July 2020

The First Virtual Mid-Year Boost: Conquering the New Future Together 

In case you missed it, here are the highlights of our very first virtual Mid-Year Boost on 7 July at VOLTAGE, staged innovatively complete with lights, camera and music, led by our energetic senior management and guest speakers, and hosted by ABD Head Glenn Yong.

Group Chief Executive Officer Khor Hock Seng opened the afternoon by recognising the tremendous resilience of its agency network in overcoming the unprecedented challenges posed by COVID-19 and called for continued momentum critical for success.

Urging all reps to be agile and adaptive to customers’ digital needs, and reinforcing the importance of continued strong partnership with Great Eastern, Mr Khor also spoke passionately about achieving higher goals together, with upcoming plans in the second half for more digital engagement with customers and financial reps.

“Going forward, we plan to have a fully digital-enabled agency. We need to continue investing in a full set of digital capabilities for all of you, so that your interaction with customers is seamless.”

He noted that while the COVID-19 situation presented new opportunities, it is a great reminder to focus on the Customer First. “In this ‘New Future’ (not just the New Norm), it’s about putting ourselves in the winning position. So we need to continue to do right by the customer with customer centricity, take the right actions… and think big,” he said.

Ben Tan, MD, Regional Agency, FA & Bancassurance, built further on the continued importance of adapting to changes and new thinking to emerge stronger. “We are (already) in the next paradigm today. Let's be steadfast on our journey to greatness. If we try new things, like new ways of working and thinking, we will emerge stronger and more resilient,” he said.

Ben reinforced the brand’s purpose as the Life Company, helping to ‘lifeproof’ its customers earlier this year, highlighting Great Eastern’s S$1 million COVID-19 Customer Care Fund and assistance for its agency force as well as its suite of digital initiatives which supported them well in 1H2020. Great Eastern’s first-to-market launch of its remote sales advisory earlier in the year, even before Singapore went into Circuit Breaker mode, and customer adoption of its digital platforms since February he said, all added to the company’s digital initiatives to empower its financial representatives to deliver continued quality service to customers.

He also strongly encouraged everyone to up their digital game, take ownership of their own continuous learning to tap on training programmes and webinars the company has put in place to respond effectively and emerge even stronger as Agents of Life.

MD, Group Marketing Colin Chan unveiled the new Live #Lifeproof brand films to give the audience a preview ahead of its launch to consumers. He elaborated on how #Lifeproof would be supported in practical solutions for the next half year, complemented by relevant benefits such as dengue and retrenchment coverage and telehealth services such as Doctor Anywhere. He also encouraged them to share forth the company’s newly launched Great Eastern App with customers, to bring to life solutions to provide customers with flexibility to actively manage their investment-linked policies' fund transactions anywhere on a mobile device.

Lastly, he shared on Great Eastern’s opening of job opportunities for the community during this challenging time, aided by its upcoming Lifeproof Academy masterclasses with top trainers on kick-starting a financial representative career and its ‘Make The Shift’ campaign on making the move to join this industry mid-career.

Newbie financial representative Vanessa Lim, 23, shared about her strong desire to succeed and learnings on the job, notably working in remote mode from Day One and how she overcame her personal challenges with the support of her team and agency to clock in a high number of cases within the circuit breaker months, resulting in her promotion to Senior Financial Consultant.

External speaker Dr Sanjay Tolani, renowned financial advisor and coach, shared his experience on how to restart and make good use of the opportunities amid the challenges. He said, “Customers’ needs for a financial representative’s services are still the same, even in the light of COVID-19,” and urged the audience to continue reaching out to meet their customers’ needs.

Patrick Peck, Head of Agency & FA, closed the Mid-Year Boost for 2020 by issuing a Resilience Challenge for Q3. 17 awards were also presented virtually for numerous categories for the year 2019 such as Top Directors, Top Master Builder and Top Recruiting Directors to recognise the most outstanding among Great Eastern’s agency force.

The event received positive feedback from the audience. As what financial representative Willis Lau commented, “An amazing virtual show as all speakers gave their best to make this count.”

We thank all the 3,000 of you who have attended the event online. Our speakers could really feel your warm enthusiasm in the air, not a bit less!

