Search Results

With the growing cost of distribution and budgets being scrutinized, financial organizations will have to begin identifying more cost-effective methods to deliver training and development that are scalable. In addition, the trend from the last decade where each firm is “entrepreneurial” and allowed to do it “their way” locally is, quite frankly, a failing model. This approach creates inconsistencies across the organization and limits cultural best practices from being identified. Benefits of Scaling Subject Matter Expertise Distribution leaders and heads of learning & development will need to focus on developing training programs where the primary delivery of subject matter expertise is via online streaming video. This removes an extensive amount of work and “heavy lifting” off the shoulders of home office trainers and field managers. This allows the facilitator’s primary role to simply be to facilitate the program by leading discussions, conducting debriefing activities, and providing practical insights on certain topics. Ultimately, this ensures the quality and consistency of program delivery across the enterprise. As we like to say at HPN, “the streaming video never has a bad day”! It also creates scale by significantly reducing costs to deliver training at the local level. The Flip Side – Inconsistent Learning Experiences Let’s look at the flip side. Most sales effectiveness programs are not designed to ensure consistency and scalability. Typically, the person leading the training, who many times is a manager in the field, must become the subject matter expert and the bulk of the program delivery relies on the quality of that facilitator. Therefore, the training experience varies from location to location depending on the knowledge and skills of the manager. And because of the amount of preparation required to deliver the program effectively, managers slip back into ditching the material and conducting off-the-cuff training by telling “war stories” which is not learning & development! The Scaling Perils of a Third-Party Trainer As an alternative approach, companies have the option to license training from a third-party, proprietary facilitator who runs the program locally. However, this becomes cost-prohibitive due to the travel expenses and daily facilitation fees incurred to hire to an expert to deliver the program. Plus, many of these training companies are built around a franchise model where there is a different franchisee trainer in each city. This results in not only varied results but also your training experience being only as good as your local facilitator. Conclusion We all know the definition of insanity. Moving forward, financial services companies will have two choices: Either create scale and consistency by building learning and development programs internally or leverage the expertise of an outside strategic partner that has a successful track record of executing this strategy. Leveraging a strategic partner to develop certain training has been proven to be a much more cost-effective, time-efficient approach.

Creating your content platform is a vital step in today’s digital age. The ideal situation is to have your marketing, creative, and sales teams aligned using your content, but that doesn’t always happen. The other problem is that a surprisingly large amount of marketing material sits unused on a storage shelf or server for a long time. Sounds like a waste of resources, right? The question is, how to effectively create or purchase your content platform to maximize efficiency and streamline processes? There’s a lot to unpack here, so let’s get started. Time This is about maximizing efficiency so time is of the utmost importance. Consider the time it takes to research, develop, train, and deploy your new content and this is a key factor in the decision. Evaluate how much time each of these steps would cost your company. If creation takes longer when purchasing content would be sufficient, save that time. There’s no point in launching an entire campaign, taking long periods, and setting distant deadlines when a few clicks could create better content and engagement. Cost Cost is not just about monetary signs on a spreadsheet. To create truly profitable and compelling content, you need to look at all of your available resources. This means both your budget and your people. Content creation in this case will require dedicated research, development, training and implementation teams. If you have the budget to coordinate informative content based on real-world research, it is almost always more valuable than purchased content. However, sometimes purchasing content has a steeper entry point than creating it in-house, so be sure to involve every aspect of your operation to grow your brand. Expertise Often your content needs to be very specific to your brand. That contains and requires a deep understanding of its topic. The general rule is that if you have to educate someone else too much about your topic, you are breaking the above rules of time and cost. In these cases, it is better to create the content yourself. After all, they are the experts in your company. Simpler and more accessible verticals require less research, where purchasing is always an option. ROI The root of everything is the return on investment. What’s the point of creating or purchasing content if you don’t get a positive return on investment? This topic is more of a summary of his perspective. Carefully consider every aspect from cost, time and expertise. What do you need the content for? How will you use it? How long will it remain relevant? After considering cost, content, and time, you need to determine what type of result you expect from purchasing or creating your content. There is no easy answer to this question. You can break it down a thousand ways and get different answers. Some other options to consider that may influence your decision are as follows: How accessible is the content to your audience? None of this matters if your content is not easily accessible. Do your users constantly use your information? Would it work better sorted by themes or locations? While creating a content platform is important, it’s also vital to consider how your team will use it in everyday functions and interactions. The most important thing you can do as a decision maker is to provide your teams and users with agile information that they can use to drive their ideas. Content performance isn’t limited to your internal team either. Branding Efforts is the dynamic force that propels your business toward new endeavors. How well can you maintain your information? Keeping your brand highlighted helps solidify your company’s position as a powerhouse in your competitive environment. When every piece of content you create further reinforces your message, you’re doing a good job. Creating content in-house will allow you complete control over what type of content you are creating and what message you are sharing. When you purchase from outside resources, you lose the ability to articulate your message. You Should Buy When: ROI is higher You lack the internal resources to build, maintain and support up-to-date learning for your team or organization The content is developed by trusted industry experts. You have little time Ready content meets your training requirements. You Should Build When: The content you need is confidential or highly specialized Your organization has many resources and a well-thought-out training strategy The problem you are facing does not offer an available solution You have the resources to maintain and support the learning necessary for your team

