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For a second consecutive year, Selling Power, Inc., a multi-channel media company that produces Selling Power magazine, was recently awarded Trustworthy Selling honorable mention among the Top 25 Sales Training Companies. “It is a huge honor to have Trustworthy Selling recognized among the top training organizations in the world across all verticals,” said Joey Davenport, President of Hoopis Performance Network. “The impact this program is having by equipping financial professionals with the knowledge and skills to provide financial security worldwide is truly amazing.” Trustworthy Selling was developed in collaboration with Hoopis Performance Network (HPN) and LIMRA. This award-winning sales effectiveness program combines HPN’s proven language, skills, and techniques with LIMRA’s research and insights on the market opportunity, consumer mindset, and behavioral finance. Trustworthy Selling is designed to equip financial professionals with the knowledge and skills to engage consumers on their terms and — as a result — increase their sales and success. The main criteria used for selecting honorees included: Depth and breadth of training offered Innovative offerings (training courses, methodology, or delivery methods) Contributions to the sales training market Strength of client satisfaction and overall client feedback According to HPN CEO Harry Hoopis, “To date, more than 20,000 financial professionals across the world have completed Trustworthy Selling. We’ve tracked productivity impact in over three dozen organizations and experienced a 25-30% lift in productivity on average.” Trustworthy Selling offers training for agents at all stages of their careers. There are levels for financial representatives starting out, those with one or more years of experience, as well as multi-line professionals who need to pivot to life and financial services products. Several delivery options, including virtual, are available to suit companies’ training needs. The program is also available in several languages including English, French, Chinese, Thai, Japanese and soon to be Spanish. 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 LIMRA Serving the industry since 1916, LIMRA offers industry knowledge, insights, connections, and solutions to help more than 700 member organizations navigate change with confidence. Visit LIMRA at www.limra.com.

Merger creates the largest content library in the world for the financial services industry. Hoopis Performance Network (HPN) and Financial Services Educational Network (FSEdNet) announce that they are merging to create the largest digital content organization for financial services in the world. This is a huge announcement as the interest and utilization of digital learning has accelerated 5+ years into the future due to the pandemic. “We’re proud HPN has been a leader in digital learning for over a decade. The Covid pandemic has catapulted the need for online learning 5-10 years into the future. The timing of the HPN/FSEdNet merger is perfect and will allow us to expand our impact with clients moving forward”, said Joey Davenport, President of HPN. While both organizations have provided digital learning and development over the past decade, both organizations’ content libraries are extremely complimentary. ​​Richard Cleary, President of FSEdNet stated, “FSEdNet has always been in the forefront of delivering the education and knowledge necessary in building successful careers in the financial services industry for producers, management, staff, and employees. Now, combined with HPN’s unique skill development and execution methodology we have truly become the total package in delivering a turnkey solution for the field forces and home offices of today’s companies.” FSEdNet’s content focuses on the education and knowledge of financial professionals – referred to as “The Science.” HPN’s content focuses on skills, best practices, and execution from the top experts and practitioners in financial services – referred to as “The Art.” This combination of art and science delivers the complete package of digital learning and development to help financial professionals increase their knowledge and skills. “With our company serving over 50 companies in 25 countries, we are now the leader in Financial Services training content with nearly 3,000 videos. Our content is in several languages including English, Spanish, French Canadian, Mandarin, and more. Together our merged organization can serve every training need the industry has and do it in a cost-saving way. Licensing content is a far better solution financially than building it. We are excited about the possibilities and we are ready to serve”, said Harry Hoopis, CEO of HPN. About Hoopis Performance Network (HPN) 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 HPN at www.hoopis.com . About Financial Services Educational Network (FSEdNet) FSEdNet provides the resources of understanding to Launch, Retool or Grow a Practice in the Financial Services Industry. FSEdNet is a web-based video platform designed to deliver maximum impact on developing the skills, habits, and confidences of producers and staff by establishing processes and core understandings of the products, services, and life experiences that prospects and clients face.

