Business skills training in insurance isn’t always L&D’s first thought. But it should be. No matter the industry or position, strong business skills are essential for anybody striving for success. These skills, which can be categorized into three groups, are power skills for the modern employee. So, hiring or retaining talent with these skills will undoubtedly accelerate your firm’s success.
Why Is It Important That Insurance Professionals Are Business Savvy?
When it comes to the insurance industry, employees having business skills is incredibly important. And that’s because the three business skills categories are critical to the success of insurance companies. For example, you want to ensure your people can:
- Acquire and retain customers
- Understand the financial needs and limitations of your clients and the organization
- Determine the risks associated with different clients and products
Without these skills, insurance professionals would struggle to succeed in an industry as competitive as ours.
Business Skills Training In Insurance Firms
So, what are the specific business skills your people need? Here’s the top competencies for each category:
Business Development Skills
Business development skills are associated with identifying, attracting and retaining customers. And although some firms have ‘business development managers’ – it’s important that all professionals in your firm have an understanding of these skills. Here are the top three business development skills your people should have:
- Client Management.
Insurance professionals need to have excellent client management and relationship-building skills to establish trust with potential clients and build long-term relationships with existing ones. Due to the often sensitive nature of insurance products, the ability to network and make a real, human connection with clients, enables insurance professionals to build a strong reputation and increase their organization’s brand awareness. - Negotiation.
Insurance professionals need to have strong negotiation skills to broker deals with clients and close them effectively. By understanding clients’ needs and concerns, insurance professionals can tailor the products and services they are offering, to meet their requirements and negotiate pricing and terms that are beneficial for both parties. - Sales And Marketing.
Not often associated with insurance professionals, sales and marketing skills help employees and their firms stand out. Having a sales and marketing mindset enables individuals to promote their organization’s products and services effectively, attract potential clients and build brand awareness.
Financial Management Skills
Being financially literate is a hugely important skill for insurance professionals. Understanding budgeting, financial analysis, forecasting, and cost control gives employees an edge; and a deeper understanding into the running of insurance firms. When upskilling insurance professionals, you should ensure they have the following financial management skills:
- Risk Management.
No matter their role in your organization, it’s important your people have good financial risk management skills. By understanding the financial risks associated with insuring different types of clients, your different insurance products, and much more – insurance professionals can communicate your offering effectively and minimize organizational losses. - Financial Analysis.
Particularly important for senior leaders and department leads, your people need to be able to evaluate the organization’s financial performance and identify areas for improvement. By analyzing financial data, insurance professionals can identify trends, make forecasts, and develop strategies to improve the organization’s profitability.
Operations Management Skills
Operational skills are used in the day-to-day running of your firm, so by developing these skills at all levels of your organization, you will ultimately run a more efficient team. So here are the skills you must develop within your teams:
- Project Management.
Insurance projects are complex, so having brilliant project management skills within your team never goes amiss. By developing project plans, assigning tasks, and monitoring progress, insurance professionals can ensure that projects are completed on time and within budget. - Quality Control.
You want your clients to receive the best possible service, right? So having people within your organization who put quality control on a pedestal is a must. This ensures that every element of your consumers journey – from the products you offer to 1:1 client communications, is best-in-class and keeps you at the top of your game.
Getting The Right Skills In Your Insurance Firm
So now you know the business skills training in insurance is critical to develop your organization, how do you go about doing just that? You have three key routes you can take: develop your own content, partnering with an expert agency to develop custom programs for your firm, or utilizing a ready-start learning library. Whichever route you choose to take, the experts here at NLP are ready to help you – so please don’t hesitate to get in touch!