How do you successfully sell life insurance?
First things first you need to pass your state mandated life insurance licensing exam. From there you’re officially licensed to sell life insurance as a full time career!
For those who are interested in selling life insurance part time, the industry allows for you to have an extremely flexible schedule. You can work as many or as few hours as you possibly want, but if you’re really interested in selling life insurance successfully you will have to put in the time and effort to be rewarded for the fruits of your labor.
Once you’ve found yourself in the position of a licensed insurance agent, the next step is figuring out how to sell life insurance successfully!
Luckily we’re here to help break down what it takes to become a top earner in the life insurance industry!
The different types of life insurance
Depending on what company or companies your brokering life insurance deals for, it will determine what different types of life insurance products you might be selling.
Term Life Insurance: A life insurance policy that guarantees the payment of a death benefit if the insured individual dies during the specified “term” or time period. The beneficiary of a term policy is the individual who receives the death benefit in the event of the insureds untimely death.
Whole Life Insurance: A permanent life insurance policy in which its premium will not change during the life of the policy. This permanent life insurance policy builds tax-deferred cash value, and as long as the premiums are paid, the products beneficiary is guaranteed a death benefit.
Universal Life Insurance: A permanent life insurance policies in which its premium payments are flexible/changeable. This life insurance product is typically less expensive than the whole life insurance policy. This product will pay out a death benefit, and stay in effect as long as premiums are paid.
Life insurance as a whole is often considered the most lucrative type of insurance to sell. It is well known throughout the insurance industry that Life insurance offers individuals the highest commissions on a new sales.
Are you ready to multiply your income and start a career with endless earning potential?
How to get started selling life insurance
In order to start selling life insurance be it online or in person or anyone just getting started as a new agent you must get licensed first!
Just like a CPA needs to pass an exam in order to practice public accounting, you will need to first pass your state mandated life insurance licensing exam!
The exam can be challenging, just like any exam we highly suggest putting in the appropriate amount of time studying up on the topics before undertaking an exam at your local testing site.
For new agents starting out, the next big thing is figuring out how to actually start selling insurance?
You will first need to get appointed with an insurance company or companies with whom’s products you anticipate on selling.
You will complete an application to be granted an appointment and binding authority, which is recorded on your state issued insurance license.
You might even be wondering how to sell life insurance online?
More and more business is being done online and the insurance industry isn’t any different!
There are many ways to leverage the power of the internet to find and maintain clients. By learning to sell life insurance online you can essentially work from anywhere as long as you have wi-fi, location independence is a huge reason why many are flocking to online life insurance sales.
How to get certified to sell life insurance
So you’re ready to take your state mandated licensing exam? Not confident in your ability to pass the exam? Is this your first go round trying to become a licensed sales agent and sell life insurance?
NOT A PROBLEM! Thousands of individuals pass the life insurance licensing exam each year and you can to!
While many people do pass the exam and become a life insurance agent, they don’t exactly pass the exam on accident! You are expected to study! There are tons of resources to help you pass your state mandated life insurance exam.
Things you can do to help prepare yourself and help get you well on your way to figuring out how to become a life insurance agent and passing your exam include:
- Create a studying accountability calendar and stick to it
- Review your states licensing exam outline
- Take an exam prep course
- Take practice Exams before taking the real one
- Focus on the core concepts of life insurance
- Complete pre-licensing class (if required by your state)
As long as you put in the time and effort required to pass the exam, you will be well on your way to a career as a life insurance sales agent!
The Benefits of Selling Life Insurance
Selling life insurance, like anything, definitely has its fair share of pros and cons. But, there are definitely more pros than cons!
Earning potential: The earning potential, when selling a wide variety of products like term insurance, whole life insurance, or universal life insurance is huge! You are no longer stuck in a job making a salary with scheduled increases. You are finally rewarded for the fruits of your labor and how you perform at your job via commission.
Many licensed life insurance agents are making well into the six figures a year, and you can to!
Industry stability: You might be asking yourself is selling life insurance a good career opportunity? Selling life insurance can be something that you can spend an entire career doing without fear of the industry dying.
Obviously there are no guarantees in any industry, but it is hard to see a world without insurance.
Insurance has been around in one form or another for thousands of years. An industry that has stood the test of time and there are no signs of the industry going anywhere soon.
Schedule flexibility: You typically handle your own schedule and aren’t subject to punching in and punching out on a time clock. Of course a lot of your success as a licensed life insurance agent derived from your activity, you are still in 100% control of how much time you put in each and every day. The idea that you can determine your schedule, be it part time employment, or full time employment are huge selling points to individuals looking to join the life insurance sales industry.