Hoopis Performance Network (HPN) and LIMRA announced today a new partnership to provide condensed, high-impact video-based online courses for financial professionals. Top experts and advisors in the industry of financial services are featured in each of the video modules. These videos are designed to provide advanced skills and knowledge for financial professionals in LIMRA’s international member companies. The new online courses are called LIMRA Learn Powered by HPN U, the courses follow these learning paths: Creating engagement through social media marketing Working remotely and staying productive Growing your business through social media marketing Sales psychology and developing mental toughness Power Leader Certification (Spanish only) Virtual Expert Certification (Spanish only) Master Learner Certification (Spanish only) Novel Agents Accelerator (Spanish only) Selling to Contemporary High-Net-Worth Individuals (Mandarin only) Under each of the learning paths, there are about a dozen video courses that financial professionals can take when and where it’s convenient. There are several courses offered in Spanish and Chinese, with more to be added over time. According to LIMRA research, 9 in 10 consumers report using social media, with half using it to gather information on financial topics, companies or advisors. “With LIMRA Learn, agents can get tips and tools from top financial professionals on how to develop trust and credibility through social media marketing to help them attract and retain clients,” says Paul Arrowsmith, president of LL Global International. During the global pandemic, and continuing today, financial professionals across the globe transitioned to remote work. This shift created new opportunities for agents who embraced the changes. Through these courses, agents can learn best practices on how to build a digital practice through time management, communication, successfully conducting virtual meetings, and more. “This learning experience is designed to provide advanced knowledge and skills for advisors when, where, and how they need it, which helps them, and their businesses, reach their full potential,” says Harry Hoopis CEO, HPN. “HPN’s expanded relationship with LIMRA is a giant step forward, bringing more cutting-edge training to its worldwide membership through LIMRA Learn.” To learn more about LIMRA Learn powered by HPN U... 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 HPN 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. Visit LIMRA at www.limra.com.

Check out episode 21 of The Adapter’s Advantage: Breakthrough Moments that Lead to Success. In this episode, entitled “Empowering Financial Professionals”, Harry Hoopis, CEO of the Hoopis Performance Network and industry icon, shares insights on developing advisors, his formula for productivity and success, and the importance of listening. “We’re all basically lazy, right? So good habits are hard to form but easy to live with. Bad habits are easy to form, hard to live with.” — Harry Hoopis Over his 40 year career, he built one of the largest and most successful financial services firms in the world. Hoopis was awarded the Master Agency Award every year since its inception, received the Robert Templin Award for his many contributions to management development, and is the recipient of NAIFA Chicago’s Leadership in Life Award. He is an inductee in the GAMA International Management Hall of Fame, served on the Board of Trustees for the GAMA International Foundation, and is past president of GAMA International as well as Northwestern Mutual’s General Agent’s Management Association. Hoopis is an active member of two of the industry’s most elite study groups, the LIMRA Research Agencies Group and the General Agents Symposium. He is also the author of the best-selling book, The Road to the Bountiful Life: Achieving Success in Financial Services, with all proceeds donated to the GAMA Foundation, and The Essentials of Management Development. Successful sales organizations must adapt by showing flexibility and resilience in the face of today’s new challenges. Listen as Hoopis shares his insights on selecting, developing, and managing financial services talent.

Scriptis, a North American translation company with a global reach recently published a case study featuring the Hoopis Performance Network. This case study takes a deep look into the English-French translation and voiceovers for HPN’s innovative web-based learning platform. This cutting-edge platform provides professional development training to personnel at leading financial institutions in the United States and Canada. We invite you to read this case study which covers the challenges, performance, and results of this epic project.

International speaker and president of Hoopis Performance Network, Joey Davenport is featured in this episode of Crazy Good Talks®, Deirdre. Joey and Deirdre share the top four traits consumers look for in a professional, and pinpoint the blind spot of trust, outlining ways experts can become more approachable.

