What are your thoughts on working as an insurance agent (average, interview)
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Because of my background in marketing and presenting information to government clients, I've been contacted by each of the major insurance agencies (Allstate, State Farm, Farmers Insurance Group, AFLAC) for sales positions.
These are commission based positions, but they provide you with training, assistance in getting your license, set you up in their district office, and provide some manner of assistance in starting you up with a client base.
Do any of you think there is any potential in this market? Have you been contacted by any of these agencies?
The people that I know who have been the most successful with this have had a very broad range of contacts within various businesses and an address book with thousands of names in it.
you will be at a huge disadvantage if you don't have a lot of connections to make sales, but since you do have a marketing/sales background...maybe. Licensing is not too tough, I was in the industry just never did the license, but friends have passed it, some not-too-smart ones as well.
I do know that it is a soft market right now, so it'll be a rough start and you'll be working a lot until the economy picks up.
If you have the sales savvy, and you think you can sell their products ~ really get to know the products ~ I would go and do it and build your book of business. It'll take time, but maybe by the time the economy picks up, you'll really have an impressive book
I am nervous about this too. i have an interview with Mutual of Omaha tommorow. I hope they provide some kinda guaranteed salary
Generally the only "guaranteed" salary is a training salary- and not every company even offers this. From my research, companies offer $500-$800/week during their training period and then after that, you go straight commissions.
Before getting my current job, I considered doing insurance sales (even had an offer and a start date with a company) but considering the economy is in the dumps, people are only spending money on the necessities and unfortunately, for a lot of families, health/life insurance is not on the top of that necessities list so making sales right now would be hard.
As mentioned earlier, if you have a lot of contacts that can give you referrals, go for it. You can build a nice book of business for yourself that way. But, if you don't really know that many people, I would think twice about a career in insurance sales (especially right now).
My husband works for an insurance company and each year they reward the top sales people with a trip. He was invited to speak at their awards ceremony and I got to tag along. There were 5 being recognized as "Million Dollar Agents" and 3 of them had been in the business only a couple of years. One didn't even have prior sales or marketing experience, she had been a claims adjuster!
I'm not sure what the secret is, but if you know it you can be extremely successful!
It's an incredible risk, but the rewards can be very good. The problem is that very very few people get those top earner positions, many are just sort of average or drop out. The insurance companies invest very little in getting people up and running, so they usually take the upfront money from the people...add a little training and beginning income (some don't even give you that beginning income anymore) and release you to the world. They don't care that much, they earn more having people pay the upfront money, and the more that do it the better for them.
Synopsis, everyone needs insurance for something. We pay for it and have whether we want to or not! Insurance and taxes are a given.
My cousin ,an uncle and an aunt have been State Farm agents for many years-many!!! They do very well as agents; not sure what the difference is that you were offered. My BIG issue with how SF treats them is the way they oversee every aspect but still consider them independent contracors. THAT would bug me-a lot.
I think it depends on your sales ability and interpersonal skills. I don't think any of this can be taught in a classroom. I have a marketing/management degree and couldn't sell my way out of a paper bag, and don't work in a field that has anything to do with sales or marketing. My father, on the other hand, has no degree, has a successful sales career and could sell a ketchup popsicle to a lady in white gloves. Sales all comes down to personality and people skills. If you have that, go for it!
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I agree with Annerk, to a point
