6 Lessons New Insurance Agents Need To Learn ASAP
By Joseph Peters
Are you a new insurance agent hoping to learn the ropes? We’ll walk you through the most important things you need to learn to succeed immediately.
6 Lessons New Insurance Agents Need to Learn Right Away
What if you had no choice but to hit the ground running with your new job?
If you’re an insurance agent, you’ll be trying to sell various insurance packages before you know it. However, how much you sell, or even whether you can close sales, comes down to how well you master insurance fundamentals.
Not learning these lessons quickly (including what not to say to clients) is usually why insurance agents fail, which is terrible news. The good news is that we’ve boiled things down to the most important lessons every new agent should know. Keep reading to discover what new insurance agents need to learn right away!
1. Focus First on the Client’s Needs
It’s an open secret that you got into this business to make money. Paradoxically, the best way to close sales is to stop focusing on your commissions and instead focus on client needs.
There are two primary reasons for this: First, many clients are naturally skittish about people trying to make a quick sale. If you come across like an aggressive car salesman, you are likelier to drive them away than make a sale. Second, focusing on what the client says about their needs allows you to sell them the perfect solution to their exact problem. This approach will ultimately help you increase sales even as it engenders loyalty among your clients.
Incidentally, focusing on how you can help others is the biggest key to networking. And networking is one of the most important skills you must master.
2. Dress for Success
Remember when you heard you never get a second chance to make a first impression? That goes double for the insurance industry, which is why you must always dress professionally (a lesson just as important as having good EO insurance).
Remember that it only takes a few seconds for someone to size you up. If you are dressed too casually or have a sloppy appearance, they won’t think you are professional and won’t buy any insurance products. Conversely, if you dress more formally (think suits over khakis), people are likelier to trust you and buy your products.
3. Show Enthusiasm and Interest
If you’re reading this, it’s because you’re a new insurance agent hoping to become as good as industry veterans. And here’s a fun fact: As a new agent, there is one thing you can do more efficiently than your seasoned colleagues. That’s always to show enthusiasm and interest in your clients, products, and industry.
The reason for this is that your mood is infectious. Keeping a high energy level up and acting enthusiastic even as you express complete interest in clients will always lead to more sales than showing up looking tired and bored. Ultimately, this is why so many sales professionals act like they just chugged three cups of coffee right before they started to talk to you.
4. It’s Important To Respond to Customers ASAP
Want to hear a little industry secret? The best insurance agents are the ones who understand that the most critical aspect of their job is their customer service skills.
If someone emails you or calls you, it’s important to respond to them ASAP. One reason is that you are nurturing your reputation as an agent whom customers can trust by creating more touchpoints for client interaction. Mostly, though, you want to be responsive to customers because they may very well be ready to buy what you are selling. How quickly you respond may make the difference in whether you or a rival agent land that coveted commission.
5. You Can Create More Sales With Probing Questions
Earlier, we talked about how you must focus on customer needs if you really want to make sales. However, to take things to the next level, you must master the fine art of asking probing questions.
The goal of asking probing questions is to learn more about customers even as you steer the conversation more productively. For example, asking if someone has kids may seem like just a friendly question, but it automatically makes them consider the value of life insurance should they pass away unexpectedly. Similarly, asking if anyone in the family has recently had any health scare will make a customer strongly consider getting better health coverage for themselves.
6. Rejection Is Part of the Job
Here’s a sobering lesson for new insurance agents to learn. No matter how long you stay in this industry, you will hear no from clients more than you hear yes.
Honestly, that’s the nature of any kind of sales job. Rather than discourage you, it’s important to treat every rejection as an opportunity to learn. Not only will this help you develop a more persistent attitude (a must-have in this industry), but learning from previous rejections will ultimately help you close more sales than you ever thought possible.