Dear Leaders,
A winning Team has to do with work Ethic, Determination, and Desire.
The biggest determining factor has to do with learning three critical skills that will turn any business unit into a sUccess.
First, in order to build a profit centre business unit, you have to be able to sell. Because “Sales = In flow”.
When “In Flow” is lacking, it’s usually because the leader doesn’t like to, doesn’t know how to, or simply reluctant to sell his business unit and services. Without sales, we have no income!
Second, in order to build a real business unit, you have to be able to attract, build and motivate a great team
And in this environment and in the business world, everyone on that team has to be willing to sell, regardless of their position in the company
In order to make things happen, the third element becomes critical. It is your ability to teach others in the unit to sell, how to be great team players, and how to sUcced. This will ensure growth, profit and longevity.
Most of us are conditioned to believe that (1) sales is only for the agents (2) that if you want things done right you have to do them yourself, and (3) that teaching is what you experience in school
Most of your teammates would like to be the best that they can be. As a business leader, you have to create the environment or context that will make that happen. It’s something that you can learn, it’s something that will make you extremely sUccessfUl. Many times, it’s not what you deliver but how you deliver it that makes the biggest difference. It’s the strength and commitment of your team and their passion to promote and serve others that determines your reputation and sUccess as a leader
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Follow the direction in MENTORING
Follow the Directions
Mentoring isn’t something you put in place and assume it will work. We learned that the hard way.
We’ve been using the MDRT/GAMA International Joint Mentoring Program for six years now. We’ve had successes and failures. We learned some important lessons from our failures.
First, and probably most important, we discovered that if we were going to use the program, we had to use the whole thing — follow it exactly.
At first, we used the model, but didn’t have written agreements between mentor and aspirant. That was a big mistake. Without those written agreements, when the mentoring relationship ends there can be acrimonious arguments about which client “belongs” to which advisor. Now we use the program exclusively and we make sure everything is in writing.
Second, we’ve had more success with green peas — college graduates and career changers. Experienced advisors, as expected, reached MDRT in one year. Then their egos got so big they thought they could do everything themselves. That doesn’t fit with a joint-work culture. They don’t last long here.
Third, we learned that we had to pay close attention to who was going to mentor whom. We match strength with weaknesses, not like with like. If one advisor is an aggressive salesperson who’s a good closer, we might match her with an advisor who is more analytical and detail oriented. Experience and production levels themselves aren’t good predictors of mentoring ability; it’s a matter of personality. In fact, we have one new mentor, a career changer, who has been in the business for less than two years.
The Wayne Cotton sales system complements our mentoring very well. We approach businesses about holding financial-planning workshops for their employees. We essentially become part of their human resources department. Both mentor and aspirant conduct the workshops. It’s an educational process; we don’t sell products. The workshops are low-stress for everyone.
There are usually 20 people in a workshop and we’ll get ten to 12 good leads from each one. The system begins with a questionnaire that helps us identify likely clients. The mentor and aspirant evaluate each potential customer and the mentor assigns responsibility for follow-up case work to the aspirant. All their sales calls are joint.
We’ve been very successful with this process. It keeps both mentor and aspirant productive. It gets people over the “two people in a room is a crowd” attitude. We don’t have to make cold calls. The employers we work with love it because we’re providing valuable education for their employees, and that leads to quality referrals to other businesses. The clients we acquire from this process love it, too, because they know up-front that if one advisor isn’t available, they can talk to someone they’ve seen before.
Bryan Behrens, CSA IAR
President
Behrens Agency
Kansas City Life Insurance Company
Omaha, NE
=================================================================================
In some of our Markets, most MDRT are leaders and they will make excellent mentors. Select leaders that have willingness and capability, and educate them on the rules of engagement in Mentoring.
Give focused attention in targeting “seminar sell” – college graduates and career changers
“Leadership by the Compass not the Clock” – Dr. Covey
Sincere Appreciation,
Richaard Wong, Assistant Vice President
Best Practices, Training & Development
Mentoring isn’t something you put in place and assume it will work. We learned that the hard way.
We’ve been using the MDRT/GAMA International Joint Mentoring Program for six years now. We’ve had successes and failures. We learned some important lessons from our failures.
First, and probably most important, we discovered that if we were going to use the program, we had to use the whole thing — follow it exactly.
At first, we used the model, but didn’t have written agreements between mentor and aspirant. That was a big mistake. Without those written agreements, when the mentoring relationship ends there can be acrimonious arguments about which client “belongs” to which advisor. Now we use the program exclusively and we make sure everything is in writing.
Second, we’ve had more success with green peas — college graduates and career changers. Experienced advisors, as expected, reached MDRT in one year. Then their egos got so big they thought they could do everything themselves. That doesn’t fit with a joint-work culture. They don’t last long here.
Third, we learned that we had to pay close attention to who was going to mentor whom. We match strength with weaknesses, not like with like. If one advisor is an aggressive salesperson who’s a good closer, we might match her with an advisor who is more analytical and detail oriented. Experience and production levels themselves aren’t good predictors of mentoring ability; it’s a matter of personality. In fact, we have one new mentor, a career changer, who has been in the business for less than two years.
The Wayne Cotton sales system complements our mentoring very well. We approach businesses about holding financial-planning workshops for their employees. We essentially become part of their human resources department. Both mentor and aspirant conduct the workshops. It’s an educational process; we don’t sell products. The workshops are low-stress for everyone.
There are usually 20 people in a workshop and we’ll get ten to 12 good leads from each one. The system begins with a questionnaire that helps us identify likely clients. The mentor and aspirant evaluate each potential customer and the mentor assigns responsibility for follow-up case work to the aspirant. All their sales calls are joint.
We’ve been very successful with this process. It keeps both mentor and aspirant productive. It gets people over the “two people in a room is a crowd” attitude. We don’t have to make cold calls. The employers we work with love it because we’re providing valuable education for their employees, and that leads to quality referrals to other businesses. The clients we acquire from this process love it, too, because they know up-front that if one advisor isn’t available, they can talk to someone they’ve seen before.
Bryan Behrens, CSA IAR
President
Behrens Agency
Kansas City Life Insurance Company
Omaha, NE
=================================================================================
In some of our Markets, most MDRT are leaders and they will make excellent mentors. Select leaders that have willingness and capability, and educate them on the rules of engagement in Mentoring.
Give focused attention in targeting “seminar sell” – college graduates and career changers
“Leadership by the Compass not the Clock” – Dr. Covey
Sincere Appreciation,
Richaard Wong, Assistant Vice President
Best Practices, Training & Development
Mentoring Relationship
Mentoring Relationships
Norman G. Levine, CLU, ChFC
Our industry is rapidly changing, and I think mentoring will become one of the most important future functions of the career agents system. For your information, recruiting as an industry effort is way down- training departments, almost across the board, are way down.
- A lot of companies no longer have management development and management training programs.
- Agencies have fewer second line leaders, and often no one has the capacity or the time to train new agents.
- There are a lot of alternative distribution systems currently being tested by the companies as they try to figure out some way to distribute the product cheaper than the agency force.
Product dependency
The thing that concerns me the most is that in the pat 10 years I have seen agents develop a product dependency so fierce they believe that if they can’t run a ledger sheet that beats the competition, they can’t sell.
What happened to conceptual selling?
- Love and emotional selling?
- High touch selling?
It has faded out of our system because we’re spending more time figuring out how to do a ledger sheets and proposals than we are talking to people about Love, empathy, compassion, and little red wagons. MDRT members still know how to do that, but I think it’s a very serious and real problem for the rest of the industry.
Role Models
Most of us are products of those who came before, but there aren’t enough of us volunteering to become tomorrow’s role models. Many of the most successful people are lone rangers and form their own producers groups.
Working together
We’re trying to get agents to work with other agents and get them to the MDRT. We have put together a plan flexible enough so that almost any relationship should improve the aspirant’s productivity. It is flexible enough so if they just want to meet over coffee every two weeks, that’s Okay. If they want to meet every day and have a lots of joint work, that’s okay too. Our research discovered that an aspirant in a mentoring relationship is much more likely to survive in the business and to prosper. As a matter of fact, most agents we interviewed told us that they wouldn’t have made it to MDRT if they hadn’t had a mentor themselves.
More success and retention
We’re looking at this program as a way to grow better, more successful, more profitable, and happier agents with interrelationships that will benefit just about everybody. The advantages of this program are universal, and there are no disadvantages.
-The client’s advantage is also clear.
Through the mentoring process the clients will benefit by getting a better sales recommendation, better post-sale service and a quality successor agents if the aspirants fails.
