Motivate and Incentivize Your Agents

Insurance sales are notoriously plagued with high employee turnover and sizable churn rates which go far beyond those typically experienced in other sales-focused verticals. As a result, insurance sales managers are always looking for ways to make their agents feel engaged with the company and the tasks in front of them, and inspire them to feel motivated to make calls, close deals, and smash their quotas. 

At the same time, like other sales-oriented companies they struggle to encourage sales representatives to complete certification and take part in sales training programs. It can be very difficult to stimulate sales agents in a high-churn industry like insurance to feel enthusiastic about sales training. 

But the good news is that if you can make your sales training and certification something that sales agents actually enjoy, they’re likely to feel more warmly towards your entire organization as a result, be more interested and engaged in their work and more likely to stick around for a longer time. 

That’s why sales leaders are constantly on the lookout for ways to incentivize sales agents to participate in sales certification, and gamification is one of the leading options. Gamification uses interactive challenges and dynamic leaderboards to turn sales training and certification into an exciting and compelling experience. It’s more akin to a video game than a training program, to the extent that many salespeople even choose to do a few more practice rounds! 

Gamification could transform your sales training, so here’s a quick guide to gamifying your next insurance sales certification program and igniting a passion for sales within your insurance agents. 

1. Set your goals

Like with every business activity, the first step is to set specific goals, like upselling 35% of your homeowners customers to adding car insurance within 3 months. Your goal needs to be measurable, otherwise you won’t be able to tell if they’ve improved, so think about the outcome you want and how you’ll track progress. 

2. Plan a timeframe for the sales certification 

Your certification needs a clear start time and end time, so that everybody knows when the challenge begins and how long they have to complete it. We find that around 2 weeks is ideal for AI-based role play practice, but live role plays might need longer. You might want to connect certification to your SKO, product launch, or other special event. 

3. Gather your materials

You need to make it easy for sellers to learn the material they’ll need for the gamified certification. Prepare the content you’ll need, like explanatory texts or videos of ideal sales conversations, and bring it all together in one easy-to–access location. 

4. Choose the right sales training for your insurance agents

There are plenty of ways to gamify sales training certifications for insurance agents, but you only need one. Make sure it’s easily scalable for your entire salesforce, and that it strengthens real selling skills. AI-simulated role plays enable agents to improve their sales talk, and can scale across the whole department, and solutions like Second Nature to make this possible.

5. Decide on a scoring framework

Scoring enables salespeople to compare their abilities against other teams and feel pride in their achievements, so it needs to be trustworthy. Set up a system that is objective, consistent, and timely, ideally one that doesn’t rely on human assessment. This is a perfect time to use AI for fast, reliable scoring. 

6. Spread the word

When everything is in place, it’s time to tell your sales reps about the new gamified sales certification that’s waiting for them. Make sure that the rules are clear and that they reach everybody in the organizations, and allow adequate time for them to become familiar with the system you’re using for the challenge. 

7. Keep interest in the sales certification high

Launch your new certification experience with a bang, and set up communication channels to keep the enthusiasm high all the way through. Encourage cross-team chatter, post your leaderboards somewhere prominent, and send frequent updates about winning streaks, top teams, and most consistent users. 

8. Hold a closing ceremony

After engaging all your salespeople with gamified certification, end on a high note. Send reminders just before the challenge ends, and hold a big (in-person or virtual) award ceremony for the winners. The more memorable your prize-giving, the more people will want to take part in the next challenge. 

9. Prepare for the next one

Make sure you gather data about participation and completion rates throughout the challenge, then analyze it and see if you hit your goals. You’ll want to also collect feedback about what people loved about the new certification program and what could be improved, so you can make the next one even better. 

Change the atmosphere with gamified sales training for insurance agents 

Setting up a gamified, fun sales certification program that ramps up enthusiasm and cuts churn among insurance salespeople is an achievable goal, and you’ll be amazed at the results you see. When you plan ahead carefully, share encouragement throughout the challenge, and evaluate your achievements for future improvements, you’ll see a new attitude towards insurance agents’ sales training – and a significant decrease in your turnover rates!

Looking to gamify sales certifications for your insurance agents? Schedule a demo with Second Nature today!