What Attracted Mutual of Omaha to Choose
Trustworthy Selling?

Mutual of Omaha implemented Trustworthy Selling as part of an organizational strategy to increase their advisors’ focus on needs-based selling over transactional selling or product-focused selling. The company went through the first step in its transformation strategy by revamping its systems to identify, attract and select candidates who were more relationship-focused. Trustworthy Selling was an extension of the company’s strategy to ensure new recruits were onboarded and trained with the knowledge and skills to establish enduring relationships with their clients.

Launch Week Incorporating Trustworthy Selling Quick Start

Mutual of Omaha incorporated Trustworthy Selling Quick Start into their Launch Week, which is a one-week training program for new advisors. Local-level leadership teams delivered the program through a faculty approach and reinforced the concepts through ongoing coaching and development. Because of the learning design of the Trustworthy Selling curriculum, Mutual of Omaha created both scale and consistency in each of their field offices throughout the United States.

Facilitator and Coaching Certification

Approximately 150 Mutual of Omaha field managers and home office representatives were certified as facilitators and coaches for the program. The Trustworthy Selling Facilitator Certification process consists of several steps including the completion of self-paced e-learning modules, preparation for module delivery using the program materials, virtual classroom presentations, and feedback on best practices to help ensure successful delivery when facilitating classes.

Field managers play a vital role in the success of each participant’s adoption of the program concepts and techniques into their practice. Coaching sessions are designed to drive performance and help the participant reach their full potential. Throughout the program, field managers meet with their advisors periodically. Step-by-step coaching guides are provided to allow for skill assessment, language role play, and reinforcement of the key concepts in the program.

Alignment and Buy-In from Executive Leadership

To create alignment and buy-in from the top-down, Mutual of Omaha certified key members of the home office leadership team as facilitators and coaches. This also gave them a thorough understanding of the program. Mutual of Omaha also had their top home office executives and regional sales directors participate in a Trustworthy Selling Preview Day, which is an in-depth exploration of the program to ensure they understood the philosophy, content, and resources. In addition, all new managers were required to become a Certified Facilitator and Coach of Trustworthy Selling as part of their professional development.

Transition to Virtual Classroom During the Pandemic

When the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting shutdowns occurred in 2020, Mutual of Omaha immediately transitioned
to a virtual classroom delivery of the program. Because Trustworthy Selling is designed to be delivered virtually, the pivot for Mutual of Omaha was relatively seamless. Mutual of Omaha continued to graduate approximately 50 new advisors from the program each month in 2020. This created a new world of opportunities from a scaling standpoint in the future. Field managers were able to continue to conduct coaching sessions and reinforce the key learning objectives of the program through ongoing virtual coaching.

Productivity and Retention Impact

Mutual of Omaha worked with LIMRA and HPN to conduct a Business Impact Results Tracking (B.I.R.T.) ROI Analysis to measure the productivity and retention impact of Trustworthy Selling on their advisors. Because the sample group represented an entire annual recruiting class of new advisors with no prior experience, the study considered year-over-year results of the previous year’s annual recruiting class as the control group (those who did not participate in the Trustworthy Selling program).

This analysis tracked productivity and retention results at the six and 12-month mark as compared to the control group, and the results were significant. Mutual of Omaha was also interested in measuring the long-term sustainability of Trustworthy Selling’s impact on productivity and retention at the 18 and 24-month marks as well. The study calculated the average survival and median production for three metrics for both groups. This impact study is based on the assumption that had the participant group not gone through training, their survival and production would have been the same as the control group’s results.

Mutual of Omaha advisors who completed the Trustworthy Selling program was more effective after 24 months than those who did not. Consider these improvements in the key metric areas …

  • 93% increase in Premium Productivity
  • 64% increase in Policy Productivity
  • 92% increase in First Year Commissions
  • 8% increase in Two-Year Retention

Conclusion

Mutual of Omaha has succeeded in transitioning their organization’s culture to a focus on the long-term relationship between their advisors and clients. In addition to revamping their recruiting and selection systems, the focus on incorporating the Trustworthy Selling program as part of their onboarding Launch Week has delivered measurable success. The Trustworthy Selling philosophy and approach are deeply embedded into the culture and fabric of Mutual of Omaha.