Insurance selling as a career
Starting a new career path is always a daunting task. Selecting a
career in sales is much more decisive than any other, since your success
or failure could be seen faster. You may be able to work in your home.
However, you will have to work hard to get there. It may require you to
go outside of your comfort zone to some extent.
Life Insurance Selling is just like selling any other product. It is
quite simple but many say the simplest things are the hardest to learn.
Some people find life insurance unnecessary, and that there are more
important things to buy. This is why life insurance selling can be a
really challenging job. In fact Life insurance is still being sold,
rather than bought in Sri Lanka and many other Asian countries. However,
with right tactics and selling skills, this very difficult job can be a
rewarding career in the future.
Full timer or part timer
A selling career in life insurance one option is to become an
insurance agent. The reason why it may be somewhat easier than other
options is that it can be done while still working a full time. In
addition, while it may take more time for your new career to become
lucrative, you can sell life insurance part time. This will give you
enough time for you to test your success in selling. However, full time
life insurance agents have a greater opportunity to prosper.
A life insurance agent is essentially an intermediary between the
insured and the insurance company. Your role as the intermediary is to
help your clients choose the best policy to meet their needs and find
the best rates for that policy. Life insurance agents need to be
perceptive. An agent needs to meet a client and assess the needs of that
client very quickly in order to sell the right kind of product to them.
Attributes needed to be successful
The first thing to decide on when considering this career, is whether
it is sales. If you are not a salesperson and are unwilling to push
pretty hard, this isn't the career for you.
* Ability to network with people In addition to sales, networking is
just as important. If you can learn to network and get your name out
there, you will be far more successful. Being able to build relationship
with people and deal with people are keys to success in this career.
l Take time to know the needs of your customer
Basically, you do not just offer life insurance to anybody. While it
is true that life insurance is for everyone, it is really important to
understand the specific need of your client so that you design a policy
to meet his specific need. On the other hand no matter how much a
customer is interested in obtaining an insurance plan, or how creative
you were in facilitating him a suitable plan, the policy will not
continue as per the plan unless your client is financially capable to
continue the premium payments.
Therefore, it is of paramount importance to design an insurance plan
which fit and match both his needs and purse. This way, your customers
will agree that what you are offering them are actually what they need
and can afford. Remember Insurance solutions which are correctly
designed to address customers' needs will continue throughout the term
of the policy.
l Know your product
Knowing what you are selling is such an essential part of any type of
business. Life insurance is a long term product and knowledge plays very
important role in designing a good life insurance plan.
Insurers usually provide a full coverage of products to match the
requirements of customers in a given market. However each of the
products will cover one or more specific needs of a customer, which can
be based on family protection, child education, investment and
retirement planning.
The more you are thorough with the features and benefits of each
product, the more will be your ability to get the correct solution for
the customer. Unless you provide the best solutions to address the needs
of the customer, you may not be accepted as a "Good Sales Person"
l Provide after sales service
In any form of business, a proactive after sales service would play a
major role in receiving more referrals while sustaining the existing
clients.
Insurance is a business based on trust, as in most of the cases a
customer is not alive to see the actual delivery of the promise made via
the insurance policy. Properly handled, efficient after sales service
gives an assurance and confidence to a that the agent and insurance
company will deliver the promises given.
A confident customer will faithfully execute the deliverables due on
his part, while recommending the agent and/or the company to many others
who can be potential new customers.
This aspect will also give you the job satisfaction, as a happy
customer will motivate you to do more and more business. |