Dan Dirkes

Work History

Bankers Life

04.2014 - Current

Direct and manage sales operations and staff of a 21-state territory with 74 sales offices and annual budget of $18M, including 2 direct reports and 81 indirect reports
Responsibilities include strategy, sales management, sales office infrastructure and leases, operations, budget management, manager financing, compliance, meeting planning, sales reporting, employee reviews, and contests/incentives
Reduced compliance risk within Territory through implementation of on-site visits, role playing and virtual training sessions to prepare offices for internal audits and reviews
Worked with the company real estate team to plan annual real estate budget, negotiate lease renewals, and facilitate office relocations, furniture selection and telecom installations for all locations in the territory
Created strategic modeling for sales territory realignment, maximizing market penetration
Recruited and developed Compliance and Administration Specialists, supporting field organization
Planned and directed ongoing sales contests, incentives and meeting planning/execution for large sales training programs, generating improved recruiting and production.

Bankers Life

01.2008 - 03.2014

Strategic Partner in training and field development for 20 Branch Sales Offices in the Southwest, Northeast and Southeast Territories of the company
Facilitated learning through monthly and quarterly delivery of various in-person and virtual training courses geared toward new, developing and senior producers
Played key role in the development of the new training curricula including the NASvision New Agent Training Program, UFT School, Door Knocking Prospecting Sales Builder, and the Top Gun second year program
Performed Training Utilization Audits of select branch offices and created targeted plans for improvement of existing training and agent development systems
Collaborated with Product Specialists from the Marketing Department to present new products, initiatives and ideas to field agents and managers
Scripted online training videos and presented in numerous company-wide training videos
Actively mentored, trained and developed training managers in sales territories served

LIMRA Field Development and Performance Cmtee

01.2008 - 01.2014

As Bankers Life and Casualty’s representative to this committee, collaborated and shared Field Development ideas and strategies with other member companies at live annual meetings and monthly conference calls
Supported fellow team members by sharing best practices and collaborating on projects aimed at enhancing overall member experience.
Developed strong relationships with members through active listening skills, understanding their needs, and offering tailored solutions when appropriate.