President and Co-Founder of Hoopis Performance Network, Joey Davenport, was featured on the Smarketing Show. Joey Davenport joins to discuss techniques that can differentiate you in the world of sales. With experience as a top producer, manager, master coach, and author, Joey discusses the Art of Collaborative Discovery. The RPN Questioning Model and what sales professionals are missing when it comes to building rapport.

Do you find yourself frequently putting off tasks you dread? Do you often wait until right before a project is due because you “work better under pressure?” If so, you are not alone. According to the Association for Psychological Science, 20 percent of us are chronic procrastinators. There is room for all of us to become more productive. Why We Put Things Off Procrastination is the gap between what we know we should be doing and our actions. When it comes to self-sabotage, procrastination is king. We know what we need to do, but for whatever reason, we put it off. The bigger the gap, the bigger the issue. There are five basic reasons we procrastinate: We don’t want to do the task that needs to be done, or doing it will upset us somehow. We make our daily goals or tasks vague or weak. We are easily distracted, and some of us are highly impulsive. A task is either too easy or too challenging. We lack motivation. Understanding why we procrastinate is the first step in becoming more motivated to complete the less desirable or more challenging tasks we face. Tips for Overcoming Procrastination With today’s fast-moving world competing for our attention, it’s more important than ever to prioritize where and how we spend our time. While we may not feel like procrastinating has any negative effects, especially when we are meeting deadlines, this is not the case. A study on procrastination found that although individuals who procrastinate may have lower levels of stress in the short term, the quality of their work suffers. So how do we fight off procrastination and become more productive? Here are six simple strategies that can help: Just get started! Don’t think too far ahead. Recognize and acknowledge your delay tactic, and move on. Set deadlines. Be aware of what you do while you’re procrastinating. Create a detailed daily action plan — a list of tasks that you will accomplish each day — and commit to completing it. Reasons We Want to Complete Important Tasks Wouldn’t you agree that there are only two basic reasons for doing anything? We take an action because it is inherently pleasurable. If this is the case, we most likely won’t need any other motivation. We want a positive outcome that will result from completing a task. This could be short- or long-term in nature. A simple example might be to obtain enough referrals and networking leads each week. A short-term benefit is that you can avoid having to ever make cold calls again and thus spend less time on the phone and more time in front of potential clients. A long-term goal is to build a successful practice on client or network-based referrals, which will replenish itself based on its very nature.