So next time you ask yourself is selling life insurance a good career opportunity, you can without a shadow of a doubt answer yes it is!
Is it hard to sell life insurance?
Selling life insurance products can be difficult, but it can also be one of the most rewarding insurance products to sell.
The hardest thing that comes with selling life insurance is having the tough conversations and asking the tough questions.
“What will happen to your family if you passed away tomorrow?”
“Will your family be able to continue to support their current lifestyle without your income coming in?”
“So you have debt, what do you currently have in place to protect that debt?”
Are some of the hard hitting questions that might be uncomfortable for your prospects to answer but they need to be asked!
With the proper guidance, effort, and knowledge of life insurance products it can be very easy to sell if you discover the need and help the prospect understand the need.
Selling life insurance is a very lucrative industry to be in, but there is no better feeling then knowing that you’re helping someone protect their life and families well-being.
Do life insurance agents make good money?
Yes!
Almost every life insurance agent makes 100% commissioned pay or some form of salary + commission.
With that being the case life insurance agent’s salaries can be well into the six figures. Having a job where you earn commission on everything you sell allows for really endless amounts of income. You’re not subject to scheduled raises every few years like a typical career, but rather you are rewarded for your performance!
How much do you get when you sell a life insurance policy?
This all depends on the type of policy and company, but life insurance agents typically make 80% to 100% of the policies first year premium as commission. From there life insurance agents continue to collect smaller commissions in years following.
Where to Find Customers as a New Life Insurance Agent
If you’re rather new to the industry, or have been working as a life insurance agent for many years finding new prospects and clients is an ongoing task!
How do great insurance agents continue to get clients qualifieid prospects?
What is the most cost effective and efficient way to continually get qualified life insurance leads?
With the introduction of the internet, prospecting for life insurance leads has changed the landscape for the better! While you can still find qualified leads through good old fashioned cold calling, many high performing insurance agents have begun to harness the power of social media to prospect for life insurance clients.
Some of the most effective ways to properly prospect new life insurance leads are as follows
- Build a Facebook page and actively recruit friends and family to join
- Run ad campaigns on Facebook and Instagram with enticing videos and ads
- Build a LinkedIn company page and post insightful information regarding Life Insurance and what you could do for potential prospects
- Build a Google My Business listing for your local area and clientele
- Build a Twitter business account and actively post insightful information to your audience regarding the benefits of the various life insurance products you sell
Learning how to prospect for life insurance clients can be a great way to boost your income and grow your book of business! Successfully marketing yourself as a professional life insurance agent on social media can be challenging.
But stick with it through the long run and you will reap the benefits of selling life insurance!
Tips for Closing More Life Insurance Sales
Some of the best sales tips and life insurance closing techniques are what you will find in most sales jobs.
Things like selling on value and not just price is one of the best-selling strategies you can apply to your role as a life insurance agent. Time and time again we see insurance agents miss out on sales because they were undercut on price, don’t let this be you!
The best way to pitch life insurance to customers is to first identify their needs, and present your solution to that customers needs! It sounds so simple and easy but many new life insurance agents are so focused on saying the right things that they forget to listen to their prospects needs!
By applying the above strategies above you will hands down make more sales, and feel better doing it knowing that you’re truly helping someone find a solution to their problem!
Mistake to Avoid When Selling Life Insurance
Selling life insurance policies can be difficult, we definitely don’t want to sugar coat it.
But when you truly understand some of the biggest pitfalls new insurance agents face, you can put yourself in the best position possible to succeed!
Some of the biggest reasons why insurance agents quit are as follows:
- They view it as a short term job and not as a full time career
- They aren’t driven and motivated enough to stick it out when times get tough
- They don’t have the proper tools and guidance to help them succeed
- They have to high of expectations, and aren’t prepared for the hard work it takes to make a lot of money
If you come into this knowing that you want to make it a career, and are prepared to stick it out when the going gets tough, you will undoubtedly succeed and reap the benefits of a high paying and rewarding career!
How Senior Market Advisors Can Help
Whether you’re new to the insurance industry or you’ve been working in it for years a Senior Market Advisors can help you!
The sales process can be difficult at times, and life insurance companies can tend to underserve and underdeliver on promises made to their agents.
Senior Market Advisors have been helping life insurance agents since 2007 with any and all things from commissions to marketing.
If you’re ready to take your business to the next level please don’t hesitate to reach out to Senior Market Advisors, we are here to help!
Contract with us today!
