How to Become a Insurance Agent

Intro Insurance Agent

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About Insurance Agent

One of the key industries in the finance sector is the insurance industry, where millions of people have invested their money to secure their future. However, there are several insurance companies that offer their services to a prospective client. To sell these services, these companies require Insurance Agents, thus making their role crucial to the industry.

Pursuing a career as an Insurance Agent can be challenging and awarding at the same time. In order to pursue a career as an Insurance Agent, students need to have a good grasp over their communication skills especially in the native Indian language as well as in English. Moreover, there is a certain set of skills set required, in order to be successful in the field. Here are some of the skills set you may need to pursue an Insurance Agent career path.

• Good Communication Skills: One of the key elements of being an insurance agent is to inculcate good, if not impeccable, communication skills.

• Good Listening Ability: A sublet of the required communication skills is the ability to listen. In order to provide the best services and products to the clientele, Insurance Agents must listen and understand their issues and needs.

• Ability to Sell/Market: A Key skill that any insurance agent will require is the ability to sell or market products to their clientele. They should possess the ability to ethically sell their services and products and convince prospective clients of the benefits of availing their services.

• People Skills: As can be seen with the above points, the ability to build a good strong professional relationship with the clientele can drastically improve the sales report of an Insurance Agent. People skills require Insurance Agents to follow up with their clientele, understand their needs, offer them better services and even convince them to more lucrative options as well.

With these skills and a lot more unspecified skills, Insurance Agents will be required to meet certain objectives and carry out certain roles, as mentioned below:

• Analyse customer and client needs and offer appropriate services and insurance plans.

• Produce leads and follow up on them from time to time.

• Offer quotes to customers

• Bring in new customers and close sales between current customers

• Networking and building relationships that promote their businesses.

Eligibility to become Insurance Agent

As is the case for many career paths there are certain academic requirements and eligibility criteria needed for a career as an Insurance Agent. The candidates will be asked to ensure that they meet the industry-requirements for pursuing an Insurance Agent career path. Here are the eligibility criteria for a career as an Insurance Agent.

• Candidates must have a valid Bachelor-level degree in the field of management, insurance, banking or sales. A masters degree in these fields can also help the candidate to pursue more lucrative career paths.

• It should be noted that candidates who cleared their class 12 board examination and have displayed impeccable skills in sales and marketing are also eligible to pursue a career as an Insurance Agent.

Note: While students can take the opportunity of becoming an Insurance Agent right after graduating from school, it is also exponentially better to pursue an appropriate bachelor degree.

Types of Job Roles Insurance Agent

As an Insurance Agent, you will be required to cover a range of tasks from communicating with prospective clients to completing the appropriate documentation processes. However, there are several job roles in a career as an Insurance Agent.

Insurance Agent: The role requires you to pursue clients and offer them attractive insurance plans and sell them on the different services and products of the company. They are primarily the sales executives of the company to the customers and prospective clients.

Insurance Claim Adjuster: Under this role, you will be responsible for calculating the insurer’s liability towards the loses of their clients. In other words, you will be calculating the amount of money that should be paid the insurance company to pay you as compensation for your loses.

Insurance Advisor: This job role basically requires you to behave as a consultant for the prospective client and provide them with the factual data towards investment in various insurance schemes.

Employment Sector/Industry for Insurance Agent

The insurance industry has become one of the top industries in the economy as a result of the variable offers and services provided by organisations in the field. Therefore, for the aspiring candidates wishing to join the field of insurance, the employment opportunities are immense. Here are some of the employment opportunities for aspiring Insurance Agents.

• Private Insurance Companies

• Government Insurance Companies

• Personal Insurance Advisor

• Own Business

Top Companies for Insurance Agents in India

There are several organisations across India that offer a job opening for an aspiring Insurance Agent. Check out this list of top companies for Insurance Agents in India.

• LIC Corporation of India

• ICICI Prudential Life Insurance

• HDFC Life Insurance

• TATA AIA Life Insurance

• PNB Metlife India Insurance

• Birla Sun Life Insurance

• Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance

• Max Life Insurance

• SBI Life Insurance

Pay Scale/Salary of Insurance Agent

Here are the salary details of an Insurance Agent in India, based on common salaries that are offered across India.

Note: The salaries that have been mentioned above are displayed for reference purposes only. The actual salaries offered to an aspiring Insurance Agent will depend on variable factors such as job profile, organisation of employment, qualifications, etc.

Books & Study Material to Become Insurance Agent

In order to excel in any job, it is essential to read books and study a lot about the field. There are several books for Insurance Agents that can help them become better professionals in the field. Here is a list of the preparation books good for Insurance Agents.

• Life Insurance Simplified: What You Need to Know (and Why You Didn’t)

• Frank Betcher’s How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling

• Reinsurance Accounts - Handy Reference Book for Reinsurance Professionals by KL Naik

• Cracking the Sales Management Code: The Secrets to Measuring and Managing Sales

• Eat Their Lunch: Winning Customers Away from Your Competition by Anthony Iannarino

Pros of becoming a Insurance Agent

• Can lead to immense profits in terms of earning capacity as it is a commission-based job profile than a salary-based profile.

• With the industry growing at a high rate, the availability of jobs in the industry will also grow.

• Becomes a great starting point to enter in the field of Sales and Marketing and understanding the Indian and Global markets in general, thus improving your future scope as a Sales Professional.

Cons of becoming a Insurance Agent

• There is high competition in the field as you are not only fighting your company’s competitors but your fellow colleagues as well.

• Unpredictable working hours as you may be required to devise new sales strategies and research about the target market.

• Requires a lot of physical stamina and persistence as you will be required to physically travel to different clients and requires mental & emotional strength to face rejections as well.