The insurance industry is one of the best and easiest for someone to get started, even without any actual experience. Of course, many different types of agents (life, health, auto, etc.) do need to be licensed and will obtain training in their chosen field. But there are many benefits of such a career including the potential for a high income and recurring, or ongoing, commissions based upon sales made in prior years. How do you decide which specific field is the best choice for you?
Consider Your Personality:
All insurance agents are going to need to be able to sell. This means that you are undoubtedly going to hear the word “no” a lot. Decide if this is something that your personality can handle. Not everyone responds to rejection in the same way. Of course, it is not personal, but sometimes having doors slammed in your face and the occasional harsh word can either hurt or drive another on to greater levels of success.
Also decide what is more important to you. Are you looking simply for the field that offers you the highest income? Or are there particular areas of the insurance business that have greater appeal to you? Maybe you love the idea of helping people to stay healthy and feel naturally attracted to the health insurance field. Or possibly you love cars and have been dreaming about the time when you could actually get work closely around cars and still have the potential for a large income.
What Types Of Products Do You Like?
As you probably already know, different types of insurance agents will sell different types of products. This may even include selling mutual funds, variable annuities, and other types of securities and financial products. This actually cuts across all fields, although there are certainly a number of specifics. Maybe you think that selling life insurance policies would be an area where you can really shine, or possibly health and disability plans. Once you determine what types of products and solutions you feel most comfortable providing, this should naturally lead to the perfect fit in the insurance industry.
Consider A Typical Day:
Another great way to actual help determine which field in the insurance agent industry might be your best fit is to consider a typical day. Interestingly enough, the working day for an insurance agent is quite varied. It can include preparing and maintaining records, seeking out or prospecting for new clients, maybe even actually providing customer service and helping clients settle their claims. Some agents that offer comprehensive planning services may also find themselves setting up pension plans, retirement accounts, or other types of legal structures.
A great way to really get a true handle on what an agent in a specific field actually does during a typical (and even during a not-so-typical) day is to seek out current agents in the field. Explain how you are considering getting into the industry and see if they would be willing to give you interview, answering your questions about their daily duties and the field in general.
A great benefit of this preparation is that you will actually enter your chosen field much more prepared than most people. You will have time to develop whatever additional skills you think might be needed, or that you need to improve and can prep for the insurance agent exam. Then you can hit the ground running in your chosen insurance agent field.
Written by Julia Porter at America’s Professor. Julia has successfully passed the insurance license exam in Georgia.