Eye-Catching Moments

Most Striking Tagline: Mr Khor’s ‘The New Normal Future’

Most Humorous Slide: Ben’s spunky fist-clenching baby

Most Touching Moment: Colin’s Live #Lifeproof brand films that have brought a tear to our eyes

Most Personal Tales: Vanessa’s dad’s sacrifices for her family and Sanjay’s dad’s words of wisdom for him on dealing with COVID-19

Most Cheery-Looking Presenter: Patrick (yes, even during the rehearsals!)

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Live #Lifeproof Campaign Unveils New Inspiring Brand Films and Consumer Promotions to Boost Resilience

If you haven’t seen them at the Mid-Year Boost, we hope you’ve caught our new Live #Lifeproof brand films launched earlier this month. If you shed a tear, then they have worked their magic.

Why? Because for many of us, including our customers living in these unprecedented times, are facing huge disruptions and uncertainties, and can relate to the questions posed by the films.

But all is not lost as “Life's questions do not define us. Our answers do.” We can all choose how we respond, to keep a dream alive, to be survivors. This second instalment of #Lifeproof extends Great Eastern’s central brand promise as The Life Company and our vision to empower our customers to stand ready for all of life’s uncertainties and take positive action on the matters in life near and dear to them.

Consumer Promotions: Free Retrenchment & Dengue Coverage

To help customers with practical concerns during this time of uncertainty, we are also offering an additional retrenchment benefit to customers who purchase regular premium investment-linked plans from now to 31 August 2020. Customers will receive a complimentary Retrenchment Premium Waiver benefit up to 12 months, in the unforeseen event that they are retrenched during the first two years of their policy.

In view of the rising dengue cases in Singapore, customers who purchase selected regular premium life, personal accident and health insurance plans from now to 31 August 2020 will receive complimentary 12-month Dengue Care. This includes a $1,000 one-time hospital benefit, $200 per day of hospitalisation, and 50% coverage for their spouse and children.

Customers will also receive 15-20% premium savings for selected health and investment-linked insurance plans, which are growing areas of importance to consumers.

Share the good news with your clients, and find out more about living #Lifeproof at www.TheLifeCompany.sg or visit the Great Eastern website for more details on the offers. 

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Accolades for Prestige Life Gold 2 & Universal Life 18 Achievers

Great Eastern’s digital engagement with its financial representatives is growing in scope. The recent virtual roll-outs of Prestige Life Gold 2 from 4-15 June, and of Universal Life 18 on 23 June with over 350 reps attending, are marked by strong participation and fantastic results achieved in the high net worth financial product arena.  

Congratulations to our PLG 2 and UL 18 Achievers!

Quick Chat with 2 PLG 2 Achievers

Director Ivan Chee of Ivan Chee & Associates

What’s your secret sauce for closing a $1m PLG 2 policy?

I do not have any "secret sauce". It just happened that this client is my existing one who first bought a UL from me in the first UL tranche 10 years ago, and she is keen to look at maximising wealth creation upon death and wants to leave some legacy for her children. Hence PLG 2 can offer what she needs.

What did your clients like best about this product?

PLG 2 resembles UL closely although it is a par fund without the currency risk and coupled with the very attractive OCBC current premium financing campaign. In addition, potentially the coverage will increase over the longer term, unlike UL which is fixed.

ASD Kenny Lim of Jessica Lee & Associates

What’s your secret sauce for closing multiple PLG 2 policies?

Success is all about hard work and that's my secret. My focus has always been closing regular premiums plan with at least 100 Regular Premium (RP) cases a year. This enables me to expand my market to higher net worth individuals.

Being a family person with two kids, my network revolves around married couple with kids too. Hence, their needs for legacy and estate planning are important. My success foundation also comes from my agency Advisors' Clique and my mentors who are always there to lead me and add value to my planning process constantly.

What did your clients like best about this product?

PLG’s biggest attraction is that it’s in SGD. The currency risk is not there as compared with a UL. This current PLG also has very competitive premiums and surrender values in the market.

In addition, the current underwriting risk class upgrade also benefits our healthy client in a great way. With all these great features and the current low interest rate environment, selling PLG 2 is not a big challenge. I am grateful to Great Eastern for coming up with such good products.

Our treats for some of the winners of PLG 2 Virtual Launch quiz.

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VOLTAGE – The New Career Discovery Space for Financial Representatives

Opened last December, VOLTAGE, our new Career Discovery Space for our financial representatives, is a holistic, unique new age space specially designed for a multi-purpose experience.

