2023 Distribution Conference

Whether continuing the conversations from last year's Distribution Conference or joining for the first time in 2023, attendees of this session will have an opportunity to meet and engage with each other in small groups to discuss their company’s diversity, equity, and inclusion goals, and the strategies driving successful results. Join this interactive discussion specifically focused on inclusive recruiting and onboarding practices to share with and learn from others.

Industry solutions have traditionally been focused on the affluent and mass-affluent markets. Recently, there has been a more prolific desire to understand how to best serve these markets by identifying their needs and preferences. Attend this session to learn why underserved markets are important and how to best reach them with valuable solutions. A panel of those practicing this work will share their findings, then small groups will discuss solutions and best practices for reaching these markets.

As society moves forward from the pandemic, individuals are rethinking and reprioritizing their lives with a focus on security, personal values and living the lives they truly want. This has the potential to be the golden age of financial advice — a moment when the industry can expand its reach and scope and help millions more people live financially secure lives. But to make this vision a reality, we must come together to meet an immense challenge: dramatically growing the advisor population to meet rising demand for financial planning among clients in traditional and underserved markets. Tim Gerend is responsible for the growth and success of more than 20,000 advisors, representatives, leaders and staff. Tim will lay out his vision for how the industry can work together toward a common purpose of drawing talented, diverse, service-oriented, and mission-driven individuals into the industry to create better outcomes for clients and a brighter future for the industry.

With special guest Leo C. Tucker Jr., CLU, CLF, Managing Partner, Northwestern Mutual DC

“Opening up an organization to activating on purpose moves the needle like nothing else,” Stengel explains.  Through his efforts at Procter & Gamble, where he helped transform the culture to a consumer-centric model, Stengel helped pioneer a new ideals-driven framework that helps businesses identify their purpose and use it to make a difference in the lives of the people they serve.  In this story-rich session, Stengel takes the audience through anecdotes from his book, “Grow: How Ideals Power Growth and Profit at the World’s Greatest Companies.”  Based on a unique ten-year study involving 50,000 brands, “Grow” shows how the world’s 50 best businesses have a cause and effect relationship between financial performance and their ability to connect with fundamental human emotions and values.  Passionate and powerful, Stengel offers insight and guidance on how businesses and organizations can lead with purpose and inspire it in others.

Have you heard? Teaming is taking off. Learn from a panel of distribution leaders on how their organizations are generating growth through advisor teams. Hear insights into best practices beginning early in advisor journeys as teams are initially formed, as new members are added, and through team succession and monetization. The panel will also discuss what can go wrong and pitfalls to avoid.

Join this moderated panel discussion for a behind-the-scenes look into how three successful multi-line agents from different companies are growing their businesses. Panelists will share their own personal experiences in the field such as how they staff their agencies, what types of marketing campaigns are currently working best, what technologies are they relying on, and how they are best connecting with and meeting the needs of today’s customers.

Wholesaler team constructs and strategies are evolving quickly due to new working environments driven by the pandemic. Join a panel of industry experts who will discuss common challenges and offer solutions on topics such as balancing workload, CRM usage, communication, and roles of internal versus external wholesalers. The panel will also share opportunities and best practices around team engagement.

While DTC life insurance sales have struggled to materialize in recent years, there is potential for this market to grow. This panel will discuss common challenges and opportunities in the marketplace and explore topics such as how businesses can deepen "the funnel" through data and analytics and embedded insurance through partnerships to grow in the space.

This creative, interactive workshop challenges you to reimagine and build the high-performing advisor onboarding program you’ve always wanted to have in your firm. If you could start over from scratch with no limitations, how would you incorporate best practices and lessons learned to build your ideal onboarding model? You will walk away from this workshop with key foundational ingredients for a future-state prototype that you can aspire to and build towards long after you leave the room.

Even before the pandemic, instances of mental illness were on the rise. Mental health impacts all of us, including financial services sales professionals and our clients. Join us for this panel discussion that promises to explore the resiliency of mental fitness, share practical tools to improve mental health, and break the stigma of talking about this topic in our industry.