Over the years, the solutions developed by the Hoopis Performance Network have been field-tested in our “living laboratory”. This philosophy of being built “by the field, for the field” has served us well since its inception. As we transitioned into the sales training and management development space, we reluctantly had to accept that we were now considered a “vendor.” Our HPN team has joked over the years about how we’ve been relegated to vendor status. However, our team has never accepted the role of just “vendor” for a variety of reasons. We’ve built an organization that’s truly a strategic partner for our clients, not just some vendor who is peddling products. It begs the question: What’s the difference between a Vendor vs. a Strategic Partner? Extension of Your Training Department Working with a Strategic Partner provides benefits to the organization beyond just the solution itself. A Strategic Partner serves as an extension of the training department. How? By providing a dedicated account team that conducts regularly scheduled onboarding and implementation calls to ensure each region, branch, and stakeholder is adopting best practices. Strategic Partners guide facilitators and coaches through their certification processes and ensure each is fully equipped to execute. They work closely with companies to create implementation and delivery calendars that provide structure yet enough flexibility to adapt to the local training culture. Strategic Partners provides turnkey marketing and promotional materials companies can use to build excitement around the execution. Commodity vs. a Comprehensive Solution to Drive Execution A Vendor will simply provide you with their program or content with no consultation or strategy on how to best drive adoption. The Vendor is a commodity and only concerned with getting paid for their content and will allow you to incorporate it into your LMS without a comprehensive strategy on how to drive adoption. A Strategic Partner consults on the best ways to drive adoption and will even challenge clients when content or program is being treated as a commodity vs. an integrated, comprehensive solution. Credibility Through Field Experience and Proven Track Record Many vendors either come from outside the industry or have never worked in the field or home office in the past. Therefore, they provide solutions that are developed in a “vacuum.” It’s prudent for home offices to leverage Strategic Partners who have a proven track record in the vertical. Not only a solution that’s been field-tested but also past field expertise so the Strategic Partner can also serve as a consultant to the home office on what typically works and doesn’t work at the field level. Conclusion There’s a big difference between a Vendor vs. a Strategic Partner. With more and more pressure being placed on time and budgets, home offices should leverage true Strategic Partners who provide comprehensive, field-tested solutions while serving as an extension of the home office team. This ultimately creates a solution in the most cost-effective, time-efficient approach possible.

President and Co-Founder of Hoopis Performance Network, Joey Davenport, was featured on the NAIFA’s Advisor Today Podcast Series. During this interview, Joey discussed the impact of continued learning on business development. In this episode of Advisor Today, Chris Gandy and Suzanne Carawan sit down with Joey Davenport, Co-founder and President of Hoopis Performance Network (HPN), to discuss the impact continual learning and self-development have on your professional life. Joey talks about HPNs introduction to the financial industry, the use of digital content as a recruiting strategy, and his thoughts on the future of career distribution. Episode Highlights: Joey Davenport shares his professional background and his role at Hoopis Performance Network (HPN) Why HPN was readily embraced by the financial industry — and the foresight Joey had to incorporate digital content How does video content play into an advisor’s professional development? The emergence of digital content as a virtual recruiting strategy Joey shares his thoughts on the future of career distribution The value of continued learning and its impact on your profession How NAIFA has impacted Joey’s leadership Joey Davenport is a LIMRA strategic partner providing innovative, web-based sales training and leadership development learning solutions for financial professionals. Joey is responsible for leading all sales and marketing, enterprise client relationships, solutions development, and team development for the organization. He is the executive producer for HPN and serves as a speaker, coach, and consultant to HPN clients worldwide. He served as the President of NAIFA Chicagoland and is a graduate of NAIFA’s Leadership in Life Institute.