Here is where you’ll find:

• A stimulating space to engage potential recruits and host learning journeys, complete with interactive digital displays
• A nurturing area to support future learning, that comes with a 360° screen
• A dedicated private space for our Prestige Partner customers
• A one-stop service centre for financial representatives on Operations, IT Helpdesk and Customer Service

Opening hours: 8:30am to 5:30pm, Monday-Friday

Discover with us the highlights of VOLTAGE:

The Rotunda:

A uniquely designed open space to host events and seminars creatively.

Multi-Purpose Service Centre:

Drop boxes are also available for our financial representatives to perform a prompt transfer of essential documents to the respective departments in Great Eastern beyond office hours.

Prestige Suite:

Equipped with digital face biometrics for secure entry, this is an exclusive space for PP financial reps to connect with their clients in a cosy setting.

The GREAT Discovery Zone:

An experiential digital showcase to show potential millennial recruits what it means to be a financial rep.

Booths like ‘Be Advisor for the Day’ will give potential recruits a glimpse into the career, Great Eastern’s values and strengths as a regional leader through interactive digital screens.

This space aims to be an Academy of Excellence to support awareness programs to all visitors, to inspire the next generation of advisors.

We look forward to serving you at VOLTAGE!

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Tapping on GREAT Talent: #Lifeproof Academy Masterclasses

Know anyone who would be interested in picking up professional skills or keen to join us as a financial adviser? Get them to join us for #Lifeproof Academy’s two-day webinar series run by Regina Chia, Willis Lau, Josh Han, Benjamin Lim and Jason Thian. The five speakers will be sharing useful tips across different topics to kick start a career as an Agent of Life.

Created specially for fresh graduates and mid-career PMEBs who are exploring this career option, this is a series of free online masterclasses covering customer care to social media tips, led by these experienced Agents of Life. We are pleased to talk to two of them here.

Regina Chia

An Agent of Life for 13 years and now a director of her own agency, Regina has been invited to share her life lessons and tips on how to build one’s financial knowledge for her session on ‘Supercharge Your Financial Knowledge’.

Willis Lau

Willis who has marked his 10-year milestone at Great Eastern, is Executive Senior Manager at Prelit Advisory today, and has his own TikTok page. So it’s no surprise that he is speaking on ‘Leveraging Social Media for Business Network’, on building your brand and relating to your clients on social media.

1.  Besides your webinar topic, what other insurance-related/professional subjects have you conducted training for?

Regina: Some training areas on retirement planning, tax planning, estate planning, critical illnesses, leadership modules etc.

Willis: I’ve also spoken on motivational and inspirational topics based on my key realisations after 10 years in this profession. They cover mindset shifts and practical strategies to help new advisors to be on track. 

2.  What/who has inspired you to become a trainer in the first place?

Regina: Both my leaders when I started out as a planner.  Their advice to me was to build a team and share my skills and experience. With the team building, I started focusing more of my time on training and coaching them.  Each generation can become better and stronger by building on previous experience, and through this synergy, the whole group can improve.

Willis: To be honest, speaking on stage or training is not something I imagined I could do. But I guess it’s through the influence from the other speakers at company events, seminars etc. that I realised how powerful communication can be, especially when your words can inspire and influence others. I’ve grown because of many others, so now when the opportunity arises, I would want to do the same and help others grow too. When everyone actively shares, that’s when collective greatness can be established and everyone grows together. 

3.  What are the red hot questions surrounding your topic that you aim to address during your webinar?

Regina:
Financial secrets to wealth.
How to let your money work harder for you.
Success secrets that schools will never teach you. 

Willis:
How can anyone get started in leveraging social media when you’re new.
What can I do if I’m not comfortable in sharing content on my personal accounts?
How much time do you spend in creating content? 

4.  What will be some of the techniques you’ll be using to keep your audience engaged and inspired?

Regina:
Revelation of these secrets! 

Willis:
Trends and statistics to showcase the potential of social media in our works.
Real-life case studies with screenshots and videos for instance to illustrate how these strategies can be applied.
Asking questions time to time to engage the audience. They can reply via the chat function. 

5.  What are the three key takeaways for the audience?

Regina:
Keep an open mind, perseverance and choice of network

Willis:
Different is better than better now. Start becoming different and become better at what you’re different at.
If you’re well-liked by one person, you can also be well-liked by many as long as you have a way to amplify it.
People buy people first, no matter how smart or capable you are. if you’re not well-liked, loved or respected, you simply do not get the attention. 

