What could be the main causes of our failure when we join this profession of
becoming an insurance agent?
Total Comments: 34
Posted: Tue Nov 17, 2009 04:56 pm Post Subject:
Of all the posts on this thread, I personally like Ley's response best of all. Most agents [people] simply have a problem with rejection - to shut down and not deal with it is a basic human defense mechanism and one has to work very hard to overcome it.
Prospecting (in one form or another) is the most important part of any insurance sales career. The most successful agents don't actually 'make time' to prospect - it's part of their daily lives - they live it every day - make it part of their personality - a way of life.
For the past 16 years, my business has been developed around something I call "Hi-Tech" prospecting and it revolves around agents who simply refuse to do business honestly, ethically. or morally. Believe it or not, agents' doing what is in their client's best interest is not that big of a deal anymore. I'm NOT claiming all agents fall into this ugly class but a large percentage certainly do.
You might think this percentage is based on agents who fail to prospect and find their business (and income) slipping away. When they begin to fail, they often elect to take shortcuts and therefore do business dishonestly. "If I'm not going to be in the business much longer" an agent might think, "who cares how I do business? I need to continue to make an income until I can find a job at Wal Mart".
On my website, I have stated that 40% of every life insurance policy written in America since 1983 is bad or will not perform as sold. I've been questioned about this by some of the best lawyers and regulatory agencies in existence. Even though it's been disputed, the statement has never been proven false. Those with experience in the industry know that 40% is an extremely conservative figure.
Posted: Wed Nov 18, 2009 06:37 am Post Subject:
Hi,
they live it every day - make it part of their personality - a way of life
Some of them would naturally identify an opportunity while the others would fail. The more successful ones would listen to a person, empathize and make it comfortable for him to share his problems. While listening they'd try to identify and measure the risks associated with the individual.
This also lets them help others identify their risks. Once the prospective client identifies his risks, the agent earns or creates an opportunity quite easily. Thus natural leads are generated out of one's friends and relatives. This in turn helps them broaden their network within a short time. Roddick
Posted: Thu Dec 03, 2009 07:41 am Post Subject: Why do new insurance agents fail so often?
Marketing of Insurance Business is slightly different than marketing of any other business for a number of reasons.
First and most important reason reason is that insurance is purely a knowledge based sector, and any agent who do not have sufficient knowledge about the product knowledge will find it difficult to push products in the market.
Second reason which I have found creating problems for them is lead generation. Purchasing leads from the market though sounds interesting but it often provides you leads already tried by other people. A good idea always is to create fresh leads for yourself using cold calling (by yourself), e-mail marketing, social media marketing and using references.
The next reason is that more than often agents make attempt to sell Insurance Products instead of selling insurance solutions. It is always advisable to assess the requirements of customers before pushing any insurance products.
We also can not ignore other competing channels in the market like banks etc., those push the same products in the market.
An agent should play to his strength when pushing any product. If they can establish themselves as an Insurance Solutions Provider, they can always get better response from their prospects.
In case you are an agent and finding it difficult to frame strategy, feel free to message me for specifc suggestions.
cheers!
Aryan
Posted: Thu Dec 03, 2009 03:49 pm Post Subject:
Second reason which I have found creating problems for them is lead generation. Purchasing leads from the market though sounds interesting but it often provides you leads already tried by other people. A good idea always is to create fresh leads for yourself using cold calling (by yourself), e-mail marketing, social media marketing and using references.
This is absolutely true. When many of us started in the business of selling insurance long ago, there was no such thing as lead generation. Those of us who occasionally qualified for MDRT (or other Counsels) did so all by ourselves.
Posted: Thu Dec 10, 2009 05:42 am Post Subject:
One common thread that I have seen in agents that fail is that they have what I call "The Insurance Executive" attitude. They seem to think that just because they have a title of agent that business will magically fall into their laps.
The common thread I see in successful agents is that they are constantly working and striving to get better at what they do every day.
Posted: Fri Dec 11, 2009 04:42 pm Post Subject:
One common thread that I have seen in agents that fail is that they have what I call "The Insurance Executive" attitude. They seem to think that just because they have a title of agent that business will magically fall into their laps.
In present day competitive world, if any any agent can have Executive Attitude, then it will be a pleasent surprise for me... :) .
However, this is true that agents those are constantly working and striving to get better at what they do every day ( as mentioned in post above) really get results.
Considering the fact that as an Insurance marketing professional, we are required to meet people from different walks of life on regular basis. In case we meet all these people and just discuss what we have (few insurance solutions to offer) without understanding their requirements, than our chances of success becomes slightly lower.
However, if we can develope some understanding about their business, current condition of their business segments and kind of specifc requirements they can have, the chances are that we will be able to sell our products (infact Insurance Solutions) to them more comfortably.
Regards!
Posted: Sat Jan 02, 2010 09:24 am Post Subject:
Mark . . .
You're absolutely right. 40% is way too conservative. If it was significantly lower, we wouldn't see most new UL policies outfitted with "no lapse guarantees."
And we wouldn't see much in the way of UL sales if clients were told the best way to make the policies perform is to fully fund the policies in the first 7-10 years. Because who, other than the truly wealthy or corporations with deep pockets, has the money that's required to do so?
Posted: Sat Jan 02, 2010 03:59 pm Post Subject:
New agents need leads. They are expensive and new agents burn them up because of inexperience. If a new agent had an endless stream of leads (and training) they would succeed.
Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2010 08:46 am Post Subject:
New agents don't need leads, they need to get out and develop their own clients.
And an "endless stream" of leads is meaningless if they never pick up the phone and make the call or don't know how to ask for a check at the conclusion of the appointment.