Hoopis Performance Network and Cornerstone OnDemand announced a strategic partnership where Cornerstone will make some of HPN’s digital content available to their 70,000,000 online learners. The need for digital learning has increased significantly in recent years due to the Covid pandemic and economic turbulence. Employees are having to make the shift to access more virtual learning and development content. As technology and artificial intelligence continue to replace workers to increase efficiency, Using the power of AI, organizations can re-invigorate their learning and development experience. Today, organizations can use AI to make relevant content accessible anytime and anywhere, accelerate talent and career movement, and make skills the universal language of growth and success. “We’re thrilled to be partnered with HPN, an expert financial services content provider” said Andrea Sennett, Cornerstone Principal Partner Manager. “Many of our customers are looking for modern and engaging content specifically in the financial services space. This partnership provides a great additional resource for Cornerstone Content Anytime customers.” HPN’s initial offering within Cornerstone’s Content Hub will feature financial wellness content for employees as well as Spanish and investment planning content for financial professionals. There are currently 70 modules that are live with another 130 planned for this quarter. HPN is dedicated to producing a large library of content and has up to 500 modules in the works for this year. “We’re very excited to be recognized and selected to distribute our digital content through Cornerstone On Demand,” said Harry Hoopis, CEO of HPN. “Strategically partnering with the largest learning management system provider in the business provides a great opportunity for us to scale our distribution and make a bigger impact in the world.” HPN is one of the premier digital content providers to insurance and financial services organizations – serving clients in over 30 countries worldwide. HPN is one of fifty-four digital content providers featured today in the Cornerstone OnDemand Content Hub and only one of five from the financial services content space. HPN partners with the top experts and practitioners in financial services to provide learning content for financial advisors, leaders/managers, home office employees and financial wellness for consumers. About Hoopis Performance Network For more than a decade, Hoopis Performance Network has been a global leader in providing digital sales and leadership development learning solutions. HPN’s digital resources are designed to increase productivity and retention. In addition, they are scalable and customizable, depending on your organization’s virtual learning and development needs. Visit us at: www.hoopis.com. About Cornerstone Cornerstone powers the future-ready workforce with a next-generation talent experience platform designed to unite technology, data and content and inspire a work environment of growth, agility and success for all. With an AI-powered, skills-forward, experiential platform, built on an open architecture designed for neutrality and scale, we help organizations modernize their learning and development experience, deliver the most relevant content from anywhere, accelerate talent and career mobility and establish skills as the universal language of growth and success across their business. Cornerstone serves over 7,000 customers and 100 million users and is available in 180 countries and 50 languages.

Trustworthy Selling was named one of the Top Sales Training Companies of 2023 by Selling Power, Inc., a multi-channel media company and producer of Selling Power magazine — the leading digital magazine for sales managers and sales vice presidents since 1981. Since 2013, Trustworthy Selling, developed by LIMRA and Hoopis Performance Network (HPN), has helped more than 25,000 financial professionals strengthen customer engagement strategies and improve productivity. The sales effectiveness training uses tenets of behavioral economics and buyer and seller psychology to help financial professionals. Between HPN’s proven sales techniques and LIMRA’s leading market research, the award-winning program equips financial professionals with the knowledge and skills to build authentic client relationships that lead to sales success. “Consumer demand for financial advisors is growing. Forty-one percent of respondents say they have a primary professional financial advisor, and 24% say they are looking for an advisor,” explained David Levenson, president and CEO for LIMRA and LOMA. “Through Trustworthy Selling, financial professionals can differentiate themselves from the competition using proven skills, behavioral techniques, and market insights.” “We are honored Trustworthy Selling is recognized as one of the top sales training companies,” said Joey Davenport, president of Hoopis Performance Network. “HPN and LIMRA are especially proud as we’re the only organization among the honorees that are focused solely on the financial services space. This has always been a key differentiator for us.” Selling Power used these main criteria for selecting the top companies: The depth and breadth of the sales training program offered Innovative offerings (sales training courses, methodology, or delivery methods) Contributions to the sales training market Strength of client satisfaction and overall client feedback Trustworthy Selling offers three learning editions for each stage of a financial professional’s journey. Each edition provides a powerful combination of tools and techniques that can be delivered in three ways—self-study, a virtual classroom, or blended learning—to benefit your organization through an immersive, interactive learning system. Trustworthy Selling has a proven record of success. Upon completing the program, financial professionals saw an average increase of 46% in first-year commissions, a 25% increase in new clients, and their premium was up 32%. “It is encouraging to see Trustworthy Selling’s positive impact on financial professionals’ development,” noted Levenson. “It’s a testament not only to the partnership between LIMRA and HPN but to the financial services industry as a whole as we foster a culture built on trust for the clients we serve.” To learn more about Trustworthy Selling. About Hoopis Performance Network For more than a decade, Hoopis Performance Network has been a global leader in providing digital sales and leadership development learning solutions. HPN’s digital resources are designed to increase productivity and retention. In addition, they are scalable and customizable, depending on your organization’s virtual learning and development needs. To learn more about the Hoopis Performance Network, visit their website at: www.hoopis.com. About LIMRA Serving the industry since 1916, LIMRA helps to advance the financial services industry by empowering nearly 700 financial services companies in 53 countries with knowledge, insights, connections, and solutions. To learn more about LIMRA, visit their website at: www.limra.com.

