A life insurance agent specializes in selling genuine policies that pay the insured amount to beneficiaries upon the death of the insured. With the complexities of life insurance, you need to have someone on your side who knows and understands the insurance world well enough.
Also, an agent is in the best place and position to help you find the ideal life insurance policy for you, your family, and any financial situation you may find yourself in.
They are licensed experts who sell life insurance from an insurance company. Most of them work independently by selling policies from different companies.
What Do Life Insurance Agents Do?
They sell life policies to you. When you contact the best life insurance agent to look for a quote, we ask you for details about your financial life and your expectations of the life insurance, we follow these procedures:
- Personal details: These details include your age, marital status, your income, dependents, and occupation.
- Go through your financial status: We find out what your mortgage looks like, your assets, savings, and investments.
- Offer professional advice to you: We write down a detailed summary of our conversation, coupled with the right advice on the type of life insurance to go for. You are allowed to take home the document as it will help you decide.
- Constant follow-up: The right insurance policy agent will constantly keep in touch with you after purchasing a policy.
At EMA Advisors, we will continuously keep in touch with you to analyze your financial journey, and if there is an improvement or not.
Types Of Life Insurance Agents
- Captive Agents: These agents work only with one insurer and sell policies offered by that company. They can sell policies from other insurance companies as long as the primary insurance company does not sell a particular type of coverage.
- Independent Agents: These agents are free to sell policies from different companies, but with those that have an agreement to sell.
How To Choose Life Insurance Agent
1) They understand your financial situation and journey. If they don’t pay attention to your personal information and what you need insurance coverage for, they might not be genuine.
2) The agent will answer all your questions, even the trivial ones. Once you discover them dodging your questions, please end the conversation.
3) The agent knows what you do not need. Ensure they don’t try to oversell policies to you.
4) The right agent will summarize your conversations into a document and give you some time to decide. If the agent wants your reply to be instantaneous, then it’s too soon.
5) How qualified are they? There are false agents out there that might succeed in convincing you with their qualifications.
The letter and designation after their names can be among the following, but that shouldn’t give you a reason to be less security conscious.
Look out for the following certificates:
- Chartered Financial Consultant(ChFC).
- Chartered Life Underwriters(CLU).
- Registered Representative or Registered Principal(RR or RP).
- Chartered Financial Planner(CFP).
- Certified Insurance Counselor(CLC).
6) They are licensed to sell insurance policies in your state. If they withhold this vital information from you, and how much commission they get, then they are not doing their job.
How Do Life Insurance Agents Get Paid?
Most life insurance agents might come to you and try to sell a policy to you – mildly persuading you to invest in an annuity or compelling you to buy a bigger policy, they will promise you that it will eventually bring you financial freedom.
Well, the truth is that agents have certain incentives and commissions for any policy you buy. All life insurance agents make money through commissions from a percentage of the premium sold.
Most experts who sell insurance policies are paid wholesomely, especially the independent agents who are paid based on how much policy they sell; they also get higher commissions for different types of policy.
How To Become A Life Insurance Agent
1. Get The Right Education And Training In A Relevant Field
Many life Insurance companies get to work with individuals that have only just college certificates.
So if you want to stand out in this field, you should get a degree in any relevant insurance aspect, sooner you’ll become a competitive Job candidate in no time.
Relevant areas to earn a degree include; Management, Marketing, or Business. Once you get certified in any of these fields, you will be the most sought-after.
2. Get A Preliminary Training Course
In some states, you must complete a pre-licensing training course because you are dealing with people’s source of livelihood.
Contact the relevant state department I.e the Department of Insurance for more clarifications. Ask the following;
- Find out if you must complete the given hours of the learning center rules like health and life insurance.
- Find out if your state has a comprehensive list of approved providers of life insurance learning you must complete your training with.
- Inquire on how often your license must be renewed.
- Find out the courses you must complete before any renewal.
3. Volunteer In Your Community
Gaining success as a life insurance agent depends mostly on your connections with the right people in your community.
Engaging in volunteering and community outreach helps foster the right connections.
Also, you can volunteer to work with an organization that goes door-to-door to deliver or promote items, this will help you to overcome your fear of approaching strangers or your fear of public speaking. Click here to read more about how to become a life insurance agent.
On A Final Note
When it comes to life insurance, you must use an expert agent in the field. At EMA Advisors, we have a quick and easy coverage checkup tool that gives you something to work with, especially when you want to start a conversation with an agent.
Visit our website to contact us, we are just one call away from your financial and personal development.
