John Hancock Financial Services
Company: John Hancock Financial Services, Boston, MA
Company Description: John Hancock's core retail products in the U.S. focus on providing financial solutions at every stage of our clients' lives. Our product suite includes life insurance, mutual funds, 401(k) plans, long-term care insurance, and annuities. We distribute our products primarily through licensed financial advisors, and through John Hancock Financial Network, a national network of independent f
Nomination Category: Customer Service & Call Center Awards Team Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Front-Line Customer Service Team of the Year - Financial Services Industries
Nomination Title: Real and Personalized!
Tell the story about what this nominated team achieved since the beginning of July 2012 (up to 525 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes:
John Hancock Personal Financial Services (PFS) was launched in 2007 with four representatives. The mission then, as it is today, was to provide “real and personalized” distribution education and rollover services to terminating participants invested in a John Hancock 401(k) plan. To that end, the PFS Rollover Education Center (REC) is focused on providing customers with education, guidance and superior service while helping them pursue their financial goals. After just three years, the call center was operating profitably. By year five, PFS passed $1B in retained assets and spawned three successful spinoff businesses.
John Hancock’s Rollover Education Center helps customers understand the choices they have about their retirement assets when they leave their employer. The Rollover Education Center truly is an education center, taking satisfaction in making things as easy as possible for customers. For example, we take the time to answer customer questions and assist them with completing any necessary paperwork – and three of our representatives are fully bilingual allowing us to provide support for non-English-speaking customers.
Our representatives are all FINRA-licensed and take pride in helping participants understand the tax consequences of taking a withdrawal, the pros and cons of staying in the plan and the advantages of choosing a rollover. Then they take it one step further… facilitating the rollover of assets, assisting with any required paperwork (regardless of the distribution option selected) and connecting them with their plan’s financial advisor when appropriate. They also team with plan administrators in providing other specialized services when needed.
In 2013, our 16 REC representatives topped their aggressive goal of $900M in assets gathered. How did they get there?
Team Focus… our philosophy is that combining our energy and ideas truly does make a difference – not only to our bottom line, but also around how much we can learn from each other and the quality of the experience we can deliver to customers.
Rigorous training program… the formal training and development program we built from the ground up ensures that our representatives have the skills and tools they need to be successful. It offers opportunities for development with many promotions from within.
Staying true to the original mission… delivering real and personalized service to John Hancock customers is our highest priority. To help us maintain that standard, daily calls are reviewed and representatives enjoy competing in our ongoing “Best Call” contest.
Awards program… we recognize extraordinary contributions to our businesses as well as representatives who are top production leaders. Awards are presented in front of peers and senior executives while accomplishments are published in our monthly newsletter.
In 2013, the REC team accomplished the following:
- Educated more than 100,000 participants
- Facilitated nearly 22,000 IRA rollovers
- Partnered with 500 plan financial advisors
- Helped more than 1,000 plans close or merge
- Maintained business continuity with no interruptions to service – despite five disaster days, including Hurricane Sandy, blizzards and the Boston Marathon bombing, our comprehensive business continuity strategy enabled us to meet our obligations to customers
The numbers, however, are only part of the picture. See the “In their Words” supplement for actual quotes highlighting the high quality of service REC representatives provide.
Provide a brief (up to 125 words) biography about the leader(s) of the nominated team:
Michael Zargaj is the Vice President of John Hancock’s Personal Financial Services (PFS) business unit and a 20-year veteran of the financial services industry. He oversees the Rollover Education Center as well as all marketing and product activities for PFS including reporting, business intelligence, employee training and development and business risk management.
Mr. Zargaj joined John Hancock in 2007 as part of an executive management team charged with starting John Hancock’s 401(k) rollover capture business.
Mr. Zargaj has expertise in advisor marketing, wealth management products, brokerage, retirement income planning, active trading and the IRA rollover marketplace and has won numerous industry awards. He is member of LIMRA’s Asset Retention Roundtable and has his Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst.