing insurance-/investments-based software systems since 1979. These packages have been thoroughly market-tested over that time to produce the most user-friendly, powerful and cost-effective packages available. However, that is just our opinion and the opinions of several thousands of our subscribers. Following are the facts; Indisputable information on the GBS, Inc. AGENCY EXPERT versus the products developed by our competitors. This document has not been prepared to discredit the competition or their products; only to give you factual answers to the most important and most common questions.
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q More Capability for Your Dollar - GBS, Inc. offers more capability and flexibility for your dollar. Compare the GBS, Inc. product to that of the competitor and you will find this to be true. The facts are simple; a product that does more is more cost effective than one that does less for the same or greater cost. Why would anyone pay more money for a product with less capability?
q Four Versions to Choose From - While many of our competitors give you one version to evaluate and purchase, GBS, Inc. has developed four versions of AGENCY EXPERT. Pick the version which best fits your needs at this time and upgrade if/when the need arises. Why pay more money for capabilities you will never use?
q More User-friendly than the Competition - A few of our competitors force you to VIEW information on one screen but edit/modify and ADD new information on a completely different screen(s). Some of these products force you to access more than seven separate screens to enter a single record! AGENCY EXPERT not only tracks more information but allows you to enter, edit and view your data on one screen. Why would you spend several minutes searching, accessing, editing, adding and viewing your data on a multitude of screens when all your work can be accomplished on ONE SCREEN in just a few seconds?
q More Intuitive than the Competition - The majority of Windows applications are developed with a common interface. These applications all have the same "look and feel" (i.e. Microsoft Word for Windows, Microsoft Office, Microsoft Excel, etc.). GBS, Inc. has followed this lead in the development AGENCY EXPERT to give you a software application that you will feel more comfortable with and thus learn to use much more quickly than some of our competitor's packages. Some of our competitors develop their application(s) with a unique interface (i.e. applications developed using MS Visual Foxpro). Why suffer through a steeper learning curve and battle an application's non-intuitive interface when you do not have to?
q Not Specified or Limited to a Particular Line of Business - While some of our competitors have developed their products to track one or two general areas of insurance or investments (and thus EXCLUDED others), GBS, Inc. has developed the AGENCY EXPERT to track all lines of insurance and investments. This is not to say that our competitors have products that are not well-developed for the lines of business they are intended to track, only that the AGENCY EXPERT will meet or beat our competitors specific tracking capabilities for all lines of insurance and investments. Why purchase a product that you will some day have to replace due to limitations in its ability to track a particular line of business?
q No Limitations in Any Area(s)* - The GBS, Inc. AGENCY EXPERT does not limit your data entry or flexibility in any area(s). You can enter and track an unlimited number of Records* (i.e. Individuals, Businesses, Policies, Investments, Agents, Notes, etc.). You can enter and track an unlimited number of marketing levels and outgoing commission splits (e.g. for the accurate tracking and processing of commissions received and paid out). Many of our competitors have limits on either the number of records that can be tracked/entered into their database or the number of levels that can be tracked for accurate commissions accounting. Why would anyone purchase a software product that limited their flexibility and use in the most crucial areas of the system?
q More Updates and Enhancements - While many of our competitors do not have the resources to keep their product(s) updated and evolving along with the trends and changes in the industry, GBS, Inc. aggressively seeks feedback from our subscribers. GBS, Inc. employs full-time in-house programmers and support technicians to make sure that AGENCY EXPERT contains the capabilities our subscribers ask for and require to track their business and seek new business in their competitive marketplace. A software product that is not being constantly upgraded and enhanced is a software product that will someday need to be replaced.
q Free Data Transfer from Your Old Database - While most of our competitors either charge you to transfer your data from your previous database or do not offer that level of support, GBS, Inc. will transfer your data from your previous database at no additional fee! Just send your data to GBS, Inc. in an ASCII-delimited or Text-delimited format and GBS, Inc. will gladly convert that data to AGENCY EXPERT in the most efficient and complete manner possible. Would you settle for anything less or expect anything more?
q FREE Updates and Enhancements - While most of our competitors charge their subscribers for any enhancement or update made to their application, GBS, Inc. sends all enhancements and updates made to AGENCY EXPERT at NO ADDITIONAL CHARGE to supported subscribers.
q Designed for the Insurance and Investments Industry - AGENCY EXPERT is designed and developed specifically for the Insurance and Investments industries. Many database software applications are not. Database applications such as Goldmine, ACT!, Maximizer, Q&A, and more, are designed as generic applications with very basic capabilities. If you are selling Encyclopedias or Vacuum Cleaners, these are the databases for you. If you are selling Insurance or Investment products, you need an application that tracks insurance and investments products and policies, Commissions, Agents and Agencies and generates Insurance- and Investment-related reports. As an old axiom suggests, "never bring a knife to a gun fight."
q The Truth Regarding Referrals - In the 20+ years we have been in business, we have come to two conclusions regarding the handing out of referrals (e.g. names and phone numbers of subscribers using our software). 1) When a prospect calls a company requesting referrals, the company (GBS Included) would not simply give out random names of subscribers in hope that they would present a flawless review of the software product. Instead, the company will pull a name or two from a predefined list of clients who they know will give a "perfect" testimonial regarding the software product. This type of "hand-picked" referral is obviously skewed and would not give the prospect the objective, non-biased response they would require to make an educated buying decision. 2) Even when clients request to be used as a referral, as time passes, the client may not want people trying to contact them and ask them questions while they are hard at work (no matter how much they appreciate their software). In an attempt to be able to give access to referrals while, at the same time, not troubling our current clients, we requested that any client of GBS, Inc. that desired to take part in the referral program submit their written authorization. It is these clients that are given as references from GBS, Inc. when asked for by a prospective client. In addition, GBS, Inc. gives a 60-day guarantee on AGENCY EXPERT.
q The Truth Behind Annual Fees - Like GBS, Inc. All software companies which are determined to give a satisfactory level of support (or better) to their subscribers will charge some type of an annual or monthly fee. Various companies frame this fee in different ways. For example, one company may say that they give "Free Technical Support." However, you do not receive the free support unless you BUY their upgrades and enhancements. This may cost you several hundreds of dollars per year! Other companies (like GBS, Inc.) will say they give "Free Upgrades and Enhancements" but will charge an annual Technical Support fee. Let us look at a final example. Microsoft (arguably the most powerful and financially stable company in the history of the World) charges their users approximately $35 per call for technical support and they force their users to buy new upgrades and enhancements when they are made available. If any company could get away with not charging for technical support or enhancements and upgrades, wouldn't you consider Microsoft to be one of those companies?
Again, we at GBS, Inc. hope this information will be helpful in "cutting to the chase" and answering what we perceive as being some of the most important questions you could ask. If you or anyone you speak with should happen to disagree with any information contained in this document, please feel free to have them or yourself contact me via email at jseale@gbsinc.com. I will be happy to comment in depth on any aforementioned issue.
Happy Shopping!
*The AGENCY EXPERT database record limit is limited only by the amount of space available on your hard drive.
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