IIABA’s Virtual Univ. Offering New Sales Skills Programs to Ind. Agents, Brokers

Article

The Big “I” Virtual University (VU) of the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America (IIABA) is now offering Richardson QuickSkills™: a four-star rated portfolio of online sales skills programs designed to further enhance its 300,000 member agents and brokers’ abilities to meet clients’ needs and communicate with prospective customers.

These programs—the six-module Consultative Selling Series and the eight-module Six Critical Sales Skills Series—are offered through the Virtual University in conjunction with Richardson, an internationally recognized sales training and consulting firm. These interactive Web-based courses can be taken on a per-module basis or can be taken as two complete programs. More information about VU classrooms is available by visiting www.independentagent.com and selecting the “Virtual University” tab.

“Independent insurance agents and brokers annually cite producer sales training as one of their foremost priorities,” IIABA vice president of Education & Research, Madelyn Flannagan, said. “IIABA has responded by providing this critical training in an online format that allows these producers to remain productive in their daily work while they are conveniently acquiring new and improved skills.”

·The Consultative Selling is a six-part sales training program that takes an in-depth look at sales as an interactive process and offers courses that make up the framework of a sales call: Opening, Need Dialogue, Resolving Objections, Solution Dialogue, Closing, and Preparation.

·Six Critical Skills Series is an eight-part sales training program representing the foundation of a client-focused sales process. These six skills—questioning, listening, positioning, checking, presence and relating—are the essential skills salespeople need to effectively understand client needs, position winning solutions, build long-term relationships and close a sale. Continuing development of these vitals skills enable a salesperson to fully uncover client needs and more effectively position his or her products.

“We have focused on advancing agent and broker understanding of the skill sets that bring the sales dialogue to life in a telephone conversation, face-to-face meeting or sales presentation,” Flannagan added. “Every course concentrates on an individual skill that is crucial when combined with the others involved in the selling process. A weakness in one of these areas negatively impacts all the other skills and inhibits the odds of an overall sale.”

Agents and brokers have the option of taking courses individually or as an entire series at a discounted rate.

Consultative Selling Series courses:

· Leveraging the Opening

· Leading an Effective Need Dialogue

· Resolving Challenging Objections

· Positioning an Effective Solution Dialogue

· Closing to Win and Maintain Momentum

· Maximizing Sales Call Preparation

Six Critical Skills Series courses:

· Structuring Questions to Uncover Needs

· Prefacing Questions to Encourage Client Responses

· Drill-Down Questions to Impact Sales Results