So you’ve decided to take the plunge into the world of insurance.\u00a0 Nice work.\u00a0 You now have one of the most challenging, frustrating, but at the same time rewarding career opportunities in front of you.\u00a0 And the timing couldn’t be better.<\/p>\n
Whether you plan to sell life insurance, health insurance or all of the above, major legislative changes are leaving clients confused and many of them will turn to you with questions.\u00a0 By becoming an insurance agent, you are joining an elite group of advisors who will be on the front lines when it comes to helping clients navigate their insurance choices, be it health, life or retirement planning.\u00a0 Are you ready?<\/p>\n
When I sit down with newly licensed insurance agents or people thinking about getting into the business, I don’t sugarcoat anything.\u00a0 I tell them exactly what they can expect.\u00a0 But what I also tell them is that with the right approach to helping your clients, and the right motivation, you’ll find your career in the insurance industry to be one of the most gratifying decisions you’ll ever make.<\/p>\n
I recently read Do or Die: Reinventing Your Benefits Agency for Post-Reform Success by Nelson L. Griswold.\u00a0 In it he talks about the way current events are redefining what it means to be an insurance agency, and how the old ways of doing things will ultimately force some insurance agencies out of business.<\/p>\n
The book is targeted to agency owners and leaders but I recommend it to everyone in my agency.\u00a0 As an agent, especially one who is new to the industry, you will want to look for an agency who provides the type of support and vision that is outlined in this book.\u00a0 These agencies recognize the way you market, prospect and ultimately sell to clients today is drastically different than the way it has been in the past.\u00a0 The book offers key takeaways all insurance agents can begin to implement today, regardless of their business model.<\/p>\n
For a long time insurance agents have had a bad rap for only caring about getting the sale, pushing product not solutions and misleading consumers.\u00a0 The new way of selling (anything from insurance to bird cages) is to be a true consultant for your client. You need to focus on each client individually and find a solution.<\/p>\n
Insurance is no longer a transactional purchase.\u00a0 As an agent, you must listen to the needs of your clients and craft a solution around them.\u00a0 When you go in with the mentality that you are there to sell a product, you are destined to fail.\u00a0 When you sell consultatively, close ratios increase and cross-selling will improve dramatically.<\/p>\n
The book talks a lot about knowing your prospects and knowing how and when to communicate with them.\u00a0 One of the biggest realizations about prospecting is not treating everyone as a potential customer.\u00a0 You can’t be all things to all people, so stop trying to be.\u00a0 When you have a focused profile of the people you are trying to reach, you are able to determine how those people communicate and how to reach them most effectively.<\/p>\n
What are their concerns?\u00a0 What motivates them?\u00a0 Once you are armed with that information you’ll be able optimize your prospecting process and spend more time talking to the right people.<\/p>\n
In addition to knowing your client you also need the following things. You need the right:<\/p>\n
Marketplace:<\/strong> What do those small segments of prospects have in common?\u00a0 What groups or industries are they a part of and how can you offer solutions to that group as a whole?<\/p>\n Message:<\/strong> What is your unique selling proposition?\u00a0 What makes you different from other agents\/agencies?\u00a0 Are you offering what your target market really wants?\u00a0 These are all things you must be able to answer if you are to communicate to your prospects effectively.<\/p>\n Media:<\/strong> Where does your target audience spend their time and what is the best way to communicate with them.\u00a0 There are a variety of media channels you could use to reach your market, but knowing what channel your audience will be most receptive to is key to high ROI marketing.<\/p>\n Time:<\/strong> When do you reach out?\u00a0 How often is too much?\u00a0 Are there certain times that are better than others?\u00a0 Again, it comes down to knowing your audience and aligning their buying cycle to your prospecting cycle.<\/p>\n The book goes into great detail about each part of the high ROI equation and gives you specific tactics to refine and optimize your process to achieve the best results.<\/p>\n Although geared towards agency leads and the voluntary benefits world, I highly recommend it to anyone starting out in the insurance industry, or anyone wondering how to keep their business afloat post reform.<\/p>\n Best of luck with your test and future career.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" What can you expect as a new insurance agent? So you’ve decided to take the plunge into the world of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[91,89,52,90],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalonlineinsuranceschool.com\/insurance-license-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2082"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalonlineinsuranceschool.com\/insurance-license-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalonlineinsuranceschool.com\/insurance-license-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalonlineinsuranceschool.com\/insurance-license-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalonlineinsuranceschool.com\/insurance-license-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2082"}],"version-history":[{"count":32,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalonlineinsuranceschool.com\/insurance-license-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2082\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2867,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalonlineinsuranceschool.com\/insurance-license-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2082\/revisions\/2867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalonlineinsuranceschool.com\/insurance-license-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalonlineinsuranceschool.com\/insurance-license-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalonlineinsuranceschool.com\/insurance-license-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}