Why Insurance Agent

For Agents

Life Insurance- Why to Join as an Agent!

Do you feel convinced that

Your present income is adequate for you?
You can expand your business as per your Choice?
You can affix your own daily work schedule?
Your efforts will give you consistent income for 15-20 years?

If so, then you are among the few lucky persons in the world. Congratulations!

These few minutes can be the most important in your career.

Generally, there are three types of occupations First is one's own Business, which includes running a shop, factory, farming, etc. Second is a Job that can be a Government job or a private one, big or small. Third is being a professional, where you sell services, not goods. Doctors, Advocates, Chartered Accountants, Actors are included in this category. An insurance Agent is also a part of this last category.

No Investment
No significant investment is required to start this profession. You don't need an office, furniture, advertisements and staff. It is not that a person who invests more will be more successful as an Agent.

As an Insurance Agent, you normally sell to three persons out of every ten prospects that you approach. Now, this average is not a hindrance to your business volume. You can meet twenty prospects if you have to sell 6 policies.

When there is no investment, there is no fear of loss. An Agent may earn quite well or just meagerly, but there is no scope of losing money. Most of the occupations don't give this comfort of no risk.

Law of Averages
If 1000 persons pass by a shop every day, there could be a probability of how many people enter the shop and how many finally buy the products there. For example, say 100 persons enter the shop and 10 walk-ins buy some products. This is the law of averages that works there. For this shop owner, it is difficult to sell the products to 20 prospects because for this occurrence, 200 persons have to enter the shop. This law of averages is beyond his control.

Long Term Pension
If you sell something today, you earn once in a transaction. From paper and pen to an aero plane, any sale creates profit only once. The advantage of selling life insurance is, that a sale will get you commission as long as premiums are being paid.

The biggest advantage and comfort for an agent is to get renewal commission, i.e., commission for the policies sold in previous years. There is hardly any effort involved in it. Most of the effort is during the initial sale only, after which very small hard work gives you good income.

Club Membership
Any Insurance Company incentivizes its high net yield agents, during the year. Agents selling a minimum number of policies and collecting minimum specified premium, are designated as members of a particular recognition club. This entitles the agent to claim telephone bill, office expenses, gift distribution expenses and travel to fancy destinations. This gives you money and recognition, both.

Schemes
In addition, insurance companies offer short term schemes and the winning agents get pens, watches, mobiles, computers, foreign travel rewards, etc., depending on their performance. All this is in addition to the commission.

M.D.R.T.
Million Dollar Round Table is the most prestigious association of life insurance agents in the world.

If you achieve more than a pre specified premium or commission in a calendar year you become eligible to join this association. Being a member of this association is both prestigious and rewarding.

Convert Extra Time into Money
If you can spare some time from your current business or job, whatever it may be, being a life insurance agent can provide you the opportunity to convert this time into money. It may not be possible to conduct any other business or job in that small part of the day.

Decide your own Working Hours
Generally, we don't have the liberty to decide our own working hours in a job or business. We have to follow a set routine. An Agent has the flexibility to choose his own working hours. He may decide to spend an hour or two hours in a day, evening or morning time, daily or every weekend. He can decide his own priorities.

Contact Circle
Working as an Agent, you will develop a big circle of contacts. Your clients will include Doctors, Professors, Advocates, Singers, Tent House Owners, Police Officers, School Owners, etc. You might not know all these people now. The references you get from your known set of people, will take you to different circles. A person with so many acquaintances in different walks of life has a lot of advantage socially. If you have to get some work done in the municipal office and a known officer is working there, you could be quite comfortable.

Further, if there is a marriage in a client's family and you know a tent house owner, you can make the two meet. Both of them will feel comfortable and your relationship with them will be further strengthened.

Noble Profession
If you advise a close friend to invest in some instrument where lots of fluctuations take place, you are putting your relations at a big risk. If he earns out of your recommendations, you may or may not be thanked. But if he loses, you are the first one to be blamed. On the contrary, selling life insurance is a noble job. If the person survives, he gets good support in the old age. If he doesn't, the insurance claim may be their only support in the hour of need. It is a noble job, where nothing can be wrong.

Take off is Easy
Beginning of the Agency is easy. You have to start with the people you know.

In any case, those people are buying insurance policies from other agents now. If you become an agent, they would certainly prefer to patronize you, as you are one of them.

Is Everybody in your Circle Insured?
If most of your friends and relatives are adequately covered, it is a very good sign that they know the importance of insurance. You won't need to work hard to convince them about insurance. If they are not, it is still better. Inadequacy of their insurance coverage is your business potential and they would certainly like to deal with you.

Not to Search New People
If you open a furniture shop, you need to find a customer who has an office and needs furniture, a dealer selling electrical fittings needs to search a building under construction. An agent selling car insurance can approach only a car owner.

A life insurance agent has no such limitation. Everyone needs life insurance akin to rice, sugar, milk, etc. So, the people you closely know can be your first customers.

Growth in a Job
If you are in a job, you cannot decide your growth in terms of money and position. Annual increments can give you a reasonable living, but cannot fulfill all your dreams. To achieve the dreams, one needs a source of income where growth is not limited. Life Insurance Agency is such a career.

