To help our brokers better offer premium finance and grow their business, we created our Capability Team. Responsible for specialised training and development, covering the whole of Britain and Northern Ireland, the team tailor their response to get the very best result.
Premium Credit took the innovative decision to build a dedicated field team, and free the national Performance Manager network from the training of front line staff on the benefits of premium finance, the sales process and the systems used to onboard a customer. “Having spoken to our brokers, we found immediate demand for the concept from brokers of all sizes.” says Adam Morghem, Strategy and Marketing Director at Premium Credit. “We developed the team and the content during 2017, and proved the commercial return for our partners.”
Leigh McConnell was the first person recruited into the Capability Team and she explains the background: “I joined in January 2017 having previously worked for Gallagher as a Sales, System and Product trainer. Since then, the team has grown and now consists of skilled people with commercial insurance, retail insurance and L&D expertise. We are able to, very quickly understand the challenges our partners are experiencing and help them improve their performance. Having worked for a broker, I understand first hand the everyday challenges they face.”
Results focussed
The principles behind the training programmes that are developed and delivered by the team, are:
1. Help improve business performance
2. Make it compliant
3. Make it efficient
Devised with broker engagement and feedback, the support can be delivered in many different formats such as face-to-face, by phone, or through written user guides or webinars. The team’s aim is to provide brokers with the tools they need for a good understanding of our systems and products. From that point, when the foundations have been laid, we focus on sales training to improve the revenue potential for the broker as part of compliant advice to their clients. Further training can be provided through regular dialogue and performance reviews.
Emma Thomas joined the team just under a year ago having previously worked for Towergate Insurance: “Sometimes brokers feel they don’t have time for more training, but we know from experience that we can support them in a format which is easy to understand and gets results fast. We are experienced at using the systems of different software houses, and can demonstrate how premium finance can be easily added to the sales journeys brokers have in place. Although every broker is different, the challenges are very similar, and we want all of our brokers to feel confident in their conversations with clients.”
Saving time
In addition to sales training, the team use data from our new call centre platform to identify common queries and questions. It means there is a constant feedback mechanism to improve knowledge. The team can react where necessary to eliminate problems. “We were able to reduce the number of calls that one broker made to us from 150 to 40 a month. The training has freed up time so that brokers can focus on the things that really matter, such as providing advice and support. Insurance is a complicated business and no-one can know everything. It’s an awful feeling to be facing clients and unable to answer their questions, and our team exists to fill in the gaps in our brokers’ knowledge and make sure they feel confident in talking about premium finance.”
Future plans
The Capability Team are constantly refining their material to ensure our brokers get the very best information and training. Leigh describes what it has been like since the team was created: “It’s the best team I’ve worked in. We work closely with our Performance Managers and collectively we have been able to achieve some great results for our brokers.”
If you want to learn more about how the Capability Team can help your business, please email Leigh or Emma at the following addresses:
The training has freed up time so that brokers can focus on the things that really matter, such as providing advice and support.
