Many people are still under the impression that the polices are still practiced the old ways and are uncertain about taking an insurance policy for the simple fact that they feel they will have to go through a lot of formalities for this. Now days the process of getting an insurance has changed and it is made a lot easy to get a policy. There are two ways by which you can get a insurance policy. One would be by getting it yourself via the insurance broker website and the other option would be to hire a good agent to finish the deal for you.

Now a days, there are many people who are choosing as a career option because the income is steady and good. When you have decided to choose life insurance as a career, you need to be aware of few key aspects. Life insurance agents also referred to as sales agents. There are many people who don’t like to be called insurance sales agents because of the word ‘sales’. Like any other sales person, the insurance agent is also a sales person for the company.

t the same time the agents are not merely sales persons unlike the sales persons they do not try to sale or push off the product the insurance agents also give good advice to their customers. So, it can be concluded that the insurance sales agents can be termed both as a sales person and a financial adviser. And because of this many feel that they will need to have a financial background to become an insurance agent. This is not a must but it is often preferred if the person is well-informed about the finances and the finance domain. An agent will have to gratify a wide range of customers.

The job of an insurance agent is not only to give financial advice or sell insurance to individuals, but an insurance agent often deal with not only individuals but families and corporate businesses too. There are two categories of insurance agents, the first category is the one who deals with captive insurances and the second category is the independent agent. When you wish to pursue your career as a agent then you can choose the category you will want to specialize in. Many people prefer the second category of the independent insurance agent.

There are many general policies that a agent can sell in addition to the policies and there are:

Casualty insurance
Health insurance
Disability insurance
Long-term care insurance

Life insurance agents may also be found selling other financial packages such as variable annuities, mutual funds and other securities. The opportunities for the are endless and sky is the limit. The earning potential varies from one agent to another agent. The more the agent sells, the more that life insurance agent will earn. An agent must be aware of the market conditions very well and he or she must be able to guide the customer properly.

If the customer has asked for the best term life insurance prices, a insurance agent must strive hard to give that customer what he or she wants. Respecting the sentiments of the customer is very important. Some customers may not be able to afford the whole insurance prices so they may ask for the term life insurance prices. The main goal of the agent is to sell the insurance policy that is right to the customer.

Selling the term life insurance policy to the customers is sometimes very easy because of the low term life insurance prices. However, when the customers ask about the investment part, most agent fumble and get nervous. Although the term life insurance prices are low, there is no cash value accumulated at the end of the term period.

In a situation like this a life insurance agent should be ready to offer a solution of other saving scheme. A life insurance agent should be thought all the selling techniques in how to handle customers who are apprehensive and not sure if they really want the policy, the agent should know how to convert this objection into deals. Captive agents are constrained by the rules and regulations of the company. These terms and conditions should first be conveyed to the customer.

If you are looking to buy insurance for the first time or wondering if you have enough coverage to protect your assets, all of a sudden you can find yourself feeling lost or overwhelmed by the vast amount of information you find online, the countless advertisements from insurance companies competing for your business, and from varying anecdotes you hear from friends and family. For most consumers, an agent will be your best resource for all of your insurance questions and needs. However, before you can even talk to an agent, you need to know how to select one that will meet your needs. So, before you pick an agent based upon the humor of its advertising campaign or promises of low rates, read below for a general understanding of insurance and how you can have it best meet your needs.

What Is Insurance? What Type of Protection Can It Provide?

Insurance coverage is available for almost every circumstance. There’s homeowner’s, renter’s, medical, commercial/business, automobile, boat, RV, special event, life, pet health, earthquakes, floods, professional liability, disability and so on. There is even insurance that is designed to cover you beyond the limits or fill in the gaps of your basic insurance called umbrella insurance. These various coverages allow you to transfer a set amount of liability onto an insurance company for a premium. The types of insurance you need and how much coverage you should buy is ultimately up to you.

Meeting Your State or Lender’s Insurance Requirements Is Often Just the Start

Some aspects of insurance are non-negotiable, such as the minimum insurance requirements determined by your state or bank/lender. Your state’s Department of Insurance website usually outlines your legal responsibilities as a driver, homeowner or employer/business owner, and provides helpful toolkits and trustworthy resources for a myriad of insurance-related topics. Additionally, if you recently committed to a car or home loan, you likely agreed to secure a certain amount of insurance. These insurance requirements are intended to reduce the financial risk of others. However, sticking to these minimum insurance requirements generally won’t do much to protect you from financial hardship in the event of a major accident, lawsuit or disaster. Obtaining the necessary insurance required by your state or bank/lender should be viewed as just a starting point.