Part Time
You can start an Agency without leaving your existing job or business. This will be a part time agency. Many Agents prefer to start by spending one or two hours a day. If you find the experience remunerative and suitable to your nature, and you feel you can work hard in this profession, then you can choose to be a full time agent. Else, you can continue to be a part time agent. Success stories of both types of agents are heard of.

Is Everybody Insured?
There is a misnomer that most of the people are already insured and a new agency will not be successful. In fact, most of the people in India are either uninsured or underinsured. People in the second category outnumber the first category by big margin. Take your own example. Do you have insurance coverage equal to ten times of your annual income? If yes, then you are an exception. Most of the people are covered by notional insurance.

Had they met a trustworthy agent like you, they would have been adequately covered.

Respect from Profession?
Many persons feel insurance agency is not a respectable profession. Respect is certainly linked to our profession. Your success in your profession also decides your respect. A physician charges Rs.20 as fees and another charges Rs.500. Both of them don't enjoy same respect, though in the same profession. Their success level is different and so is respect in the society. Similar is case of insurance agents. If you are successful in this profession, earning big money and recognition that reflects in your life style, there is no reason that you will not get due respect. A successful insurance agent earns as much respect, as successful persons of other professions.

Unique Strengths
As an Agent, everybody has unique strengths. A highly qualified agent has a set of strengths and reasonably educated agent also has his own strengths. Old and new agent, young and old agent, full time and part time agent, high profile and normal agent, everyone Even if you have migrated to a new town from some other city, you still have some advantage. Under no circumstances you are a loser. Whatever you think is your weakness, is actually your strength that can help you to become a big agent.

Income Expectation
Before entering this profession, you have to decide the income level that will drive you. If your expectation is too low, then any part time job will do for you. Insurance agency is known for very high incomes. Highest earning professionals in the world are insurance agents.

Hard Work
Do you think running an Agency needs hard work? Yes, you are right. But can you think of any profession or job that doesn't require hard work? Farmer, shopkeeper, contractor, actor, politician, everyone has to work hard. You will not find virtually any profession to be rewarding without hard work. If hard work gives you good results, then the job is easy, otherwise the job is tough. Hard work done in insurance agency generally gives you adequate returns.

Be Ready for Rejections
A profession that gives you lot of opportunities to earn without investment, cannot give you easy customers. Two third of the people you approach, will reject you, at least initially. Their ways to say 'No' will be different. Their refusal may or may not be courteous. We have to be ready to accept it.

If your ego is big and you find it difficult to handle rejection, then it will be difficult for you to run an agency. If a professional agent gets rejection from a prospective client, it is normal for him. If he start reconsidering his profession after listening to a few 'No's, he can never be successful.

Role of a Manager or Development Officer
An Agent's success largely depends on his Supervisor's support. A Manager will support you to the extent you give him the right to supervise. The Officer, who has brought to this profession, has recruited many more agents.

He must have seen many agents being successful and also failures. Given the authority to supervise, he can teach you ways to be successful. Working closely with him, you can avoid many possible mistakes.

Again, you must remember that sales are to be achieved by you only. He, at the best, can give you the right roadmap. He cannot sell policies for you.

Information about the profession of a Chartered Accountant, and vice versa. So, it is advisable to take advice from some insurance professional only.

If you ask a person who is not successful, about his profession, he will certainly not recommend it. On the contrary, a successful person of the same profession.

Whom to Consult!
Taking up insurance agency should be a family decision. Consent of other family members is crucial. Better take your Manager's help in this area.

He is an experienced person and can easily convince your family members and other persons who matter to you.

Many a time, people seek advice of those who are in totally unrelated fields. No advocate can guide you about the profession of an architect, and vice versa. No insurance agent can give you authentic information about the profession of a Chartered Accountant, and vice versa. So, it is advisable to take advice from some insurance professional only.

If you ask a person who is not successful, about his profession, he will certainly not recommend it. On the contrary, a successful person of the same profession will rate his job very high. So, better you consult a successful insurance professional about the scope of an insurance agency.

Training and Examination
Once you decide you join this profession, you need to know the process to move forward. The Regulatory body IRDA has prescribed that every agent needs to undergo 50 hours of training and pass an exam to be a licensed agent.

If a person ciaims that he can get you a driving license without clearing the driving test, will you count him among your well wishers? Perhaps no, because he has exposed you to high risk traffic without adequate training. In the same way, if someone expects to get a license to sell insurance without training, he is exposing himself to high risk of failure. Not knowing enough, he will be laughed at in the market, instead of getting success.

There cannot be enough confidence without proper training. No professional in the world can perform well without adequate and relevant training. An insurance agent has to undergo certain training. It is just a 50 hours module. There cannot be any short cut to this. So, while considering the proposal to be an Agent, please keep in mind that you have to undergo this training to pass the examination.

Early Take Off
It is very important for an Agent's long term success that he starts as early as possible. You are advised to start immediately after getting a license.

The Sweet Taste of initial success will lead you to higher levels.

All the very best for highest level of success as an Agent!