New Kehrer Study Finds Training Key to Platform Rep Success; Allstate's New Condensed Hatrack Training Program Could Be Solution for Time Starved Financial Consultants.

NORTHBROOK, Ill. -- In today's fast paced world when customers can make up their mind in a split second, a Licensed Branch Employee (LBE), or customer service representative, in a bank branch could either win a customer's trust as a financial advisor, or be turned down by the customer because they couldn't effectively translate how a product could meet their needs.

"The difference between these two outcomes is proper training," explains Dr. Kenneth Kehrer, a leading industry consultant and publisher of the Kehrer Report. "Training could be the difference between keeping a customer for life or watching them walk out the door."

In 2002, Kehrer published the Best Practices in Platform Programs Study which examined how bank platform investment sales programs are structured and managed. The study also looked at the consensus views of program managers on best practices in selecting which bankers to train and license, product offerings and initial and ongoing training.

Allstate's Financial Institutions Division recently asked Kehrer to reassess these best practices. This recent study for Allstate, Best Practices in Platform Programs Revisited, compared the 2002 opinions of the program managers against the actual performance of their platform programs.

Combining information from the 2002 study and another, the 2003 Consumer Investment Study, which Kehrer conducted for the Consumers Bankers Association, he found that, overall, the customer penetration of investment sales is much higher in banks where a Financial Consultant (FC) or otherwise known as a financial advisor, mentors LBEs or platform reps. In fact, platform programs where the advisor has coaching duties have average platform rep productivity of $16,249, or about 2.7 times the average annual gross (excluding trailer commissions) compared to branches where FCs do not train platform reps.

Better yet, FCs who were trained before they began coaching LBEs, typically saw a 20 percent higher jump in productivity compared to reps that were coached by untrained FCs.

Despite this, only 24 percent of FCs in the study receive training. According to the study, the training they do receive is usually informal and not structured to produce solid results. The study also found that taking on these training duties does not negatively affect the FCs income; for example, advisors who take on coaching duties have an average annual gross income of $220,281 (excluding trailer commissions), compared to $208,206 for financial advisors who do not.

However, Financial Consultants are often stretched thin between several bank branches. They shoulder the burden of not only selling, on their own, investment products at their banks, but, as the study shows, are untrained on how to train, motivate and coach LBEs in order to help them successfully sell.

Recognizing the pressing time constraints of FCs, Allstate is now rolling out an updated version of The Hatrack training program for Financial Consultants, which was introduced in 2000.

The Hatrack program, designed to help increase sales of investment products by developing a more skilled and motivated sales force, is now reduced from an original four modules, to a single, user-friendly 90-minute session. This learning package helps Financial Consultants wear the hats of product trainer, selling coach, energizing motivator and professional mentor more comfortably. The program includes the following sequential educational elements:

--Skills assessment;

--Interactive discussion materials;

--Role-playing activities

--Video demonstrations; and

--Goal setting

According to Rob Shore, president, Allstate Distributors, L.L.C., going through the Hatrack program is like achieving a condensed master's degree in management. "Too often people are put into situations, such as that of a manager, for example, when they've received no formal training on how to manage," explains Shore. "As the saying goes, great leaders aren't always born, they're made, and the Hatrack training program will help to make Financial Consultants become effective leaders, trainers, coaches, and motivators - all the hats they need to help drive successful platform sales."

The condensed Hatrack Training Program is now available for financial institutions that sell Allstate products. For more information, or for a copy of the full Kehrer/Allstate Best Practices in Platform Programs Revisited report, please contact Linda Lampe at 847/402 -2023.

Kenneth Kehrer Associates is the leading provider of research and consulting on banks as financial service stores. Dr. Kehrer's work has created the benchmarks that banks use to identify and implement best practices. This year he received the distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award from the Bank Insurance Securities Association for his contribution to the industry.

The Allstate Corporation (NYSE:ALL) is the nation's largest publicly held personal lines insurer. Widely known through the "You're In Good Hands With Allstate(R)" slogan, Allstate helps individuals in more than 16 million households protect what they have today and better prepare for tomorrow through more than 12,900 exclusive agencies and financial specialists in the U.S. and Canada. Customers can access Allstate products and services through Allstate agencies, or in select states at allstate.com and 1-800 Allstate(R). Encompass(SM) and Deerbrook(R) Insurance brand property and casualty products are sold exclusively through independent agents. Allstate Financial Group provides life insurance, annuity, retirement, banking and investment products through distribution channels that include Allstate agencies, independent agencies, financial institutions and broker-dealers.