We wish them both and the other masterclass trainers great success for their webinars!

Other masterclasses:

Josh Han - Customer Thinking: Understanding the Needs of Your Customer

Benjamin Lim - Personalising Your Digital Brand

Jason Thian - Building Resilience Through Adaptability

#LifeProofAcademy is open to all Singapore Citizens or Permanent Residents who are 21 years of age and above with any one of the following education qualification:

• A recognised degree
• Diploma awarded by a polytechnic in Singapore
• Full A-Levels Certification

Interested parties can register here.

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Dan and Reena: The Power to Change

Call it a leap of faith. Former Air Force safety officer Dan Loi and former finance professional Reena Guo were in different worlds from insurance before joining Great Eastern. Today, they share their stories in boldly making the shift to become successful Agents of Life.

Reena who has been with Great Eastern for seven years, is Executive Senior Financial Consultant (ESC) with Alvin Choong & Associates today, while Dan is five years with us and now Executive Senior Financial Consultant (ESC) with Ivan Chee & Associates.

1)    What motivated you to make the shift?

Dan: Other than looking for challenges and better prospects for my career, I decided to find a long-term career when I can be happy with what I will be doing. I also believe that one should be rewarded for the effort and hard work put in. Better work-life balance was also another major factor. At the end of the day, one must be satisfied with the results they achieved and the sacrifices they made.

Reena: The desire to have full control of my time, income and career progression. I was also motivated by the freedom to shape my own business.

2)    What is the biggest surprise for you upon entering the insurance world?

Dan: Financial planning is not as simple as it seems. Many factors have to be taken into consideration and there is no “one perfect plan” for all. Not all “close friends” will be your clients, and some of your biggest clients may be the ones whom you were never close to. Lastly, speaking with strangers isn’t that difficult to begin with. We just have to overcome the self-doubt first and we will discover that most people are friendly, as long as you treat them politely.

Reena: It’s more of a culture shock transiting from an employee mindset to an entrepreneurial environment. All of a sudden I felt that I could have so much control in my career - how I want to market my services, how fast I want to move up the ranks and most importantly, how much dollar per hour I’d like to earn. All these were determined for me by someone else when I was an employee.

3)    What kind of preparations did you make prior to joining the industry?

Dan: Before joining the industry, having the support of your loved ones is the most important initial preparation anyone can ever have. For those who don’t, they must have the strong will to continue to do what they think is right for their career, and hope to convince and prove to their loved ones that this is the right career choice.

Attending seminars and talks by successful agents and leaders, and learning from their experiences are also important. This should be done before and after joining the industry. Learning from other people’s experiences should be a never-ending process.

Reena: My then Immediate Officer (IO) also my Agency Director today, Alvin Choong, has prepared me well for this business since the day I decided to quit my previous job. He taught me how to reconnect with some of my long lost contacts and convinced me to work on my warm market for a start. I was already meeting friends for casual coffee sessions and subtly securing appointments in advance while waiting for my Intermediary Agreement Contract (IAC). I am grateful to have a dependable mentor like Alvin to guide me in this industry.

4)    How are the skills of your previous profession helping you as a financial representative today?

Dan: As a former training officer and safety officer, I have learnt how to communicate and manage trainees and team members effectively, and doing things with a sense of urgency. I am able to listen and communicate with clients very well and cater to their needs. When clients know that you understand them and put their needs as your priority, you will gain their trust to leave their entire financial planning to you and will refer potential prospects to you.

Reena: Skills such as client relationship management, financial market understanding and sales techniques give me confidence to serve my clients. With confidence and experience in the finance industry, I enjoyed a pretty smooth head start in my Great Eastern career. My warm market was quite supportive and referrals started to flow in over time. Till today I am very grateful to those who have given me an opportunity when I just started my career here.

5)    What do you like most being an Agent of Life at Great Eastern?

Dan: Being able to meet and interact with people from all walks of life and having the constant opportunities to learn from them. Also, having my clients share with me their moments of joy (welcoming a newborn, getting married) and sorrow (passing of loved ones, being diagnosed with critical illness), helped me to be more empathetic and thankful for everything in life. Also, I’m part of one of Singapore’s top insurance companies!

Reena: The fact that I’m representing a company that almost every Singaporean have heard of! 

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