Insurance representatives deal in insurance products and services. They are licensed specifically for selling casualty and property insurance, health insurance and life insurance-by the states in which they are operating. Most states demand qualifying the licensing exam, pre-licensing coursework and continuing education for license renewal. These representatives can also be termed as agents, and they either work as independent agents who sell a range of insurance products from various insurance carriers or get employed in an insurance carrier to sell their products. Insurance representative responsibilities comprise various tasks such as seeking new clients and prospects to sell insurance products, providing assistance to the existing customers with claims and-providing other services such as estate planning, college planning, financial planning and retirement planning. Along with these additional services, these representatives often sell securities, annuities and mutual funds. Agents dealing in securities need to qualify additional exams governed by the National Association of Securities Dealers.
Insurance professionals have to build relationship with their customers as well as the agencies who offer car rental or collision repair services. Even if a client undergoes an uncovered loss, insurance representatives are the excellent resource for searching out companies that have catered their customers well in past.
Overview of the Insurance Sector
While there are several types of insurance (ranging from health insurance to auto insurance), the best revenue in this sector is for those dealing in life insurance.-Representatives focusing on this part of the insurance market help employers, businesses, families and other parties to safeguard against financial loss that takes place when someone-dies.
Insurance representatives are either captive agents (those who sell products of only one carrier) or non-captive (those who represent multiple insurance companies). Either way, the typical representatives often spend most of their time in getting engaged with some kind of marketing strategies to identify people who might require additional or new insurance coverages. They persuade prospective clients to sign new contracts by providing company quotes.
What are the Job Responsibilities of an Insurance Representative?
In general, it can be said that insurance is not a profession for the faint-at-heart or thin skinned individuals. In fact, these professionals need to have fighting spirit in addition to the essential factors including education and work experience. Since they have to deal with a variety of people, understand their financial state and recommend them the right premium coverage, It is important for being updated with all information and knowledge of the products. These individuals should be fond of the rush of a sale and thrill of the hunt in addition to being capable of facing rejection as a steeping stone to attain ultimate success.
Some of the essential work activities that an insurance representative performs in their-routine are mentioned below:
Qualifications and Training
An insurance representative is responsible for assisting families, individuals and businesses in selecting suitable policies to protect their lives, health, property and assets. Typically, agents deal in single or multiple type of insurance such as causality, property, life, health, long term care and disability insurance. However, no matter what type of insurance the representative wishes to sell, there is a specific qualification criteria to become a successful insurance representative. Some insurance companies have no particular educational requirements, whereas most prefer to hire candidates with at least a bachelor's degree¬this general rule is often overlooked in case of the potential candidates. Most carriers in this field have different internal programs for which the new candidates are trained before they move to sell the products, and hence, in majority cases, previous experience in the same industry is not required.
In addition to educational qualification, candidates need to have state license. Currently, insurance agents are licensed by the states or an individual state in which they will be selling insurance. To obtain a license, a candidate needs to qualify a state-administered licensing exam and complete pre-licensing courses in which the knowledge of state insurance laws and fundamentals of insurance are covered. Due to the expansion of-the companies' products, these representatives need to continue with their education. Once they obtain the license, it's significant to stay updated with the tax changes and federal regulations so that they can address the needs of the clients at an optimal level. Proficiency in computers and software and experience in public speaking and sociology are increasingly significant for agents as an advertising, communicational and educational tool.
Insurance representative responsibilities basically revolve around introducing insurance products to new as well as existing customers, understanding their financial need and suggesting insurance policies that will cover all the aspects of their requirement.