Leadership Rotation

Wow, a lot has gone on since my last post! I finished up my Service Excellence rotation back in October. I had many successes while in that rotation. I was able to attend the networking conference that Eric spoke of earlier and I also completed my Green Belt training in Six Sigma.

The main part of my green belt project was re-structuring how the company does our client survey that calculates our net promoter score. I came up with a plan on how to restructure the survey as well as researched different software that would make our survey and calculations cleaner and easier. I am proud to state that management went ahead and chose the survey software I had recommended. My plan for the restructure was also approved and then passed on to Eric to implement and see through as I moved into my leadership rotation as Team Lead of the Account Support Team.

I wanted to give an update as to what has happened in the Leadership program the last few months, but now it is time to get back to work. I will follow up later in the week with my experience thus far in Account Support!

Client Services Rotation - Wrap Up

I am now finishing up my first 6-month rotation within the Leadership Training Program in our Client Services Department. I have been busy these past few months working on various projects that will help to improve the overall experience of our clients as well as assisting in the training of our new Client Service Agents.

In October we brought in 5 new hires that started for us a month prior to their Investment Training class. To assist them in learning their position I worked to pair them with mentors , tracked and followed up with their mentors on their progress, and developed a training packet that they could work through with their mentor to learn how to use our systems and processes. As part of their development, I worked with one of our Team Leads to present a systems training to all of our new agents in their December training class.

Leading projects was another area I have been busy with the past three months. I have worked to develop a FAQ for both our Client Service Representatives and for our clients in order to address topics important during our busy season. For our First Call Resolution project I worked to develop a system for tracking our daily score, managed an excel database and figured our the limits for the project so we could vaidate that our project was under control. As a part of the First Call Resolution project I have also gained experience working with other departments such as Service Excellence and Marketing.

I have really enjoyed my experience and my time in Client Services. I have gained a greater understanding of working in a client driven atmosphere where improving those interactions is an important part to our relationships with our clients.

Next week I will begin my new rotation in Service Excellence where I will be working on our customer survey and attending training for Lean Six Sigma. I look forward to the new challenges and what I will learn in my next rotation!

Networking Conference 2010!!

From September 23rd to the 26th I had the opportunity to attend the Equity University Networking Conference in Orlando, Florida. This was a great opportunity to be a part of a very successful event and also meet and hear the successes and stories that our clients have to share. Last year our post conference survey found that 89% of attendees were extremely satisfied and from the clients I spoke with they were even more pleased with this year's conference!

The conference is a way for our clients and other attendees to learn more about self-directed investing in their IRA. They were able to attend sessions that focused on different topics of self-directed investing in non-traditional forms of investments such as real estate and tax liens, to name a few. One of the more exciting sessions was Speed Networking where clients were able to quickly meet a lot of like-minded people who can help to share their knowledge. This session brought a lot of excitement and energy to event and the conversations even continued in the room long after we had formally ended!

By attending the conference I was able to meet our clients and even put a face with a name for some of the clients who I had spoken with on the phone during my rotation in Client Services. It was great to hear about the attendees' experience with Equity Trust Company and hear their success stories. While the conference was a lot of work, it was definitely worth it!

Passport Journey: Information Technology

This week I attended my Passport Journey with the Vice President of Information Technology (IT). This was a beneficial meeting to see how our IT Department impacts the experience our clients have and our employees' ability to provide the right information. In this meeting I was able to learn about the many projects that are happening in IT such as upgrading our data center, improving our work flow, upgrading our eVantage and building the best IT team. It is exciting to see the upgrades and enhancements that are coming to our company to help us better serve our clients.

I was also given a book to borrow titled Execution The Discipline of Getting Things Done. This book has been insightful and highlights how execution is a huge part of a company succeeding and how to really know if your company is an execution company. It also shows that execution means much more than just getting things done.

My next Passport Journey is with the Vice President of Marketing and Sales. I am looking forward to my next Passport Journey to gain a better understanding of the different channels our marketing team focuses on and the processes that allow our Retirement Plan Specialists to educate our clients on making tax free wealth within their self-directed IRAs.

Welcome to Service Excellence

The past few weeks have been very busy adjusting to my new role in Service Excellence. I started taking classes at Lorain County Community College to get my Green Belt in Six Sigma. My project for these classes entails researching the main reasons for our NPS to find ways to improve client satisfaction and the NPS.

In addition to my Green Belt project, I have also been assigned to implementing a new way of distributing and reporting Equity Trust's client survey. I have been learning the current databases we use and contacting other companies to see if their products would be better suited for our needs. I have been working closely with third party vendors, our IT department, and Jamie Reed, VP of Clients Service and Operations for this project.

I am very excited to see where this rotation takes me. I will keep you posted on the progress of my current projects and of any new ones that are tossed me way!

Client Services Rotation!

For the past three weeks I have been working in my first rotation in the Leadership Training Program in our Client Services Department. My experiences so far has been very beneficial and has helped me to have a better understanding of what our clients experience when they call us. I have spent time both taking calls from clients and working on projects that are going on in the department.

Assisting client's with their questions regarding their accounts, investments, and IRAs has helped me to better understand and apply the information I learned in training. It has been rewarding to tell when I have made a positive difference in the ability for a client to understand the process for making an investment or find the information they need regarding their account.

In addition to assisting clients I have also had the opportunity to work on department specific projects. One of the projects I am working on is reviewing reports for our First Call Resolutions and to identify areas where we can improve by creating an action plan to submit to my supervisor. The goal is that I will be able to plan and present a training session for our Department next month. Working on this project has really helped me to better understand our client's needs and to recognize opportunities we have. I am looking forward to the results of my project and to see how it will impact the calls we receive.

On to the Next Rotation!

The last few weeks have been very eventful with many exciting changes occurring. I had the opportunity to attend a Happy Hour at Champps with our Summer Interns and members of our Management team. It was a very exciting opportunity to be able to have a casual meeting with our management team over appetizers and drinks. We discussed things like movies and sports and they were all very curious to learn about us and what our goals for the future are. This was a very unique opportunity that was enjoyable for all involved.

I was informed two weeks ago that I would begin my new rotation in Service Excellence on August 30th. I had the opportunity to meet with my new Manager, Rob Nordman, to discuss possible projects I may be working on and what I can expect on the team. He informed me I would be attending Green Belt Training in Six-Sigma methodologies at Lorain County Community College. I attended an informational breakfast on the training to see what the expectations of the course are. I will be expected to work on a project for the company in order to receive my certification.

With that said, I was informed that my project will be to assist in improving the companies Net Promoter Score and my new start date for Service Excellence will be August 16th. My first day I will meet with Jamie Reed to learn more about the details of this project. I have enjoyed my time in Client Service and feel I have learned a lot. I feel it was a very valuable experience to learn how to communicate with clients and put their needs first. I feel this experience will make me stronger and more successful in my next two rotations. I am very excited for my new opportunity and can't wait for the challenge!