Massive change is upon us. Speculation about how governments and businesses will handle the COVID-19 crisis has given way to a new quarantine reality. The good old-fashioned handshake is out. Social distancing is in. As those of us in sales and customer-facing roles try to navigate the new work-from-home reality, we thought it would be a good time to offer some strategies for how to stay productive and keep momentum (and morale) as high as possible. Certain industries and professions are particularly impacted by the COVID-19 social distance paradigm. Hospitality, food and beverage, personal care services, airlines, and sales professionals from virtually every industry are facing forced restrictions on how they can conduct business — or whether they can conduct business at all. Embracing Change The idea of a remote workforce isn’t new, but massive, mandatory, quarantine certainly is. Fortunately, newer technologies offer many solutions for keeping business relationships on track. But just like a successful sales plan, you need a COVID-19 plan to make the most of these trying times. If we knew this crisis would be a short-term bump in the road for a week or two, it might be a good time to think about some unplanned R&R. Unfortunately, we don’t have a crystal ball to see when the crisis will end or when business as usual will return. What we do know, is that many corporate offices, as well as local agencies and independent firms, are closing their doors today due to the outbreak. Will we return to unfettered air travel, free-flowing mass transit, big conferences and conventions, and friendly handshakes? Or will there be a permanent shift to a more distanced way of doing business? The reality is, the on-site workforce began shrinking long before anyone ever heard of the Coronavirus, COVID-19. At the same time, telecommuting and virtual meetings have been on a steady rise. Even health- care sectors have begun to introduce virtual exams, diagnostics, and mail-order prescription fulfillment. Global Workforce Analytics reported last week that the work-from-home trend has grown by 173 percent since 2005, with approximately five million people working from home before the COVID-19 outbreak. Considering the clear trend toward more e-business in general, doesn’t it seem logical to embrace the concept of e-sales? Creating a COVID-19 Response Plan Of course, many sales professionals have worked from their homes for many years, though they’ve done it with the freedom to conduct face-to-face meetings with customers and leads. They’ve worked the trade-room floors and hosted seminars and dinners to build their reputations and their pipelines. Well, those days are over, or at least on hold. It’s time to create a plan that uses technology to reach customers, connect with leads and maintain a healthy pipeline. Here are some steps you can take to take advantage of the virtual business trend: – Create a professional home office environment. The same emphasis your workplace gives to your chair, desk and office ergonomics should be given to your at-home workspace. If your voice echoes on a call, or if irritating background noise makes it hard to hear what you’re saying, your customers aren’t going to want to talk with you remotely. If your chair gives you back pain, or the glare from a window makes it impossible to see your computer screen, you’re not going to be very productive. – Get wired in. Make sure your computer is free from viruses and anything else that could slow it down. Test your internet speed, and take any recommended steps to optimize the speed. Invest in a high-quality headset and camera so you can conduct professional calls and web meetings without noisy at-home distractions like children playing, dogs barking or Amazon Prime ringing the doorbell. Tip: Find out what resources your home office has available to optimize your at-home workspace. Make sure you have the current version of any software you need to maintain top performance. – Be proactive. Reach out by email and phone to your contacts and customers to let them know how you’re doing business in the new quarantine reality. Chances are, you’ve received emails from your bank, utility companies, and other vendors explaining what they’re doing to monitor news from the Centers for Disease Control, keep business on track, and prevent the spread of COVID-19. Write something similar, with a personal touch that shows your contacts that you remain available to them and are very much “in business.” Use your phone to make personal contact, and stay top of mind even when you can’t remain in sight. Tip: While you’re taking the time to explain what you’re doing to maintain business close to usual at this time, it’s a good idea to ask your contacts how you can help them do the same thing. – Plan ahead. Plan regular calls with your team and/or clients, schedule online training and education courses, and organize virtual events such as web presentations or lunch-break Q&A sessions. Don’t let anyone wonder where you are these days or if you’re still being productive. Make sure they know. Tip: We all wish we had the time to catch up on our CE or required compliance requirements. Likewise, this could be the perfect time to engage in analyzing your sales and marketing strategies. You may finally have the time to take steps to eliminate those skill gaps or put forth a new strategy to move into a new market or expand your services with cross-selling opportunities. – Establish a routine. You already know that successful sales professionals are disciplined in their daily routines. It’s just as important now to maintain a routine. Think of ways to replace commute time with self-care or ongoing education, and face-to-face meetings with teleconferences. Put your new routine on your calendar, and execute it faithfully. – Value your health. Working from home does not mean chaining yourself to your desk. In these times more than ever, getting some fresh air, exercise and proper nutrition can help you stay healthy. Tip: If you do catch a cold or the flu, resist any temptation to tell the world about it on your online social channels. Conveying a healthy state of mind and body reminds the world that you are just as productive from home as you are at the office. And of course, if you believe you may have symptoms of COVID-19, call your doctor immediately.

