Recruiting female agents has its benefits
Top 3 reasons to recruit women:
1. Successful Interactions: Women are able to network with other clients and prospects, making it easier to understand their unique needs.
2. Strong connections: Women often have a network of contacts, either within their previous professions or within their communities. This can help them develop strong practices.
3. Popular Demand: With so many agencies, small and large, seeking female agents, female investors now have the option of doing business with an insurance company that meets their needs. If you’re not meeting the need, you’re losing business to a competitor.
Danica Patrick did it. Hillary Clinton did it. And now, scores of women in the financial services industry are doing it, succeeding in what was once a man’s world. As this male-dominated industry continues to change, so do those who represent it.
Recruit: Magnetic Pull
Although female representation dwarfs compared to their male counterparts, the number of female insurance agents continues to grow year after year. In fact, several large financial firms are creating recruitment campaigns and initiatives based on attracting women.
The approach to recruiting, supporting and retaining female agents is evolving. More financial institutions are recognizing women as prime candidates. So much so that companies compete for female talent. To remain competitive against their forward-thinking counterparts, companies must hire and promote women. “It’s not just the right thing to do, it’s the smart thing to do, given the continuing rise of women as a powerful economic force,” said Heidi Spilotros, director of women’s recruitment at MassMutual. “It is also increasingly important for financial services companies to better understand women as potential customers and customers, in order to serve this important market segment well.”
MassMutual has been a pioneer in recruiting, retaining and helping women succeed. But to help these people do well, you must first understand their needs and motivations. Perhaps no one is more familiar with what female agents want than Spilotros, as she appreciates the innate need to pull off the ever-illusory act of balancing work and family life. She traveled across the country, during her eighth month of pregnancy, to better understand what women want.
MassMutual has been able to effectively attract female agents by emphasizing the positive attributes of a career as a financial services professional, specifically challenge, entrepreneurship, financial and personal rewards, and flexibility. This major insurance company is so attuned to these needs that MassMutual was named one of Working Mother’s Top 100 Companies by Working Mother magazine in 2007.
While the financial services industry has made several strides in recent years when it comes to candidates, the progress has not permeated all organizations. According to Geoff Kaltenbach, associate managing partner at Signature Resources in Irvine, CA, the insurance industry has not been successful in these fields compared to other trades, such as pharmaceutical sales.
Kaltenbach’s approach to recruiting talented women begins at the college level. Her firm works with three sororities at two local universities to attract potential candidates for their internship program. This highly effective strategy has resulted in a great source of referrals for the firm. In fact, many of her advisers and staff stem from the internship program. “Starting there (college level) because they know other people who have the same work ethic and that creates a good talent pool,” Kaltenbach said.
Although Signature Resources does hire women, the company actively seeks good candidates in general, regardless of gender. There are, however, several benefits to hiring women. “Women can be successful in this business,” insists Kaltenbach.
In general, women in their 20s are more mature and empathetic, possess a stronger work ethic and have a better fashion sense than their male counterparts, according to Kaltenbach. Also, many hiring managers are women and feel more comfortable dealing with people of the same sex. Therefore, female representation becomes even more valuable in building the business.
Often, it is not a company actively recruiting an agent, but rather a person recruiting their new workplace. When a devastating car accident left the Wilkerson family in financial and medical trouble, Julie Wilkerson left a successful career in sales and marketing to seek new horizons. Shocked to learn that she had inadequate coverage, Ella Wilkerson felt a personal obligation to educate others in areas in which she had not been well informed and decided that the best way to make a difference was in the insurance industry.
In the end, it was Colonial Life that was able to seduce Wilkerson with its strong reputation for satisfying customer service and its promise to educate agents. However, Wilkerson did not commit to Colonial Life without first researching the supplemental insurance company. “What impressed me was the longevity of the agents who worked for Colonial Life,” Wilkerson said. “I was looking for a company that nurtured its people.”
Wilkerson’s research paid off. Colonial Life offered the ethical element that Wilkerson was looking for. “The buzz from the ladies’ room is pretty telling,” Wilkerson said. “If you’re putting on your lipstick and hearing agents talk about how wonderful their year was, not just from a financial standpoint, but from a people standpoint, it’s gratifying. I’m honored to be in your company”.
Support: Commitment
For some agents, support refers to technology-based solutions and for others it is defined as emotional support.
Signature Resources supports its more than 100 agents, 20 percent of whom are women, with the right tools to succeed. The company relies heavily on echoWealth, a web-based needs analysis program equipped with illustrated financial reports, motivational calculators, and smart content. “It’s our Wikipedia and it underpins everything we do,” Kaltenbach said. “Having something at your fingertips immediately for you and your customer is the most important thing we do.”
In addition, Wilkerson has been able to take advantage of the resources Colonial Life offers, such as a comprehensive website that answers questions ranging from competition to specific policies; newsletters packed with sales techniques, product education, and field agent anecdotes; and workshops and conferences.
While proper resources are necessary to advance your career and educate clients, other factors come into play when it comes to supporting your agent, including integrity and the ability to balance career and family life.
To build your business, you need a level of support. Also, you want to make sure that that level of support is coming from a reputable company. “I wasn’t going to go diving in a polluted pool,” said Wilkerson, who places a premium on the company’s reputation. “I can speak passionately and honestly about the company.”
The suite of support services allows Wilkerson to be in business for herself, but not alone. From a flexibility standpoint, this career allows you to maintain a rewarding livelihood and family life. “I choose where I go, when I go and how I go,” Wilkerson said.
Like Signature Resources and Colonial Life, MassMutual supports all of its agents, regardless of gender. However, the company recognizes that there are certain accommodations that are attractive to associates. “Success breeds success, so one of the best ways we can attract female agents is to show them how the women who come to MassMutual can establish and build great careers,” Spilotros said. “Part of our success as an organization is due to the fact that we highlight and celebrate the accomplishments of our female directors so new hires can imagine themselves in that position.”
One of the ways the company demonstrates this is through its recruiting website, where an agent talks about her role in her own words. In addition, the company organizes mentoring programs; hosts an annual female agent conference that focuses on challenges unique to women; and is active in groups such as Women in Insurance and Financial Services (WIFS), an organization whose mission is to support, encourage, and promote the success of women in the insurance and financial services industry.
In the end, the reward of providing strong support manifests itself in stronger retention rates.
Hold: keep the fire burning
It’s no secret that retention is a problem for many agencies. However, by ensuring proper support is in place, retention is easier. For example, a retention method comes in the form of rewards. Just like policies, rewards come in different flavors. Whether it’s based on commissions, bonus plans, verbal recognition, or offering flexible hours, the rules of the game have changed.
For Wilkerson, rewards can be measured qualitatively. “Working women don’t always get recognition and we all need a little encouragement,” Wilkerson said. “I get great feedback from this company and from the clients I serve.”
However, others may see success quantitatively. Based on the projected numbers, Signature Resources intends to retain its existing female agent base and expand it to 30 to 40 percent in the next few years, up from about two percent a few years ago.
Like Signature Resources, MassMutual has seen steady growth in its brokers over the past eight years to 16%. In fact, in 2007, women comprised 21% of the company’s hiring classes, a leading indicator of the future growth of female agents within MassMutual. The company anticipates additional growth as it initiates new initiatives to more effectively target women of all ethnicities and successfully transition into a career. “To compete as a company in the future, we must be able to serve the rapidly growing market of female consumers, and we need talented people, both men and women, to do that,” said Spilotros. “The more we can attract, retain and help succeed, the better our company will be.”
Like any relationship, women require excessive courtship and attentive support. If not, divorce court could be right around the corner.