Insurance as a career choice
What if you are offered a career choice which gives you –
- The freedom to work as per your convenience
- Attractive income
- The opportunity to earn unlimited incomes
- The opportunity to make it a full-fledged business, and
- The flexibility to work life long.
Wouldn’t you be excited to pursue it?
Selling insurance is that career opportunity which promises you all the above benefits and many more.
Insurance is a push product. It is not bought, it is sold. You have to sell the concept of insurance to your clients matching it with their needs. When the clients understand that the insurance product matches their needs they buy the product. If you have a career in insurance, selling insurance would promise you great rewards. Do you know how and why? Let’s find out –
Why selling insurance is rewarding?
Selling insurance is rewarding because of the following reasons –
- You can earn unlimited income
With insurance sales, there is no limit to the income which you can earn. Your income is the commission which you earn on the policies you sell. The more policies you sell the higher the income you can earn. Since there is no limit to the number of policies which you can sell, there is no limit on the income you can generate. Thus, selling insurance is a lucrative business which generates unlimited income for you.
Know more How much will you earn selling insurance?
- You own your business
When you sell insurance, you are the owner of your business. You are your own boss. Thus, selling insurance makes you own your business wherein you control the way you work and the income you generate. Moreover, you have no fixed working hours. You can work whenever you want and, as such, have flexible timings. Thus, selling insurance eliminates the burden of a 9 to 5 job and lets you work at your own convenience.
- Unlimited access to opportunities
As an insurance advisor you can also pursue another job along with selling insurance. There is no retirement age in insurance sales and you can work for as long as you want. Thus, there is huge opportunity in selling insurance.
- You can make a difference
As an insurance advisor you have a noble profession. You fulfil your clients’ protection needs and sell them financial security in the form of insurance plans. Moreover, in times of claims, you can provide your assistance in getting them their financial compensation thereby helping the family or policyholder deal with their financial loss.
- Flexible timings
The best part about selling insurance policies through any of these modes is that you are not tied up in a 9 to 5 job. You can sell policies any time as per your convenience. So, you can work at flexible timings without compromising on the income.
- Suitability
Selling insurance from home, online or over the telephone is suitable for many individuals. It is a good opportunity for housewives who can manage their homes and also sell insurance for extra income. Retired individuals also need not travel to an office for selling insurance. Students can take this up as a part time job and earn extra money to support their education or family.
How to start selling insurance?
The above benefits of selling insurance must have made you keen to build a career in insurance sales. If you want to do so, here are the steps which would help you start selling insurance –
- Become a PoSP (Point of Sale Person)-
A PoSP (Point of Sale Person) is a certified insurance salesman who can sell both life and non-life insurance policies. A PoSP (Point of Sale Person) can represent multiple insurance companies and sell their products to his/her clients as per their needs. So, to start selling insurance, the first step for you is to become a PoSP (Point of Sale Person). To become a PoSP (Point of Sale Person), you should have at least passed out Class 10 and be 18 years and above. You can then avail the mandated training, pass the IRDA certification exam and become a PoSP (Point of Sale Person). Once you become a PoSP (Point of Sale Person), you can start your career in insurance sales.
- Make a list of your contacts –
Once you have become a certified PoSP (Point of Sale Person), you need clients. To establish a client database you should make a list of your contacts. Include all your known contacts whether they are family, friends, colleagues or acquaintances. This list would be your prospect list which would help you generate sales. After you have created the list of your contacts, get in touch with all of them. Call each of your contact and let them know that you have become a certified PoSP (Point of Sale Person) or a certified insurance advisor.
- Cold calling –
Cold-calling is when you call unknown individuals for buying insurance. Through cold-calling you can expand your client database. You can get a list of contact numbers and then call each individual on the list to sell insurance. This is an additional way to increasing your client pool.
- Follow-up calls –
Getting in touch with individuals is not a one-time affair. You need to make various follow-up calls to your contacts for ensuring an appointment. If the client is busy, a follow-up call is required at a suitable time. Another follow-up call might be needed to know the decision of the individual if he needs time to fix up a meeting. So, you should be patient and do follow-up calls until your insurance plan is sold.
- Fix appointments–
Whether you call your contacts or resort to cold calling, the next step is fixing appointments with the individuals with whom you have spoken over the phone. Always make it a point to meet prospective customers so that you can understand their individual requirements and then pitch suitable insurance policies to them.
Best way to sell insurance
While you can start your journey as a PoSP (Point of Sale Person) using the above-mentioned tips, there are some tricks which help you sell life insurance products in the best possible ways. These tricks are as follows –
- Understand the needs of the prospective clients
After you arrange meetings with your contacts and visit them, don’t pitch in an insurance product straight away. First do a fact-finding analysis. Fact-finding is a process wherein you understand the exact need of the client. Get to know the prospective client’s financial facts and understand their needs to shortlist the right perspective product meant for them.
