Are you looking to make a career change?
If helping people through unforeseen circumstances brings you joy, you could find a job as an insurance agent quite rewarding.
A job as an insurance agent provides a variety of advantages, including a relatively simple entry into the profession, the flexibility to pick your own work environment, and a high earning potential.
Learning about the primary tasks and educational requirements for insurance agents is a wonderful place to start if you’re considering a career in the industry.
This post will go over how to become a life insurance agent, the pros and cons of becoming one, and what license you need to sell life insurance.
Do You Need a License to Sell Life Insurance?
As you may have suspected, to become a life insurance agent, there are a few prerequisites. However, to get the basics out of the way, you will need a high school diploma and be 18 years old or older in most states. Additionally, you will also be required to receive a passing grade on a license course and exam.
Although not every state requires a license to sell insurance, if you plan on selling life insurance, you will need one. However, passing a background check, as well as the licensing course and qualifying test, is all it takes to become a certified life insurance agent.
Some firms may assist you in obtaining your license as part of the hiring process. Check with your prospective employer to see if there are any limitations for how long you must work there in order for them to cover the price of your license materials and exam.
When it comes to choosing and recruiting people, each organization has its own set of regulations and standards, so it’s crucial to assess your choices.
The Pros of Becoming a Life Insurance Agent
If you’re only starting your research on how to become a life insurance agent, you may be surprised by some of the benefits that come with the job.
Life insurance sales is a reliable business. The security that life insurance can give families is always in demand, and insurance firms are looking for skilled, motivated life insurance agents to promote their products.
Within the sector, there are also prospects for advancement. As more junior agents gain expertise in the field, they can typically advance in terms of earning potential and responsibilities.
If you’re wondering, “how do I become a life insurance agent?” here are a few advantages that are hard to come across in other professions:
- It’s easy to break into the industry
First and foremost, finding out how to become a life insurance agent is simple. Beyond a high school diploma, there are no educational prerequisites. Some states require you to complete a licensure course and pass a test, although these are both quite simple.
- There are plenty of job opportunities
Second, there are plenty of opportunities to sell life insurance. Most firms have little motivation to limit recruiting since they pay commissions with no promise of income. They provide positions to anybody that wants to become a life insurance agent, with the goal that a tiny number of those who apply will become productive agents. After you sell a certain amount of premium dollars, most organizations will even refund you for the expense of acquiring your license.
- There’s no cap to the amount of money you can make
Life insurance commissions are by far the highest in the insurance sector. The average first-year commission for an auto insurance policy is 10% to 15% of the premium.
Aside from large commissions, some life insurance firms advance their salespeople six to twelve months of commission on a sold policy rather than forcing them to take it when earned.
- It’s an easy avenue to generate passive income
Most importantly, when it comes to making an income that works for you, learning how to be a life insurance agent is the easiest route. As a successful life insurance agent, you get paid renewal commissions on a policy for as long as it is in effect, in addition to the instant profit received on selling it.
For example, a 30-year-old who lives well into their 80s and maintains their complete life insurance policy earns you commissions for the next 50 years. After the first year, your commission rate on a policy decreases, but you continue to make 5% to 10% as long as the client maintains their monthly premium.
Many life insurance brokers who have been in the industry for a few decades have accumulated enough renewal commissions to make a good living without ever selling a new policy.
The Cons of Becoming a Life Insurance Agent
Life insurance is a difficult sell when compared to most other products and services. In fact, unlike other services, it offers no satisfaction or reward until the client has passed away.
There are a few noteworthy aspects to consider among these drawbacks:
- People may be tough to deal with
Aside from having to create a sense of urgency on a product that only pays out after the demise of the client, one of the disadvantages of working as an insurance agent is having to deal with a lot of tough people.
While some clients are pleasant, some can be really difficult, and you may be forced to be courteous to those who are unpleasant to you.
- Some insurance companies mandate that you have a college diploma
Some insurance businesses do not require a college diploma, while others ask for a bachelor’s degree.
Large insurance businesses, in particular, are more apt to hire people with a degree. If you want to optimize your chances of landing a career in this sector, you may need to spend several years in college and spend a lot of money on tuition and other academic fees.
- You may have to achieve lofty sales targets
Insurance companies may sometimes set pretty high targets for you to achieve. Be prepared to go the extra mile to achieve sales targets.
How Long Does It Take To Become a Life Insurance Agent?
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, insurance sales are a rising business. There are several reasons why the number of life insurance brokers joining the field increases year after year.
Let’s break this down into pieces because there are several processes to become an insurance agent:
- Your first step on how to become a licensed life insurance agent can take between three to six weeks as you go through the course and take the exam.
- You’ll also need to account for finding a job as an insurance agent which can take up to two weeks (either before or after you undergo the course.)
- Obtaining a FINRA license (Selling life insurance tied to commodities on the stock market will require federal licensing from FINRA) can take between one and two months.
Tips on How To Be a Successful Life Insurance Agent
Life insurance must be on an agent’s mind at all times in order to sell more than rivals, and thorough preparation must be conducted before each client’s sales appointment. Before the meeting, an agent should think about the specific client’s requirements and tailor their wording to connect the client’s wants to the advantages of the goods.
As a result, the customer clearly understands how the policy fits into their lives and how the insurance agent has adjusted the policy’s structure to their needs. For example, suppose a customer previously informed an agent that their family planned to have another kid in a few years. In that case, the agent should explain how the policy is designed to accommodate a new baby.
The sale is easier once the client fully comprehends the agreement’s benefits. It also helps when there is a greater awareness of safety and security provided to the client’s family, and the sense of empowerment gained by purchasing a contract as a way of demonstrating to loved ones how they believe in protecting their personal finances.
Most importantly, a life insurance agent needs to be able to convey the gravity that life insurance holds for the clients. They need to display that life insurance offers a priceless sense of peace and mind that the holder’s family will be taken care of when they’re no longer around.
Conclusion
If you’re trying to learn how to become a life insurance agent, you’ll want to know about the resources available. With the help of the iLife platform, you will go from a solo independent insurance broker to a profitable agency.
Our life insurance CRM software makes you a respectable, professional, and trustworthy brand in minutes. With no broker time needed, you can compare over 670,000 policy alternatives with customized quotations. The software also includes tools for managing your business and assigning leads to your staff.
With the sophisticated iLife life insurance CRM platform, you can take your brokerage to the next level. Contact iLife today to learn how you can leverage these tools and make your firm more profitable.
