San Francisco, CA, May 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Hearsay Systems, the trusted leader in compliant digital communications and workflow solutions for the financial services industry, announced the winners of the annual Hearsay Systems Innovator Awards, which celebrates leaders in wealth management, insurance, and banking who are transforming the advisor-client experience with their innovative ideas, creativity, and execution. The winners, across four categories, have shown exemplary progress in influencing and harnessing Hearsay’s technology to leverage cutting-edge best practices to drive change management and greater efficiencies while transforming the overall client experience.
“We are thrilled to honor this year’s Hearsay Innovator Award recipients as they have each taken incredible strides to modernize agents and advisors with their passion, ingenuity, and ability to drive change within their organizations,” said Clara Shih, founder and CEO of Hearsay Systems. “In the age of rapidly changing technology and policy changes from AI to increased levels of security and compliance, these companies continue to defy convention and set the pace of change for the industry.”
This year’s winners, selected by a panel of industry peers and leaders, were honored at the seventh annual Hearsay Summit in San Francisco. The 2019 Hearsay Innovator Awards recipients are as follows:
Home Office Categories
Best Strategies for Driving Adoption: Stacey King, Sean Carey, Katie Leimkuehler, Katie Pfledderer, Jake Thompson, Nia Copeland at Charles Schwab
“It was only in November of 2016 when Schwab broadened a social media program that allowed more employees to participate in firm-sponsored social media usage and since then the Social Networking and Activation Program (SNAP) team has demonstrated a number of successes,” Amy Heiss, Marketing VP, Social Networking and Activation at Charles Schwab.
In the past year alone, the Charles Schwab team grew the number of social post engagements by 333%, increased overall program adoption by 104%, and grew the number of Hearsay "power users” by 67%.
In addition, the network size of participants grew from 55,393 at the start of 2017 to 758,796 at the end of 2018. Participants shared nearly 150,000 posts from the Hearsay library in 2018.
Greatest Productivity Gains: Joanne Koenig, RBC Wealth Management - U.S.
Joanne Koenig, Social Media Program Lead at RBC Wealth Management - U.S., has been the force behind the growth of the RBC Wealth Management’s social media program since it launched in 2014.
“Joanne has been an innovator in the industry being one of the first to launch specific new tools for our advisors, implementing a benchmarking model, and improving our advisors’ social media effectiveness by leveraging some of Hearsay’s prominent features,” said Jen Zimmerman, Field Marketing Digital Channels Manager at RBC Wealth Management – U.S.. “Thanks to Joanne’s efforts, we are seeing real results with our Hearsay program, including one advisor who recently brought in a $10 million account through social media.”
Transforming the Enterprise: Josh Feyen, Jeff Frye, Ashley Mortimer at American Family Insurance
With their singular focus on increasing agent adoption, the American Family Insurance team Josh Feyen, Jeff Frye and Ashley Mortimer - have been dedicated to identifying new ways in which they can engage and support their field. This innovative team has developed their own user maturity model - Crawl, Walk, Run, Fly & Soar - which challenges agents to grow their digital presence, all while spotlighting those who have been successful in the key performance areas.
“Josh Feyen, Jeff Frye and Ashley Mortimer are the backbone to the success of the American Family Field Digital program. Their well rounded and cohesive approach in implementing Hearsay Social, Sites and Relate provide the strong foundation needed to explore new use cases adding to their already transformational program,” said Steve Scanlon, at American Family Mutual Insurance Company.
Agent and Advisor
Top Digital Performer: Renee Corwin-Rey, Farmer’s Insurance
Renee Corwin-Rey, owner of Corwin-Rey Insurance Agency based in Centralia, Washington, has been a Farmer’s Insurance agent for over 15 years.
“Social media has changed the way I work and communicate. Be it by phone, email, texting, social media – my team has to be present everywhere. Social media has also helped with our retention of long term customers,” said Renee Corwin-Rey. “Even when customers are shopping for value only, they love having a connection with someone via social media. They like to be a part of our lives, and we like to be part of their lives.”
Renee has taken a much more data-driven approach with metrics. Seventy-five percent of her new business was a result of her agency’s digital presence.
She uses Hearsay Social to schedule quality content, keep a watchful eye on her clients and prospects for life changes, and strategize with her team to create their digital marketing plan.
To learn more about how Hearsay Systems’ customers are reinventing the client experience, visit hearsaysystems.com.
About Hearsay Summit
The Hearsay Summit brings together top FinTech and FinServ leaders to discuss industry trends and their impact, as well as how to evolve their businesses and empower representatives to take advantage of the latest technologies. Hearsay Summit offers a healthy mix of big-picture discussions, function-specific breakout sessions, and networking opportunities. Now in its seventh year, Hearsay Summit has become a can’t miss event for the financial services industry. Learn more at https://hearsaysummit.com.
About Hearsay Systems
Hearsay Systems is reinventing the client experience in wealth management, property and casualty and life insurance with compliant digital communications and workflow solutions. Over 150,000 advisors and agents at the world’s largest financial services and insurance firms leverage Hearsay to engage with customers and build stronger relationships to grow their business.
With Hearsay Cloud for financial services, advisors and agents provide real-time, personalized and seamless client experiences across the right channel - social, texting and mobile - at the right moment. Automated, pre-built industry workflows for insurance and wealth management provide one-click actionable suggestions for targeted engagement. Built for the enterprise, Hearsay Systems connects data and every client interaction to corporate CRM systems and digital marketing programs – all on a secure, compliant enterprise-ready platform.
Hearsay is headquartered in Silicon Valley with locations throughout North America, Europe and Asia. Connect on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and the Hearsay blog.