Property advisory platform Vanilla announced the relaunch of its education-focused program Vanilla Academy on Monday.
The revamped education platform will feature multimedia content ranging from checklists to customer-facing PowerPoint presentations to free, on-demand courses approved for continuing education credit.
“One of the biggest barriers to getting estate planning advisors is education.” Vanilla content marketing director Dan Brockley said. “We're striving to give advisors the information they need to engage in safer and more comfortable estate planning conversations.”
Vanilla Academy content, which will initially be free with registration for advisors (although in the future, some courses will be strictly reserved for Vanilla customers), is primarily divided into three categories: 1) CE-accredited courses for advisors; 2) Estate planning resources, such as advisor-facing playbooks and client presentations and handouts to help illustrate certain concepts; and 3) Technical guidance on how to best use specific Vanilla functionalities to leverage customers.
Vanilla Academy UI.
The initial lineup of four CE courses (video presentations with written supplements and quizzes) includes: Estate Planning 101 (a three-part series); Basics and Beyond: Estate Planning for Non-Taxable Estates; Advanced strategies for taxable properties; and New Customer Conversations with (Chairman and Co-Founder) Steve Lockshin.
The plan is to add new courses regularly, ranging from core estate planning topics, such as highlighting the obvious jurisdictional planning differences, to soft skills, such as how to have challenging conversations. with customers.
“We're keeping it wide at first,” Brockley said. “We'll let user feedback guide us on where we go next.”
Vanilla Academy's curriculum assumes that advisors, attorneys, and planners all come to estate planning with varying levels of knowledge and experience. Brockley said potentially overwhelming estate planning beginners with a wall of content ahead would be counterproductive.
“We are committed to making estate planning accessible and effective for everyone, and the enhanced Vanilla Academy is a testament to that commitment.” Vanilla CEO Gene Farrell said.
The launch of the new Vanilla Academy is part of the company's continuity Summer School initiative, which includes live courses, office hours with subject matter experts and networking opportunities.