An Introduction to Insurance Sales
The job of selling insurance falls upon the insurance sales agent. This individual helps people choose the best insurance policy to suit them. They help not just businesses but also families and private individuals. In addition there are also different kinds of policies that require different kinds of insurance sales agents.
The are two different varieties of insurance agents. The captive insurance agent works for one company and sells only that company’s services. Their counterparts on the opposite end of the spectrum, the insurance brokers, represent lots of companies and sell insurance plans for all of them.
An individual can get a lot of plans that include life insurance, health insurance, property insurance, casualty insurance, disability insurance, and long-term care insurance. It depends on the person’s needs how many insurance plans he gets.
There are several insurance agents in the United States. They number about 400,000 nationwide and most of them work for brokerages and agencies rather than insurance carriers.
So you think you have what it takes to become an insurance agent? The job requires you to have a degree in either business or economics with good working knowledge of the insurance laws of the state where you want to work in.
Insurance agents also need to be licensed before they can work. Each type of insurance policy requires a different license, which means that having a license to sell casualty insurance isn’t enough to be able to sell life insurance. To get a license, insurance agents need to take a few courses and pass licensing exams.
Insurance agents who do particularly well tend to become store or branch managers. It also helps when the candidate has a pleasing personality, good communication skills, and charm, because these traits get the job done better.
Filed under: Sales