Brian Haney, LACP, CLTC, CFS, CFBS, CIS, is a 16-year veteran of the financial services profession and the immediate past president of NAIFA-Greater Washington, D.C. He is also vice president at the Haney Company and a proud holder of NAIFA’s LACP certification.

Brian views NAIFA’s Life and Annuity Certified Professional (LACP) certification and important component of his personal brand that he presents to clients, prospects, and colleagues in the life insurance industry. The large insurance companies do a lot to market themselves, “but there’s very little to no brand element on the insurance producers and advisor level.”

He notes that research shows 93% of consumers buying decisions are influences by social media. At the same time, there is a growing consumer distrust of many large corporations and some elements of the financial industry, meaning that “your need to stand out from the crowd has never been more critical.”

For Brian, the LACP offers agents and advisors a “unique and strategic way to stand out from the crowd and make ourselves known as the go-to people in our industry.”

Professional credentials, like the LACP, help provide credibility that allow Brian to stand out as a professional with expertise that appeals to potential clients and also “across the landscape of certain industries where I’m trying to develop certain relationships and partnerships.”

The thing that really helps open doors for myself as a practitioner and for those who are NAIFA members are credentialing and things that say, ‘This person is an expert. This person knows more than maybe the other 10 or 12 people that are in the same position doing the same thing that they do,” Brian said. “and I’ve used that to my advantage.”

The LACP is a fully accredited professional certification recognized by FINRA. Companies that support the use of LACP by their agents and advisors include: Cambridge Investment Research, Country Financial, FSC Securities, Guardian, Kansas City Life, MassMutual, Nationwide, New York Life, Principal, Royal Alliance, and Western & Southern Life, and the list continues to grow.

Learn more about the LACP at www.naifacertcom.org.