Empowering financial representatives, interns, and team members with flexible training solutions is central to financial services company Northwestern Mutual’s commitment to delivering exceptional client experiences. The company’s Language Practice Tool plays a vital role in helping teams to grow their markets and business.
Program Details
Northwestern Mutual’s Language Practice Tool, powered by Zenarate, serves as an on-demand platform for language practice, offering a diverse range of content. Users can engage in simulated telephoning, prospecting, and scheduling scenarios through guided and unguided conversations with a digital persona. This tool facilitates easy sharing of saved practices with peers and mentors, who can provide feedback and facilitate one-on-one coaching opportunities after reviewing recorded audio or transcribed sessions. This approach often evolves into in-person role-playing, further enhancing learner’ abilities to handle unexpected responses.
The Language Practice Tool scenarios undergo regular reviews to ensure they reflect the most current situations representatives may encounter.
Available 24/7/365, the Language Practice Tool can be accessed via NM Learn, Northwestern Mutual’s field-facing learning management system (LMS), or Linknet, its field-facing intranet. It can be seamlessly integrated across the enterprise without requiring extra coordination or scheduling, making it a scalable solution.
The tool is strategically embedded within the company’s National Training Program for new financial representatives to align with key concepts. Language scenarios are reintroduced during the completion of the 7 Sales Cycle modules to reinforce the learning experience, allowing users to practice language skills concurrently with their learning for immediate application and retention.
Advanced scenarios linked to self-guided learning courses provide users with opportunities to expand their skills beyond the basics. These courses introduce more complex and challenging scenarios, facilitating ongoing development and mastery of language practice skills.
Local learning leaders across Northwestern Mutual’s 79 network offices play a vital role in the reinforcement process, advocating for the use of the Language Practice Tool and fostering a culture of practice and improvement within their teams. Each office has the flexibility to create its own accountability program based on its beliefs regarding language practice.
In addition, Northwestern Mutual’s college intern program offers monetary incentives to interns who complete their language practice scenarios.
Results
The Language Practice Tool has been adopted across all 79 Northwestern Mutual network offices, with more than 3,020 unique users actively utilizing the tool.
New financial representatives have boosted their call end rates from 70 percent to 76 percent, demonstrating enhanced client engagement and call success. Team members have reached an 87 percent story completion rate, reflecting strong follow-through and performance. Interns have collectively accumulated more than 19,000 minutes of language practice.
