The above advertisement is onethat should attract many women.Who wouldn’t want the opportunityto reap large financial rewards fordoing something good for people?And who wouldn’t want flexiblehours and the ability to work atleast some of the time from home?The answer, at least according toindustry statistics, is women. Whatis it about a career in financial serv-ices that fails to attract women? Weknow that, on average, fewer than20% of career agents in the top lifeinsurance companies are women.We also know that an even smallerpercentage of women reach the topsales tiers of these organizations.And yet, women are searching formeaningful, rewarding careers.They want flexible hours to achievebalance of family life and careerlife. They want financial securityfor themselves and their families.A career in financial servicesshould be a natural fit for women.Women are relationship buildersand problem solvers. We knowthat today successful careers infinancial services are built on asolid foundation of relationships.We are no longer motivated bythe single transaction. We want tohelp our clients holistically addresstheir changing needs over thecourse oftheir lifetimes. But, inorder to best meet those changingneeds, you need to have a solidgrasp of increasingly complex con-cepts, and you need to be able tomotivate the client to act on the rec-ommendationsyou have made– inshort, you have to be able to sell.And, in selling, you have to riskrejection. For women, who haveworked so hard for acceptance asequals and who have worked sohard to prove their ability, rejectionis very hard to take.Companies, however, are catchingon that women agents are vital totheir future success. One, womenknow how to talk to other women–we’ve been doing it our entire lives.And, opportunities for future growthare heavily dependent upon beingable to tap into the various anddiverse segments of women’smarkets successfully.Women as a group are terriblyunderinsured and in search of soundfinancial advice.Of course,women–as clients – tell us that gender isnot an issue for them in choosing afinancial advisor
(OppenheimerFunds Women and Investing survey, 5/9/02).
But, they also want an advisorwho will pay them the attentionthey deserve, who they can trust,who will respect them, who hasgreater experience than their own,and whounderstands the client’sdesire to maintain control. In otherwords, women want advice andoptions from their advisor, but theywant to make the final decisions.These are qualities that womenagents possess and, accordingly,provide them a unique advantagein the women’s marketplace.Women agents are acutely awareof the many pressures on theirfemale clients’ time because theyare experiencing many of the samechallenges. This is not to say thatmale agents do not have the samechallenges – many do. But womentruly understand what otherwomen are dealing with.Having made the case that womenare great relationship buildersandhave a natural affinity inwomen’s markets, what are thebarriers to their success as financialprofessionals?The fact that they remain a dis-tinct minority among the ranks ofadvisors at a time when women areentering other professional careersin greater numbers tells us that wehave not done a great job of advo-cating this career to women.The first barrier is the lack of womenrole models. When women look atthis career, they want to see otherwomen who have succeeded.Women who love this career areable to balance it with family andother personal obligations, are ableto truly make a difference in theirclients’ lives, and are earning enoughto support themselves and theirfamilies in the lifestyle they want.The lack of role models sends thesubliminal message that this maynot be a career women want. Thinkof it this way: How would you feelifyou walked into a room and every-one there was vastly different fromyou? Perhaps they all spoke anotherlanguage that you did not speak orunderstand.That’s how many womenfeel walking into an agency wherethere are few, if any, role models.Many agencies have no womenagents at all. In some agencies,theonly employed women are thesupport staff. One truly is a lonelynumber.Let’s assume you currently have nowomen agents but want to recruit.What do you do? If you provideyour female recruits with supportand education and you help themdevelop a market, you will be ableto increase your numbers of success-ful women agents. But, you havetomake a commitment to trulysupport them, coach them, offerpositive reinforcement, role-playclient planning meetings with themand help them to get comfortablewith closing a sale.The one message I consistentlyhave heard from newer womenagents is that they want moreguidance on closing and theywant amentor who will listen,coach, guide and challenge themto overcome obstacles.In addition, they want to havecontact with other women agents.If there are none in your agency,then find others within your com-pany who would be willing toprovide an internal network.And, encourage them to associatewith organizations designed toprovide them with ideas, encourage-ment and support, such as Womenin Insurance and Financial Services(www.w-wifs.org). Encourage themto obtain their professional creden-tials, such as the CFP, CLU, ChFCand CLTC. Successfully obtainingthese credentials will not onlyincrease their base of knowledge,but also their confidence in theirown abilities.Developing their target marketearly on and critically assessingwhether that market is viable tothem is also key. If they have nonatural market– and you have notarget market to offer them or helpdevelop– then you will continue toexperience low retention rates foryour women recruits.It sounds like a lot of work.Actually, it’s more of a commitmentto making it work, than work itself.And, it is a commitment worthmaking – women agents will bekey revenue drivers for you. Theyhave a passionate commitment totheir clients, and that passionbegets client loyalty.Loyal clients who have been moti-vated to implement successfulplans will be your best advocates.And, you will have succeeded indoing well by doing good. It doesn’tget any better than that!
Susan Sweetser is second vice president, women’s markets,Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company, Springfield,Mass. She can be reached at ssweetser@massmutual.com.
Women In Financial Services –It Should Be An Ideal Match
By Susan W. Sweetser
Wanted:
E n t re p re ne u rsa nd se lf -s ta r te rs w hodesi re to r u n t hei r ow n b usi nesses a nd toma k e adif f e re ncei n t he lives of t hei rc lie n ts. Be yo u r ow n boss. Lo ng ho u rs( t ho ug hf lexi b le) tos ta r t. Possi bi li t yof wo r k i ng f rom home.Sma l lf i na ncia l rewa rdsi ni tia l ly asyo u g row yo u r b usi ness. La rgef u t u rei ncome po te n tia l.
Reproduced from National Underwriter Edition, January 16, 2004. Copyright ©2004 by The National Underwriter Companyin the serial publication. All rights reserved. Copyright in this article as an independent work may be held by the author.
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