NAIFA – Northwest and NAIFA – Portland

NAIFA – Northwest
Joshua Tomeoni
(800) 774-4632
10101070.blogspot.com

NAIFA – Portland
Denise Hempel

There are quite a few YAT groups in the NAIFA federation that are successfully fulfilling the YAT mission.  The aim of the YAT Group Spotlight feature is to highlight the successes and best practices of these local YAT groups so that other YAT groups can adopt their productive practices.

If you’d like your YAT group to be profiled, please contact yat@naifa.org with your contact information and a brief summary of your YAT group and its events.

NAIFA – Northwest and NAIFA – Portland are mere miles apart, so when it came time to plan YAT activities, these two chairs knew their best option was pooling their resources.  YAT Chairs Joshua Tomeoni and Denise Hempel work together to host all YAT events jointly, thereby saving time and money and ensuring bigger turnouts for their events.  The groups host a variety of events, but all are in line with their YAT Creed: Networking and Social, Mentoring and Education.

What events have the groups hosted that have been successes?
One particular success is the Mentoring Lunches. Experienced agents, as well as newer agents have requested these meetings. Various topics such as how to get referrals, time management, handling objections and succession planning are discussed.  These events have been extremely successful because the number of attendees is kept to a maximum of 15-20 people (making it more intimate) and more experienced agents enjoy meeting newer agents for succession planning purposes and also to share their experience and advice.

On a purely social level, the groups held a Casino Night that was well attended and enjoyed by members.

What challenges have the groups faced and how were they overcome?
Tomeoni says “We're young and many of the experienced advisors are still trying to understand the purpose of YAT.  We deal with this by bringing in good numbers of people and putting on good events.  This brings in new members, which earns us respect and legitimacy.”

What advice would NAIFA – Northwest and NAIFA – Portland give to YAT groups just getting started?
Do a mentoring lunch.  They’re easy, cheap and small.  Members will enjoy them and you can ask an experienced advisor you admire from your association to speak on a specific topic (such as referrals, objections, time management, mentorship, etc.). Ask a vendor to sponsor the event (credit unions and paramedical companies seem to work well) and charge nothing. Promote the event throughout your association, don’t limit it to YATs (the goal for Northwest and Portland is always half experienced advisors, half newer advisors).  If you follow up with the people who attend and get their feedback on what you can improve, you should find great success. Northwest and Portland try to keep capacity at 15-20 people total; it creates demand and encourages an informal atmosphere.

What’s the succession planning for the NAIFA – Northwest and NAIFA – Portland YAT groups?
It’s a work in progress. The two Chairs lead the group jointly and have six other people on the planning committee that they’re grooming to take over after they leave and they are constantly on the lookout for more.

What’s the best way to keep a YAT group vital?
Tomeoni advises continually asking members what they want and what they need to succeed.  Don't get caught up in organizing and being part of planning the group; delegate tasks and plan events based on the feedback from members.