-This program is based on volunteerism by MDRT agents. We’re trying to get vertical production growth from the industry and start seeing significant increase in agent productivity.
-Comments from the pilot program we ran are interesting- there isn’t a bad one. “It’s made the business better “
“I’m seeing more people”
“I’m excited”
“I’m getting into markets I never thought I could get into”
“They love the mentoring relationship” are just a few examples
The mentoring program may well be the first step in reversing the trend of agent and agency system erosion and the start of a new field- motivated expansion of agent qualification and peer capita productivity.
This program is very flexible, adaptable system. I strongly endorse your personal involvement
==========================================================================================================
In these times, we need to position AIA has a company who provides mentoring program that ensure success. Brand the AIA mentoring image
Build this into your career presentation and look towards the BPO to structure this mentoring program in your local operation.
It’s a double edge sword that sharpens the MDRT (mostly leaders) to perform better as Mentor and position them to better attract high flyers.
The aspirant / potential new candidate will be attracted to this cutting edge approach to success.
This call for a above the line thinking and working towards win-win.
For things to change I must first change!
Look out for my next article on the application of this ………
Richaard Wong
Assistant Vice President
Norman G. Levine, CLU, ChFC
Our industry is rapidly changing, and I think mentoring will become one of the most important future functions of the career agents system. For your information, recruiting as an industry effort is way down- training departments, almost across the board, are way down.
- A lot of companies no longer have management development and management training programs.
- Agencies have fewer second line leaders, and often no one has the capacity or the time to train new agents.
- There are a lot of alternative distribution systems currently being tested by the companies as they try to figure out some way to distribute the product cheaper than the agency force.
Product dependency
The thing that concerns me the most is that in the pat 10 years I have seen agents develop a product dependency so fierce they believe that if they can’t run a ledger sheet that beats the competition, they can’t sell.
What happened to conceptual selling?
- Love and emotional selling?
- High touch selling?
It has faded out of our system because we’re spending more time figuring out how to do a ledger sheets and proposals than we are talking to people about Love, empathy, compassion, and little red wagons. MDRT members still know how to do that, but I think it’s a very serious and real problem for the rest of the industry.
Role Models
Most of us are products of those who came before, but there aren’t enough of us volunteering to become tomorrow’s role models. Many of the most successful people are lone rangers and form their own producers groups.
Working together
We’re trying to get agents to work with other agents and get them to the MDRT. We have put together a plan flexible enough so that almost any relationship should improve the aspirant’s productivity. It is flexible enough so if they just want to meet over coffee every two weeks, that’s Okay. If they want to meet every day and have a lots of joint work, that’s okay too. Our research discovered that an aspirant in a mentoring relationship is much more likely to survive in the business and to prosper. As a matter of fact, most agents we interviewed told us that they wouldn’t have made it to MDRT if they hadn’t had a mentor themselves.
More success and retention
We’re looking at this program as a way to grow better, more successful, more profitable, and happier agents with interrelationships that will benefit just about everybody. The advantages of this program are universal, and there are no disadvantages.
-The client’s advantage is also clear.
Through the mentoring process the clients will benefit by getting a better sales recommendation, better post-sale service and a quality successor agents if the aspirants fails.
-This program is based on volunteerism by MDRT agents. We’re trying to get vertical production growth from the industry and start seeing significant increase in agent productivity.
-Comments from the pilot program we ran are interesting- there isn’t a bad one. “It’s made the business better “
“I’m seeing more people”
“I’m excited”
“I’m getting into markets I never thought I could get into”
“They love the mentoring relationship” are just a few examples
The mentoring program may well be the first step in reversing the trend of agent and agency system erosion and the start of a new field- motivated expansion of agent qualification and peer capita productivity.
This program is very flexible, adaptable system. I strongly endorse your personal involvement
==========================================================================================================
In these times, we need to position AIA has a company who provides mentoring program that ensure success. Brand the AIA mentoring image
Build this into your career presentation and look towards the BPO to structure this mentoring program in your local operation.
It’s a double edge sword that sharpens the MDRT (mostly leaders) to perform better as Mentor and position them to better attract high flyers.
The aspirant / potential new candidate will be attracted to this cutting edge approach to success.
This call for a above the line thinking and working towards win-win.
For things to change I must first change!
Look out for my next article on the application of this ………
Richaard Wong
Assistant Vice President
Mentoring : the future of the Industry
Mentoring: The Future of the Industry
I started a mentoring program 25 or 30 years ago out of necessity. I was a general agent and producer — Master Agency Award and Top of the Table qualifier — which kept me busy. Too busy, in fact. I had no time to do my own personal production and run an agency as well.
So I involved junior agents. I trained them. They did the paperwork while I found prospects and made sales. Eventually they’d start selling themselves.
In those days, agents didn’t like to split commissions, so if they needed help with a prospect, they’d turn to a sales manager, who’d work with them for free. That didn’t seem right to me, so I said that even managers couldn’t go with the newer agents unless they had an agreement to split the commission.
My goal was to free up the sales managers to do their jobs and to get agents to do more joint work with other agents — to turn to the best advisor for the client, usually a senior advisor. However, the agents couldn’t work together until they agreed to a commission split and who was going to do what. They could split the commission any way they liked; for example, one-third to the finder, one-third to the seller and one-third to the policyholder service provider. It wasn’t a rigid rule, just a guideline.
About 80 percent of new agents’ sales were solo work, but 60 percent of their commissions came from joint work. Even with split commissions, they were making much more money because they could work bigger cases together than they could alone.
At about that time, MDRT was trying to put together a mentoring program to bring more new agents up to MDRT levels. There were some models out there, but there was a lot of resistance to them because they were rigid. Neither agents nor managers liked them.
MDRT came to me because of my involvement with GAMA and the model I was using. The agents would accept me because I was a producer and managers would accept me because I was a manager.
We formed a committee to iron out the details. Half the committee members were agents and half were managers. We concluded that any mentoring system had to be totally flexible. The mentor and aspirant would decide what’s acceptable — commission splits, the amount of time and energy put into the relationship, who would do the training (e.g., the mentor, agency, company or LUTC) and the like. Whatever they decided, they needed to decide in advance. They signed a contract. It wasn’t legally binding, but set out the ground rules. It was a blueprint, so to speak.
We also set up a monitoring system to track the aspirant’s progress. The aspirant was to fill out the report forms but the mentor and manager agent had to sign off on them.
It looked like a good plan, so we approached the boards of MDRT and GAMA and set up the MDRT/GAMA International Mentoring Council to run the program. The president of the council serves for two years and alternates between an MDRT member and a GAMA member.
After a pilot program in 1995, we were in full swing in 1996. In 2007, there were more than 40 companies and 10,131 mentoring teams (mentor, aspirant, manager) in 12 countries participating.
There’s no question that the number of new people entering the industry is down and retention is a problem. Training isn’t as extensive or intensive as it was. The most effective recruiters and teachers are experienced advisors. Managers are so involved with compliance and administration nowadays that they just don’t have time. Mentoring attracts recruits, keeps them and gives experienced advisors the help they need to boost their production.
I believe that the future of the industry depends on producers passing on their knowledge and skills to struggling and new advisors. It depends on mentoring.
Norman G. Levine, CLU ChFC
Past President, GAMA International
President
Levine Enterprises
Palm Springs, CA
=================================================================================================================================================================================================
Richaard Wong RFP, ChLP, FChFP Best Practices, Training & Development
I started a mentoring program 25 or 30 years ago out of necessity. I was a general agent and producer — Master Agency Award and Top of the Table qualifier — which kept me busy. Too busy, in fact. I had no time to do my own personal production and run an agency as well.
So I involved junior agents. I trained them. They did the paperwork while I found prospects and made sales. Eventually they’d start selling themselves.
In those days, agents didn’t like to split commissions, so if they needed help with a prospect, they’d turn to a sales manager, who’d work with them for free. That didn’t seem right to me, so I said that even managers couldn’t go with the newer agents unless they had an agreement to split the commission.
My goal was to free up the sales managers to do their jobs and to get agents to do more joint work with other agents — to turn to the best advisor for the client, usually a senior advisor. However, the agents couldn’t work together until they agreed to a commission split and who was going to do what. They could split the commission any way they liked; for example, one-third to the finder, one-third to the seller and one-third to the policyholder service provider. It wasn’t a rigid rule, just a guideline.
About 80 percent of new agents’ sales were solo work, but 60 percent of their commissions came from joint work. Even with split commissions, they were making much more money because they could work bigger cases together than they could alone.