Insurance Needs to be Customized to Fit Your Specific Circumstances

Beyond the insurance required by law, only you can determine how much you will want to spend on insurance and what level of risk you are comfortable with. Think carefully about your assets and how much risk you are comfortable with. Consider what would happen in the event of a major loss: can you afford to pay for repairs or even a large deductible? What if you are sued for negligence or an accident on your property? Are you prepared to handle the costs of a lawsuit? Writing down a list of the assets you wish to protect is a great way to start a conversation with an agent who can inform you of your options. They can also compare pricing and benefits between different insurance providers, as well as discounts you may qualify for if you purchase multiple policies through the same company. Most importantly, your agent should be interested in taking the time necessary to personalize your policy to fit your specific needs and circumstances.

Selecting an Insurance Company or Agent

Almost every insurance company will tell you that you need to buy a policy from them for their low rates, excellent benefits and quality service. So, how do you differentiate between several highly rated insurance companies? Often, if you are comparison shopping, working with a local, licensed insurance agent that represents multiple insurance companies will be your best bet. If you already feel strongly about a particular insurance company because of personal experience or referrals, then a captive agent will likely serve you better.

Captive agents have agreed to represent only one insurance company, but are generally experts in the insurance products offered by that company. Independent agents are able to represent multiple insurance carriers but have a stronger incentive to make the customer happy. They can compare multiple policies for you, help you change carriers and continuously ensure that you are getting the best rates for your needs. In both cases, it never hurts to check the state’s insurance site to verify their license, check the Better Business Bureau for complaints, and look on Yelp or Angie’s List for recommendations. At the end of the day, you want to be able to have open and honest communication with your agent without ever feeling bothersome. There are many agents out there so feel free to shop around just like you do for insurance carriers.

Plan to Revisit Your Insurance Policy Annually

Once you buy a policy, you will want to remain diligent. Review your written policy once it arrives in the mail and make sure you understand what is included and excluded. Have your agent clarify any aspects that are unclear. Sometimes there are supplemental coverages you can buy to help fill in those gaps or limits caused by exclusions. You can always adjust your limits or deductible if your circumstances change. Additionally, you will want to revisit your policies with your agent annually or any time there is a major change in your life, such as a change in your marital status, family expansion, and relocating to a new area.

Problem #1

Prospects have more sales resistance training than agents usually have in sales presentation skill.

Prospect response to insurance agents is designed to get as much information as possible and be in control of the situation. Prospects often mislead insurance agents about their intentions, how much they’ll spend, who makes decisions, etc.

The prospect intent is designed to turn agents into unpaid consultants, lead them on until they have all of the information they need, and often use their quotes to compare with their current agent or a competitor.

When prospects have what they need, they stop returning the agent’s phone calls.

Does this make prospects bad people?

Of course not.

We all use this system for dealing with salespeople…it’s almost second nature.

Why do prospects do this?

It’s simple.

It works.

The stereotype of an agent is not a good image for most of us, and prospects are afraid of being sold something they don’t want. In order to protect themselves, prospects feel they need a way to deal with agents. It is an instinctive reaction to the negative stereotype of agents that causes prospects to put up a defensive wall.

So how do most agents deal with the prospects system of defense? Most play right into it. Many don’t use a systematic approach to selling. They allow the prospect to take total control of the sales process. The agent eagerly:

o gives their knowledge
o makes commitments without getting any in return
o wastes resources on pursuing deals that will never close
o gives quotes to non-prospects who never buy
o misinterpret the ubiquitous “I’ll think it over and get back to you” as a future sale

How do most sales organizations contribute to the problem? Frequently they focus on product knowledge and overlook teaching what circumstances or concepts products fit best with.

The solution: Train agents on a systematic approach to making presentations so they have “a track to run on.” The training should balance both the prospect and agent’s best interest.

Problem #2

Spending too much time with prospects that will never buy.

