After One Year, LIMRA’s Trustworthy Selling® Proves to Increase Producer Productivity

WINDSOR, Conn., Feb. 28, 2012 — One year after launching its new producer sales effectiveness program, Trustworthy Selling®, at LIMRA’s Distribution Conference, a new survey of producers who have taken the course finds their overall productivity has improved significantly.

“The need of life insurance has never been greater – half of U.S. households say they need more life insurance and 30 percent have none at all,” James Kerley, president, LIMRA Services. “We need to do a better job of reaching these Americans but we know consumers have a high level of distrust of producers. Using the findings from our consumer preference and behavioral economics research, as well as sales best practices, we built a program that helps producers better understand their prospects. We are proud to partner with the Hoopis Performance Network to offer this groundbreaking training program, and excited that it is having a positive impact on agents and consumers alike.”

For this survey, LIMRA compared the individual production of the 136 producers from one agency — 23 who attended the Trustworthy Selling training program and 113 who didn’t — to measure the impact of the new sales effectiveness program. The producers who received the training reported remarkably better sales results than those who did not participate in the training. Results included:

31 percent increase in new clients acquired
27 percent increase in policies sold
18 percent increase in premium

The Trust Deficit

LIMRA’s market research has revealed that 43 percent of middle–income households report being afraid of making a mistake in their financial decision making. Couple this with recent study that found 85 percent of consumers who feel it is more difficult to trust advisors than it was five years ago, and the dilemma becomes clear. Consumers don’t trust themselves to make a decision but they also don’t trust advisors to help them.

Through LIMRA’s behavioral economic research, researchers found that consumers respond better to certain language and tactics based on social, cognitive and emotional factors. LIMRA research has proven that by working the principles of behavioral economics into a sales presentation, producers can be more effective and bridge the trust gap, understand client needs and support consumers with their purchasing decisions.

How Does It Work?

Trustworthy Selling approaches the selling process from a different perspective, combining three critical aspects of selling: consumer and industry research, field-tested sales skills and buyer psychology. Partnering with the Hoopis Performance Network, LIMRA developed a sales training program that offers a conscious, competent approach to understanding buyer psychology. Using that knowledge, producers can improve their sales results.

“Companies that have offered this program to their producers have seen more than double return on their investment,” comment Kerley. “I have been in this business for more than 30 years and can’t remember another instance of such remarkable results.”

For more information, visit Trustworthy Selling.

LIMRA Contact:

Catherine Theroux, 860-285-7787, ctheroux@limra.com

About LIMRA

LIMRA, a worldwide research, consulting and professional development organization, is the trusted source of industry knowledge, helping more than 850 insurance and financial services companies in 73 countries increase their marketing and distribution effectiveness. Visit LIMRA at www.limra.com.