At about that time, MDRT was trying to put together a mentoring program to bring more new agents up to MDRT levels. There were some models out there, but there was a lot of resistance to them because they were rigid. Neither agents nor managers liked them.
MDRT came to me because of my involvement with GAMA and the model I was using. The agents would accept me because I was a producer and managers would accept me because I was a manager.
We formed a committee to iron out the details. Half the committee members were agents and half were managers. We concluded that any mentoring system had to be totally flexible. The mentor and aspirant would decide what’s acceptable — commission splits, the amount of time and energy put into the relationship, who would do the training (e.g., the mentor, agency, company or LUTC) and the like. Whatever they decided, they needed to decide in advance. They signed a contract. It wasn’t legally binding, but set out the ground rules. It was a blueprint, so to speak.
We also set up a monitoring system to track the aspirant’s progress. The aspirant was to fill out the report forms but the mentor and manager agent had to sign off on them.
It looked like a good plan, so we approached the boards of MDRT and GAMA and set up the MDRT/GAMA International Mentoring Council to run the program. The president of the council serves for two years and alternates between an MDRT member and a GAMA member.
After a pilot program in 1995, we were in full swing in 1996. In 2007, there were more than 40 companies and 10,131 mentoring teams (mentor, aspirant, manager) in 12 countries participating.
There’s no question that the number of new people entering the industry is down and retention is a problem. Training isn’t as extensive or intensive as it was. The most effective recruiters and teachers are experienced advisors. Managers are so involved with compliance and administration nowadays that they just don’t have time. Mentoring attracts recruits, keeps them and gives experienced advisors the help they need to boost their production.
I believe that the future of the industry depends on producers passing on their knowledge and skills to struggling and new advisors. It depends on mentoring.
Norman G. Levine, CLU ChFC
Past President, GAMA International
President
Levine Enterprises
Palm Springs, CA
=================================================================================================================================================================================================
Richaard Wong RFP, ChLP, FChFP Best Practices, Training & Development
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Characteristic of an Ideal career
Dear Leaders,
When the vision is clear nothing else matters, there’s always time
Passion comes from deep conviction. Let’s help others find their passion in serving and creating a life.
Richaard
Characteristics of an Ideal Career
In 1972, when I was considering a career after military duty, I was fortunate to have a wise Dad to suggest that I visit with several people representing all industries and professions, to get a good understanding of what I should look for in a career. Equipped with a yellow pad and a pencil, I started out to find a career. I interviewed several people, but to this day, I distinctly remember, and agree with, the advice that three men in particular shared with me.
- The first individual was a salesman for a paper company. He said, "Whatever you do, look for something that pays you what your worth." This was tremendous advice about working long and hard hours but making a good income. It spoke of being on a commission income... of controlling my own destiny. Great advice!
-The second individual I interviewed was a vice president of a large corporation. My Dad died one year after these interviews, and this man eventually became my stepfather for 13 years until his death. His advice was to "Find a career that keeps you stimulated, a career that challenges you every day." If only he would have known what tremendous advice this truly was because, after 30 years in the insurance and investment industry, I have never been bored. It is always challenging and stimulating.
-The third individual was my pastor. He had played a tremendous part in my growth as an individual, and his advice was special. He had always thought I would go into some type of church ministry, but there was no calling. His advice was, "Find a career that allows you to spend all your life being a part of people's lives. When you finish your career, you should be able to look back and say that you have had an impact on people."
I remember my first death claim as a young agent the impact I had on the situation and the impact it had on me. I have spent 30 years helping people reach their financial goals and take care of families. I have had an impact.
Did I find a career that met all of the suggestions these people had for a 23-year-old? I believe so. Each phase of my career proves they had great wisdom. The passion of serving people while getting paid and never being bored is what make this career rewarding.
So when I'm recruiting, I share the same advice with young people who are looking for a rewarding, meaningful career.
James H. Shoemaker, CLU ChFC CFP
President
Shoemaker Financial Advisors
Securian Financial Network
Germantown, TN
========================================================================================
Richaard Wong RFP, ChLP, FChFP Best Practices, Training & Development
33/F, AIG Tower, 1 Connaught Road Central Hong Kong Tel: +852 2832 6762 Fax: + 852 2572 1792 Richaard-kl.wong@aig.com
“Leadership by the Compass not the Clock” – Dr. Covey
Check out previous articles at: http://regleaders.blogspot.com/
Notice of Confidentiality
This transmission contains information that may be confidential. It has been prepared for the sole and exclusive use of the intended recipient, his team and on the basis agreed with that person. If you are not the intended recipient of the message (or authorized to receive it for the intended recipient), you should notify us immediately; you should delete it from your system.
When the vision is clear nothing else matters, there’s always time
Passion comes from deep conviction. Let’s help others find their passion in serving and creating a life.
Richaard
Characteristics of an Ideal Career
In 1972, when I was considering a career after military duty, I was fortunate to have a wise Dad to suggest that I visit with several people representing all industries and professions, to get a good understanding of what I should look for in a career. Equipped with a yellow pad and a pencil, I started out to find a career. I interviewed several people, but to this day, I distinctly remember, and agree with, the advice that three men in particular shared with me.
- The first individual was a salesman for a paper company. He said, "Whatever you do, look for something that pays you what your worth." This was tremendous advice about working long and hard hours but making a good income. It spoke of being on a commission income... of controlling my own destiny. Great advice!
-The second individual I interviewed was a vice president of a large corporation. My Dad died one year after these interviews, and this man eventually became my stepfather for 13 years until his death. His advice was to "Find a career that keeps you stimulated, a career that challenges you every day." If only he would have known what tremendous advice this truly was because, after 30 years in the insurance and investment industry, I have never been bored. It is always challenging and stimulating.
-The third individual was my pastor. He had played a tremendous part in my growth as an individual, and his advice was special. He had always thought I would go into some type of church ministry, but there was no calling. His advice was, "Find a career that allows you to spend all your life being a part of people's lives. When you finish your career, you should be able to look back and say that you have had an impact on people."
I remember my first death claim as a young agent the impact I had on the situation and the impact it had on me. I have spent 30 years helping people reach their financial goals and take care of families. I have had an impact.
Did I find a career that met all of the suggestions these people had for a 23-year-old? I believe so. Each phase of my career proves they had great wisdom. The passion of serving people while getting paid and never being bored is what make this career rewarding.
So when I'm recruiting, I share the same advice with young people who are looking for a rewarding, meaningful career.
James H. Shoemaker, CLU ChFC CFP
President
Shoemaker Financial Advisors
Securian Financial Network
Germantown, TN
========================================================================================
Richaard Wong RFP, ChLP, FChFP Best Practices, Training & Development
33/F, AIG Tower, 1 Connaught Road Central Hong Kong Tel: +852 2832 6762 Fax: + 852 2572 1792 Richaard-kl.wong@aig.com
“Leadership by the Compass not the Clock” – Dr. Covey
Check out previous articles at: http://regleaders.blogspot.com/
Notice of Confidentiality
This transmission contains information that may be confidential. It has been prepared for the sole and exclusive use of the intended recipient, his team and on the basis agreed with that person. If you are not the intended recipient of the message (or authorized to receive it for the intended recipient), you should notify us immediately; you should delete it from your system.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
GAMA leadership idea no 28 - Humanitarianism Builds Strong Teams - 060309
Humanitarianism Builds Strong Teams
I really don’t believe team building can be leveled out in a strategy.
It’s a culture, core value, and belief, and if you have those, you’ll do whatever it takes on a daily basis to let people know that you care about them as individuals.
You can do all kinds of things to make people feel good, but if they think, “He’s only doing this so we can write more business,” or if they think your motives are not sincere, you’re wasting your money, time, and effort.
Anything you do has to be done without expectation. That’s the key.
If it’s a conditional experience, it will do nothing to enhance teamwork. When you put conditions on people—
“You ought to do more of this or that”—you’re just taking all the energy out of that person.
But if you say, “You have no idea how much I appreciate such a great job you do” or “What would be your opinion about doing this?
You know better than I do because this is your area of expertise,” you’ll do more to enhance team building than you ever could with any kind of program or reward.
When I arrived at this office, our 11 agents and six staff members had not had a general agent for about eight months. The G.A. who was here previously was a dictatorial guy who had a lot of rules and stipulations. My approach is more casual: “Let’s talk, peel the onion back, see what the issue is here, and make it so that everybody wins in the deal.” My approach is also more personal. I want every individual here to know that their contribution is valuable to me, so I listen and pay attention to them.