A manager recently evaluated two of his agents like this: “Gary spends too much time with non-buyers, and gets too involved in non-productive activities. One root cause of this behavior is that he doesn’t ask the tough questions. Amy is strong with prospects, but both she and Gary have lost deals because the competition asks for the business while they give quotes to the prospect.” Why is this true?

Agents don’t ask the hard questions up-front for fear of making their prospects angry, they are afraid they will lose something they don’t have. Most agents think their job is to close everybody.

Over the years sales training has emphasized, “Don’t take NO for an answer.” Insurance agents are taught to be persistent…handle stalls and objections…trial closes…always be closing…and yes, even be manipulative. No wonder prospects need sales resistance to shield themselves!

Prospects realize agents don’t want to hear “NO” and that when they do, they’ll “hang in there” and try to turn “NO” into “YES.” When the poor prospect really means “NO,” s/he has found the easiest way to get rid of a agent is to tell them, “I’ll think it over, and I’ll get back to you.” How many “think it over’s” really turn into business?

The solution: Agents need tools to separate tire-kickers from buyers. They need an approach that obtains support early in the sales cycle. They need to learn the fine art of tactfully qualifying prospects in, not qualifying them out. The top agents learn to ask the hard questions up-front, saving precious resources for real opportunities. “NO” is an acceptable response from a buyer. “Going for the NO” requires a tremendous paradigm shift for most agents, but it can take all the pressure off the agent and increase productivity. This approach allows prospects to feel in control, this then relaxes them, and lets them buy instead of feeling like they are being “sold.”

Problem #3

Agents talk too much.

A manager recently said, “My agents’ listening skills aren’t where they need to be; someone says something and they don’t find out the real reason or intent behind the question, which leaves the prospect feeling like my agents don’t understand them or their issues.

Of course, when we sent them to the College of Product Knowledge, filling them with technical knowledge and then sent them out to make their quotas, we should have expected this result.”

So what’s the problem telling our story? First, people buy for their reason, not the agents reasons, not even their company’s reasons. Second, most companies’ presentations sound the same to the prospect, and when they sound the same, the agent just becomes another agent to the prospect, and then to the prospect, low price becomes the determining factor in getting the business.

The solution: Asking questions is the answer. Teach insurance agents to stop regurgitating to the prospect and start asking questions. Prospects should do at least 70% of the talking on the sales call. The only way this will happen is for the sales rep to ask a lot of questions.

Questions gather information. Ask questions to find out what the prospect’s “pain” is. This is the same thing your family doctor does during an office visit. They ask – they don’t tell you anything until they have made the proper diagnosis.

Problem #4

Weak Agents focus on price.

Price is never the real issue! Agents focus on price because it’s often the first thing the prospect asks about. Yet study after study confirms that quality and services are almost always more important than price. Price is never the main reason for getting and keeping business. People buy our products to either solve a problem they have, or improve something about their current situation or protect against future occurrences.

The solution: Teach agents to be more effective in asking questions and getting to real issues. Once they learn to do this, price will not be the determining factor in making sales.

Problem #5

Product knowledge is over-emphasized and misused. As a result, selling often becomes nothing more than “pitching and presenting.”

Most sales training focuses on product knowledge. studies show that 80% of training dollars spent annually are spent on product knowledge training. Agents, once filled with this product knowledge, are eager to share this information and become a Professional, Unpaid Educator. The focus then becomes totally on product, and not on the prospects problem, which is where it belongs.

The solution: Provide training in the strategy and tactics our agents need to help prospects clearly define their problems and co-build solutions that fit their needs. Product knowledge is important, but how it’s used at each phase of the buying process is the key.

Problem #6

Agents fail to get prospects to reveal budgets up-front. Many insurance agents are uncomfortable talking about money. Discussing money is seen as intrusive, and unpleasant. Many agents avoid talking about money, until the prospect forces the issue. This is one of the five most common weaknesses that agents have.

The solution: Knowing whether there is money upfront will help the insurance agent distinguish between a prospects who is ready to solve a problem from one who is not committed. Comfortably talking about money is a key to management, where resources are evaluated based on bottom line impact. Teach your agents to find out two things about money:

o How much the problem is costing the prospect; in other words the amount at risk.
o How much they’d be willing to invest to solve the problem.

Without a candid discussion about money, the agent is left to make certain assumptions. And we all know what happens when we make assumptions!

