Insurance agencies are doing a bang-up job of training industry newcomers; but when it comes to providing ongoing training to their experienced agents, the firms are falling below expectations, according to advisors surveyed for this year’s Insurance Advisors’ Report Card.
“I’ve been an advisor for eight years, and it used to be better,” says an advisor in Ontario with Waterloo, Ont.-based Sun Life Financial (Canada) Inc. of the firm’s training offering. “As advi-sors mature, the training decreases — and we need refreshers, especially as technology has changed so much in the past decade.”
Indeed, Sun Life advisors gave their firm a 7.0 rating for its ongoing training this year, half a point less than the 7.5 they rated it in 2008. Additionally, they rated the category at 8.3 in importance, 1.3 points above the performance rating.
On the flip side, new Sun Life advisors have access to the Career Academy, through which they “combine self-study with online, classroom and on-the-job training, one-on-one coaching sessions, workshops, joint fieldwork and ongoing financial centre training,” says Vicken Kazazian, senior vice president of the firm’s career sales force.
He points out, however, that established and experienced advisors need to qualify — based on their production and length of their careers — to attend the academy.
Advisors with Mississauga, Ont.-based RBC Life Insurance Co. also felt let down by their firm’s efforts in ongoing training. They rated their firm a 7.9 in the category — a full point lower than their 8.9 importance rating.
Larry Dunk, head of market development and career sales at RBC Life, says the firm offers development programs, including directed Webinars and conference calls: “We’ll pick specific groups of individuals — we have a long-term care specialist program out there; we have a business insurance group — [to conduct] Webinars. It’s an open invitation for people to sit in on.”
But RBC Life advisors were not particularly thrilled with this model. Says an advisor in Saskatchewan: “We do have guys that come in and train us, but how it pertains to our jobs is the question.”
Ernie Murdoch, senior vice president of career sales with RBC Life, says the firm is looking to address its ongoing training: “We’re trying to find ways whereby we would provide all the continuing education credits that our advisors need in every given year.”
On the other hand, some RBC Life advisors raved about the company’s training program — but this praise came almost entirely from new employees.
“The internal training is very good,” says an RBC Life advisor in Saskatchewan who has been in the industry for only a year and a half. “You take 25 exams, one per week for the first 25 weeks.”
The story is much the same at London, Ont.-based Freedom 55 Financial, in that advisors, both rookie and experienced, were quick to point out how good the company is at preparing new advisors; but when it comes to ongoing training for experienced advisors, the complaints came pouring in.
“They are more interested in recruiting than in helping those who have been here for a while,” says a Freedom 55 advisor in Ontario.
For experienced advisors, Freedom 55 offers developmental programs in which attendance is based on qualification. “In February and March, we have our ‘Right Programs, Right People’ meetings,” says Mike Cunneen, senior vice president with Freedom 55. “These are about how to build your business and are coaching-oriented.”
Cunneen also points out that Freedom 55 has a sales summit in the fall that advisors pay to attend.
That said, certain Freedom 55 advisors feel that the content still doesn’t speak to them. Says an advisor in Nova Scotia: “I like going to their conferences, but what they offer is geared toward the young person, not the older advisor.”
But not all firms were criticized for their ongoing training. Mississauga-based IDC Financial Inc. received the top score in the category with a 9.2.
Says an IDC advisor in Ontario: “There are excellent study groups with top-level people, where we rub shoulders with the best of the best.”
Most of these training programs are free for advisors through the IDC Institute, the firm’s “education and training arm,” says Ron Madzia, IDC’s president. IDCI offers sales and business development courses and, for newer advisors, opportunities to work with a mentor.
@page_break@In fact, when asked to name the most positive aspects of working through IDC, most advisors pointed to training and development.
Says an IDC advisor in Ontario: “Training and support is there when you need it. There are lots of ongoing training programs and a lot of people there to provide support.” IE