For example, my business manager has been with me for 10 years. She is a single mom. Her son turned 16 recently, and she wanted to buy him a used car for his birthday. Someone in our office was selling a car, but he was asking for more than she could pay. I gave her the additional money to buy the car. I was not trying to entice or bribe her in any way. I just recognized that it was a critical moment in her and her son’s life, and I knew that she needed help. It meant a lot to her that I heard what she had said and did something to help her.
We have multiple locations in five states. Recently, when I was visiting one of the offices, I heard that the receptionist’s daughter was having complications with her pregnancy in California. Our receptionist wanted to go visit her but couldn’t get a flight that day. I told her, “Just take the corporate plane.” I told her that our pilot could have her there in five hours. Her daughter called back within about half an hour, saying that she had stabilized, and our receptionist got a commercial flight out the next day, but the fact that I offered to help meant a lot to her.
Another thing that’s a regular part of our culture is these amazing baby showers. When someone in our office is expecting a baby, everyone in the office pitches in and gets tons of gifts that spill out of the conference room. And we have a wall where we post pictures of everyone’s babies and children. Then at our annual banquet, we show all of those photos in a slide show. When people are sitting in the audience with their peers, and they see their children up there on the screen, it makes them feel like they’re truly valued as individuals.
When the state fair comes here each fall, we have Fair Day. I make arrangements with the people at the fair in advance. I take the entire staff to the fair and give them money to buy food and play games. We rent out this one balloon game for an hour. We take pictures of everyone having fun and show them at the slide show at our annual banquet.
I also take about 150 people, mostly children, to Frontier City. I rent a pavilion and hire balloon animal makers and a clown, and everyone has a memorable time.
We give a birthday card to everyone who works here, and their children and grandchildren who are age 18 and under receive a Blockbuster gift card for $10 on their birthday. We spend about $2,000 on Blockbuster cards each year, and the children really look forward to them. My reps and staff members also receive the dubious honor of having me sing happy birthday to them. It’s corny as hell, and I’m not a good singer, but on their birthdays, they’re waiting for me to do it.
In our monthly newsletter, we have a “Hugs Corner” column where people submit “hugs,” or positive things that someone did. Someone might write, “Jan sold her first case and is on her way to a fruitful career” or “Joe helped me unload my car” or “Mark gave me an encouraging word when I needed it. Thank you.”
At Christmas time, we all pitch in and gather 200 to 300 presents for a family that wasn’t going to have Christmas. We will get a family name through a local church. It’s usually a single mom who lives with her kids in a place that breaks your heart, with no heat or phone. One year, we brought gifts for a woman who had five children. We got every child a bicycle and the smallest one a tricycle. We got the mom a TV, a VCR, lots of movies, a computer, and two years of Internet service, and our tech guys set it all up in Spanish. All 20 of us were there helping this family enjoy Christmas, and it was heart-wrenching. We all sang carols and brought them food, too. I can never go to that without shedding a tear, and it brings all of us in the office even closer.
When people go to a company function and don’t want to be there, no single strategy will fix that. It has to start at the core. We’re all human beings with a purpose in life, and we all bring our gifts and talents here. Rank doesn’t matter. We work together to provide a quality service to the people we serve. That’s it in a nutshell: “We work together!” The staff comes to work knowing that each and every one of them can make a difference in our organization. Our staff retention rate is proof of this mindset—I have had virtually no turnover of staff in the last 10 years; with the exception of a few people moving out of state! Build your core strong, and success will follow. It’s that simple!
Thomas McCaskill III
General Agent
MassMutual Financial Group
Oklahoma City, OK
As leaders we belief in our people and constantly reinforce their abilities and talents. It’s the heart that matters
Richaard Wong RFP, ChLP, FChFP Best Practices, Training & Development
33/F, AIG Tower, 1 Connaught Road Central Hong Kong Tel: +852 2832 6762 Fax: + 852 2572 1792 Richaard-kl.wong@aig.com
“Leadership by the Compass not the Clock” – Dr. Covey
Check out previous articles at: http://regleaders.blogspot.com/
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This transmission contains information that may be confidential. It has been prepared for the sole and exclusive use of the intended recipient, his team and on the basis agreed with that person. If you are not the intended recipient of the message (or authorized to receive it for the intended recipient), you should notify us immediately; you should delete it from your system.
I really don’t believe team building can be leveled out in a strategy.
It’s a culture, core value, and belief, and if you have those, you’ll do whatever it takes on a daily basis to let people know that you care about them as individuals.
You can do all kinds of things to make people feel good, but if they think, “He’s only doing this so we can write more business,” or if they think your motives are not sincere, you’re wasting your money, time, and effort.
Anything you do has to be done without expectation. That’s the key.
If it’s a conditional experience, it will do nothing to enhance teamwork. When you put conditions on people—
“You ought to do more of this or that”—you’re just taking all the energy out of that person.
But if you say, “You have no idea how much I appreciate such a great job you do” or “What would be your opinion about doing this?
You know better than I do because this is your area of expertise,” you’ll do more to enhance team building than you ever could with any kind of program or reward.
When I arrived at this office, our 11 agents and six staff members had not had a general agent for about eight months. The G.A. who was here previously was a dictatorial guy who had a lot of rules and stipulations. My approach is more casual: “Let’s talk, peel the onion back, see what the issue is here, and make it so that everybody wins in the deal.” My approach is also more personal. I want every individual here to know that their contribution is valuable to me, so I listen and pay attention to them.
For example, my business manager has been with me for 10 years. She is a single mom. Her son turned 16 recently, and she wanted to buy him a used car for his birthday. Someone in our office was selling a car, but he was asking for more than she could pay. I gave her the additional money to buy the car. I was not trying to entice or bribe her in any way. I just recognized that it was a critical moment in her and her son’s life, and I knew that she needed help. It meant a lot to her that I heard what she had said and did something to help her.
We have multiple locations in five states. Recently, when I was visiting one of the offices, I heard that the receptionist’s daughter was having complications with her pregnancy in California. Our receptionist wanted to go visit her but couldn’t get a flight that day. I told her, “Just take the corporate plane.” I told her that our pilot could have her there in five hours. Her daughter called back within about half an hour, saying that she had stabilized, and our receptionist got a commercial flight out the next day, but the fact that I offered to help meant a lot to her.
Another thing that’s a regular part of our culture is these amazing baby showers. When someone in our office is expecting a baby, everyone in the office pitches in and gets tons of gifts that spill out of the conference room. And we have a wall where we post pictures of everyone’s babies and children. Then at our annual banquet, we show all of those photos in a slide show. When people are sitting in the audience with their peers, and they see their children up there on the screen, it makes them feel like they’re truly valued as individuals.
When the state fair comes here each fall, we have Fair Day. I make arrangements with the people at the fair in advance. I take the entire staff to the fair and give them money to buy food and play games. We rent out this one balloon game for an hour. We take pictures of everyone having fun and show them at the slide show at our annual banquet.
I also take about 150 people, mostly children, to Frontier City. I rent a pavilion and hire balloon animal makers and a clown, and everyone has a memorable time.
We give a birthday card to everyone who works here, and their children and grandchildren who are age 18 and under receive a Blockbuster gift card for $10 on their birthday. We spend about $2,000 on Blockbuster cards each year, and the children really look forward to them. My reps and staff members also receive the dubious honor of having me sing happy birthday to them. It’s corny as hell, and I’m not a good singer, but on their birthdays, they’re waiting for me to do it.
In our monthly newsletter, we have a “Hugs Corner” column where people submit “hugs,” or positive things that someone did. Someone might write, “Jan sold her first case and is on her way to a fruitful career” or “Joe helped me unload my car” or “Mark gave me an encouraging word when I needed it. Thank you.”
At Christmas time, we all pitch in and gather 200 to 300 presents for a family that wasn’t going to have Christmas. We will get a family name through a local church. It’s usually a single mom who lives with her kids in a place that breaks your heart, with no heat or phone. One year, we brought gifts for a woman who had five children. We got every child a bicycle and the smallest one a tricycle. We got the mom a TV, a VCR, lots of movies, a computer, and two years of Internet service, and our tech guys set it all up in Spanish. All 20 of us were there helping this family enjoy Christmas, and it was heart-wrenching. We all sang carols and brought them food, too. I can never go to that without shedding a tear, and it brings all of us in the office even closer.
When people go to a company function and don’t want to be there, no single strategy will fix that. It has to start at the core. We’re all human beings with a purpose in life, and we all bring our gifts and talents here. Rank doesn’t matter. We work together to provide a quality service to the people we serve. That’s it in a nutshell: “We work together!” The staff comes to work knowing that each and every one of them can make a difference in our organization. Our staff retention rate is proof of this mindset—I have had virtually no turnover of staff in the last 10 years; with the exception of a few people moving out of state! Build your core strong, and success will follow. It’s that simple!
