Insurance in general is changing, especially over the last few years. And with the cohort of millennials coming up, education is key to meeting these new challenges.
“We need to invest in broker education. It is about arming each other with best practices,” says John McNeil, manager of learning and development, national sales and distribution,
RSA Canada. “Supporting education is building strong relationships, and through those relationships, we are succeeding together.”
McNeil is the driving force behind RSA’s Making Partner and Broker Boot Camp programs as well as many other educational programs targeting brokers.
RSA wrapped up their 9
th installment of their Making Partner program in May and moved right into their Broker Boot Camp program, which wrapped up this month. The boot camp took personal insurance brokers, as well as brokers who are new to insurance and transitioned them to work in the commercial space. Brokers who completed the Broker Boot Camp also received 16 RIBO hours.
“The Broker Boot Camp brings together brokers from the Personal Insurance (PI) space and equipping them with the necessary knowledge and tools to succeed in the Commercial Insurance (CI) space,” says McNeil, “We are equipping them with the RSA commercial lines tool, and providing them with sales skills to sell commercial insurance. We’re building confidence.”
What are brokers saying?
For one broker, boot camp opened up a whole new world.
Carlos Vincent a client executive of Cornerstone Insurance Brokers admits he was a little skeptical to make the move from Personal to Commercial insurance.
“I’ve been totally dedicated to personal lines for the past 10 years, and I’ve been pushed a little bit lately to start commercial insurance,” says Vincent.” So I said, ‘give me some guidance!’ Because I can do personal with my eyes closed, but commercial? It is a different beast out there.”
To start selling commercial, Vincent felt like he was starting from the very beginning. (continued.)
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“There is no connection between one and the other at all. None,” he says. “It is still insurance, but that is about it. Having completed the course, I must say, the Broker Boot Camp was excellent and I’m so glad I took it.”
What Broker Boot Camp is all about?
The boot camp proves that you can teach an old dog new tricks, and for Vincent, he came out of it ready to sell commercial lines.
“Once you do personal, you’ve got the basics. And then you just have to upgrade everything you’ve learned,” says Vincent. “And the commitment and professionalism from those running the course was just amazing.”
What are the takeaways?
“Brokers can expect the general foundations and underlying principles of commercial insurance,” says McNeil, “such as business interruption, inland marine, crime insurance, commercial general liability, to cite just a few examples; commercial garage, commercial auto….”
A big part is allowing the brokers to test the RSA tool, to build up their confidence before trying it on their own.
“And we bring in an expert sales person to provide them with some negotiation and trust and rapport skills that will complement their existing skills from selling PI insurance,” he says.
But when all is said and done, is Vincent ready to sell commercial insurance?
“I’m starting today,” he laughed, answering a question on when he expected to jump in and get his feet wet selling commercial. “I’m already working on a quote. I’m talking to the underwriting team, so we’ll see what happens. That is going to be a big one!”
If nothing else, the boot camp underlines the need for insurers to step up and offer broker education to their networks, says McNeil.
“A lot of brokers said that it was great just to network and to work in teams,” he says. “With RSA, we have a strong belief that we want to learn together, build together and succeed together.”
