The prospect of starting a new career in insurance is simultaneously exciting and intimidating. Perhaps you’re surrounded by veteran insurance agents and need some encouragement. After all, the challenge of becoming a seasoned professional may seem overwhelming at first.
Like all careers, success comes with time, persistence, and patience. Remember that you are just getting started, so comparing yourself to more experienced agents isn’t going to be helpful.
Here’s a list of our top pieces of advice for new insurance agents.
1. Be Willing to Fail
While nobody wants to fail at a new job, failure means you’re taking risks. Without risks, there is no reward. The prospect of failing can be truly paralyzing, but often that fear prevents new agents from aiming high.
As a new insurance agent, make it a goal to experience rejection. If you’re not getting rejected, you’re not doing enough! With those failures will come knowledge, experience, and ultimately success.
2. Keep a Full Pipeline
What is one thing that guarantees business? Leads. As a new agent, work on setting up multiple marketing strategies to continuously fill the top of your sales funnels with leads.
Keep weekly and monthly data on conversions so you know which marketing approaches are bringing in the best leads and getting you results. Eventually, you’ll know where more of your efforts and energy should be spent to close more sales.
3. Establish Good Habits
The routines you carry out and prioritize each day are a good predictor of your success. Try to set up your days to follow the same pattern, which will allow you to focus on being efficient and avoiding distractions.
It’s important for agents to be able to conform to their office’s schedule. Learning how to best make use of your time to achieve maximum productivity is the ultimate goal here.
Obviously, there is always wiggle room for flexibility as your needs can change from time to time. Get into the habit of following a plan each day and stick to it as much as possible.
4. Learn From Other Agents
You may be familiar with the saying from motivational speaker Jim Rohn,
“You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.”
What does this mean? Spend your time learning from successful insurance agents! Attend networking events, participate in mentorship programs, or find an agent willing to take you under his/her wing while you develop your insurance finesse.
Whether it’s observing how another agent engages with clients, uses sales scripts, or just structures daily activities, you can learn quite a bit from spending your time with successful individuals.
5. Utilize Available Resources
Most reputable insurance companies provide a number of resources for their agents. After all, they make money when agents are closing sales! Utilize company trainings, marketing support, new agent development programs, and any other offerings that would be beneficial to your growth.
Additionally, there are several professional associations that offer education and support for agents. The National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors and the National Association of Professional Insurance Agents are two excellent places to start.
American Senior Benefits provides outstanding support and mentorship for our new agents. Contact us if you’re interested in becoming one of our insurance professionals!
