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In today’s one-stop service world for retirement preparation, financial services professionals are expected to do everything - attend estate planning courses, understand taxation issues, be able to handle trusts, be familiar with Roth IRAs, understand insurance policy and on top of it all, manage investments.
However research shows that most financial advisors are ill-prepared and lacking in knowledge that is fundamental to these disciplines. However, Internet-based corporate training can quickly build those skills that are prerequisite to employees capturing the sales opportunities before them and get employees back on track.
At a time when the demands on trust, estate planning and other financial professionals are greater than ever, many institutions find themselves with a serious gap between staff expertise and baseline skills needed to deliver a consistent level of service quality. As a result, many employers are turning to in-house corporate estate planning courses. But, what goes into a good course?
What Constitutes a Sound Training Program?
Knowledge and expertise are your primary tools as a financial planner and financial services company. That means your employees need to be experts when they’re dealing with clients. A hesitant client will walk away from an investment opportunity if their potential consultant seems unsure or less than totally confident.
Financial services are more complex than most corporate systems because they are dynamic and must be designed to accommodate continual change. Effective training requires:
* A sound curriculum crafted to meet the specific needs of each organization;
* Confident experts delivering the information and providing practical expertise; and
* A well-defined process that consistently supports and reinforces core skills.
The Steps to a Great Estate Planning Training Program
Step one to an effective estate planning training program is to set out the basics. For any financial planner working in estate planning, that means outlining their basic job requirements. Instead of having your planners focused on reeling in new clients or upselling insurance add-ons, get them to focus on their job - effectively planning estates and retirement packages.
Secondly, you must quantitatively assess knowledge. This needs to be done on the front end to identify knowledge gaps because you cannot effectively train if you don’t know an individual’s current status. Without this, knowledge training is unfocused and inefficient. Only by assessing each individual can you match the training to the needs of the individual.
The third essential element of effective training is to certify retention. It is not enough to know someone went through a training program. You must measure and identify what they learned in their estate planning courses to be sure they learned specifically what was needed for their position.