John Hancock Retirement Plan Services Launches Innovative Online Tool to Help Financial Representatives Identify Needs of Prospective Clients

BOSTON, July 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- John Hancock Retirement Plan Services (RPS) introduced Coach's Corner, a powerful online tool designed to help financial representatives identify the needs of prospective clients in a more effective manner. Coach's Corner is the latest addition to John Hancock RPS's award-winning PRIME Elements program -- a suite of tools to help financial representatives quickly identify and address the critical elements plan sponsors require in a 401(k) plan.

"Coach's Corner helps resolve some of the key challenges financial representatives can encounter when analyzing a plan," said Andrew Ross, Senior Vice President, Marketing, John Hancock RPS. "Coach's Corner is an automatic qualifying tool, a knowledge repository and a marketing resource all in one. It provides financial representatives with valuable support throughout the entire sales cycle -- from preliminary discussions with a prospect all the way to presenting them with a tailored retirement plan solution."

The Coach's Corner qualifying tool consists of three components:

• Scouting Report: The system provides the financial representative with vital, publicly-accessible information about a prospective client's pension plan. The report includes relevant statistics and a comparative analysis from multiple sources, including up to date Form 5500 data as well as other industry reports, which provides the financial representative with insights into possible areas of improvement for the plan and an entry-point to begin a dialogue.
• Custom Playbook: The financial representative or plan sponsor completes a series of detailed questions about the prospect's plan. Based on the responses, the system generates a custom report on the company's 401(k) related needs, which the financial representative can present to the plan sponsor.
• Game Day Strategy: A dynamic feature helps the financial representative better understand and tailor a John Hancock solution to address the prospective clients' needs.

"In the qualified retirement industry, no two opportunities are exactly alike. Every plan has different needs, circumstances and objectives. One size does not fit all," says Ross. "With Coach's Corner, we're empowering financial representatives to clearly demonstrate the value they're bringing their clients by helping them prepare the most relevant, customized solution possible."

"The Coach's Corner qualifying tool started adding value to my business on day one," said Timothy McCormack, Investment Advisor at Regulis Advisers in Grosse Point, MI. "I was particularly impressed with how much time it saves me in the fact-finding process. Doing meaningful research on prospects used to mean a significant investment of time. With Coach's Corner, that process is fast and effective, freeing up valuable time in my schedule."  

After generating his first few scouting reports using Coach's Corner, Sean Deviney, Retirement Planning Specialist at Provenance Wealth Advisors, LLC in Fort Lauderdale, FL said, "I will definitely continue to use Coach's Corner as part of my qualifying strategy with prospects. It's easy to use, it provides relevant, plan-specific data and it enables me to generate a customized proposal based on each prospect's needs."

The PRIME Elements program has grown to include a robust set of electronic and educational tools.  The program provides financial representatives simple tools to qualify prospects, engage plan sponsors in detailed discussions and ultimately develop comprehensive, custom solutions that present real value to plan sponsors.  

About John Hancock Retirement Plan Services

John Hancock Retirement Plan Services is one of the largest providers of 401(k) plans across all plan sizes among banks, mutual funds and insurers, according to CFO Magazine. (CFO Magazine 2010 401(k) Providers Survey, for year-end 2009. Published in May 2010).

Both John Hancock Life Insurance Company (U.S.A.) and John Hancock Life Insurance Company of New York do business under certain instances using the John Hancock Retirement Plan Services name. Group annuity contracts and recordkeeping agreements are issued by: John Hancock Life Insurance Company (U.S.A.), Boston, MA 02210 (not licensed in New York) and John Hancock Life Insurance Company of New York, Valhalla, NY 10595.  Product features and availability may differ by state.

About John Hancock Financial and Manulife Financial

John Hancock Financial is a unit of Manulife Financial Corporation, a leading Canadian-based financial services group serving millions of customers in 22 countries and territories worldwide. Operating as Manulife Financial in Canada and in most of Asia, and primarily as John Hancock in the United States, Manulife Financial Corporation offers clients a diverse range of financial protection products and wealth management services through its extensive network of employees, agents and distribution partners. For more than 120 years, clients have looked to Manulife for strong, reliable, trustworthy and forward-thinking solutions for their most significant financial decisions. Funds under management by Manulife Financial and its subsidiaries were Cdn$446 billion (US$440 billion) as at March 31, 2010.

Manulife Financial Corporation trades as 'MFC' on the TSX, NYSE and PSE, and under '945' on the SEHK. Manulife Financial can be found on the Internet at www.manulife.com.

The John Hancock unit, through its insurance companies, comprises one of the largest life insurers in the United States. John Hancock offers a broad range of financial products and services, including life insurance, fixed and variable annuities, fixed products, mutual funds, 401(k) plans, long-term care insurance, college savings, and other forms of business insurance. Additional information about John Hancock may be found at www.johnhancock.com.

SOURCE John Hancock Retirement Plan Services