- Match a suitable product to the client’s needs
After you have understood the needs of the clients, match a product which would fulfil the recognised need. For instance, if the prospective client is a father, you can sell child insurance plans to fulfil the client’s child planning needs. Similarly, a health and term insurance plan is essential. Find out if the client has these plans. If they don’t, pitch these products citing their importance. If they do have, analyse whether the cover is sufficient or not. In many cases the cover is not sufficient in which case you might propose to increase the coverage level. So, pitch a suitable product to your prospective clients only after understanding their needs. You can use the policy recommender feature which is available on the TurtlemintPro app to help you find the most suitable policy for your client.
- See if the premiums are affordable
Your contacts would become your clients only if the plans you pitch have affordable premium rates. So, try and find out whether the premiums payable for the proposed insurance plan would be affordable on the individual’s pockets or not. If affordability is an issue, try and opt for a lower coverage level initially which can be increased later on when the financial status improves.
- Make the prospective clients understand the features of the product proposed
Insurance products are technical in nature. That is why individuals shy away from insurance thinking it to be a complex product. You, as a middleman, should make your prospective clients understand the terms, conditions, benefits and features of the product which you have proposed. Only when the prospective client understands the product and finds it suited his needs, he would go ahead with the sale.
- Handle objections
Selling insurance is not all rosy. Prospective clients have multiple questions and objections related to the product. To be able to sell the insurance product successfully, you should know who to handle objections of your clients. Arm yourself with the required knowledge and handle your clients’ objections masterfully.
Closing the sale
Here’s how you can close your sale –
- Ensure that the benefits were clearly understood
Even after you have explained the benefits and features of the product, ask your client whether they understood the product benefits completely or not. It is a double-check to ensure that your client is clear on the product’s benefits.
- Help in filling up the proposal form
The proposal form for products requires detailed information which should also be true and honest. Your client is tasked with filling up the proposal form. He/she might get confused with some parts of the proposal form and fill in the wrong details. To avoid possible hassles in policy issuance, help your clients fill up the proposal form correctly. Educate them on confusing matters so that they know the information they are providing in the form. Alternatively, you can take the details of your client and fill the proposal form online using the TurtlemintPro app. It would be quicker and more convenient.
- Collect the premium of the policy
Insurance premiums are paid in advance with the proposal form. So, collect the premium of the policy from your client. Give your clients the choice of premium paying modes – cash, credit card, net banking etc. Also help your clients understand the break-up of the premium that they are paying. This would help your clients understand the premiums of their insurance policy. The TurtlemintPro app also helps in policy issuance by allowing online premium payments. Once the proposal form is filled, a payment link is generated on the app. You can share the premium link with your customer and ask them to pay premiums online. Once the online premium is paid, the policy would be issued immediately. Your client can, alternatively, choose to pay premiums via cash or cheque using the TurtlemintPro app.
- Help the client with possible pre-requisites of policy issuance
In life and health insurance plans, there might be a requirement to undergo health check-ups before the policy is issued. Similarly, the insurance company might also request for additional details for existing medical conditions. Help your clients fulfil these pre-requisites of policy issuance.
- Promise claim assistance
Clients buy insurance products from trusted individuals whom they believe to help them in case of a claim. So, when closing the sale, ensure the client that you would be available to provide claim assistance whenever required. This would strengthen their trust in you and they would readily buy the policy from you. TurtlemintPro provides you with a dedicated team for claim assistance. In case of a claim, you can get assistance from TurtlemintPro’s claim team and help your customers in their claim. Your customers can also contact TurtlemintPro’s claim team themselves to get assistance with their claim settlements.
The TurtlemintPro advantage
The TurtlemintPro app provides you all the assistance that you might need in selling insurance policies online. It is an online tool for selling insurance policies online. If you register with TurtlemintPro, you can sell multiple insurance policies offered by leading insurance companies. Besides a wide scope of coverage, TurtlemintPro offers you the following benefits –
- It provides an easy way to start a career in insurance. You just need to register with TurtlemintPro, take an online training of 15 hours, clear the exam and get a certificate to become a PoSP (Point of Sale Person) for Turtlemint
- Complete assistance in selling insurance online
- The facility to track your sales, the commissions you have earned, the renewals which are due, etc.
- At the time of a claim too TurtlemintPro provides you with the necessary information as guidelines which would enable you to help your clients get a speedy claim settlement.
So, choose to sell insurance policies online using the TurtlemintPro app and make the whole process simpler.