Posted: Tue Nov 17, 2009 04:56 pm Post Subject:
Of all the posts on this thread, I personally like Ley's response best of all. Most agents [people] simply have a problem with rejection - to shut down and not deal with it is a basic human defense mechanism and one has to work very hard to overcome it.
Prospecting (in one form or another) is the most important part of any insurance sales career. The most successful agents don't actually 'make time' to prospect - it's part of their daily lives - they live it every day - make it part of their personality - a way of life.
For the past 16 years, my business has been developed around something I call "Hi-Tech" prospecting and it revolves around agents who simply refuse to do business honestly, ethically. or morally. Believe it or not, agents' doing what is in their client's best interest is not that big of a deal anymore. I'm NOT claiming all agents fall into this ugly class but a large percentage certainly do.
You might think this percentage is based on agents who fail to prospect and find their business (and income) slipping away. When they begin to fail, they often elect to take shortcuts and therefore do business dishonestly. "If I'm not going to be in the business much longer" an agent might think, "who cares how I do business? I need to continue to make an income until I can find a job at Wal Mart".
On my website, I have stated that 40% of every life insurance policy written in America since 1983 is bad or will not perform as sold. I've been questioned about this by some of the best lawyers and regulatory agencies in existence. Even though it's been disputed, the statement has never been proven false. Those with experience in the industry know that 40% is an extremely conservative figure.
Posted: Wed Nov 18, 2009 06:37 am Post Subject:
Hi,
they live it every day - make it part of their personality - a way of life
Some of them would naturally identify an opportunity while the others would fail. The more successful ones would listen to a person, empathize and make it comfortable for him to share his problems. While listening they'd try to identify and measure the risks associated with the individual.
This also lets them help others identify their risks. Once the prospective client identifies his risks, the agent earns or creates an opportunity quite easily. Thus natural leads are generated out of one's friends and relatives. This in turn helps them broaden their network within a short time. Roddick
Posted: Thu Dec 03, 2009 07:41 am Post Subject: Why do new insurance agents fail so often?
Marketing of Insurance Business is slightly different than marketing of any other business for a number of reasons.
First and most important reason reason is that insurance is purely a knowledge based sector, and any agent who do not have sufficient knowledge about the product knowledge will find it difficult to push products in the market.
Second reason which I have found creating problems for them is lead generation. Purchasing leads from the market though sounds interesting but it often provides you leads already tried by other people. A good idea always is to create fresh leads for yourself using cold calling (by yourself), e-mail marketing, social media marketing and using references.
The next reason is that more than often agents make attempt to sell Insurance Products instead of selling insurance solutions. It is always advisable to assess the requirements of customers before pushing any insurance products.
We also can not ignore other competing channels in the market like banks etc., those push the same products in the market.
An agent should play to his strength when pushing any product. If they can establish themselves as an Insurance Solutions Provider, they can always get better response from their prospects.
In case you are an agent and finding it difficult to frame strategy, feel free to message me for specifc suggestions.
cheers!
Aryan
Posted: Thu Dec 03, 2009 03:49 pm Post Subject:
Second reason which I have found creating problems for them is lead generation. Purchasing leads from the market though sounds interesting but it often provides you leads already tried by other people. A good idea always is to create fresh leads for yourself using cold calling (by yourself), e-mail marketing, social media marketing and using references.
This is absolutely true. When many of us started in the business of selling insurance long ago, there was no such thing as lead generation. Those of us who occasionally qualified for MDRT (or other Counsels) did so all by ourselves.
Posted: Thu Dec 10, 2009 05:42 am Post Subject:
One common thread that I have seen in agents that fail is that they have what I call "The Insurance Executive" attitude. They seem to think that just because they have a title of agent that business will magically fall into their laps.
The common thread I see in successful agents is that they are constantly working and striving to get better at what they do every day.
Posted: Fri Dec 11, 2009 04:42 pm Post Subject:
One common thread that I have seen in agents that fail is that they have what I call "The Insurance Executive" attitude. They seem to think that just because they have a title of agent that business will magically fall into their laps.
In present day competitive world, if any any agent can have Executive Attitude, then it will be a pleasent surprise for me... :) .
However, this is true that agents those are constantly working and striving to get better at what they do every day ( as mentioned in post above) really get results.
Considering the fact that as an Insurance marketing professional, we are required to meet people from different walks of life on regular basis. In case we meet all these people and just discuss what we have (few insurance solutions to offer) without understanding their requirements, than our chances of success becomes slightly lower.
However, if we can develope some understanding about their business, current condition of their business segments and kind of specifc requirements they can have, the chances are that we will be able to sell our products (infact Insurance Solutions) to them more comfortably.
Regards!
Posted: Sat Jan 02, 2010 09:24 am Post Subject:
Mark . . .
You're absolutely right. 40% is way too conservative. If it was significantly lower, we wouldn't see most new UL policies outfitted with "no lapse guarantees."
And we wouldn't see much in the way of UL sales if clients were told the best way to make the policies perform is to fully fund the policies in the first 7-10 years. Because who, other than the truly wealthy or corporations with deep pockets, has the money that's required to do so?
Posted: Sat Jan 02, 2010 03:59 pm Post Subject:
New agents need leads. They are expensive and new agents burn them up because of inexperience. If a new agent had an endless stream of leads (and training) they would succeed.
Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2010 08:46 am Post Subject:
New agents don't need leads, they need to get out and develop their own clients.
And an "endless stream" of leads is meaningless if they never pick up the phone and make the call or don't know how to ask for a check at the conclusion of the appointment.
Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2010 06:27 pm Post Subject:
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