Problem #7

Agents fail to get firm commitments from prospects.

Insurance agents are often very willing to jump at the opportunity to do a quote, presentation, etc. This approach is incredibly time-consuming and resource intensive.

How many quotes has your team/distribution sent out over the last twelve months that resulted in nothing? How much does it cost your team/distribution on an annual basis to do quotes that go nowhere?

The solution: Agents must learn what motivates people to buy. They must master the skills required to help prospects become comfortable sharing problems, and they must learn to determine the prospects’ level of commitment to solve these problems before they begin to offer their solutions.

Problem #8

Lack of sufficient prospecting.

A quote from a manager: “They don’t do enough prospecting, even ‘when I use a long stick.'” All professional agents will eventually be faced with a bout of call reluctance. You know the story – they have so much paperwork on their desk they can’t possibly find the time to prospect for new business OR they’re so busy calling on existing customers (who incidentally aren’t buying anything) there’s no way they could add any new appointments. Getting ready to get ready. The BT club (bout to) Sound familiar?

o Over 40% of all veteran sales professionals have experienced bouts of call reluctance severe enough to threaten their career in sales
o And 80% of all new agents who fail within their first year do so because of insufficient prospecting activity.

The Solution: Insurance agents need to develop a realistic activity plan. Monitor the plan weekly and implement effective accountability.

Problem #9

The insurance agent has a strong need for approval.

It’s an easy and common mistake. “I love people, so I’ll be an insurance agent.” You end up with an insurance agent that would rather make “friends” with their prospects than conduct business. While developing relationships are an important part of the selling process, selling is not a place for people to get their emotional needs met. In fact, it’s the opposite: a tough and demanding profession, full of rejection. People who internalize the rejection end up getting out of the profession. Truth is, they should never have gotten in the business. Sales interactions are fundamentally different than social interactions. Successful professionals understand and accept that the bottom line of professionally selling is: MAKING MONEY.

The Solution: Evaluate yourself to determine if you have this need for approval. Managers need to ask pre-hire screening questions that helps to hire stronger people and teach them a system that helps strike the appropriate balance between developing relationships and getting commitments.

Problem #10

Insurance agents don’t treat sales as a profession.

Professionals like doctors, lawyers, engineers, teachers, and CPAs’ all have one thing in common – they attend continuing education to maintain and increase their proficiency. Yet how many insurance agents are continually seeking new ways to increase their skills? Many have the attitude, “I’ve been selling for years, what more can I learn?”

The solution: Top performers in every profession are always looking for ways to sharpen their skills and gain the fine edge that leads to consistent success. Managers need to invest in top performers and help them grow their skills. Ego stunts your growth so managers have to be willing to set their ego aside and be willing to grow, modeling behavior that demonstrates it is more important to the manager to be effective than to be right. We can all learn from each other.

In Summary:

Hiring: Distributions, supervisors and managers must complete, step-by-step, a formal process for profiling, attracting, recruiting, interviewing and hiring top performers. Look to hire goal achievers not goal setters. Most managers hire goal setters and are surprised when agents never achieve their goals. The truth is the agent only had a wish list. Ask the agent when interviewing or coaching to describe goals they set and “how” they achieved the goal. If they didn’t achieve then it was it a goal or only a wish list?

Effective recruiting and hiring is the most important job of any manager. No amount of training, coaching or mentoring will make up for a poor hiring decision. Do it right the first time.

Managing: Implement a sales management process that emphasizes more effective recruiting, hiring, coaching, growing, and developing agents. Most of all quit accepting excuses for poor performance from yourself and your agent, raise your expectations and implement a rigorous accountability process. This starts with your team production-if you are not meeting standards. how can you expect to hold your agents accountable?. In management, you don’t get what you want – you only get what you expect and inspect. Remember, you manage things – you lead people.

Training: Tapes, books and one -day seminars are fine for intellectual learning or external motivation, but if you want to be a better golfer, pianist – or a better sales person, you must practice and develop new skills. Selling is a skill that can be taught, learned, and mastered over time.

Personality of the Insurance Agent

Have conversations with prospective agents. Explain your situation and ask for a quote. Simply asking does not mean you have to work with them. This is a chance for you to get a feel for how they work and if you’re comfortable with them.