Thomas McCaskill III
General Agent
MassMutual Financial Group
Oklahoma City, OK
As leaders we belief in our people and constantly reinforce their abilities and talents. It’s the heart that matters
Richaard Wong RFP, ChLP, FChFP Best Practices, Training & Development
33/F, AIG Tower, 1 Connaught Road Central Hong Kong Tel: +852 2832 6762 Fax: + 852 2572 1792 Richaard-kl.wong@aig.com
“Leadership by the Compass not the Clock” – Dr. Covey
Check out previous articles at: http://regleaders.blogspot.com/
Notice of Confidentiality
This transmission contains information that may be confidential. It has been prepared for the sole and exclusive use of the intended recipient, his team and on the basis agreed with that person. If you are not the intended recipient of the message (or authorized to receive it for the intended recipient), you should notify us immediately; you should delete it from your system.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Be an Advocate and ...a Good listener
Be an Advocate... and a Good Listener
This is what I call being an advocate. The premise behind it is that most of the people we are interviewing who are finalists will have at least one other opportunity to be a financial advisor in the industry, to make a decision between us and the other firm. To separate ourselves, we congratulate the candidate and tell them (it's important to use this specific language here the following:
"No matter what happens, I consider this a victory because, regardless, you are going to be an advisor somewhere, and this industry needs great people like you who can make a difference in clients' lives."
Of course, we say this only if we truly believe that person will be great. You have to be sincere.
I discovered this strategy somewhat by accident, by asking questions....
Typically, eight weeks after a new advisor comes aboard, I take him out to breakfast or lunch solely to celebrate their first rough part of the career, the end of their probationary period with us.
My only agenda is to find out why they decided to come on with this firm. By that time, they're comfortable with us and the firm, willing to let their hair down a little bit.
So at the breakfast, I say, "You've been here eight weeks. What are your initial thoughts?"
Second, I ask them, "Why did you decide to join our organization? You had a lot of other opportunities."
These are people who are making a career change, etc. It's important, though, that I also ask the new advisor a third question:
"Going through our process, where was it that you were frustrated or confused?
Where could we improve?"
During one of these breakfasts, one of my new advisors told me, "Ed, it was neck and neck with you and another firm. When you said you considered this a victory because I was joining this industry, I realized that you were genuinely interested in me and my success. The other firm, meanwhile, was telling me why I should pick them over everyone else. So I knew this was where I wanted to be."
Ed Deutschlander, CLF CLU
VP of Corporate Development
North Star Resource Group
Securian Financial Network
Minneapolis, MN
Cassandra Lee Simpson
Southwest Recruiting Director
North Star Resource Group
Securian Financial Network
Tucson, AZ
Richaard Wong RFP, ChLP, FChFP Best Practices, Training & Development
33/F, AIG Tower, 1 Connaught Road Central Hong Kong Tel: +852 2832 6762 Fax: + 852 2572 1792 Richaard-kl.wong@aig.com
“Leadership by the Compass not the Clock” – Dr. Covey
Check out previous articles at: http://regleaders.blogspot.com/
Notice of Confidentiality
This transmission contains information that may be confidential. It has been prepared for the sole and exclusive use of the intended recipient, his team and on the basis agreed with that person. If you are not the intended recipient of the message (or authorized to receive it for the intended recipient), you should notify us immediately; you should delete it from your system.
This is what I call being an advocate. The premise behind it is that most of the people we are interviewing who are finalists will have at least one other opportunity to be a financial advisor in the industry, to make a decision between us and the other firm. To separate ourselves, we congratulate the candidate and tell them (it's important to use this specific language here the following:
"No matter what happens, I consider this a victory because, regardless, you are going to be an advisor somewhere, and this industry needs great people like you who can make a difference in clients' lives."
Of course, we say this only if we truly believe that person will be great. You have to be sincere.
I discovered this strategy somewhat by accident, by asking questions....
Typically, eight weeks after a new advisor comes aboard, I take him out to breakfast or lunch solely to celebrate their first rough part of the career, the end of their probationary period with us.
My only agenda is to find out why they decided to come on with this firm. By that time, they're comfortable with us and the firm, willing to let their hair down a little bit.
So at the breakfast, I say, "You've been here eight weeks. What are your initial thoughts?"
Second, I ask them, "Why did you decide to join our organization? You had a lot of other opportunities."
These are people who are making a career change, etc. It's important, though, that I also ask the new advisor a third question:
"Going through our process, where was it that you were frustrated or confused?
Where could we improve?"
During one of these breakfasts, one of my new advisors told me, "Ed, it was neck and neck with you and another firm. When you said you considered this a victory because I was joining this industry, I realized that you were genuinely interested in me and my success. The other firm, meanwhile, was telling me why I should pick them over everyone else. So I knew this was where I wanted to be."
Ed Deutschlander, CLF CLU
VP of Corporate Development
North Star Resource Group
Securian Financial Network
Minneapolis, MN
Cassandra Lee Simpson
Southwest Recruiting Director
North Star Resource Group
Securian Financial Network
Tucson, AZ
Richaard Wong RFP, ChLP, FChFP Best Practices, Training & Development
33/F, AIG Tower, 1 Connaught Road Central Hong Kong Tel: +852 2832 6762 Fax: + 852 2572 1792 Richaard-kl.wong@aig.com
“Leadership by the Compass not the Clock” – Dr. Covey
Check out previous articles at: http://regleaders.blogspot.com/
Notice of Confidentiality
This transmission contains information that may be confidential. It has been prepared for the sole and exclusive use of the intended recipient, his team and on the basis agreed with that person. If you are not the intended recipient of the message (or authorized to receive it for the intended recipient), you should notify us immediately; you should delete it from your system.
Are you Buying or Selling ?
Are You Buying or Selling?
Essentially, a sales manager’s primary responsibility is to recruit, train and motivate the sales force to achieve peak-performance selling. Of these three vitally important tasks, I believe recruiting is the most challenging and least understood but perhaps the most important. If you recruit the right people, you will find that they are self-motivated and eager to receive training! On the other hand, if you hire the wrong person, you will experience high turnover and low morale.
Are you a buyer or a seller? By approaching the interviewing process with a buyer's mentality, you are more likely to maintain your objectivity and hire a long-term top producer. It pays to be selective and conduct multiple interviews. Take good notes throughout the interviewing process. If you talk more than you listen during an interview, you are a seller, not a buyer. I recommend that you use a checklist because it allows you to stay on message and helps you remember important questions. Relying on your memory is a poor business decision and will normally come back to haunt you.
When I first started interviewing salespeople, like most managers, I made the fundamental mistake of overemphasizing the compensation potential and understating the challenges. I was selling instead of buying! Top managers would rather tell it like it is and run the risk of scaring off a prospective new hire than to sugarcoat things and face a disillusioned salesperson months later. . While there is no system that can guarantee you will hire the right person every time, there are fundamental guidelines you must follow if you plan to recruit your way to the top!
John Boe
CEO
John Boe International
Monterey, CA
www.johnboe.com
Richaard Wong RFP, ChLP, FChFP Best Practices, Training & Development
33/F, AIG Tower, 1 Connaught Road Central Hong Kong Tel: +852 2832 6762 Fax: + 852 2572 1792 Richaard-kl.wong@aig.com
“Leadership by the Compass not the Clock” – Dr. Covey
Check out previous articles at: http://regleaders.blogspot.com/
Notice of Confidentiality
This transmission contains information that may be confidential. It has been prepared for the sole and exclusive use of the intended recipient, his team and on the basis agreed with that person. If you are not the intended recipient of the message (or authorized to receive it for the intended recipient), you should notify us immediately; you should delete it from your system.
Essentially, a sales manager’s primary responsibility is to recruit, train and motivate the sales force to achieve peak-performance selling. Of these three vitally important tasks, I believe recruiting is the most challenging and least understood but perhaps the most important. If you recruit the right people, you will find that they are self-motivated and eager to receive training! On the other hand, if you hire the wrong person, you will experience high turnover and low morale.
Are you a buyer or a seller? By approaching the interviewing process with a buyer's mentality, you are more likely to maintain your objectivity and hire a long-term top producer. It pays to be selective and conduct multiple interviews. Take good notes throughout the interviewing process. If you talk more than you listen during an interview, you are a seller, not a buyer. I recommend that you use a checklist because it allows you to stay on message and helps you remember important questions. Relying on your memory is a poor business decision and will normally come back to haunt you.