Joey Davenport Featured on NAIFA’s Advisor Today Podcast Series President and Co-Founder of Hoopis Performance Network, Joey Davenport, was featured on the NAIFA’s Advisor Today Podcast Series. During this interview, Joey discussed the impact of continued learning on business development. In this episode of Advisor Today, Chris Gandy and Suzanne Carawan sit down with Joey Davenport, Co-founder and President of Hoopis Performance Network (HPN), to discuss the impact continual learning and self-development have on your professional life. Joey talks about HPNs introduction to the financial industry, the use of digital content as a recruiting strategy, and his thoughts on the future of career distribution. Episode Highlights: Harry Hoopis explains why he’s committed to the insurance and financial services industry The working relationship between Harry Hoopis and Al Granum How Harry transitioned from working as an agent to owning his own firm The strategies Harry incorporated to promote healthy firm growth Tips for agents’ and advisors’ development Harry shares what receiving the John Newton Russell Award means to him Mentors that have influenced Harry’s career journey The value of joining NAIFA as an advisor Harry offers insight into the 10 Hoopis Rules of Life Harry Hoopis is an entrepreneur and industry leader in the insurance and financial services space who has built a successful firm based in Chicago, IL. He speaks, teaches, and inspires executives, advisors, and front-line salespeople — providing the systems, methods, efficiencies, and confidence needed to excel in the industry. He is the author of the best-selling book, The Road to the Bountiful Life, and recipient of NAIFA’s prestigious John Newton Russell Memorial Award.

Insurers Should Not Overlook Lucrative Hispanic Market Miguel Taveras, chief sales officer, Hoopis Performance Network, was recently interviewed on AM Best TV where he discussed how insurers should not overlook the lucrative Hispanic market. Miguel went on to say that the Hispanic consumer market in the United States has grown to $3.3 trillion and shares a host of qualities that make it a good prospect for insurers. About Miguel: Miguel Taveras, CLF®, LLIF Chief Sales Officer & Executive Vice President Global Development Hoopis Performance Network. Miguel has almost three decades of experience in sales, business leadership and distribution development in the Financial Services and Insurance industry. Miguel has developed hundreds of leaders, teams and businesses in the USA, Mexico, and Chile. Miguel leads Hoopis Performance Network’s international division and is the executive producer of the in Spanish content library for Hoopis. Miguel is insurance licensed and holds FINRA registrations 6,63,26. Miguel graduated Summa Cum Laude with bachelor’s degree in business and earned the Chartered Leadership Fellow designation (CLF®) from the American College of Financial Services. In addition, Miguel completed the LIMRA Leadership Institute Fellow designation (LLIF) with Wharton School of business for Executive Education. Miguel has had the honor to speak internationally in a variety of industries and settings. He has a passion for learning and development; he is an active participant with NAIFA, FINSECA/GAMA and LIMRA. Miguel is past chair for the LIMRA diversity committee. Miguel is the founder president of the Latin American Association of Insurance Agencies, Houston Chapter. An association that has reached one hundred members in the state of Texas in less than two years. Miguel was born in the Dominican Republic and migrated to the US at age 15. Miguel is fully bilingual. He is a proud father of three children: Miguel Jr., Diana, and Gia. Miguel enjoys Yoga, exercising, traveling, reading, and holds a private pilot license from the FAA in the United States and the DGAC in Chile.