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Improving agent recruiting and retention is a major concern for many life insurers, as the agency ranks thin. But some organizations are fighting dwindling recruitment numbers by revamping their hiring and retention practices and upgrading legacy systems.
One such organization is Northwestern Mutual Life, a Milwaukee-based life, disability and annuities insurer ($63 billion in assets under management). Despite its size as the nation's sixth largest life insurer, the company could not escape the industry trend, and was losing five to 10 percent of 35,000 to 40,000 prospective recruits. "Losing prospective agents is an issue that needs to be addressed by the life industry. It takes as many as 20 to 40 referrals to lead to one agent prospect in this industry," says John Sheaffer, assistant director of career recruitment.
To address the problem, Sheaffer combined forces with Michael Van Grinsven, CLU, assistant director of campus recruitment; Blaise Beaulier, manager of systems development; and Laura Schmidt, project manager, to automate the insurer's contact management system.
At the outset of the initiative to find a solution, late in 1995, the company's recruitment data was stored on a...