When I first started interviewing salespeople, like most managers, I made the fundamental mistake of overemphasizing the compensation potential and understating the challenges. I was selling instead of buying! Top managers would rather tell it like it is and run the risk of scaring off a prospective new hire than to sugarcoat things and face a disillusioned salesperson months later. . While there is no system that can guarantee you will hire the right person every time, there are fundamental guidelines you must follow if you plan to recruit your way to the top!
John Boe
CEO
John Boe International
Monterey, CA
www.johnboe.com
Richaard Wong RFP, ChLP, FChFP Best Practices, Training & Development
33/F, AIG Tower, 1 Connaught Road Central Hong Kong Tel: +852 2832 6762 Fax: + 852 2572 1792 Richaard-kl.wong@aig.com
“Leadership by the Compass not the Clock” – Dr. Covey
Check out previous articles at: http://regleaders.blogspot.com/
Notice of Confidentiality
This transmission contains information that may be confidential. It has been prepared for the sole and exclusive use of the intended recipient, his team and on the basis agreed with that person. If you are not the intended recipient of the message (or authorized to receive it for the intended recipient), you should notify us immediately; you should delete it from your system.
WII-FM = What's in it for me ?
WII-FM-=What’s in It for Me?
Several years ago as Director of Recruiting for The Acacia Group, I began to analyze our best sources for recruiting the highest quality agents with the highest retention rate for our agencies. I quickly realized that, of all those hired, the best recruits ALWAYS came from those already in our industry - the agents, themselves.
To encourage these ongoing referrals, we developed WII-FM, i.e., What’s In It For Me, which we continually shared with existing agents. We firmly believed that "Everybody’s gotta feel like somebody." We also believed that recognition, in its many different forms, absolutely works! We also KNEW that NO ONE realizes what it takes to survive in our industry better than those already in it.
I met with agents, asking them to review their business-card files for possible candidates. I explained that, where appropriate, if a referral were hired as a result of his/her name being given by that agent, joint work would occur between the two agents, resulting in additional income to the "senior" agent. On a weekly basis, you would always find me "pitching" to someone that, if we met the "charge" of the company which was to GROW the field force then certainly that gave our particular agency some leverage at Corporate for things we needed, i.e., more staff, more equipment, etc.
I also shared with the group that I had no personal way of knowing if any of them had aspirations for management but that, with all other criteria being equal, CERTAINLY the agent who supported the Corporate position would be given first consideration. I reminded the group that they had a vested interest in what our agency "looked like" to others in our city simply because of the fact that they had chosen to align with our agency. I reiterated, more than once, that if you don't vote... then don't complain... that "You are being given an opportunity and a 'say' in how the agency will look in the future. Take advantage of it."
At our monthly agency meetings, we introduced the new agent to the group and then asked the referring agent to come to the podium. In front of the group, we shared this agent's continuing support to our organization; we thanked the agent, showed him/her our appreciation with a cash award, and then a "round of applause" was given by the entire group. The agent who referred the most candidates in any given month was awarded a private parking slot in the front of the building, normally reserved for the managers of the company. And, lastly, there was a HUGE "write-up" about the new and referring agent in our monthly magazine, which went not only to those in our agency, but to Corporate and many other agencies throughout the United States, as well.
RECOGNITION WORKS! We had a 69 percent retention rate after five years and were the No. 1 agency for The Acacia Group for several years!
Linda H. DeNomme, LUTCF
President, DMJ Financial Group
General Agent, AmerUs Life Insurance Company
Pittsburgh, PA
Richaard Wong RFP, ChLP, FChFP Best Practices, Training & Development
33/F, AIG Tower, 1 Connaught Road Central Hong Kong Tel: +852 2832 6762 Fax: + 852 2572 1792 Richaard-kl.wong@aig.com
“Leadership by the Compass not the Clock” – Dr. Covey
Check out previous articles at: http://regleaders.blogspot.com/
Notice of Confidentiality
This transmission contains information that may be confidential. It has been prepared for the sole and exclusive use of the intended recipient, his team and on the basis agreed with that person. If you are not the intended recipient of the message (or authorized to receive it for the intended recipient), you should notify us immediately; you should delete it from your system.
Several years ago as Director of Recruiting for The Acacia Group, I began to analyze our best sources for recruiting the highest quality agents with the highest retention rate for our agencies. I quickly realized that, of all those hired, the best recruits ALWAYS came from those already in our industry - the agents, themselves.
To encourage these ongoing referrals, we developed WII-FM, i.e., What’s In It For Me, which we continually shared with existing agents. We firmly believed that "Everybody’s gotta feel like somebody." We also believed that recognition, in its many different forms, absolutely works! We also KNEW that NO ONE realizes what it takes to survive in our industry better than those already in it.
I met with agents, asking them to review their business-card files for possible candidates. I explained that, where appropriate, if a referral were hired as a result of his/her name being given by that agent, joint work would occur between the two agents, resulting in additional income to the "senior" agent. On a weekly basis, you would always find me "pitching" to someone that, if we met the "charge" of the company which was to GROW the field force then certainly that gave our particular agency some leverage at Corporate for things we needed, i.e., more staff, more equipment, etc.
I also shared with the group that I had no personal way of knowing if any of them had aspirations for management but that, with all other criteria being equal, CERTAINLY the agent who supported the Corporate position would be given first consideration. I reminded the group that they had a vested interest in what our agency "looked like" to others in our city simply because of the fact that they had chosen to align with our agency. I reiterated, more than once, that if you don't vote... then don't complain... that "You are being given an opportunity and a 'say' in how the agency will look in the future. Take advantage of it."
At our monthly agency meetings, we introduced the new agent to the group and then asked the referring agent to come to the podium. In front of the group, we shared this agent's continuing support to our organization; we thanked the agent, showed him/her our appreciation with a cash award, and then a "round of applause" was given by the entire group. The agent who referred the most candidates in any given month was awarded a private parking slot in the front of the building, normally reserved for the managers of the company. And, lastly, there was a HUGE "write-up" about the new and referring agent in our monthly magazine, which went not only to those in our agency, but to Corporate and many other agencies throughout the United States, as well.
RECOGNITION WORKS! We had a 69 percent retention rate after five years and were the No. 1 agency for The Acacia Group for several years!
Linda H. DeNomme, LUTCF
President, DMJ Financial Group
General Agent, AmerUs Life Insurance Company
Pittsburgh, PA
Richaard Wong RFP, ChLP, FChFP Best Practices, Training & Development
33/F, AIG Tower, 1 Connaught Road Central Hong Kong Tel: +852 2832 6762 Fax: + 852 2572 1792 Richaard-kl.wong@aig.com
“Leadership by the Compass not the Clock” – Dr. Covey
Check out previous articles at: http://regleaders.blogspot.com/
Notice of Confidentiality
This transmission contains information that may be confidential. It has been prepared for the sole and exclusive use of the intended recipient, his team and on the basis agreed with that person. If you are not the intended recipient of the message (or authorized to receive it for the intended recipient), you should notify us immediately; you should delete it from your system.
A Fast Start for the Freshman
A Fast Start for the Freshmen
In 1992, we were looking for a way to reward brand-new agents for their activity, as opposed to results, so they would feel good about their efforts even if they weren’t posting big commission results yet. That’s when we came up with the President’s Early Achievement Award.
Not only has this program had a significantly positive effect on our ability to launch new agents into the career quickly and successfully; it also has helped increase our retention rate.
During our new agents’ first six months in the business, we ask them to submit 40 life, annuity or disability applications—not paid for, not issued, but just to submit them with cash. Underwriting doesn’t have to be completed. We also count an equity sale if the ticket is $40,000 or more. This is drummed into them as an expectation from the beginning.
The qualifications for our company clubs and for MDRT don’t allow pro rata submissions, so the new producers can’t look forward to achieving those milestones until they’ve been here a while. For a new agent starting out from Day 1 in the business, it will be a month and a half or two months before they get to a closing interview, before you see their first app. So this gives them a good, solid goal that they can work toward right away.
We have weekly pep sessions with the new agents. We ask them, “How are you going to identify those 40 apps? Where will you get them?” We make a big deal out of it. We explain to them that when they win the President’s Early Achievement Award, the senior agents will start to take notice of them and know they’re for real and that good things come from those relationships with senior agents, such as potential successor programs.
Our belief is that the new agents should be rewarded for the apps they get. Even if they’re small apps, the agents have to do the activity to get them, even though they may not have big numbers hitting their commission statement.