It is possible that we are at the beginning of long-term rising interest rates many advisors and sales professionals have never before experienced. Advisors and customers alike may not understand the implications of rising rates on life insurance product pricing and availability. Join this panel of industry experts for a breakdown of how we can best manage customer expectations and support our businesses in this tumultuous environment.

Mergers and acquisitions have drastically increased within the brokerage environment in recent years, and will continue to do so in the future. Join this session to hear from a panel of BGAs who contemplated a merger/acquisition. They will discuss why they did or did not move forward and how they see M&A having an impact on growth opportunities.

How are companies that offer both wealth management and insurance solutions enabling a unified and accomplished experience? What are the challenges and opportunities for creating a more holistic approach for financial professionals and end-customers? Hear from a range of those in the marketplace on strategies to remain competitive and innovative as this convergence evolves. Engage with your peers in an interactive, moderated experience to examine how to maintain the ideal equilibrium for your practice.

Whether a college graduate or career changer, the prospect of living on a commission-based income can be daunting for someone new to the field. While financing helps, traditional approaches alone don't address the diverse financial needs of new FPs. Join this roundtable to collaborate with peers in defining goals, brainstorming new approaches and diverse strategies, and aligning financing plans with other critical success factors.

Changes to Customer expectations have accelerated due to the pandemic. Digital transformation initiatives are allowing carriers and distributors to provide solutions to meet these changing consumer needs. In this panel discussion, we will: 

• Learn about consumer preferences and how they want to shop for insurance and financial solutions
• Hear from industry experts about human center design within the insurance space

Whisperings about the future of work have developed into full-fledged conversations. Still, we haven’t yet arrived at a consensus on what exactly the future of work entails and how leaders can position their organizations and their people for success during such a transformative period in the workplace and beyond. Bringing a holistic perspective from inside some of the world’s leading organizations, Ginny shares her sought-after insights and wisdom on the ways conscious, effective leaders can get the best out of their people and, in turn, create high-performing teams for the future. In this talk, she outlines the importance of beginning with organizational health when guiding your workforce into the future — paying special attention to how to assess, attract, and hire the best talent, and establish a culture rooted in accountability, trust, integrity, and inclusion. Ginny goes beyond ideas and, instead, offers leaders practical tactics and processes for optimizing talent, resources, productivity, and profitability to create a disruption-proof workplace that is equipped for the long run.

Regardless of the structure of your career distribution model, developing strong field leaders is a linchpin to sustainable growth. In this session, you will hear two companies compare their distinct models. They will share how they are identifying, training, and developing their emerging talent to equip them with the leadership skills needed for today.

Recent years have pushed underwriting in more creative directions to meet the needs of carriers, distribution partners, and consumers. Join us for a panel discussion with three senior underwriters as they share their perspective on why and how we came together as an industry with today’s advancements. You'll then have the opportunity to participate in an interactive “underwrite this” activity.

Tech savvy consumers are looking for an omni-channel experience when and where they want to be met. By empowering agents with digital capabilities, they can meet customer expectations and drive towards improving the insurance coverage gap. This panel will discuss the latest digital trends in the insurance space, strategies for empowering their agents, and future innovations on the horizon.

Based on LIMRA research, this session will address key trends that affect how distribution is evolving. From the economy and changing consumer needs to technology and business models, join us to see the latest research and what it means for your business.

The life insurance business has undergone tremendous transformation over the past three years.  We have witnessed a revolution in the way that insurance is bought, sold, marketed and underwritten.  Home office personnel and wholesalers are operating in a new hybrid world.   But what about the salespeople?   Agents and producers have also needed to pivot to new ways of prospecting and selling.  What do they think and how do they feel about all of this change?   How have these changes affected their business and what do they need from their carrier partners to succeed into the next decade?  During this session, a panel of three producers representing Career, Brokerage and Multi-Line distribution carriers will discuss what they are looking for from their carrier partners and will share their vision on how we can better navigate the seemingly endless choppy waters and grow our business together.