By RCCAQ

Since 2009, the Insurance Brokers Association of Canada (IBAC) has offered a specialized sales training program for brokers. Known as Producer Academy, the program gives participants an opportunity to boost their sales and is designed to facilitate their career development.

The program was launched a decade after the IBAC decided to create a special committee tasked with formulating recommendations to ensure that brokers' professional careers would remain dynamic and viable over the long term. One of the recommendations was to set up a program that would be available to all brokers and would enable them to acquire a solid knowledge base while propelling their careers and ensuring their firms' success.

Tailored to brokers' realities

Drawing inspiration from a course offered by the Florida Association of Independent Brokers, the IBAC's program was tailored to reflect specific Canadian realities. Producer Academy is designed to reinforce brokers' knowledge and skills in key business building areas, from goal setting and prospecting to landing new accounts and securing renewals.

The participants also learn about personality types, prospecting techniques, forging consultation-based business relationships, negotiation skills, time/stress management, presentation skills, in addition to setting, measuring and monitoring sales targets.

The program's philosophy is based on brokers' active involvement. Far from theoretical, Producer Academy aims to enhance brokers' day-to-day activities. Even though a good deal of emphasis is placed on setting targets, the participants are asked to devise real-life goals that they can apply once they return to their firms.

Beneficial for all experience levels

Although the program was initially designed for brokers in the commercial insurance line, a number of personal insurance brokers have completed the program with equally good results. Above all, Producer Academy is geared towards junior brokers with three years of experience or less or individuals who have been working in the industry for less than five years.

However, more experienced brokers can also learn a lot. Patricia Lorenzo, a P&C broker with Fort Insurance, recently completed the program with a view to enhancing her business practices. She is among the select group of 58 brokers who have been certified under the program and offers these comments on why she signed up: "I started out working in P&C insurance claims about 15 years ago. I only recently became a broker and I wanted to make a bigger contribution to our firm's business development. The training I received gave me more systematic work methods, more confidence in my own abilities and more insight into client psychology."

Discipline, persistence and consistency

"The program has three basic principles: discipline, persistence and consistency," notes Sandra Parker, the IBAC's Professional Development Manager. "We want brokers to be aware of the importance of strategic planning when it comes to business development, in addition to systematic goal setting and monitoring. Along the way, self-assessments are designed to ensure continuous improvements."

Given her clientele (primarily major companies with international operations), Patricia says that Producer Academy allowed her to get to know herself better. "I now feel better prepared. I have a clearer understanding of my own strengths and I know what type of clientele I can work most effectively with. I'm much more strategic in how I identify potential clients. I now focus on researching certain industries and then target the most promising clients in them."

In other words, the IBAC's Producer Academy is sure to give all brokers a welcome career boost!