We have 127 reps in six locations spread out across four states. At our all-agency meetings, the new agents who have turned in their 40 apps are brought up on stage and presented with a $500 check good at the company store to spend on anything marketing-related and a plaque that goes on their wall. They also get to move out of their cubicle into a private office.
We’ve tracked this over the years. About 53 percent of the people we brought into the business have succeeded in reaching the President’s Early Achievement Award. Our agency’s four-year retention rate—except for a dip a few years ago, but prior to and after that—has been between 35 and 45 percent. We’ve also noticed that almost every agent we retain has achieved this goal.
There’s no magic to the 40 apps. It could be 35 or 50. The idea is to give the new agents an incentive to produce until it bridges them into the other clubs. A lot of our new people come in mid-year, so instead of waiting six to eight months to get in the game, this allows them to get started right away. It gives them a successful launch and puts their focus on activity, not commissions.
I can’t emphasize how much we supervise them and get them to focus on this goal from the beginning. We discuss it in every interview. And when they’re signing the contract, we give them a list of expectations. Achieving this goal is the first thing on the list. The second item on the list is achieving Principal’s Premier Club. The third is to hire a support person. And the fourth expectation is to make our second-level club, the Honor Council, which is about equivalent to MDRT’s Court of the Table.
The first 90 days, the new agents have daily activity monitoring. We use the One Card System. If they get through the first 30 days, then they’re on weekly supervision. Every time they meet with their manager, their progress toward the President’s Early Achievement Award is discussed, front and center.
Everyone in the organization talks about it. The senior agents will ask the new people, “How are you doing on your P.E.A.?” The senior agents understand how important it is for the entire organization. I tell them, “It’s good for you; it’s good for us, and so help us make this a part of why they’re here.”
One year, one of our senior agents nominated a new recruit and began informally mentoring him. The young agent was working “lights out” to get his 40 apps, but as his first six months were about to end, he had a fair ways to go. The senior agent stepped in and gave him a boost. He went out on a couple of calls with him, encouraged him and spent time going through cases with him. On the last hour of the last day, the kid brought in his last three apps, and he made it.
This experience developed such a bond between those two that, six years later, the young producer became the successor agent and bought out the senior agent’s practice when he retired.
This program takes a total commitment by the management team. It took three years for it to really take hold. You have to encourage the first guy to do it, and make a big deal out of it. Then you have someone to point to. We learned that the secret was not to go to the senior agents because they won’t change the way they do things. Like any culture change, it all begins with what you tell the new people. If you tell them this is the deal, then they understand that from the beginning.
I’m convinced that this program works because its part of the culture of the organization, and it’s recognized when the new producers go to agency meetings. They see other guys getting the recognition, the checks and the handshakes, and it spurs them on.
Lawrence E. (Larry) Reelitz
Regional Managing Director
The Principal Financial Group
Des Moines, IA
Richaard Wong RFP, ChLP, FChFP Best Practices, Training & Development
33/F, AIG Tower, 1 Connaught Road Central Hong Kong Tel: +852 2832 6762 Fax: + 852 2572 1792 Richaard-kl.wong@aig.com
“Leadership by the Compass not the Clock” – Dr Covey
Check out previous articles at: http://regleaders.blogspot.com
In 1992, we were looking for a way to reward brand-new agents for their activity, as opposed to results, so they would feel good about their efforts even if they weren’t posting big commission results yet. That’s when we came up with the President’s Early Achievement Award.
Not only has this program had a significantly positive effect on our ability to launch new agents into the career quickly and successfully; it also has helped increase our retention rate.
During our new agents’ first six months in the business, we ask them to submit 40 life, annuity or disability applications—not paid for, not issued, but just to submit them with cash. Underwriting doesn’t have to be completed. We also count an equity sale if the ticket is $40,000 or more. This is drummed into them as an expectation from the beginning.
The qualifications for our company clubs and for MDRT don’t allow pro rata submissions, so the new producers can’t look forward to achieving those milestones until they’ve been here a while. For a new agent starting out from Day 1 in the business, it will be a month and a half or two months before they get to a closing interview, before you see their first app. So this gives them a good, solid goal that they can work toward right away.
We have weekly pep sessions with the new agents. We ask them, “How are you going to identify those 40 apps? Where will you get them?” We make a big deal out of it. We explain to them that when they win the President’s Early Achievement Award, the senior agents will start to take notice of them and know they’re for real and that good things come from those relationships with senior agents, such as potential successor programs.
Our belief is that the new agents should be rewarded for the apps they get. Even if they’re small apps, the agents have to do the activity to get them, even though they may not have big numbers hitting their commission statement.
We have 127 reps in six locations spread out across four states. At our all-agency meetings, the new agents who have turned in their 40 apps are brought up on stage and presented with a $500 check good at the company store to spend on anything marketing-related and a plaque that goes on their wall. They also get to move out of their cubicle into a private office.
We’ve tracked this over the years. About 53 percent of the people we brought into the business have succeeded in reaching the President’s Early Achievement Award. Our agency’s four-year retention rate—except for a dip a few years ago, but prior to and after that—has been between 35 and 45 percent. We’ve also noticed that almost every agent we retain has achieved this goal.
There’s no magic to the 40 apps. It could be 35 or 50. The idea is to give the new agents an incentive to produce until it bridges them into the other clubs. A lot of our new people come in mid-year, so instead of waiting six to eight months to get in the game, this allows them to get started right away. It gives them a successful launch and puts their focus on activity, not commissions.
I can’t emphasize how much we supervise them and get them to focus on this goal from the beginning. We discuss it in every interview. And when they’re signing the contract, we give them a list of expectations. Achieving this goal is the first thing on the list. The second item on the list is achieving Principal’s Premier Club. The third is to hire a support person. And the fourth expectation is to make our second-level club, the Honor Council, which is about equivalent to MDRT’s Court of the Table.
The first 90 days, the new agents have daily activity monitoring. We use the One Card System. If they get through the first 30 days, then they’re on weekly supervision. Every time they meet with their manager, their progress toward the President’s Early Achievement Award is discussed, front and center.
Everyone in the organization talks about it. The senior agents will ask the new people, “How are you doing on your P.E.A.?” The senior agents understand how important it is for the entire organization. I tell them, “It’s good for you; it’s good for us, and so help us make this a part of why they’re here.”
One year, one of our senior agents nominated a new recruit and began informally mentoring him. The young agent was working “lights out” to get his 40 apps, but as his first six months were about to end, he had a fair ways to go. The senior agent stepped in and gave him a boost. He went out on a couple of calls with him, encouraged him and spent time going through cases with him. On the last hour of the last day, the kid brought in his last three apps, and he made it.
This experience developed such a bond between those two that, six years later, the young producer became the successor agent and bought out the senior agent’s practice when he retired.
This program takes a total commitment by the management team. It took three years for it to really take hold. You have to encourage the first guy to do it, and make a big deal out of it. Then you have someone to point to. We learned that the secret was not to go to the senior agents because they won’t change the way they do things. Like any culture change, it all begins with what you tell the new people. If you tell them this is the deal, then they understand that from the beginning.
I’m convinced that this program works because its part of the culture of the organization, and it’s recognized when the new producers go to agency meetings. They see other guys getting the recognition, the checks and the handshakes, and it spurs them on.
Lawrence E. (Larry) Reelitz
Regional Managing Director
The Principal Financial Group
Des Moines, IA
Richaard Wong RFP, ChLP, FChFP Best Practices, Training & Development
33/F, AIG Tower, 1 Connaught Road Central Hong Kong Tel: +852 2832 6762 Fax: + 852 2572 1792 Richaard-kl.wong@aig.com
“Leadership by the Compass not the Clock” – Dr Covey
Check out previous articles at: http://regleaders.blogspot.com
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Calm During the Storm
What we’re starting to see in Canada is a greater awareness in terms of providing health-care and insurance products to clients. It has a lot to do with the limitations of the provincial health-care system that we have here. Currently, there is a real strain on our system. Our waiting lists to see doctors are getting longer. People are having to wait longer between seeing a general practitioner and a specialist and between seeing a specialist and having an operation done.
Plus, we continue to have fewer doctors and nurses but more people needing to be serviced. In the next 20 to 30 years, our population will have an abundance of older people. People are living longer because of advancements in medicine.
A recent Canadian study revealed that many people here are starting to withdraw their retirement savings or liquidate their assets, including their principal residences, to offset their health-care needs. Obviously, this results in severe tax consequences and erosion of retirement capital.
About 90 percent of the Canadian population lives within 100 miles of the U.S. border. Many people will travel to the States to get health care, even thought they have to pay the noninsured price. We’ve seen people paying $100,000 in Canadian dollars for a heart transplant or a series of chemotherapy in the United States. They’re willing to pay more to be seen and treated quickly.