There are 2 types of Insurance Agents:

A. Independent Agents – These are people who own a small business who represents or an affiliate of a number of insurance companies.

B. Direct Insurance Agents – A direct insurance company sells directly to you without an agent, typically online.

Best choice:

Go with the Independent Agent since they have the opportunity to offer you a best match price and coverage for your needs. They have all the data that they can compare between insurance companies. They sell a variety of insurance and financial products, including property, life, casualty, health, disability and long-term care insurance. They are your one-stop-shop for insurance needs.

2. Credentials

A knowledgeable insurance agent can give advice when deciding what coverage and limits a client needs to protect their family and investments. An insurance agent who have credentials has attestation of qualification, authority or competence, and guaranteed professional in the field of insurance industry.

Nice to Have:

CFP – Certified Financial Planner.
CLU – Chartered Life Underwriter
CPCU – Chartered Property & Casualty Underwriter
ChFC – Chartered Financial Consultant
PFS – Personal Financial Specialist
CIC – Certified Insurance Counselor
ARM – Associate in Risk Management
Licensing
Before buying an insurance from an insurance agent, make sure that the agent has a license to sell insurance. It’s like a patient consulting a doctor and the doctor is required to get a license before they can provide prescriptions. Each state requires insurance agents to hold a license to sell policies. Some states require separate licenses to sell property and casualty insurance versus life and health insurance.

3. Client Feed Backs

While you’re checking whether the agent is licensed, also check to see if they’ve had complaints filed against them. For the company, you can check the NAIC’s CIS or call your state insurance department. The insurance department can also tell you if any complaints have been filed against the agent. You also might check with the Better Business Bureau to see if any consumers have filed complaints – or compliments – about the agents you’re considering.

4. Ask Questions

It is okay to ask questions when looking for an agent. In fact, you should be asking questions when deciding who you want to work with. Some good questions are:

What are your areas of expertise?
What is your reach? Are you local? Statewide? Nationwide?
What is your experience in my industry? How many years have you been writing this type of insurance?
Do you have any client references?
How long have you been in business?
How many companies do you represent? Which ones?
Of course there are lots of factor to consider when choosing an insurance agent. Take note of the most important things when trusting someone to provide you with the best coverage for your business needs. You always have an option to switch agents, but it is much better to do a research beforehand to find the great insurance partner.

What are the chances of new insurance agent success becoming a reality? Intense analysis of licensed Department Insurance agents records conclude that only 6% of agents survive slightly over 4.3 years. Examine the facts, and logical explanations why insurance sales agent retention and success stories are so grim.

Dismiss many of the misconceptions of recruiting new insurance agents. There are over 1,500,000 health and life insurance agents currently licensed by insurance departments within the United States In my evaluation, this means an unnecessary surplus of over a half million agents. Countless new life and health insurance sales agents are either poorly trained, have an insufficient number of prospective clients, or should have never been hired to begin with. So if 550,000 agent trainees were fired today, the life and health insurance agent system would be stronger.

Some agencies place newspaper ads, and others go so far as using college campus job fair recruiting methods to find new agents to hire. Both of these methods when analyzed, show almost identical results. Those results are that 85% of agents will starve their way out of insurance sales within the first 18 months. In insurance sales you have two types of agents, those who can fill out an order application and those that can actually solicit and sell life and health insurance products.

Here lies at least 50% of the blame for agents dropping like flies. The recruiters hire agents who are unable to go out on their own and make a sale.. Even though almost every applicant can pass an interview of prepared interviewer questions, this in itself does not guarantee any measure of success. Look at the person who the insurance agency promoted to do prospective hiring. In most cases this is a newly appointed sales manager with under 4 years experience. Sure, he is fairly good at selling, but just because he can sell, it does not mean he can successfully recruit. Both the sales manager and college campus recruiter work hard to highly pump the prospective agent up with inflated dream visions of easy success and a lifetime steady insurance career.

Another 25% of non survival is a result of insurance agent recruiters for providing false concepts, and poor training. New licensed sales agents anticipate easily obtaining incomes exceeding $40,000 to $70,000. My studies show less than 7% of these rookies ever obtain that level. In fact, if most insurance agencies did not money subsidize their newer agents, the income figure for a new insurance agent would be under $20,000. When one agent leaves, another will be quickly licensed to take his place. The departing rookie has written policies on a few friends, neighbors, and outsiders, so when these policies renew. the insurance company collects all the premiums without paying any acquisition costs. I call this concept putting meat in the insurance company freezer.