Since LinkedIn launched in 2003, the professional social networking site has grown to more than 630 million registered members. In addition to the basic and premium services, LinkedIn Talent Solutions offers LinkedIn Recruiter, a platform to search, connect with, and manage candidates. Regardless of which level you use with LinkedIn, it can be a powerful tool for finding new associates for your agency and remains the preferred method of recruitment for most businesses. Facebook and Instagram are gaining in popularity, especially to reach younger applicants who aren’t as active on LinkedIn. Yet, for agencies who are beginning to use social media as a recruiting platform, or for agencies who are looking to expand their social presence, LinkedIn is the place to start. Here are some guidance tips to use when using LinkedIn to recruit new associates for your agency: Make an Attractive Company Profile Your company profile on LinkedIn often serves as a candidate’s, or any other viewer’s, first impression of your business. Take the time to provide ample information about your company and make your profile look professional. This includes providing information about the types of coverage you provide, but you should also link to your agency’s website and blog. Utilizing videos to explain your opportunity, can differentiate you from the competition as well. Showcasing your producers can also be a strong tool to attract candidates. If candidates are actively searching, a more detailed profile will place you higher in LinkedIn’s search results. You should also have a title and summary which contains keywords in a detailed explanation of your business. Most importantly, when your profile is continuously updated and appears professional, it sends a message about your expectations in terms of quality – a high-quality profile draws high-quality candidates. Post Content Regularly When using LinkedIn as a recruiting tool, you need to post regular content in the same way you would if you were prospecting for clients. This includes posting relevant and interesting blog posts, images, news articles, and videos, but the types of content should be geared towards attracting candidates. You can post items about hiring trends in the financial services industry, how to choose the right agency, the importance which your firm places on training and development, benefits associated with being a financial professional, or anything you think a candidate would want to know. These posts don’t need to be specific to your company; instead, they should seek to educate and inform potential candidates about why becoming part of this profession might be the right choice for them. Interested users will engage with your posts and visit your company profile, where they can learn more company-specific information. Engage in LinkedIn Groups LinkedIn has a group for almost any type of profession you can imagine. You can find general groups for insurance agents, as well as groups based in a particular city, state, or region. If you cannot find a financial professional group in your area, create one so you can use the platform to your advantage. But, beware; it’s bad etiquette to drop a bunch of job postings in a group when you don’t interact or engage. Make sure to participate in any groups you join. Participation also helps build brand awareness which has benefits far beyond recruiting. You can share industry-related content that others might have interest in, or post-discussion-provoking questions about the industry, recruiting, or working at an agency. You could also just make thoughtful comments and ask questions on items other group members post. Post Open Positions on LinkedIn Recruiting new agents on LinkedIn requires posting your open positions. The platform has a few different avenues for job postings. As previously mentioned, you can post jobs in groups, but be careful not to spam a group with postings, and make sure you remain actively engaged with the group. Group postings are free and can easily get you in front of people who are interested in the industry. If you have built your company profile so that your followers contain a large group of people who might be potential candidates, posting an update to your company page with a link to your job posting is a powerful way to generate interest. Each time you post, your followers will see that post in their newsfeed and can respond accordingly. You can also post a paid LinkedIn job advertisement; this comes with a curated list of potential candidates who match your requirements and the capability to send private messages to those potential recruits. Target Passive Candidates One of the tremendous benefits of recruiting on LinkedIn is the ability to target passive candidates, especially when using LinkedIn Recruiter. Most users on LinkedIn are not actively seeking a job. Yet, if they received a great offer or a lucrative opportunity, they would be interested. LinkedIn allows you to carefully target candidates based on their work experience and skills which they have detailed in their profiles. Once you have found a list of potential passive candidates, you can message them directly on the platform. Be sure not to use impersonal templates or form letters, which don’t inspire candidates to check out the opportunity. Instead, personalize messages after reading their profile, while keeping the initial contact short. Use LinkedIn Metrics to Tweak Your Approach If you want to pursue a data-driven approach to recruiting, take the time to explore LinkedIn Recruiter’s search insights. One of its biggest benefits is the ability to hire managers and recruiters to analyze and understand talent pools related to the insurance sector. Understanding where the most successful talent comes from helps you target candidates who you have more of a chance of retaining after you invest money in training them. Also, users can delve into one particular talent pool and analyze data about the market, so they can understand how recruitment from a particular pool is working for their agency. Knowing this data allows you to tweak your approach. This might mean casting a wider net or adjusting other aspects of your job posting.