Even in the United States, about 50 percent of all foreclosures are due to a critical illness. So I’ve seen that people are more receptive than ever to hearing about ways they can protect their assets. It’s actually easier to talk to people about health-care products than life insurance because they’re more willing to accept the fact that they’ll get sick than they are to accept the fact that they’ll die!
Especially in light of the current situation, I feel strongly that it’s our fiduciary responsibility to get our advisors in front of people and to make sure that everything is in place for them.
Our company has begun to take a more proactive role in talking to people about critical health-care and personal-health insurance. The urgency of the current situation has opened up opportunities for us to do a complete needs analysis with our clients and to supplement benefits that the government health-care program doesn’t cover.
We explain to our clients how long-term-care (LTC) insurance products can ensure that they’ll receive income after they retire. It can cover, for example, the cost of having a registered nurse at their home around the clock. We can show them that what they’ll pay on a premium will be much less, in the long run, than sustaining a huge loss to their retirement account or selling their home.
Our supplemental policy won’t help someone get in to see the doctor faster, but it will pick up the tab for medical treatment, even if they get it in the United States.
There are numerous cross-selling opportunities among our existing clients. This gives us a huge opportunity to help people to improve their coverage and minimize their financial risk.
To get our products in front of even more people, we have established relationships with other professionals, such as attorneys who handle real estate transactions. They inform their clients about our services and explain that we can help them protect their home and other assets if they should develop a critical illness.
Because this is such a pressing issue on everyone’s minds, we have had a lot of success with asking for referrals from our clients. Just about everyone knows someone who has had a heart attack or cancer, and they welcome the opportunity to help their friends and loved ones protect their financial assets.
We also conduct workplace meetings with employees. Employers will allow their employees to spend time with one of our advisors to help them understand their group plans and coverages. We’ll give a presentation on existing and new benefits. Then we’ll gather feedback and meet with those who request a one-on-one meeting.
On December 1, 2002, one of my best friends came to my surprise 40th birthday party. He told me that he had changed jobs and no longer had benefits. He wanted me or one of my advisors to meet with him, and we made an appointment for Friday the 13th. That day, his wife called to say that he had the flu. My friend has always been a procrastinator, so I thought maybe he just wasn’t ready to talk about new coverage. Then on the 17th, I was in a planning meeting when my wife called. She told me that my friend, only 39 years old, had suffered a stroke.
I went to see him in the hospital’s intensive care unit. “I wish I had come in to see you,” he said. Then he told me that the previous evening, two people in intensive care had passed away during the night and that he was thinking a lot about his wife and little girl.
Never did I imagine that when we finally did get a chance to meet with him, it would be in the hospital, with him hooked up to infusion pumps. At one point, he got up, weak and unbalanced. He walked like a 90-year-old man. And I saw fear in his eyes.
Miraculously, my friend recovered. The doctors said that he could’ve ended up paralyzed and blind. His balance was affected, and he had difficulty walking. But within a few days, he was back home. When he went back to work, he found out that he was no longer eligible for coverage!
I hear it so often: “I’m not going to get sick.” I’ll respond with, “Do me a favor. Can I see this crystal ball of yours? Tell me the exact day you’ll be uninsurable or the day you will die, and I’ll make a date with you for the day before that.” That usually makes them realize that what they’re saying is unreasonable!
Now I am even more insistent that it is our fiduciary responsibility to get people sufficient coverage now, not later.
Salvatore (Sam) Lentini
Clarica
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Richaard Wong RFP, ChLP, FChFP Best Practices, Training & Development
20/F, AIA Building, 1 Stubbs Road Hong Kong Tel: +852 2832 6762 Fax: + 852 2572 1792 Richaard-kl.wong@aig.com
Check out previous articles at: http://regleaders.blogspot.com
What we’re starting to see in Canada is a greater awareness in terms of providing health-care and insurance products to clients. It has a lot to do with the limitations of the provincial health-care system that we have here. Currently, there is a real strain on our system. Our waiting lists to see doctors are getting longer. People are having to wait longer between seeing a general practitioner and a specialist and between seeing a specialist and having an operation done.
Plus, we continue to have fewer doctors and nurses but more people needing to be serviced. In the next 20 to 30 years, our population will have an abundance of older people. People are living longer because of advancements in medicine.
A recent Canadian study revealed that many people here are starting to withdraw their retirement savings or liquidate their assets, including their principal residences, to offset their health-care needs. Obviously, this results in severe tax consequences and erosion of retirement capital.
About 90 percent of the Canadian population lives within 100 miles of the U.S. border. Many people will travel to the States to get health care, even thought they have to pay the noninsured price. We’ve seen people paying $100,000 in Canadian dollars for a heart transplant or a series of chemotherapy in the United States. They’re willing to pay more to be seen and treated quickly.
Even in the United States, about 50 percent of all foreclosures are due to a critical illness. So I’ve seen that people are more receptive than ever to hearing about ways they can protect their assets. It’s actually easier to talk to people about health-care products than life insurance because they’re more willing to accept the fact that they’ll get sick than they are to accept the fact that they’ll die!
Especially in light of the current situation, I feel strongly that it’s our fiduciary responsibility to get our advisors in front of people and to make sure that everything is in place for them.
Our company has begun to take a more proactive role in talking to people about critical health-care and personal-health insurance. The urgency of the current situation has opened up opportunities for us to do a complete needs analysis with our clients and to supplement benefits that the government health-care program doesn’t cover.
We explain to our clients how long-term-care (LTC) insurance products can ensure that they’ll receive income after they retire. It can cover, for example, the cost of having a registered nurse at their home around the clock. We can show them that what they’ll pay on a premium will be much less, in the long run, than sustaining a huge loss to their retirement account or selling their home.
Our supplemental policy won’t help someone get in to see the doctor faster, but it will pick up the tab for medical treatment, even if they get it in the United States.
There are numerous cross-selling opportunities among our existing clients. This gives us a huge opportunity to help people to improve their coverage and minimize their financial risk.
To get our products in front of even more people, we have established relationships with other professionals, such as attorneys who handle real estate transactions. They inform their clients about our services and explain that we can help them protect their home and other assets if they should develop a critical illness.
Because this is such a pressing issue on everyone’s minds, we have had a lot of success with asking for referrals from our clients. Just about everyone knows someone who has had a heart attack or cancer, and they welcome the opportunity to help their friends and loved ones protect their financial assets.
We also conduct workplace meetings with employees. Employers will allow their employees to spend time with one of our advisors to help them understand their group plans and coverages. We’ll give a presentation on existing and new benefits. Then we’ll gather feedback and meet with those who request a one-on-one meeting.
On December 1, 2002, one of my best friends came to my surprise 40th birthday party. He told me that he had changed jobs and no longer had benefits. He wanted me or one of my advisors to meet with him, and we made an appointment for Friday the 13th. That day, his wife called to say that he had the flu. My friend has always been a procrastinator, so I thought maybe he just wasn’t ready to talk about new coverage. Then on the 17th, I was in a planning meeting when my wife called. She told me that my friend, only 39 years old, had suffered a stroke.
I went to see him in the hospital’s intensive care unit. “I wish I had come in to see you,” he said. Then he told me that the previous evening, two people in intensive care had passed away during the night and that he was thinking a lot about his wife and little girl.
Never did I imagine that when we finally did get a chance to meet with him, it would be in the hospital, with him hooked up to infusion pumps. At one point, he got up, weak and unbalanced. He walked like a 90-year-old man. And I saw fear in his eyes.
Miraculously, my friend recovered. The doctors said that he could’ve ended up paralyzed and blind. His balance was affected, and he had difficulty walking. But within a few days, he was back home. When he went back to work, he found out that he was no longer eligible for coverage!
I hear it so often: “I’m not going to get sick.” I’ll respond with, “Do me a favor. Can I see this crystal ball of yours? Tell me the exact day you’ll be uninsurable or the day you will die, and I’ll make a date with you for the day before that.” That usually makes them realize that what they’re saying is unreasonable!
Now I am even more insistent that it is our fiduciary responsibility to get people sufficient coverage now, not later.
Salvatore (Sam) Lentini
Clarica
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Richaard Wong RFP, ChLP, FChFP Best Practices, Training & Development
20/F, AIA Building, 1 Stubbs Road Hong Kong Tel: +852 2832 6762 Fax: + 852 2572 1792 Richaard-kl.wong@aig.com
Check out previous articles at: http://regleaders.blogspot.com
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