BOSTON /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.

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