Job fair recruiters sent to college campuses usually do the worst job. The college recruiter pitches a memorized and rehearsed script to college seniors, exalting how entering the insurance professional is more prosperous than other qualified fields. Remember the college recruiter usually gets a bonus for each recruit. If the prospective agent would had been screened with numerous background questions, survival chances could have been quickly predetermined.

How do you predetermine a success chance factor? Well first realize the agent might already be financially in debt, and hanging on to survive, living from paycheck to paycheck. You must start with agents that possess sales ability and are self determined to quickly become financially strong enough to survive. This is fine if the new college grad comes from a wealthy family background. However, in today’s world, most college graduates are not in this category. Their background is often middle class, with parents living in a middle class neighborhood, earning a middle class income. The new college grad, now an insurance agent, often took out student aid loans. These need to be paid back so this agent requires a higher income just to survive.

Why are the odds so highly against this agent? The career agency is usually located in an swank, suburban area of a major city where the average mean family incomes are the highest. in the state. The targeted customer for these agencies are high income individuals and small successful businesses. 90% of the limited training is spent on target marketing to these prime clients exclusively. The large agency however only contains a few experienced insurance professionals earning over $70,000 a year.

During the first 4 years of almost any salesperson’s career there is an existing comfort zone almost impossible to break. In other words, the salesperson is most comfortable talking to and attempting to sell prospective clients in an environment or income level that matches the agent. The career insurance agency however wants big premiums, and tries to train career insurance agents to sell large policies to prominent people. Upon failure to make sales, the blame comes down to the agent for not trying or working hard enough. The agency should have started working a new agent on a $40,000 class of clientele while gradually raising the level. A career agent then is able to work upwards. The reward is being one of the few 6 out of a hundred insurance sellers surviving the first 4 years.

Leading by example is precisely why leaders focus on always doing exactly what they say. Your actions should be aligned with what you are saying. Although, it’s tough to practice what you preach; you need to model the change in behavior you want to see. The core of focusing on the walk not the talk is to be the change you want to see in others.

In other words, you need to assess your own behavior first before communicating these changes to your fellow because changing habitual practices isn’t as easy as simply making a choice. It’s very important for a leader to be consistent with their actions. The single most essential component to effective management is trust. Everything will go out the window when trust is lost. And in the eyes of most people, a lie is a lie.

Too often leaders want to run and/or hide from their mistakes. Don’t make excuses, but be clear that you recognize where you went wrong. Being sorry isn’t admission of defeat. It revisits the human aspect that people screw up for a superfluity of reasons. You are not an exemption. It is a great start to admit your mistakes and apologize. However, be clear in asking for support in moving forward. If you choose to ignore it than acknowledge it, don’t be flabbergasted if things don’t get better.

Show people what the organizational values mean through your behaviors. People learn by observing their leaders. You must focus on your walk more than your talk. Bringing values to life is a behavioral issue because you are a role model for your people. Your values can be seen in terms of your behavior, where you go, what you say, how you spend your time and how you deal with problems and crises.

Actions speak louder than words. Everyone has lapses. Make sure that you acknowledge whenever you find yourself off track and in breach of values. When problems catch you off-balance, your immediate reaction might be contrary to your personal or organizational values system. Remember, subordinates follow your lead.

As a leader, you need to help your people succeed. You must smooth the way for them because there are always impediments and obstacles to achieving goals. You must identify these barriers, remove or lessen them, or show your members how to deal with those that can’t be removed.

People desire for recognition. The main reason why people leave their jobs is that they don’t feel appreciated. Recognizing a worthwhile behavior is the single best way to ensure organizational commitment. Although none of us would work for less money than we feel is fair, money alone isn’t enough for encouraging long-term high performance. People cannot be motivated when they feel that what they are asked to do is worthless or contrary to their fundamental values.

Most of us want to feel that we are valued as people, not just mere staff. We want to be respected for who we are, not simply for what we do. We also respond positively to be with others who share similar beliefs and with whom we can build relationships. That’s the very reason why we need to focus on the walk not the talk.